WT027 - CAVES AND MUCH MORE

Phong Nha is now a new favourite place of mine. Even though it's a small town, you can find tons of stuff to do, like bathing in waterfalls, visiting caves, trailing through rain forests and valleys. Also going around with just the motorbike will bring you a lot of fun. Famous for its caves, you can choose between 9 different types: the Paradise Cave, the Elephant Cave (in the Ma Da Valley), the Eight Ladies Cave, the Phong Nha Cave, the Dark Cave, the Hang En Cave (world’s 3rd largest cave), the Hang Tien Cave, the Tu Lan Cave, the Son Doong Cave, which is the largest cave worldwide. If you're into this, you can well plan / take 2 weeks in Phong Nha for just exploring underground trails.

We chose to do only two things in the area, due to money issues, and went to the Botanical Gardens and the Dark Cave. The Botanical Gardens are nothing like the name suggests. It is a rain forest with three possible routes - 1.2km, 2.5km and 4.5km - peacock viewpoints, a campsite and two big waterfalls with swimming holes. The track is mostly easy but some parts require a lot of strength to climb.

After the visit, we chilled in one of the best restaurants in town, called Nguyen Shack, which doesn't look that interesting from its entrance but has a surprising mountain view from the rooftop.

The next day we went then to a new kind of cave - the Dark Cave - a smaller version of the Son Doong Cave and one of the most expensive, costing per person 450.000 VND (16 EUR). As the name implies, there's no artificial light inside it and its total length of 6km is nothing but darkness. The visit starts with a 400m double zip-line built from the top of a tower directly to the entrance of the cave. There you'll have a group and guide waiting to go in. The cost is so high because of the activities it includes: besides the zip-line fall, there's also a natural mud bath at the end of one of the narrow passages inside the cave, a kayaking experience outside and, of course, swimming in the crystal clear waters until you cannot more. In addition some jumping points and water play fields (for basketball or water polo) are available.