We once again traveled by bus. It wasn’t comfortable, and for some reason the toilet break was scheduled in the first hour of the five hour journey, but we arrived in Phong Nha before midday and it wasn’t too expensive. We were staying just outside town at Phong Nha Dawn homestay, and luckily for us we didn’t have to find our own way there as our host TuTu was happy to pick us up. We didn’t exactly travel in style, the rustic blue farm vehicle passed us at least three times before we realised it was our ride. We eventually were flagged down and we climbed our way into the truck bed, clutching our bags and settling onto the hard bench seats provided.
Initially, our plan was to have a relaxing afternoon by the pool but after a chat with our host we realised we’d be able to fit in a small excursion too. Phong Nha is famous for it’s caves and limestone formations, and although we’d done some research before arriving we hadn’t fully fleshed out our plan - hoping that TuTu would have some pointers for us. After a quick and delicious lunch, she sketched out our options. In the end we decided to book a tour through her to visit Paradise Cave and Dark Cave the next day, and after a dip in the pool we would make our own way Phong Nha Cave that afternoon.
Phong Nha Cave can only be accessed by boat and helpfully for us, the starting point - Phong Nha Tourist Center - was only a couple of kilometres from our accommodation. The ticketing system was confusing, entry was 150,000 per person and on top of this there was a 550,000 boat fee which was split between everyone on the boat. What’s not explained is that if we wanted to split the boat cost between a group we would need to find them ourselves, As if it was an hour till the last boats would depart and there wasn’t anyone else around we decided it wasn’t worth waiting around a potentially not finding anyone and just split the cost between the three of us instead.
When I imagined a scenic boat river along a rural river, with bison peacefully grazing along the banks and stunning karst limestone mountain ranges towering along side us, I never thought it would be so loud - but it was. The boat's engine roared noisily, making conversation almost impossible as we navigated obstacles in the river, winding our way towards the caves ahead. If this was a movie, the camera would have focused in on my unsettled and unsuspecting face, a small detail that would foreshadow quite possibly my worst traveling experience since dysentery in India circa 2019 (see future blog for the full details on that and this one for dysentery related adventures).
As we finally reached the cave's entrance, the tone of our journey shifted. The engine was shut down, it's rumbling replaced with the rhythmic sound of a paddle dipping repeatedly into the water as one of the boat's crew manually propelled us into the darkness of the cave. The roof of our boat was retracted, revealing the vast ceiling far above, stalactites reaching down from the ceiling, water slowly dripping from their tips.
We were lucky with our timing: we didn't have the place to ourselves but judging by the moored empty boats we passed on the river (all identical) it could have been much, much busier. For the first half of the cave journey we were met by only one or two boats, both brimming with sightseers, coming in the opposite direction. Eventually, as our boat was comparatively light with just three of us in it versus the twelve passengers the other boats held, we did catch up to some other boats but as everyone seemed captivated with staring around the seemingly never-ending cave, this didn't detract from the experience at all.
Before our boat exited the cave we were dropped off to a small platform, giving us a chance to stretch our legs and explore for ourselves. The path out didn't run exactly parallel to the river but cut up into the side of the cave, we followed winding stairs carved into the rock face, and walked around columns of stone formed by stalactites and stalagmites slowly joining over hundreds of thousands of years. The sense of awe and peace we felt while exploring the cave shattered when we exited straight into a market, vendors instantly clamouring for our attention.
Soon enough we found our noisy boat again, which chugged it's way back to our starting point. Not quite hungry yet, but not ready to head back for the night we walked through the town in search of one of the many riverside bars we'd seen while on the boat. We eventually found one which met all of our priorities (beer, shade and a view of the river), and settled in to lazily watch the world go by.
I wasn't feeling my best when I woke up the next morning - I had a sneaky suspicion that it could have been due to the sub-optimal dinner we had in town the night before - but as our booked trip that day cost us 1,450,000 VND each I pushed through and went on it anyway. We were picked up at 8.30am, and as the first ones on the bus we got a lovely tour of the town before we had everyone gathered and we were on our way.
