Phong Nha National Park

When we returned home in 2020, we rented an apartment off of Ryan's Grandma beside his Aunt and Uncle. In turn we spent a bit more time with Ryan’s family for the quick 7 months we lived there. Ryan's Uncle was reading the Travel section of the newspaper and held onto the article to show us. This article was about the world’s largest cave Hang Son Doong in Phong Nha National Park, Vietnam. We have held onto this article for two years. It has hung on the wall in our home office in the apartment and inside our closet door in the RV. We both said "when we get back to Vietnam, we are going there!"

If we had done more research, we would have known you have to book in advance for this 5 day cave trek to Hang Son Doong. That you get to sleep in the cave overnight and so many other once in a lifetime experiences. Unfortunately we did not do the research in advance, however we did make it to Phong Nha National Park.

As you come into the park, you see these massive limestone mountains everywhere. The road snakes through the stone bases of mountains coming up beside the river and the rice fields. This view will captivate you as you drive in, honestly we missed our turn to our hostel because we were so caught up in looking around.

Photo credit: V.Gray

Driving into the Bo Trach, the small town in Phong Nha, it was misting us with rain and had been for the last 45 minutes of our ride as we pulled into our Hostel. We stayed in a small quiet Hostel called Tropical Valley Homestay. It's about 3km from the town centre, but there were dining options around there for us. The hostel was quiet, clean and the owner was welcoming and very helpful. Our first night there we actually did a family style dinner with one other girl (Suz) who was staying there as well and we ended up unknowingly booking the same tour.

The owner helped us find a day tour of two caves, booked our bus there and back and made sure we had a hot breakfast the morning of the tour before we left. Those probably don’t sound to be important things, however they are. Rushing to find breakfast or somewhere close and open is difficult sometimes.

Photo credit: V.Gray

As I mentioned we did not do enough research before this trip, we found out once we arrived in Phong Nha that to do Hang Son Doong hike was a 5 day trek through the jungle to the cave, you slept in the cave and lots of other really cool pieces which added up to 69.8 million Dong ($3,915.00 CAD/person). This needed to be booked way in advance and it was advised you be average to good physical form. So we had to come up with another cave hike and quickly because they book up fast.

Photo credit: V.Gray

We went for our family style dinner the first night and asked the host if there were any hikes and he handed us a book saying "book for tomorrow", but we had to choose by the end of dinner. We flipped through the book seeing options for Paradise Cave, Dark Cave, Wet Cave etc. day trips, 2 day treks, 3 day treks it was all there we just had to pick one. We decided on the "National Park Tour Paradise Cave & Dark Cave ''. It started in the Botanical Gardens taking you to Gio Waterfall and Vang Ang Lake. Then a 1 km walk through Paradise Cave known as the "Underground Palace" on a lite pathway seeing the stalagmites and stalactites. Then a family style lunch and changing into your bathing suits for the Dark Cave exploration.

We booked and then got told no Botanical Gardens its rainy season and too dangerous. This is actually when Suz's joined us for the family style dinner, everyone who agrees sits at the table and all the food is in the middle. This is a great way to meet other travellers, hear about where they have been, get ideas and try local food. As we got talking we found out she had booked the same tour for the next day and we had all been told to pick up at 8:00 am and we should be back around 4:30 pm. Now we just had to hope for the sky to clear up and for it to warm up a bit so the hike would be more enjoyable.

We woke up the next morning, had a nice hot breakfast with coffee and joined the rest of the tourists in the bus for our National Park day trip. The road twists and turns through the 400 plus limestone mountains, going past the river and rice fields and climbing through the jungle. It was raining so the views were not all that we had hoped they would be, but they were still a sight unto themselves.

Photo credit: V.Gray

When we arrived at Paradise Cave, we put on our raincoats and took a quick cart ride to the start of the path that led 1 km though the jungle, up the mountain to the mouth of the cave.

We reached the entrance to Paradise Cave where we gathered as a group and had a quick chat about the cave itself, which is 31.4 km long with multiple routes. However, we are doing the 1 km lite pathway walk and it's a very easy, nice walk. There are stairs, it could be wet so be careful. You will see a lot of stalagmites and stalactites, this is why it is called the "Underground Palace", all the different colours are different minerals (calcium, iron etc.). We were given about Photo credit: V.Gray

45 minutes to explore the cave.

The entrance to Paradise Cave is about 4 metres wide and down a few flights of wooden stairs. These lead you into the well lit cave, with a nice wooden platformed walking path running 1 km into the cave with various different offshoots for you to get closer to the stalagmites and stalactites.

We crushed the walking trail making it to the final platform in under 30 minutes, weaving through other tourists. We figured everyone was stopping as they went into the cave and taking pictures, if we went to the end and came back it would be a bit easier to get onto the

Photo credit: V.Gray platforms (we were right).

Once we made it to the end there was virtually no one there, we took our time and made our way to the entrance of the cave. Stopping along the way for pictures and going up the different platforms.

