On my trip to Ha Long Bay, our boat cruised past towering limestone mountains, their immense scale growing ever more imposing as we travelled deeper. When night fell, we anchored among other ships, surrounded by these silent giants. Spending the night in their midst was humbling. Only at dawn did I truly grasp their magnitude; waking among these timeless mountains deepened my appreciation for their ancient endurance and highlighted the brevity of human life. For thousands of years, these