Phong Nha

March 30 - April 2

Phong Nha is absolutely incredible, filled with caves and beautiful scenery ❤

The first cave we explored was Phong Nha Cave, the first one discovered in the area, hence the name of the town & the national park. It was used for shelter, for storage and as a hospital during the Vietnam war  To get there, we took a dragon boat along the river, stunning views either side. 

The boat took us deep inside the cave, paddling around for about twenty minutes before pulling up so that we could continue exploring by foot.

400 steps up from Phong Nha Cave we found Tien Son Cave, admiring incredible views of the rice fields and the river as we trekked steeply upward.

Tien Son Cave is a dry cave, and much smaller than Phong Nha Cave, but equally beautiful.

We filled the afternoon with a little bike ride along the river, treating ourselves with a hot chocolate/ coffee chocolate at a cute little cafe.

The next day we explored two more caves.

Paradise Cave is known to be the biggest dry cave in the world, 31km in length! Only the first 7km are allowed to be explored by tourists. 

We opted to just see the first kilometre, to allow time to squeeze in an extra cave later in the day. It was huuuuuge. All kinds of crazy rock formations. Amazing.

The last cave we visited was by far my favourite. Dark Cave (proper name - Hang Toi) was only discovered in 2005 and only became open to the public in 2011. This means that it is much more natural; not as many built-in paths, and completely unlit. We geared up with life jackets, helmets, head torches and harnesses so that we could zip line and swim our way into the cave. 

Once inside we walked on rocky/sandy ground which eventually turned to mud, as the walls of the cave got more and more narrow. Eventually we found ourselves in a mud bath! Thick, squelchy mud covered our bodies as we floated on the surface. It was impossible to sink, it was difficult to even force your feet down to the ground. We played around in the mud until we were back out. Once outside the cave, we kayaked back to our starting point, on crystal-clear bright blue water. 

(I have very few photos of this incredible experience because the mud would most likely have destroyed my camera!)