Guys, not gonna lie: pretty proud of what I accomplished this day. I showed a lot of grit and determination, and, let’s just go ahead and call it what it is: toughness. Just pure, raw man-toughness. And endurance. Due to the toughness.
This is Phong Nha National Park, central Vietnam. In the mid 90s, 150% humidity – jungle hot. Started off with a 20-30 minute hike uphill to Elephant Cave. Within 5 minutes of leaving the bus, I had completely sweat through all my clothes. We spent about 45 minutes hiking through the huge cave.
Then back down to the road. Then about another 20 minutes walking down the road exposed to the hot sun. Then off an unmarked path back into the jungle for 6 kilometers!
The track was often wet and slicker than goose shit. Of course, it’s the jungle so there’s bugs and thorns and spiderwebs.
There’s also razor sharp limestone, pointy sticks, and slippery roots. Honestly, I didn’t really enjoy it. I complained quite a bit, but you know what? Complaining didn’t really make it any better, and, for me, that’s what toughness is all about. Staying positive, while you’re complaining.
Despite being hot, uncomfortable and exhausted, I managed to take this one photograph so we’d have a way to remember all that I’d been through:
Finally we got to the Ma Da pool, which was a clear cool pool in the river, and went swimming. In this picture, I thought I got a mosquito bite but it’s OK – turns out I didn’t 🙂
Decker told us later he had gotten a leech on his leg but he just pulled it off, so…not a big deal.
Hilary pointed out that I was the oldest one in the group by over 20 years, and the average age was probably 23 or so – way closer to Julia and Decker. For lunch, we had to sit cross-legged on the ground.
After such a long hike, I was unable to stretch forward far enough to reach the food laid out before me. I had to ask Jules to make my spring rolls for me, and she kept not adding enough meat. But again, I steeled myself (game face!) battled through and was ultimately able to power down 12-15 spring rolls. Did those young folks find me inspirational? Probably. Who’s to say? Not one of them said they didn’t find me inspirational.
Then we had to hike another 20 or 30 minutes to a cave, where I put on a lifejacket and a headlamp and swam in cold water for like a kilometer up a river in the dark to the back of the cave! Scary! Not a big problem for me though. I’ve always said that courage isn’t the absence of fear, it’s being afraid but still carrying on. Or something like that.
Maybe “hero” is too strong a word. Maybe not. That’s just semantics, and guys like me and Ernest Shackleton and those guys from the movie “Meru” aren’t concerned with semantics. We’re doers. What’s important is that I did great, and I’m very proud of myself.
Earth to Ben 