Descending the Dragon     
Mong Cai to Hoi An, Vietnam (Asia)
April-May 2001

Photos Rob Howard


My initial request to bring kayaks to Vietnam was greeted by the government in Hanoi with five simple words: 'That will be quite impossible.' Unprecedented, unnecessary, unsafe, unwise, he continued. More than a year of negotiating followed, as well as a cash imbursement ('filming permit'), before I was allowed to ship the kayaks and apply for visas for a five-person team.

My goal was straightforward: To kayak the coastline from near Mong Cai on the China border to Hoi An, just south of Danang. I was drawn to Vietnam by just how little I knew about life there post-1975. Steeped in the country's history, I arrived with eyes wide open, repeating over and over the mantra 'it's a nation, not a war...a nation, not a war...a nation, not a war...'

TEAM: Jon Bowermaster   Peter Getzels   Polly Green
Rob Howard   Ngan Nguyen




One of the commonalities of my sea kayak expeditions is that wherever we go, people are not surprised to see us there in boats. They might not be familiar with the shape or design, the materials or the colors, but they always understand what it's like to be on the water, to be navigating in a small boat.