November 14th: Climbing in Huu Lung
Day 32
Another perfect climbing day with a high of 26 degrees Celsius, cool and dry. Checked off several 6B’s, followed by an enormous picnic lunch at the crag. The grades are definitely on the light side, but great for the confidence. We are both getting back a little more fluidity. We were more sore climbing a couple of 5’s on day one than we were after 3 6B’s.
We finished at 4:00 today with just enough time to get back before dark. On our way down from the crag we heard the chime of bicycle bells and children laughing and discovered a couple of children from the house we parked in front of playing on our trikes.The owner of the house appeared with a sign for 50,000VND. We didn’t see the land owner who usually shows up rain or shine to collect her fee today, so we assumed that was the bill she left us and she would collect money from the house owner later. We tried to tell the house owner that we agreed on 40,000VND for the land access, and she happily accepted the money without objection.
We packed and left and after 1 minute I noticed that my mirror was missing. I interrogated the kids who were playing on our trikes, but neither fessed up. My mirror was a bit lose and I imagine that one of the children wrenched it back and forth until it came off and then thinking that they broke it, hid it and made a pact to never tell anyone. At least that’s what I would have done. Our delay gave us just enough time to get back before sundown. Tomorrow will be a mirror shopping day.
