Vietnamese breakfast
We woke up pretty early today as we had a tour of some Phong Nha caves. Breakfast consisted of fried egg, bread, and a banana, Vietnamese style. It was actually very nice, good way to start the day, especially with the host and his family. Our tour guide picked us up around 9am, then we made our way to the cave area. She was very bubbly and friendly. Her name was Tuyen, but her English name was Chocolate, because she likes chocolate. Fair enough!
There were a variety of groups doing the same tour, so we had to do things in different orders so we didn’t clash in the caves. We saw Ben and Anna, but they were in another group unfortunately. Our group started by visiting a monkey and peacock enclosure. The peacocks were nice to look at, but the monkeys weren’t visible. After this, we continued through the forest and walked along a stream. We then came to the end of the stream and the forest opened into an awesome waterfall with a fantastic view of the surrounding forest and mountains. This was truly an amazing sight to behold.
Paradise Cave
After everyone had filled their phones up with photos of the waterfall, we did a U-turn and went back to the visitor’s entrance. Then we had a reasonable walk to the base of the mountain that contained Paradise Cave. This would be the first of two caves we’d explore. I had a chat with Chocolate on the way there, she was very friendly, and had a good life story to tell. Once we were at the bottom of Paradise Cave, we had to climb more than 500 steps to the entrance. This gave Mat and I some flashbacks to Hua Shan! I didn’t know caves were so taxing to get to. To understand what happened at Hua Shan, click here.
Once everyone had made it to the top, and sweating our asses off, we descended into darkness. The initial chamber was absolutely gigantic. We started at the top and zigzagged our way to the bottom. It was rather phenomenal, the sheer space inside a mountain. Once at the bottom of the chamber, we were able to explore the first kilometre. This cave was around 31km in total. There was a path to adhere to, but after a while, it all seemed rather similar, so the novelty wore off. The temperature was a big contrast to the outside, nice and cool in here. After we’d reached the end, took all our photos, and returned to the entrance, we headed for lunch.
For more info on Paradise Cave, head here.
Crossing the river
Lunch consisted of a large spread of various meats, vegetables, and rice. There was great variety, so something everyone liked. Everyone dug in like no tomorrow! After we’d all stuffed ourselves, it was time to change into our swimming gear. Once we’d changed, we also had to don our safety gear: life jacket and a safety helmet. Then, we all walked to a tower which was overlooking the river. We queued up on the tower steps, and at the top was the zip line. It was roughly 400m long, across the river, and onto the other side. When it was my go, it was pretty thrilling to be honest. Although when you get to the other end, I thought I was going to do a back flip because of my momentum.
Anyway, once everyone was here, we attempted to get into some kayaks that were off shore. This involved either trying not to get wet by slowly descending a very muddy slope, or just thinking sod it and jumping in the water. Most tried the former, and failed. Once people we in the kayaks (some were still hanging out with one leg in, grasping for dear life), we started down the river. However, our guide shouted us to go the other way, towards the cave entrance. It was another farce trying to get everyone out of the kayaks and onto a slippery dock. The dock was connected with a wooden walkway which extended into Dark Cave.
Dark Cave
Now, we were at the entrance to the second of two caves. This cave really was dark inside, so we were all given head torches to wear. The wooden walkway had inclines, declines, and was downright slippery. In fact, Mat slipped over on his arse before we even got in the cave. Mind you, my legs were tense the whole way, as if I were walking on ice. We got so far into the cave before we had to descend into water. The water was rather chilly, and it felt all the colder as it rose up to chest level. After we reached land again, we traversed a small obstacle course which was muddy and slippery as hell. Up slopes, down slopes, on your bum, through knee high puddles of mud. I suppose it’s all right if you’re the first group, but it’s difficult if you’re the last.
Eventually, we made it to the end, and this was a proper mud bath. It was a rather cosy chamber, and the second half of it was waist high mud. At random points there were pot holes that you could innocently walk into. Everyone had a great time, covering themselves entirely with mud and laughing to their heart’s content! Apparently though, the mud is good for your skin. The true challenge was still to come. Now we had to get back. After having effectively lubed ourselves with mud, the already slippery slopes were twice as bad. Essentially we had to claw our way up some slopes. It was a good feeling when we reached the clear water again and could wash ourselves clean. Very satisfying feeling.
Water fun
Once we’d reached the exit of the cave, we boarded our kayaks once more and began sailing down river. After a few hundred metres, and on the other side of the river, there were a few ‘machines’ we could use. The first was a smaller zip line that went from the shore, to about 3/4 of the way across. Most people let go just before a ‘stopper’ on the line, this was to make sure no one could carry on into the mountain face. However, I didn’t know this and went full force, almost doing a back flip whilst holding on to the handle. Mat did the same, and I think he swallowed some water because he wasn’t having fun swimming back to shore.
There was also a seesaw/swing contraption where two people used their weight to increase the height of the swing, then the person on the river side jumped. It was quite anticlimactic though, you thought you’d get launched in the air. Instead you went about 1 metre higher than usual and flopped in. After everyone had finished in the water, we went back to the changing rooms for a shower and into our normal clothes. Once everyone was sorted, we headed back to the hostel. It was nice to sit down and rest, as well as take in the mountainous views.
Later on in the evening, we went for food with Ben and Anna, as well as a Lithuanian couple on their honeymoon. They were in the same caves tour group today. After having some delicious dinner, we ended up at a popular hostel down the road. It had music, a bar, pool tables, and more. We sat at a table with some drinks and played cards. Everyone had a wicked time playing, as well as chatting.
