Phong Nha cave is a but different to Paradise. Firstly it's a wet cave - the river that carved it out of the rock still runs thorough it.
Also it's been known about for a lot longer as its near the town and the villagers used the cave during the civil war. The Americans couldn't work out how supplies were getting across the river and so one night they launched a series of flares over the valley and sent planes to take photos.
What the discovered was a floating bridge connecting the road either side of the river - during the day this was hidden in Phong Nha cave and then at hit they floated it down river and loads of trucks crossed (this was part of the Ho Chi Minh trail).
The American tried to bomb the cave by sending missiles into it but they only managed to damage the outside section. Before they did this it was known as dragons breath cave by the locals as it had green dragons teeth stalactites hanging down over the entrance and air seemed to flow out like the dragons breath. The missiles knocked all the dragon teeth out :(
So to get their from our hostel - Easy Tiger - you just had to walk 5 minutes down the street to the boat landing and buy a ticket for entrance and then find as many people as possible to share the 320,000 dong boat with. We had 8 from the hostel and picked up another 2 random Americans at the ticket booth.
A short boat ride takes you to the entrance of the cave where they cut the engine and then manually paddle the boat in against the current - this is done by the slightest Vietnamese ladies that I've seen - a truly impressive effort with 10 fat foreigners on board!
They paddle you into the cave and then turn around when you've seen the lit up rock formations. You then get off the boat and walk up a sand bank to get up close and personal with the stalactites and stalagmites.
Whilst the lighting is impressive the scale of Phong Nha cave isn't the same as Paradise cave - both are impressive though - just for different reasons! Phong Nha is also easier to get to, not being a 50km round trip!
The cave has a lot of history - they found an old stone in the cave that was from another region and this plus some graffiti in mud/blood are definitive proof of Cham occupation in this part of Vietnam, which was highly unusual. The theory is that when the native Vietnamese went to fight the Chinese clans invading from the North the Cham moved into the region and worshipped in the caves. When the Vietnamese came back the Cham ran away to the South again!
So this was a nice little expedition - rewarded with cold beer on the boat back - a similar theme for our next days excursion....
Expedition to the pub with cold beer
Now this is recommended as a lunchtime excursion by the hostel. I'd also read a blog about some people who did this from the Phong Nha farmstay. So we grabbed some bikes from the hostel - checking that the pedals were intact and not about to fall off (although my chain did...) and pedalled the 15km along the country road.
The first sign of this being more than a ride in the country was when we couldn't find the road the otherside of the highway. We went from proper paved road to mud, mud, mud. Lots of it. About a foot thick - no way to cycle through. So we abandoned our bikes by the side of a field and went the rest of the way on foot.
We were right in the middle of the country here. We passed people herding water buffalo and lots of fields if what could have been rice (but it was all harvested and fallow). When we were cycling on the main road we got lots of notice from the locals saying hello and the kids trying to high five us. We still got all the locals gawking and saying hello and trying to direct us when neither side spoke the same language!
We eventually made it to the pub!
As we walked up we spotted a family from the farmstay who had gone a different route to us. That route involved them wading the fairly fast running river - they said a local guy popped up, helped them across and then disappeared!
All the food at the pub is local and the thing to have is the BBQ chicken. Basically you choose your chicken(s) - we were greedy! And then the mama cuts their throats, plucks and prepares them.
Served with their own home grown rice, morning glory and peanut sauce, this was sublime! So simple but so good!
When we finished literally all of the food on the table (and polished off a few of those cold beers) we headed back to our bikes to try and make it before dark.
Sunset was beautiful - but whoops too late to get back to the town by dark...
Especially as when I got back to my bike some little shit from the village had locked it and taken the key (I didn't even realise I had a lock!) unfortunately the lock went through the back wheel so I couldn't wheel it back or break the lock.
I got the bike out of the mud with Cat's help and left it with a very purplexed lady by the highway, then Cat and I pedalled like furious to tell the hostel and arrange for it to be picked up. Luckily we managed this before us transfer to the night train to Hanoi - and even managed a round of happy hour beers to help me sleep!
No comments:
Post a Comment