Hang En Cave trek

My friend Sowmya and I were planning our places to fit into our 10 days trip of Vietnam and cambodia.Trek to Hang en cave idea was suggested by her and i readily agreed to it with out much thought.In the 7 days Vietnam trip, 2 days go for this trek.After confirmation of the dates with Oxalis Adventures for the trek, we have planned other things and dates for remaining places in south Vietnam.

Hang en cave is one of the 3rd largest cave in the world and it is a must see place when you head for Vietnam. This 2 day 1 night trek shows you all sort of terrain ranging from downhill, uphill,river crossing, walking along the plains in the midst of chirping birds and drizzling(Depends on the weather).

A pick up van arrived on Day 1 to our stay at 8 am on dot to the Oxalis Adventure office.After waited for a few minutes, a slide show having details of trekking place, route for day 1 and day 2,Ban doong village and the instructions to follow was presented to us.Our group had 13 people from all over the world including Norway,US,Malaysia,Thailand and Korea.We got two guides, 4 porters and 2 helper guys.

"Grab your trekking shoes, choose one size larger..."
"Submit your passports in office and put the most needed items like cameras inside your dry bags to carry"

After all these instructions we all transported to a different vehicle to reach the base site from where our trek began.

Day 1 trekking started and people were walking real fast with initial set of energy.Small breaks were taken in the middle for some instructions about leeches.Leeches already got into one guy and i had a feeling that leeches were on my foot too.I took quite some time to change my socks and wear the boots again.Guide said since cyclone is looming over this place we should rush up to reach the cave before it starts pouring heavily.We crossed many small streams on the way.Forest was looking more amazing and lot of plants to see.Though we scared of poison ivy i walked fast to keep up the pace with other trekkers.We reached the village which has very few tribal people.Refreshments were kept  separately for vegetarians and non vegetarians.I gulped down whatever i could to get back energy.

After the refreshment lunch we rushed walking as it started glooming and it would be tough to enter trek if it gets dark early.There came the big river crossing.Flow was high as it started raining and two helper guys jumped in to access the current of the river.Guide instructed us to wait till rope was tied at one end of the river to help us crossing.Slowly people started crossing the river and reached other end.I crossed half way. Middle of the river was little deeper to my height and i was not able to keep my feet down so it pushed me up.I was literally hanging horizontally by holding the ropes.Helper guys jumped in and made me to cross somehow.Now reality sank in and the same scenario for my friend as well.Totally 9-10 river crossings went like this.Except my friend and I,other people crossed the rivers easily.I have always wondered on seeing the videos of rescuing people in the flood,why people are dragged in the flow while still holding the rope.I don't doubt the power of water anymore after having experienced this now.

By the time we reached Cave entrance it was already dark, we slowly entered into cave with the help of head gears and a little bridge was there to walk by holding the cave.Bats started making noises and we entered the cave finally.

Our tents were ready and it was set up neatly with sleeping bags.Instructions like how to use environment friendly toilet and how to roam around the cave in the nights were told.We changed to our dry clothes before having dinner.I found blood spots at my arm and a dead leech.I already scared to the hell whether i would be alive tomorrow as i have to cross the same number of rivers with much flow if it rains heavily.I scolded myself for agreeing to this trek as it seems like suicide mission.

Dinner was awesome.Food and stay was arranged by oxalis and included in the package itself.I relaxed a bit after having food and went to sleep immediately.It was the first time i slept in a tent inside a cave.There was a small pool beside our tents.I did not know that the sound of air would be scary until that night.There were so many thoughts running in my mind like am i fool to die here by paying this money, how will my family get my death news etc.I slept eventually.

Day 2 started with exploring the cave.We climbed the top of the cave to see the fossils, stalactite and stalagmite formations. Little bit of climbings and crawling was required.We reached the spot which was shown in a Pan movie.After all our photo shoots we came down in other way.Small stream of water was flowing down in the cave exit. It needs us to cross the pool again to reach the cave entrance.In the day light the entrance looked so small but when you reach near by, it looked big enough to let you walk in.

We had breakfast and begun our day 2.Now we all organised and formed a chain like weak person in the middle of two strong person while crossing the river.This was made sure to save time.Day 2 was comparatively better for me though uphill was tough, muddy with lot of falling downs, running fast to keep up with the group.Few were struggling to climb up though crossing river was easy for them.I ditched the idea of taking intermittent rest and climbed fast to reach the base site.Other than guides, porters were really helpful.They were the ones who came with people who lagged behind the group and stopped wherever we were taking breaths, encouraged us with whatever english words they know.

