Phong Nha National Park - My favorite place so far

At 6 a.m. we arrive in Dong Hoi. Dong Hoi is located at the narrowest point of Vietnam. From Dong Hoi on the South China Sea to the Laotian border it is only 40 km. In front of the train station, we have a noodle soup for breakfast. Strengthened, we walk to the bus station and immediately catch the bus that takes us to the 50 km distant Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. Our bad luck: The bus drives through the city for another hour to pick up more passengers. Every person standing on the roadside is asked if they also want to go to Phong Nha. After 2.5 hours, we finally arrive. The fact that the bus passes our accommodation and we don't have to walk for miles makes up for all the jostling.

The national park is part of the Unesco World Heritage and is known for its karst rock formations, countless caves, and waterfalls. It is the oldest karst region in Asia, one of the largest in the world, and the Son Doong Cave, the largest cave in the world, is located there. It was discovered only in 1991 and explored from 2009. Unfortunately, you can only visit it with enough money. An expedition costs $3000 per day. This is probably why more people have been on Mount Everest than in this cave.

We have rented a stilt bungalow with a pointed roof, which makes it very cozy. The accommodation has just opened recently, so everything is still very new. 

The owner still needs to improve his English, but he is extremely nice and helpful. After settling into our bungalow, we grab two bicycles and ride into the village. The owner of the accommodation explained to us how the cave visits work and where to find the boat dock. Today we want to visit the Phong Nha Cave, which you can explore by boat. When we arrive at the pier, they want to charge a parking fee for our bikes. Funny. We're talking about a village with a main street, hardly any traffic, and millions of possibilities to park your bike or scooter. Why should I pay for that? So we drive around the corner, park our bikes there, and walk back on foot. It's just ridiculous... I can only laugh out loud at something like that. We are lucky that we can join a group that has already paid for a boat. Otherwise, we would have to gather people to share the boat with, because you pay per boat, not per person. So we only have to pay for the cave. We cruise the river for about 30 minutes until we reach the cave entrance.

From now on, the engines are turned off and the ladies start rowing. One in the front, one in the back. And this is a purely female job. Sometimes you can also see a man on the boats, but he only operates the engine. The women have to do the rowing. But in general, we have the impression that women in Vietnam are responsible for physical labor. Whether it's in the fields, on construction sites, road construction, etc. Women everywhere. This may be because men often have better education and are therefore qualified for better jobs. 

The boat ride through the cave is very beautiful and relaxing. Huge stalactites hang from the ceilings and walls, and sometimes enormous caves open up in front of us. The cave is nearly 8 km long, but only the first 1.5 km can be explored. On the way back, we are dropped off at a sand dune and can walk about halfway on foot, past beautifully illuminated stalagmites and stalactites. Very nice! 

In the evening, we hop back on the bikes and cycle to the village to have dinner at the Easy Tiger Hostel. There is live music, draft beer in real mugs with handles, and very delicious international food. Curry for Max, fajitas for me. Instead of 'without onions', I unfortunately get 'without peppers'. The staff doesn't seem to have much wisdom.

The next day starts with a lot of banana pancakes, even though I'm not a fan. Why? Because I accidentally pointed to the wrong spot on the menu the day before and our host understood that as an order. Damn it. So Max has to eat even more today. And he also has to drink my coffee because we don't want to offend the nice guy. 

For the next morning, we order Pho! After breakfast, we grab a motorbike and head to the 25 km distant Paradise Cave. You can book a tour for $50, but I prefer to go on our own. Especially when the journey takes us through such a beautiful landscape. This is one of those cases where I happily let Max do the driving because I'd rather enjoy the view :) After a few kilometers, we pass a checkpoint with a barrier. We duck once and pass under the barrier. Now we are officially in the national park and the landscape is a dream again. Oh, I love these karst rock formations. Some are bare, vertically rising walls, some are overgrown with bushes and trees. In between, there are rivers or dense jungle. 