The first stop was the botanical gardens. We were aware before arriving that calling it "botanical gardens" was a bit of a misnomer, it was however, an explorable part of the national park bordering Cambodia that had been helpfully de-mined to make it safe enough for tourists to go hiking. We didn't spend long here, we first were shown to a small building full of slowly rotting taxidermy - all of the specimens were apparently failed rehabilitation attempts. Passing over a bridge made of two bamboo poles, we had a short walk through the jungle to the top of a waterfall. To see the waterfall properly we scrambled down a well-worn (to the point of absent) path, using the precariously attached ladders and ropes to help us.
Then we left.
I can imagine that the botanical gardens are a great place to spend the day, there's longer hikes, and swimming holes, interesting fauna and flora, miles and miles to explore. The way we did it however, it felt like filler to me, another bullet point on the tour itinerary to round it out and make it seem more impressive.
Paradise Cave, however, was something special. Our tour guide procured our tickets, and after going through the typical Vietnamese system of having them checked two or three times, we made our way to the buggies that would take us up the first portion of the mountain where Paradise Cave can be found. Before we walked up the remaining half kilometre, it was time for a quick geography lesson and safety briefing. Once we finally made it to the cave's entrance - a 500m uphill walk is a lot harder than it sounds in the humidity of a Vietnamese jungle - we took a minute to cool down and catch our breath before starting down the 480 steps into the vast cave below.
Discovered in 2005 by a local man, the cave was later fully explored by the British Cave Research Association, revealing its impressive length of 31km. Although it would have been exciting to see the entire cave, our time limited our exploration to the first 1km. The area which we were actually allowed to explore was conveniently equipped with walkways and although there was ample lighting, it was hard to get any photos that truly capture the cave's grandeur. The expansive space we stepped down into, with it's stalactite covered ceiling and floor reminiscent of a moon landing site, was other-worldly. It's amazing how much cave formations can look like something alive, to me i saw jellyfish everywhere, their tendrils majestically flowing down, floating in the dank cave air. Ben thinks they look like mushrooms... weirdo.
The last cave of the trip, after a massive and surprisingly good lunch, was Dark Cave. As we had to either zip-line or kayak to this cave, Mum decided to sit this one out and relax with a beer instead. The process was long, first we had to get changed, then we had to get locker keys, then sign a waiver, next was getting fitted with a harness and hard hat (good twenty minute wait for this), then another briefing, finally was getting in the queue to the zip-line itself.
Let me tell you, waiting in line after line after line, whilst already being incredibly anxious does not help quiet that anxiety in the least. Although there is a trope that most backpackers fall into the "carpe diem", "live fast die young", "extreme sports lover" category, I certainly do not - so for me a 400m zip-line was pushing the boundaries. Although I thought I was keeping it all together, Ben overheard someone express how "sorry for me" they felt as they saw my trembling legs climb the ladder to the platform we hurled ourselves off of. Turns out, I actually quite like zip-lining - I could have done without the thunder rumbling through the air but the feeling itself was like nothing I had experienced before.
Once our group had all made it to the cave it was time to turn on our headlamps and head in. The first area was fairly open, we waded through a river until we reached a bank littered with life jackets. There, we removed ours too and followed our guide down a narrow mud lined tunnel, leaving natural daylight far behind. Soon, after almost sliding over a hundred time or more, we reached a small chamber filled with watery mud. It's amazing how quickly a group of adults turn into a group of children when all there is to do, is to play with mud. Mud was thrown and smeared, and no one cared at all. We turned off the lights and sat in the complete darkness, and because of the playfulness that had taken over the group, it wasn't creepy at all.
Soon it was time to exit the cave, as we did the sky opened and the rain that had been threatening for days finally began to fall. Although we had the option to kayak back to the starting point we decided to swim back instead, we were going to get wet anyway!
Feeling utterly exhausted, we stayed in that evening and joined in on the family meal that our host TuTu had arranged. The options were phenomenal and, in hindsight, we were disappointed that we'd turned her down when she invited us the night before. The standout for me was a banana curry - a real surprise as i detest bananas with a passion. Some kitchen wizardry and a healthy dose of spice turned my idea of a kitchen nightmare into something truly delicious.
After one more dip in the pool the next morning, it was time to head to Dong Hoi and get ourselves ready for the night train we had booked.
Trip date : May 2024
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