(Backup) Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park

We flew early this morning from Hanoi to Dong Hoi and were transported to Phong Nha farmstay for our next 4 days. The farmstay is located 30 min into the country at the edge of the national park surrounded by rice paddies.

 The farmers are in the plowing and planting stage of the rice crop. All of the rice growing is done by hand with the help of the occasional ox that helps pull the plow. They work the soil in 2 feet of mud in their bare feet walking behind the ox and plow. Once the soil is flat they throw fertilizer from a basket by hand.




  The rice seeds are soaked in wet towels until they sprout and then they are planted by hand.

The rice paddies are flooded and once the plants start to grow they go back in and transplant the over crowded areas so the whole paddy is even. They fertilize one more time and then once the rice heads are full and bending over they harvest by hand. The rice stocks go through a machine to remove the rice from the stock and both parts are dried. The rice is bagged for storage and the rice straw is used for livestock bedding.  The rice fields run for miles and in the four days we were here we saw the fields go from brown to a beautiful hue of green. It takes approximately 3 months to grow rice, so they can get 3 crops a year.

Today was a rest day. We had breakfast and got settled into our room and talked to the staff about our different options for activities while we were here. The National Park is full of spectacular caves and jungle. It was still very cold and wet so after we went for a walk around we headed to the bar/restaurant to meet some of the other guests. Lots of people from Australia and the US. Most of them were younger backpackers but there were a few of us over 50. We had a great evening chatting and finding out what tours people had been doing. The one I had originally picked was quite difficult and even more so due to the rain that they had. So back to the drawing board. 

We decided for our first day we would hire motor bike drivers called Ez-riders. They were experienced riders who knew the area but did not speak English. So before we left the staff told them where we wanted to go and we were off on the back of two bikes. Our first stop was at Phong Nha Cave. They dropped us off at the ticket area and we managed to buy tickets and share a dragon boat with four other people which cut the cost down. We jumped in the dragon boat and headed down the river  once we reached the cave entrance the girls running our boat cut the engine, retracted the roof and paddled us through the most amazing cave I have seen.

They have it all lit up so you can see all the rock formations and colours. The girls maneuvered the boat through the cave for about 1 km and then back out again.






We were let out of the boat at the end to walk the last few feet and through the tourist booths. We found our boat mates and jumped back into the boat to head back. 

We found our drivers and headed out on the bikes on our tour around the park. Our next stop was the Botanical Gardens. Here we had a choice of a 4km, 2 km or 1km hike.

 Do to the weather and our time frame we choose the 1km hike to the waterfall. This was described as a hike to the waterfall but as we soon realized it was a hike up the waterfall. This consisted of ropes, ladders and sketchy bridges all on wet rocks. Thank goodness we had our hiking boots on!  We took it slow and made it to the top. There was a small restaurant at the entrance so we decided to have some lunch. Very yummy spring rolls and noodles with pork and vegetables with cold beer. 

It was raining a bit so our drivers game us ponchos to put on and we were off again. We drove all around the park through a very dense jungle with rivers and waterfalls everywhere. Our drivers were very careful drivers as the roads are narrow, wet and sometimes muddy.

















They were great and stopped a couple of times for us to take photos. We haven’t ridden motor bikes for hours at a time so by 3:30 we were done and headed back to the farmstay. What a great way to see the park. 

Our second day we decided to take a tour through Paradice Cave.  We were originally slated to ride on the back of the bike up to the cave but decided that morning to pay the extra $10 to ride in a van for 30 min each way. Best $10 bucks we spent all vacation.

To get to the entrance of the cave it was a 525 stairs up and then down 525 once inside the cave. The first km is on a board walk and is accessible to the public without a tour.

Because we were on tour we went through the gate at the end, put our helmets with head lamps on and trekked another 3km into the cave. The guides were very informative and the stalagmites and stalactites were amazing.

Some of them were massive, others had actually fallen and died during past earthquakes and during the bombing in the war.

 There is four different minerals in the water each forming different colors in the rock formations.

At one point the guides helped who ever wanted to climb into a cave being formed underneath the main cave. Bill went in first but I opted out as it was a very confined space.

We continued on forging through the creek, over rocks, through crevices and came out into a part of the cave that was as big as a football field covered in the softest sand. It was amazing. We carried on to where the river is and stopped for lunch. Our porter had packed in a lunch of rice, fried beef and bok Choy. It was very tasty.






Once lunch was over we put life jackets on and swam in the river, which wasn’t bad because the temperature in the cave was about 24 degrees. The way out seemed way quicker than they way in perhaps because we were not stopping as often to take pictures. After 6 hours in a cave I was very glad to see sunlight and fresh air. We were also glad to get into a van and not on the back of a bike.   After a nice hot shower we enjoyed a cold beer in the bar at the farmstay, had dinner and were in bed by 9.

When we got up on our third day we decided to take it easy this morning. Bill had taken a spill in the mud in the cave and jarred his shoulder. So we had a leasurily breakfast and enjoyed coffee outside our room. For the first time since we have been here it is actually warm enough to sit outside. After a while we decided to take the peddle bikes for a spin and see how far we got. The road into town was flat so riding was fairly easy given the bikes had no gears. Bill agreed to continue into town if I agreed to ditch the bike and rent a motor bike for the rest of the day. Renting a bike was quite an easy experience. They are automatic so easy to drive. We went to 'Easy Tiger' the hostel that the farmstay deals with told them we wanted to exchange the peddle bikes for a motorbike. They said sure. For $200,000.00 vnd we could leave the bikes and take the motorbike back to the farmstay when we were done. We picked out helmets got a quick lesson on the bike, paid the money and left. No paperwork, no names, no nothing. Off we went. Our goal was to find the gas station and then head up the Ba Nha valley to 'the Pub with cold beer'. We had spoken to a couple from Australia and figured out how to find the paved road as the dirt road was impassable due to mud. I was pretty sure I knew where it was but it involved driving on the highway for a bit. This was rather scary as they basically have no driving rules in Vietnam. You drive on the right but people pass whether it’s clear or not. Everyone just moves over to make room, toots their horn to let you know they are coming up behind you and goes. This is very foreign to us but it is very respectful and seems to work. So off we went. We survived the highway and found the right road and after about 4km around loads of logs, dirt dumped in the middle of the road with one track through and over a sketchy bridge and through the mud we made it to 'the pub with cold beer'!  Yay!  It was out in the middle of no where but the beer was ice cold, the little kids were fun to chat too.We hung out for a while, relaxed and watched rural Vietnam life.  We decided to take the back roads and avoid the highway on the way home, it was just a bit to intense and risky. So after another beer and a bowl of roasted peanuts we maneuvered our way through the muddy ruts and back onto the cement road. The pepper farmstay was on our way so we stopped to buy local pepper to bring home. We missed our turn but eventually after attempting to ask some local women directions we found the right turn off. We decided it was too early to return to the farmstay so went back to Bomb Crater Bar for a beer and some lunch. Apparently two bombs went off on either side of where the bar is located, hence the name. It was a little scary knowing bombs had gone off in the area. It was safe though as an organization had gone through the area and removed all the un-detonated ammunition and returned the land back to the farmers but not before many people including children had been injured or killed. 

On the way home we went by the rice paddies and today there were hundreds of people working in the fields. All of them up to their knees in muck and water. We arrived back at the farmstay safe and sound after having enjoyed a great day in the country side. Now it was time to pack our bags and get ready for our first ever train ride from Dong Hoi to Da Nang. I was really excited to see what this was going to be like.