When we arrive at the cave around 9 a.m., it turns out that we are too late. 2 tour buses are already parked in the parking lot and a Thai tour group is following the flag-waving guide towards the electric cart. And they all wear the same caps. I thought only Chinese people do that... So we march quickly towards the cave, hoping that the elderly Thai tourists still need something. But since there is still a few kilometers walk to the cave, they catch up with us in their carts. But then, at the end of the road and at the beginning of the mountain, we sense our chance! The cave entrance is at the top of the mountain and can only be reached on foot. So we squeeze past the chirping seniors step by step and still reach the cave entrance ahead of them. Phew! Now quickly into the cave and cool down xD
Paradise Cave is 31 km long and the first km can be explored on wooden walkways. The dimensions are truly gigantic.

After our little cave expedition, we continue through the national park. Our destination is the Botanical Garden, although the term is misleading. It's actually a forest and a waterfall. You can choose between different routes through the forest, and the destination is always the waterfall. We opt for the longest route, which takes about 3 hours. At the beginning, we walk on paved stones, which I really dislike, but after a few hundred meters, the path is no longer paved, and we clamber through the forest. Sometimes we even have to climb :) Yay! The path takes us past some small streams with a few small waterfalls, uphill, downhill, and sometimes through quite overgrown parts where we are unsure if that is still the path. Most of the time, we have to watch where we step. But we often just stop to look around. Something like that excites me more than caves. And it's also cheaper. Especially when there's a vine swing tempting us. And it actually holds us! Next to the vine swing, however, there is a mean tree that attacks me. A tree whose bark in the lower two meters is covered with sharp thorns. It must have some great fruits that need protection. Of course, I grab it full on when I try to hold on. After that, I always look where I'm reaching. Learned something again.

Before we reach the waterfall, we pass a viewpoint from where you can overlook the whole valley, including the mountains in the background. But the waterfall is also impressive and even has a pool. This is the first time we have encountered other people on our bush tour.

In the evening, we go back to the Easy Tiger. Is it the draft beer in real mugs that makes us come back?

On our third day, we set off again on the motorbike. Oh yeah, this time we have Pho for breakfast <3
Via satellite, we spotted a small village in the national park that we want to visit. We could only find organized tours to such villages through regular internet research, but we want to do it on our own. The route is 50 km long and takes us across the national park. The village is just before the Laotian border. The route is even more exciting than the one from the previous day. It goes up and down, and with slopes of 17%, our motorbike struggles with the two of us big Europeans on top. But we make it up the hills, even though the speedometer needle is dropping dangerously fast. But since the speedometer is completely broken, we don't attach much importance to it. So we drive through the countryside for 1.5 to 2 hours. After we have left the last caves accessible to tourists behind us, we pass no more houses, let alone a village or a gas station. In between, we drive through clouds that hang low between the vertically rising mountains, and we even think that it's raining. But everything is dry again behind the next bend. We are super happy and enjoy the exciting ride and beautiful landscape. 

When we arrive at the village after a while, it turns out that we are too late. 2 tour buses are already parked in the parking lot and a Thai tour group is following the flag-waving guide towards the electric cart. And they all wear the same caps. I thought only Chinese people do that... So we quickly march towards the cave, hoping that the elderly Thai tourists still need something. But since there is still a few kilometers walk to the cave, they catch up with us in their carts. But then, at the end of the road and at the beginning of the mountain, we sense our chance! The cave entrance is at the top of the mountain and can only be reached on foot. So we squeeze past the chirping seniors step by step and still reach the cave entrance ahead of them. Phew! Now quickly into the cave and cool down xD
Paradise Cave is 31 km long and the first km can be explored on wooden walkways. The dimensions are truly gigantic.

After our little cave expedition, we continue through the national park. Our destination is the Botanical Garden, although the term is misleading. It's actually a forest and a waterfall. You can choose between different routes through the forest, and the destination is always the waterfall. We opt for the longest route, which takes about 3 hours. At the beginning, we walk on paved stones, which I really dislike, but after a few hundred meters, the path is no longer paved, and we clamber through the forest. Sometimes we even have to climb :) Yay! The path takes us past some small streams with a few small waterfalls, uphill, downhill, and sometimes through quite overgrown parts where we are unsure if that is still the path. Most of the time, we have to watch where we step. But we often just stop to look around. Something like that excites me more than caves. And it's also cheaper. Especially when there's a vine swing tempting us. And it actually holds us! Next to the vine swing, however, there is a mean tree that attacks me. A tree whose bark in the lower two meters is covered with sharp thorns. It must have some great fruits that need protection. Of course, I grab it full on when I try to hold on. After that, I always look where I'm reaching. Learned something again.

