On Saturday, I led a Semester-at-Sea trip with 12 students to Cat Tien National Park, northwest of Ho Chi Minh City. After a six-hour bus ride, we arrived at the Dong Nai River, where we took a ferry to the park.
That afternoon, we were taken for a hike through a "minority village." Vietnam is home to various "minority peoples" whose native tongue is other than Vietnamese. Although these people have given up their traditional way of life, they still live at a basic level – farming with rudimentary 
technology and raising cows, chickens, and goats. We walked by a Catholic Church that served the community and played with the children who wanted their pictures taken.
In the evening, we saw wild deer and small rodents in the forest. The jungle-like environment produces extremely exotic sounds made by birds, insects, and who-knows-what else. The Cat Tien National Park is the home of the extremely rare white rhinoceros. Very few people have seen one, and experts estimate that only five animals remain alive.
Sunday morning, we hiked 6 km through the seasonal wetlands to a lake famous for its crocodiles. It was very hot (how hot? HOT). The crocodiles only come out in the evening. We hiked through astonishing terrain filled with exotic trees, birds, and insects. Most memorable were the huge trees – some trees were over 700 years old.
We also encountered leeches, which our guide assured us were not poisonous. Leeches create a small hole that bleeds due to the anti-coagulant the leech injects in the wound to aid them in sucking your blood. The indigenous peoples used to drive wild buffalo into the leech filled water. So many leeches would attach themselves to the buffalo that it would bleed to death. The people then feasted on the buffalo and blood-filled leeches. When we arrived at the lake, we followed our guide's advice regarding staying clear of the water's edge.
We spent the night in small cabins under mosquito nets and were surprised at the wonderful food they served in the park eating facilities. Each day we feasted on Vietnamese cuisine, drinking plenty of bottled water to reduce dehydration.
The next day we hiked through dense bamboo thickets to rapids along the banks of the Dong Nai River. Swimming was not advised – and a student who soaked his feet in the water acquired three leeches for his trouble.
I got a chance to talk with some Vietnamese who told us about their lives during the 1980s and 1990s (hard times for many). Our guide's uncle had served in the army of South Vietnam (ARVN or Army of the Republic of Vietnam), with whom I was an advisor in 1970-1971. He had been a medical doctor but after "reunification" (the defeat of South Vietnam), he had been sent to a "re-education camp" where the labor was intense and the food inadequate. Many were starved or were worked to death. After two years, he escaped and sought aid from relatives in Central Vietnam, where he joined others in escaping by boat to the Philippines. Eventually, he made his way to Australia and a few years ago was allowed to return to visit his relatives in Vietnam – telling them the story of his survival.
I really like hiking – as did the students who signed up for this trip. Although parts of the trip were like an endurance test (and the heat was a bit overwhelming at times), this trip was my best experience in Vietnam. We were exposed to an environment that went beyond the imagination of most people.
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