Phong Nha

When I got on the bus to Dong Hoi I was surprised to find that there were four other Western tourists on the bus. They had been on a bus the previous night that had broken down in the middle of no where and they had had to spend the night in a small village. They had grabbed the first bus out in the morning and were now trying to get to Hanoi. They decided to go to Dong Hoi as an English speaking Vietnamese guy had told them that this was a better bet then going to Vinh, where the bus was going. It took about four hours to travel about sixty miles, in Vietnam the distance travelled in no way relates to the time taken. In this respect Vietnam and Hokkaido are very similar. Although I wasn't on a schedule I had hoped to be in Dong Hoi about 9am, in retrospect, very foolish and of course I hadn't taken into consideration being taken to the wrong bus station in Dong Ha. We arrived and I left the others at a tour booking office and went to a local internet cafe, I was hoping to find out if there was a local bus that ran out the village where the farmstay was, there wasn't. Once again I had to take a Xe Om. Since I had no address for the farmstay I told the driver to take me to Phong Nha, which he did, despite me telling him to turn when I saw a sign for the farmstay. I made him take me to where I wanted to go, but his mistake cost me more! Not sure how that works. It was good to get there and dump my stuff, since all tours leave in the morning there wasn't much for me to do but hang out and relax. I had no issue with that. Denise came to Phong Nha when she did her motorbike trip last summer and had loved it. When she found out that I was travelling north she said that I had to go, so here I am. Phong Nha farmstay consists of a large main building that houses the reception, a communal dining room and two terraces with hammocks and tables.There is a swimming pool, pool table and an outdoor area with a fire pit. The dorm is a single story building at the back of the property. It's really well designed, as soon as I arrived I thought that I could detect traces of a Western influence. I was lazing around when Denise said that one of the other farmstay workers, Pete, was taking a jeep up to a local "pub" and did I want to go along. For sure! The farmstay is on the edge of a village,which is behind it and in front is all rice paddies which stretch to a low line hills. Very beautiful. The route to the pub took us along a few muddy tracks and then we had to ford a river followed by a short walk. It was well worth it. The bar is actually someone's house, they just have a covered terrace on the side and a fridge full of beers. It was an awesome first afternoon. My evenings were all pretty much the same here, I would have dinner, then a few beers by the fire and then bed. The only thing that changed was the company, which is one of the things I like about staying in hostels. If it is a real hostel it will have a communal area so you can meet the other people staying there, have someone to talk to and sometimes to travel on with. I went on my first tour the next day, the farmstay's National park tour. Phong Nha cave is in the Phong Nha - Ke Bang national park, it's now home to the largest cave in the world. There were only eleven of us on the tour, so a nice small group. We made a couple of stops along the way with Pete explaining the importance of the area to the North Vietnamese Army during the war. At this point Vietnam is only about 28 miles wide with the caves being pretty much in the middle between the coast and the border with Laos. The Ho Chi Minh trail ran through the area and so it was a major target for the Americans. They would fly their planes low through the valleys and the Vietnamese would try and down them with anti-aircraft guns from the tops of the hills. I liked the way that Pete told the story of the area, I don't know if it's because he's Australian,but he was very neutral. My Vietnamese guide, Tin, who had shown me the DMZ kept telling me all of these sad stories, after a while I had wanted to tune out. I already know that war is sad, that people die and that it shouldn't happen.I don't need to be beaten over the head with it. The first cave we were going to see was Paradise Cave, we had a bit of a walk up a hill and suddenly before I was prepared for it we were at the entrance.I don't think that I can adequately describe the experience.The cave runs for 34 kms, the first kilometre is lit and this is the part we walked. It could easily hold the inhabitants of a small town and their houses. I ended up walking with Lisa and fighting with a Vietnamese park employee for my camera. Lisa had a nice Leica camera which she refused to part with.At least the guy took some photos of me! After lunch we went swimming in a local river, then we were back on the road above the river. I couldn't see where the river came from and thought it must flow under the road but on the other side of the road is a solid cliff and no waterfall.Pete pointed out that the river originates from a spring just beside the road, no one knows how far it goes or where the origin is. The British Cavers Association have tried to locate the source but haven't managed it yet. Then we were told we were going kayaking and certainly we did. What no one had told us that we were just kayaking across a river to the entrance of another cave. We were equipped with a life jacket and headlamp and the Pete took us into an unlit cave. For a bit we walked on a boardwalk and then that ended and we carried on. Pete took us for about 300 metres I guess into the cave, at times we had to swim.It was very cool.On the way back he took us down a side tunnel, I was up to my knees in mud and the last person, I kept looking behind me to make sure that nothing was there! It was amazing and I am so glad I did it. Apparently they keep this part of the tour quiet partly as a surprise and partly so people don't talk themselves out of doing it, which is definitely what I would have done. I am so glad that I came to this amazing place.