Photo credit: V.Gray

There was one section in the middle where we ran into the other tour groups or people from our tour, otherwise everyone was pretty spread out through the cave. The pathway was very well let and a bit wet in spots but nothing crazy.

Overall it was a really nice enjoyable walk, the cave was a bit cooler than outside (20C degrees) but comfortable for walking.

You could see the different stalagmite and stalactite formations and see where the water had been running through the cave and created small pools around the formations.

Photo credit: V.Gray

We did finish with a few minutes to spare so we sat at the meeting spot outside overlooking the jungle and listened to the rain. It was so quiet and calm, very different from the normal noise you hear in the towns and cities throughout Vietnam.

We did our quick hike down to the bus and started on our way to the restaurant for lunch and our afternoon at the Dark Cave. As we walked down we talked about how online had stressed you needed a tour guide to do Paradise Cave or for all the caves in Phong Nha. We

Photo credit: V.Gray disagree with this, if you are doing this

particular hike, there are enough people

around to follow or ask questions that a guide is really unnecessary.

Lunch was family style, 5 strangers sharing a local meal on a banana leaf (there was also a bowl of white rice and a soup that did not make this picture below). It was delicious! We shared it with a Mother and son from Toronto, Canada and a gentleman who did not say a word the entire meal. The Mother and son were visiting family in Vietnam and had a 6 month VISA. We had a lot of fun getting to know them and sharing a meal.

Photo credit: V.Gray

Once lunch was done, it was time to split the tour group up. The three of us went to the Dark Cave and joined a new group. While the rest of our tour group went to the Wet Cave. Wet Cave you took a boat tour into the cave and the Dark Cave was an afternoon splashing about. We got lucky the rain had lifted, it still was not over warm but it was pleasant.

I was very hesitant about the Dark Cave not only because of its name but the description for the afternoon read "Zipline 400 from high tower to landing, then swimming to Dark Cave entrance, hiking through Dark Cave, kayak or swim back for water sports". I am not crazy about the thought of getting lost in the cave, the dark or the swimming part. On the other hand, I was not about to sit by and watch Ryan and everyone else do it. We changed quickly into our bathing suits, got our helmets with lanterns, harness for ziplining and life jackets then started walking up the high tower. The zipline over the Chay River to the land pad by the Dark Cave entrance. Ziplining was so much fun, we got a lot more speed then we expected too.

Photo credit: R.Cowie

While you zip across the river they tell you to bring your feet up to your chest. When you land at the end, you see why there is not a lot of room between your feet (if you went legs out), the rock ledge that holds the sandy landing pad. The hit and bounce back had everyone laughing, it was not a big area by the time 5 people had landed it got crowded. Our guide started telling us that we were to jump into the river and swim to the cave entrance, just walk down the stairs and jump into the river. One guy actually walked, there was a small rocky looking trail the rest of us jumped into the lukewarm water.

Photo credit: R.Cowie

The swim was a short quick 20 metre to reach the wooden platform leading into the cave. Walking into the cave you could see everything, the beautiful greeny blue water inside the cave, huge rock formations and most importantly where you were walking.

Photo credit: R.Cowie

Then it got interesting. We waded into the water inside the cave, we all turned our headlamps on and as we turned the first corner it went dark. There was no more daylight, you could turn around and see it behind you but nothing but darkness in front of you.

Photo credit: R.Cowie

We continued through the cave, climbing sandy spots, over some bigger rocks, wading through the water up to our stomachs until we reached a pool where we were told to remove our life jackets. We started across the small pool (about knee height) towards a small narrow tunnel going deeper into the cave.

Photo credit: R.Cowie

You could stand and walk fine through this tunnel however you did need to go single file. Twisting and turning deeper into the cave, the tunnel was much warmer than the river or the other parts of the cave.

Photo credit: R.Cowie

Climbing a bit more until we reach the destination, a sandy muddy pool for a mud bath. Yeah we went all that way, just to play in the mud and goof off for a half an hour or so. We did take a minute to shut off the headlamps and sit in complete darkness, it was eery.

Photo Credit: Suz

Another tour came and we rolled out, going the exact way we went in. Once we started to reach the entrance you were given the option to swim back to the high tower for water activities or to kayak back.

Photo Credit: R.Cowie

Ryan jumped into the water, Suz and I climbed into a two man kayak with just one paddle, they were short paddles at the point. Suz was sweet enough to do all the paddling back to the high tower, where we did find a second paddle and continued up the Chay River while everyone else zip lined and did the obstacle course suspended above the river.

Photo Credit: V.Gray

It was creeping up on 4:00 pm and the rain had started again, by that point everyone headed for a quick cold rinse off in the showers and packed into the bus to head back to town. It was a great day!

Photo Credit: V.Gray

We could have easily spent more time and a lot more money in Phong Nha. There are so many different day trips and longer treks to do, it was worth the visit.

Cheers!

Photo Credit: V.Gray

**Please note that all opinions and views expressed in this post are my own, from my own experiences. If you would like to see more pictures follow me on Instagram vikki.gray **