Khe Sanh and Long Son

Hello everyone,
after spending the last evening in Hue in a hostel including a sports bar, we started early the next morning. Now the only question was 'Where are we actually going?' :P The next major destination was already clear, the Phong Nha National Park, but not the route. Should we continue along the coast, the slightly shorter route, or head inland into the mountains along the border with Laos. After much back and forth, we decided on the latter, as we had already traveled a lot along the coast. The bags were quickly packed (we already have a good routine by now) and soon we were sitting on the motorbike. So we set off inland and soon came the ascent along a gorge. Our Camilla easily mastered the steep roads, although occasionally in first gear;) Once we reached the top, we continued along a very well-traveled road with little traffic the entire time along a riverbed. The dams often turned the river into almost a lake and the children waved to us from the side of the road on their way home from school (it feels a bit like being a star here). Later in the afternoon we arrived at our intermediate destination, Khe Sanh. To our surprise, the sun was even shining there and we enjoyed the last rays of the afternoon sun while having a Vietnamese kebab. Today we discovered that there is only one hotel on the rest of the way to Phang Nha. However, since the journey of over 230 kilometers on the motorbike could be too long and uncomfortable, we decided to make a stop in Long Son. Today we continued up into the mountains, passing small villages with wooden huts and rising fog. We didn't encounter many other road users here, occasionally a scooter or a small truck or even a construction site. Otherwise, we only had to share the road with the animals;) Towards the end of the route, the jungle-like landscape completely transformed and the road wound along a steep cliff to a riverbed with sapphire blue water. Next to it, steep limestone cliffs rose up. Here in Long Son, we have already checked into our room and had a delicious lunch or dinner (lunch consisted more of crackers and cookies;)). During the walk through the small village, we were again the main attraction for the children and they greeted us with their 2 English sentences they had learned, 'Hello' and 'What's your name?'. We are currently sitting in front of our hotel, still enjoying the last daylight and watching the village children playing on the empty streets, and relaxedly ending the evening.
See you later,
Malia