21 June: monkey bridge "cau khi"

This is what is called "cầu khỉ" (cau khi) in Vietnamese. Translated literally one way, it means "bridge monkey." I've always delighted in the mental image of monkeys traipsing across these thin wooden sticks (or planks, in some cases), and I've found much fun in running along these things myself when I was in VN a few years ago. I don't know why monkey bridges are called monkey bridges and if I'd done my research, I'd have an explanation. Unfortunately, I do not know what "cầu khỉ" really refers to but I doubt it's because there ever were monkeys climbing these things.

This particular photo was taken when my cousins and I went south of Saigon to a place called Cần Giờ (Can Gio). We rode motorbikes for two hours, crossed the ferry, and drove by crews that were blasting their way through mountainsides. We ate waterchestnuts that were sold along the way by young children. (It was incredible, actually. I sat on the back of my cousin's motorbike (anh Thiên Lọc) and as we wound along the highway, I saw these young kids who looked like they were 8 or 9 or even younger standing on the side, spaced out several meters away from each other, holding dirty ice chests that held the cold water chestnuts. My cousin asked if I wanted some and then, in the middle of the thankfully deserted highway on top of this mountain, he spun a u-turn and stopped to buy a bag.)

We spent the day riding in canoes, fishing alligators, visiting bats in trees, fishing crabs (which we then purchased, cooked and then consumed at the fresh seafood restaurant), and getting bitten by mosquitoes. I crossed about four monkey bridges that day, and never fell off once. At the end of the day, we drove back in the pouring rain, with me wrapped in a blue plastic raincoat my cousin always packs in his motorcycle. We shared the road with semi-trucks and wild motorists who, like us, could not see 10 feet in front of them. Shielded behind my cousin, I could not see anything except for the rain, and on each side, far in the distance, I saw rain falling in dark streaks.

By the time we reached Saigon, we were drenched in rain, but we stopped for fresh squeezed nước mia (nuoc mia, sugar cane juice) and ate bò bía (fresh spring rolls).

It was the most terrifying and exciting experience. I wish I could do it all over again.