The next stop on my journey from north to south Vietnam was Phong Nha national park; a stunning expanse of mountains and caves snuggled amongst lush green fields and rice paddies. Tourists only started coming here four years ago so there are only a handful of places to stay; we'd been recommended to go to Easy Tiger hostel however they didn't have any room because our visit coincided with the run up to 'Tet' which is the name for the Vietnamese New Year (this is the same as the Chinese New Year which follows the lunar calendar). This national welcoming of 'the year of the goat' turned out to be quite a disturbance for our travels over the course of the next few weeks as it's very important to the Vietnamese; they prepare for it for weeks, party like crazy, close their businesses and increase prices. Imagine Christmas time back home without the presence of big businesses and chains who pay their staff extra to work over the holidays (the vast majority of businesses in Asia are small, family run operations). The mind-blowing scenery of the national park just screamed at us to explore it so we rented motor bikes and navigated our way up and down the winding roads of the Vietnamese countryside whilst pretending to be Jeremy Clarkson and Co. (nailed it).
The number one activity on the agenda at the national park was to visit the caves. There are several on offer but we'd heard that some, such as Paradise Cave, simply involved walking through artificially lit caverns and paying through the nose for the privilege - no thanks! Instead we opted to visit Dark Cave, exactly as the ominous name suggests it is pitch black and full of adventure! We donned life jackets and head torches and began by zip lining into a turquoise lagoon at the cave mouth, we then scrambled through the cave and swam in the cool water of the dark cavern - wow!! Next we were led through a series of narrow passage ways deeper and deeper into the cave; we asked ourselves why the ground and walls were getting increasingly slippery and slimy, what was it?? It turned out to be mud! We were led to a big pool of thick mud where we plopped right in and proceeded to float and roll around; this was probably one of the most bizarre and fun experiences of my life, I imagine the weightless feeling we had was similar to floating in space! Afterwards we kayaked in the lagoon outside to another set of zip lines...serious fun, people!
We'd booked our ticket (with a massively inflated price - thanks for that Tet!) to get to our next destination however the bus didn't leave until 5am the next day so, being stingy travellers, we decided not to book a room for the night and instead stay awake and hang around in the communal area of the Easy Tiger hostel. Crabby and tired we made our way to the booking office and waited for our ride. A bus finally rocked up an hour late and the driver was extremely rude pushing us out the way as we tried to board saying there was no room despite us having booked in advance! We deduced that because of Tet the bus had picked up extra locals; we had to wait an additional two hours for an alternative bus which then kicked us off a few hours later at the wrong town where we had to wait three hours for another bus. The drama didn't end there. An hour in to the journey we stopped in the middle of nowhere where everyone was kicked off again and told to swap with the people from yet another bus for no apparent reason! It was 9pm when we finally arrived in Hoi An (we were told we'd arrive at 11am) and I hadn't slept for thirty eight hours plus I'd previously had a succession of sleepless nights due to barking dogs and rock hard beds; yes, travelling is an unbelievably incredible experience but it does get extremely frustrating when you constantly have no control over basic things like sleep, food and transport.
We arrived by bus at 4am and this was our view of the sunrise from our balcony once we'd finally found a place to stay at 7am.
Phong Nha. If you look closely you can spot locals with their trademark conical hats working in the fields.
Top Gear: eat your heart out!
I'm not sure we've got the hang of how to sit on bikes...
The number one activity on the agenda at the national park was to visit the caves. There are several on offer but we'd heard that some, such as Paradise Cave, simply involved walking through artificially lit caverns and paying through the nose for the privilege - no thanks! Instead we opted to visit Dark Cave, exactly as the ominous name suggests it is pitch black and full of adventure! We donned life jackets and head torches and began by zip lining into a turquoise lagoon at the cave mouth, we then scrambled through the cave and swam in the cool water of the dark cavern - wow!! Next we were led through a series of narrow passage ways deeper and deeper into the cave; we asked ourselves why the ground and walls were getting increasingly slippery and slimy, what was it?? It turned out to be mud! We were led to a big pool of thick mud where we plopped right in and proceeded to float and roll around; this was probably one of the most bizarre and fun experiences of my life, I imagine the weightless feeling we had was similar to floating in space! Afterwards we kayaked in the lagoon outside to another set of zip lines...serious fun, people!
Zip lining selfie.
I took my waterproof camera but I wasn't sure if it was mud-proof!
Washing off after the mud bath (that water was clear before we got to it).
Walking into the unknown.
We'd booked our ticket (with a massively inflated price - thanks for that Tet!) to get to our next destination however the bus didn't leave until 5am the next day so, being stingy travellers, we decided not to book a room for the night and instead stay awake and hang around in the communal area of the Easy Tiger hostel. Crabby and tired we made our way to the booking office and waited for our ride. A bus finally rocked up an hour late and the driver was extremely rude pushing us out the way as we tried to board saying there was no room despite us having booked in advance! We deduced that because of Tet the bus had picked up extra locals; we had to wait an additional two hours for an alternative bus which then kicked us off a few hours later at the wrong town where we had to wait three hours for another bus. The drama didn't end there. An hour in to the journey we stopped in the middle of nowhere where everyone was kicked off again and told to swap with the people from yet another bus for no apparent reason! It was 9pm when we finally arrived in Hoi An (we were told we'd arrive at 11am) and I hadn't slept for thirty eight hours plus I'd previously had a succession of sleepless nights due to barking dogs and rock hard beds; yes, travelling is an unbelievably incredible experience but it does get extremely frustrating when you constantly have no control over basic things like sleep, food and transport.
God!... Jennifer!...no sleep and then mud bath then no sleep...at least your skin will be great despite the sleep deprivation!...caves look fab...do you remember the caves we visited when you were all little? x
ReplyDeleteYes I have an obsession with caves, perhaps that's where it came from x
DeleteHaven't written on your blog for a while! (not because I haven't been following, but Google is a nightmare and keeps freezing!!) Anyway looks like your having an absolutely fabulous time- Looks cold where you are? Your moped pics brought back memories of our adventures in Thailand xxx
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteYeh I was cold but I'm in the heat again now thankfully! Yeh renting bikes is the best way to see a new country, I haven't been on roads as busy as Samui again though! X
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