Finally i could hear the pick up van taking the first set of people from the base site.I rushed further to climb and reach the base site.I relaxed and waited for some time till my friend comes up.After a while two other people and my friend came up.After cleaning our mud filled shoes we got into our van to reach the office.After bidding goodbyes and feedback we were dropped at our hotel.There ends our once in a life time trek with oxalis.If it was not for my friend Sowmya,i would not have preferred to do this trek even in India let alone Vietnam.

Know your worth

Disclaimer: It is written by Amy chan in Huffington post.I like it so much that i can't justify her thoughts in my own words.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-chan/know-your-worth-understan_b_663194.html

We’ve all been there — feeling victimized by a friend, a boss or a lover who has treated us poorly or unfairly. It’s an easy and common tendency to blame the other, make yourself out as the innocent one, while seeking out particular people who will reaffirm that pain body within that encourages a “woe is me” mentality. But if you start to look back and analyze a bit, you may realize that the there is one common denominator in each scenario and situation. That common denominator is you.

You allow people to treat you the way they do. Your energy, confidence and attitude is the currency that others will transact with. I know many women who have settled for less, and simply “accepted” cards dealt because deep inside, they don’t believe they deserve more. I’m sure you know of someone who seems to have it all together in their life, but when it come to relationships, they just can’t seem to shake the habit of dating douche bags and douchettes.

In my life, I’ve created my destiny within my career, friendships and community. With friends, I’ve really embraced the fact that friends are all unique pieces of a pie. Some will be lifetime friends that are next to family, some are social friends, some acquaintances. I’ve learned to appreciate the various types and unique forms of value each friend brings, and as well as a system of how much and what kind of energy I invest to whom. I am blessed with the best friends ever, but that inner circle is sacred and thoughtfully selective.

However, in my relationships with men, I’ve witnessed myself apply a different system — if you can even call it a system. I’ve tolerated men who don’t appreciate me, who don’t value my heart, who take and take, who don’t call back, who have disrespected me — I’ve allowed men to not treat me what I’m worth. This is all a matter of self-esteem and my sense of self worth in the realm of being a woman in a romantic relationship. I’ve made excuses, justified and eagerly re-entered the game of push and pull with men who clearly don’t really value me much at all. And you know what, it sucks and feels pretty crappy at the end — chipping away the low self-esteem that got me there in the first place even more.

It took me 28 years of being hungry for love, even desperate for it at times, heart aches, heart tramples, picking up that phone when every cell in your body knows it’s the unhealthy thing to do, obsessing, infatuating, idealizing, you name it, for me to finally wake up and realize that my most important relationship is the one with myself.

I’ve learned to embrace self love. And while I’ll always be a perpetual student in this journey, I’ve made the decision to apply my successful method in dealing with friendships and business to how I do my relationships. I’ve stopped apologizing for who I am and have learned that I am “perfect” the way I am, right now, right here. I will constantly be growing, evolving and working on bad habits, but those flaws, those imperfections are part of the beauty that makes me, me. I can now easily recognize men who are drawn to me only for the best of me, and as Marilyn Monroe best put it, “If you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.”

If I could talk to my younger self — that girl desperate for love and therefore often blinded by ideas, fabrications and untruths in order to try and capture it, I’d tell her:

“Amy, love will come to you, when you learn to love yourself, first and foremost”.

I can’t go back in time to correct my mistakes, but I can today share what I’ve learned with younger women, some who may have a misconstrued idea that giving their body away carelessly can equal love. In the words of my wise friend Sima Kumar, “Be the gatekeeper.” Your heart is a precious gift. Your body is a temple. Be selective. Respect it and be respected. Love yourself and be loved. It you don’t respect and love yourself first, building a healthy relationship with another is like building a house with no foundation — eventually the cracks and lack of a strong base will eventually cause it to crumble.

Know your value and don’t accept being treated in a way less than you deserve. Now, I don’t mean to start going out there with unrealistic expectations, demands and a sense of entitlement. I am saying that you deserve to be treated the way you treat others, and vice versa. The minute you negotiate your self worth and accept less, you say to the universe that you don’t deserve any better, and the vicious cycle/pattern begins. Change for yourself and of course, friends and partners are great mirror reflections that help you grow. But don’t change out of the wrong reasons to appease someone or in hopes that they will like you more. If they judge you for who you are now, they aren’t your fit. I’ll end off with a quote from “Sex and the City” that is an inspiring reminder:

“But the most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. And if you can find someone to love the you you love, well, that’s just fabulous.”