The fifteenth week

Day 101-108

On January 15th we drove to the imperial city of Huế. On the way from Da Nang to Huế you cross the Hải Vân Pass (the Cloud Pass). It was absolutely gigantic beautiful!! Great view of the sea, green mountain slopes on the other side and a great road with beautiful (hairpin) curves in between! Every now and then you could see a waterfall finding its way into the valley.

The three presenters of the series “Top Gear” drove over this pass in a Vietnam special. Therefore he is now very famous. In fact, we saw many cyclists and motorcycle groups. Shortly before Huế we saw a police checkpoint. I kept my eyes on the road and hoped for the best. It also happened because we weren't stopped! Since we don't have a motorcycle license, we're actually not allowed to drive in Vietnam. However, 90% of tourists ride scooters illegally. The police know that. Now what makes matters worse is that the beginning of February is the Lunar New Year. That's where you give yourself a gift. So around New Year the police stop more tourists and take bribes. That's why we currently only have the equivalent of €20 in our wallet. The rest is hidden.
In Huế there is the imperial citadel, which was built from 1804 by the first emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty. There were constant changes, conversions and renaming until the last emperor had to abdicate in 1945. The model of the citadel was the Forbidden City in China. Therefore, there is a lot of Chinese architecture and part of the citadel is also called the “forbidden city”. We borrowed an audio guide and walked around. Unfortunately some buildings were closed for renovation. But there was enough to see in terms of palaces, pagodas and gates, all of which are detailed and lovingly designed. You can often find mother-of-pearl incorporated into dark wood, but also porcelain that has been placed into a flower.

After 2-3 hours our feet were flat, our heads were full of impressions and our stomachs were empty.
On January 17th we continued to Vịnh Mốc. There are tunnels there where an entire village sought shelter while the Americans dropped bombs above ground. During the Vietnam War, the Americans wanted to turn the Vịnh Mốc area into “no-man land”. So bomb everything you can. Because this was roughly the border between North Vietnam (communist, supported by Russia and China) and South Vietnam (democratic, supported by America). The residents of Vịnh Mốc built kilometers of trenches and a huge tunnel system in which to live and work. There was a meeting hall, cisterns, toilets, a hospital, teaching and even performances. The tunnel system can now be viewed in a visitor park.

There were several exits or Entrances. You had to start at input/output 3. It was very poorly lit, so you had to use your cell phone flashlight. I read that a visitor in the tunnel system fell into a bunker for drilling bombs (this bunker was even deeper) because the clay steps were so worn out that they became a slide. He almost didn't come up anymore.

The tunnels have 3 levels. The toilet and the cistern were found on the lowest level.

We walked through the tunnels and sometimes came out at entrance/exit 6 or at entrance/exit 10.

There was also a plan of the tunnel system. And so we thought the following: why shouldn't we walk to entrance/exit 7, which is near the visitor park gate. The path to entrance/exit 7 was further. And you know it: the way to the goal is always longer than the way back. The tunnel was now completely unlit. You also had to pass a junction at one point. Actually nothing crazy. The tunnel to entrance/exit 7 became more and more narrow and I felt more claustrophobic. What if the tunnel collapses NOW? What if we get lost? We didn't have to write down our names anywhere so that at the end of the day the staff would know that someone was still missing! The tunnel to entrance/exit 7 was buried. So we had to turn back anyway. Did we really walk this way? Yes, it has to be. There is a stick leaning against the wall here, which must have been left by someone who marked the path (so they weren't the first with the "brilliant" idea). But have we already seen the stick? Why does the journey suddenly take so long?! I walked faster and faster, Ivar, who had to walk even more hunched over than me, could barely keep up. He had to keep calming me down. However, I only calmed down when I saw lights again. We left the tunnels through entrance/exit 5. On the way back we saw that entrances/exits 7, 9, 13 (all near the visitor park entrance) all had bars to were. So we wouldn't have gotten out anyway! In the evening we were in a nice place above the sea and enjoyed the beautiful evening sun. What a day!

On January 18th we continued to Phong Nha. The village is located in a national park and you can visit lots of caves. On the way there we saw a police checkpoint. But there was no way to turn beforehand and turning around would have been very noticeable. So keep your eyes straight ahead and speed past. It worked in Huế! But you couldn't miss the police officer with the signal stick in his hand who stepped onto the road and signaled us to stop. I whispered another hearty “Fuck!” into my helmet and pulled over to the side of the road. But the police officer waved that we should continue driving and a second police officer said “Go!”. We didn't let anyone tell us that twice and drove away with our hearts beating fast. A little thrill on the edge! Then we had coffee in the next village. A calming green tea would have been more appropriate. The rest of the way was uneventful, except that I ran into a bee or something, which immediately stung.
In Phong Nha we stayed in a very nice and nice homestay. We rested for a while and I jumped into the pool in the evening. The next day we visited the Paradise Cave. A small entrance gave you no idea what was to follow.

The Paradise Cave is huge, beautiful and full of stalactites and stalagmites. Partly white, these have already joined together to form important pillars. A friend from Bremen, who studies geology, later explained to us that the growth of the stalactites and mites depends on how many drops are released. So how much water seeps through the cave ceiling. Growth can be less than 1cm per year. If you look at how big and how wide the columns are, they are estimated to be a few million years old. Incomprehensible! The Paradise Cave was only discovered in 2005! The researchers thought it was 5 km long. On the way back they discovered the remaining 26 km. At 31km, the paradise cave is one of the longest in Asia. But we were only allowed to visit about 1 km, on closed paths.

In the evening we hopped into the pool again and ate pizza. On January 20th. We visited the Tiên Sơn and Phong Nha caves. You have to take a boat there, which you can also share with other travelers. By chance we went to the ticket counter. And there was actually a couple from Argentina standing there. There was also a couple from Ireland. This means that the cost of the boat trip would be divided between 6 people. Great! The Tiên Sơn cave is smaller but full of stalactites and stalagmites, some of which glittered beautifully! The sparkle comes from the calcite in the stone, according to the geologist friend. This cave is a dry cave and we had to climb up the mountain from the boat. There were many steps...

A river flows through the Phong Nha cave. So we had to get back on the boat. To be honest, this cave wasn't as nice as the previous two. So I won't say too many words about it.

Back in the village of Phong Nha we had lunch with the Irish couple. At 4 p.m., but whatever. It's interesting how you can talk all the time without asking people's names.

Today, Sunday January 21st, I jumped into the pool in the morning. We would have liked to extend our accommodation for another night, but it was already fully booked. So we had to change accommodation. We went to a hostel.Today we went to the botanical garden. It was really nice to hike there, not on concrete paths, but on the forest floor! We decided on the route, which takes 3 hours. We say squirrels and lots of butterflies. We mainly hear the birds. We would have liked to see more monkeys. But to be honest, if I were a monkey, I'd rather be chilling deep in the jungle where no people smelling of mosquito spray and sweat come by. We saw old trees, bomb craters (yes, there was a lot of bombing here too) and a beautiful waterfall! You could also swim there. But there was a fair wind, so we didn't feel like swimming.

At the top of the waterfall you had a wonderful view of the karst mountains!

In the evening there was a free BBQ in the hostel. It's crazy: the bed in the 8-bed room costs €5 and dinner (at least on Sundays) and breakfast (every day) is free! And the BBQ was good!