Phong Nha-Ke Bang
The national park gets its name from a huge cave called Phong Nha and a large mountain called Ke Bang. The park is situated about a third of the way down Vietnam.
To go with all the others they have…it’s world heritage spot. Sometimes I feel like they make them up just to bump up the price tag on these places. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful and really interesting but it pretty much seems everywhere in Vietnam is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Anyway, I went to three huge caves and one small cave which I shall try to some up for you!
Phong Nha
This was a nice, easy boat ride through the cave with a bit of walking. It was pretty darn chilled.
Paradise Cave
Again, it was a nice and relaxed 2km hike into the cave. Lots of stalagmites, stalactites and some weird ones the guide said they were called halatites? Sideways stalagmites apparently, but I’m not too sure. The inside of the cave maintains a constant temperature of 22 degrees, no matter whether it’s 6 degrees or 40 outside, hence the name Paradise Cave.
Had to take a picture of that! ;)
Dark Cave (The Really Fun One!)
The adventure starts by taking a 400m zip wire across a river to the entrance of the cave. After that, it was a short swim into the cave, some walking and a mud slide (which is so fast and the stop at the bottom is so brutally abrupt). There was a bit of messing around there. Then we went further into the cave to the mud bath. It’s like the Dead Sea or zero gravity, you just float and, side note: it hurts when it’s in your eyes. I suspect someone could go to the toilet in there and no one would be none the wiser.
So after washing off in the cave’s water, it was outside to the river for more zip wires (this time into the water), an obstacle course, kayaking and general swimming. This, I would say was probably the best cave I’ve been too, and I went to Woodlands.
8 Lady Cave
This one is a bit it of a sad cave. During the war an American bomb blew rubble blocking the entrance to a cave where some locals were hiding, they were trapped and died of starvation/ dehydration. The town’s people tried to get them out but the boulders were too large. They sent water and rice down to them but were unsure if they received it.
The Village
The tiny village called Phong Nha in the middle of the national park is where I am staying. There are a few good hostels, and one Dodgy night club… like it was literally a man’s ‘house turned club’. Half way through the night after playing some English cheese music and a bit of Vietnamese techno… a wall fell down and it was a lovely garage.
Still in the same underwear, shocker! And my clothes smell like cheap, dirty cigarettes, I haven’t been smoking but they don’t have any of the laws they do in the UK so everyone smokes in bars and clubs.
I played on an open mic in front of the whole hostel, maybe 30/ 40 people. Did the classic Hallelujah, everyone was singing along and it was fantastic… if only my voice was not awful but, alas, with everyone joining in it was fine.