Before we reach the waterfall, we pass a viewpoint from where you can overlook the whole valley, including the mountains in the background. But the waterfall is also impressive and even has a pool. This is the first time we have encountered other people on our bush tour.

In the evening, we go back to the Easy Tiger. Is it the draft beer in real mugs that makes us come back?

On our third day, we set off again on the motorbike. Oh yeah, this time we have Pho for breakfast <3
Via satellite, we spotted a small village in the national park that we want to visit. We could only find organized tours to such villages through regular internet research, but we want to do it on our own. The route is 50 km long and takes us across the national park. The village is just before the Laotian border. The route is even more exciting than the one from the previous day. It goes up and down, and with slopes of 17%, our motorbike struggles with the two of us big Europeans on top. But we make it up the hills, even though the speedometer needle is dropping dangerously fast. But since the speedometer is completely broken, we don't attach much importance to it. So we drive through the countryside for 1.5 to 2 hours. After we have left the last caves accessible to tourists behind us, we pass no more houses, let alone a village or a gas station. In between, we drive through clouds that hang low between the vertically rising mountains, and we even think that it's raining. But everything is dry again behind the next bend. We are super happy and enjoy the exciting ride and beautiful landscape.
Until it hisses and the motorbike starts swaying. We have a flat tire. Great. In the middle of nowhere and we haven't seen a house in an hour. Actually a crappy situation, but we are extremely lucky and after another 2 km drive, we reach the village. Phew! We wouldn't have gotten much further with the flat tire. And then Laos would have been there anyway. Because we don't have cell phone reception here either, it would have been really bad if we hadn't found the village. Although no one there speaks English, it's pretty obvious what our problem is. Laughing, the villagers wave us on until we reach the house of the mechanic. He doesn't have a workshop, but having a flat tire is an everyday problem in Asia. The tire is quickly dismantled with German tools and the tube is removed. Repairing the huge tear is no longer possible, but he has a new tube on hand, which he puts in for us. We're in for 3.80 €. Now that's what I call a fair price!

Now it's time for lunch. A few meters away, there are a few plastic tables and stools. That is always a sure sign of food. And indeed, we get a great lunch for two people for 100,000 dong (3.80 €). Soup, vegetables, pork, boiled and smoked pork, fried eggs, and rice as much as we want. We're practically rolling back onto the road afterwards. Now it's time to explore the village. Pigs are lying around everywhere, chickens, dogs, cats. And it seems like they all get along very well. Including the countless children, some of whom go completely hysterical when we walk past their houses. We can't stop calling out 'Hello'. The adults are a bit more reserved. Except for the drunk ones. Unfortunately, we encounter some very drunk men in the middle of the day. They stumble with every step, stink to high heaven, and touch us. Yuck! But we don't want to show that openly. So we pretend to be friendly, find out quickly, and walk away. Although the drunk men follow us, they have to cover a much longer distance due to their zigzag movements. 

After spending some time in the village, we head back. After a few uphill and downhill sections, the speedometer is practically at zero. Now it's time to let it roll. Fortunately, there are more downhill sections than uphill. The next civilization is the Eight Ladies Cave. After what feels like an eternity, where we cross our fingers with every uphill section that the engine stays on, we arrive at the cave. Our question if we can get fuel here is initially denied. But when we open the tank lid and shake the motorbike, the guards seem to feel sorry for us. Using a water bottle and a hose, the guys siphon some fuel from their tank for us, and they don't even want money for it! Even though we would have paid ANY price at this point. Super nice and we can continue driving :) Since the next gas station is still 45 minutes away, I still have to roll a lot, but we make it. So much luck in one day :) But I have to say: We would have been really stupid if we had to push that stupid thing to the gas station :-D