Loud insects are the cicadas. To scratch their legs and sing their song is all they care about. They are without a doubt the loudest here in Cát Tiên National Park (no sight of mmericans here).
A bit further down the jungly path, a guard sleeps in his hammock next to his AK-47 Kalashnikov, ready for action. I wake him up and politely offer my phone with a translation app that says:
Bạn có thể mở cổng dây thép gai để tôi có thể đến cây cầu tiếp theo được không?
In my mind, this should explain that I need to go thru that barbed-wired gate that blocks me from reaching the next bridge and getting me out of this jungle. He doesn’t seem to care and there is no way he wants to let me and my Giant bicycle thru. But I’m stubborn and after some 20 minutes of “I can’t go back 50kms and get the ferry, I need to reach this bridge which is only 10kms away” the barbed-wired gate magically opens and he’s too tired to even negotiate a bribe.
Cát Tiên National Park Ferry
Cát Tiên National Park Barbed-Wire
Cát Tiên National Park Guard