Day Four in Paradise, Part Two

As the tour went on, though, our boat passed through grottoes, went by grand mountains, and soon we arrived at our first tour destination; a pagoda by the mountainside. Around this pagoda, paths led to other shrines nearby. One of my companions told me of a dynasty that ruled in Vietnam long ago, to which pagodas all over Vietnam were dedicated, but that in the nearby karst landscape, there were a greater concentration of pagodas to this particular dynasty.

As we continued on the water around the mountains from one scene to another, we occasionally stopped at a pagoda along the way, where my three companions would pay their respects, both with dong, and with some sort of prayer, I assume. The way they do this is to put their hands together, slightly bow their heads, and for perhaps ten to thirty seconds, they slightly shake their hands up and down. It's an interesting movement, but I didn't try it myself there, as that wouldn't make a whole lot of sense; I don't know the people to whom these shrines were built, and I don't even know of them. I observed and took photos instead.

As we continued on from one pagoda back to our mooring spot, I offered to take photos of them with their camera. I obviously can't show you the results of that experiment, but because they reciprocated, the photo in the previous post of me exists. One of the sons was a photographer, and could speak fairly good English; it wasn't until at least a third into our trip that we began to talk while the boat was rowed between our destinations.

He told me some about the pagodas we saw as we went, and about other trips around Vietnam he'd been on; he'd visited many, if not all of the fifty-eight provinces, seen many of the natural wonders in the country, and had traveled some outside of Vietnam, particularly to the other three countries I'd planned to see, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand. We went on to talk about photography, and I showed him the time lapse I recorded on the top of Hang Mua, as well as the aperture of my lens opening and closing. I explained the rule of thirds to him as well as I could, which helps to compose photos such that they're more interesting and engaging than if you were to simply center the subject and shoot.

I also explained and demonstrated white balance a little, which is an element of photography I'm trying to master. White balance refers to the photo's color temperature; if the camera's adjusted color temperature is too high for the environment, the photo becomes reddish and unpleasant; in the same way, if the color temperature property is too low, the environment looks blueish and cold. This is why it's called color temperature. If improperly adjusted, the photo looks either warm or cool.

We continued on, passing through several grottoes under the mountains, often having to duck our heads in order not to hit rock above us. The lighting in the caves was sparse but sufficient, and the darkness and echoing emptiness made for an interesting experience.

There was also at least one cave within a grotto, something of an offshoot of the grotto, which held a hundred or so...bottles? No, I don't really know what to call them. A writer's curse; to be prideful of one's large vocabulary, but yet to see things and not know words to describe them, either for simple ignorance, or for untethered wonder. Thankfully I have a camera to help show the things that my words are insufficient for.

The tour lasted about three hours, and toward the end of the tour, the sun began to properly show its face, and reflected on the water beneath us. At this time, I took some of the more beautiful shots I've yet taken in Vietnam; so far it's been very cloudy and overcast, from Hanoi to Ninh Binh, but yesterday, I saw the sun for a good while, and actually had to use sunscreen for the first time. I believe I slightly burned my arms on the way to Hang Mua, so I made sure to apply a few times during the day to make sure I didn't get burned this time. I believe I succeeded.

I took too many good pictures on the way back to put them all in this blog; I believe I'll have to rejuvenate my Flickr account. Yesterday afternoon shall be in part three, as it is sufficient for its own post.


!Noah!