Shortly after my moaning that we were stuck on the backpacker conveyor belt, we arrived in Phong Nha Farmstay. A beautiful guesthouse overlooking miles of rice paddies in a village just outside of Phong Nha town. A little isolated from public transport and all the more beautiful for it. We both immediately loved it. The very friendly Western and Vietnamese staff, the open smiley faces, the sound of animals and birds. We hired mopeds and got lost in the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. By a river, we drank an abundance of rice wine with a group of very friendly young men still enjoying New Year (one of whom had blown his arm off as a child playing with hand grenades) and then trotted off rather happily to the Paradise cave. I'm not really into caves, but that name is pretty apt. Wow! A huge cavern tastefully lit up, showing the incredible stalagmites and stalagtites formed over millions of years. Each turn opens a new chamber full of the most incredible formations. Raw ancient nature glistening in all it's glory. We had the luck of being the last ones there and had the extensive cave (31km discovered so far) all to ourselves. In the silence we could hear the drops falling one by one, patiently uniting the points of rock that have been growing towards each other for centuries. In the silence you can imagine a symphony orchestra's reverberating crecendo or the chilling notes of a violin playing Chopin's Nocturne 20 reaching the corners we will never see. Maybe, if you listened hard enough, you'd be able to hear the rhythmic drumbeat and chanting of ancient rituals undoubtably gone by. That cave is awesome, in the purest sense of the word.

Later, as we sat in a hammock, playing Charlie and drinking beer (after my successful attempt at learning how to drive a moped), we realised there wasn't a chance we'd leave the next day as planned. With a bit of carpentry talk and bonding, Tom managed to get us jobs in the office: me at the Farmstay, him at Easy Tiger- the more lively sister hostel in town. Days spent saying things such as "Absolutely! I'd be more than happy to arrange that for you!" (Or occasionally "Can I have your passports please? I'm going to sell them on the black market" depending on the guest...) Evenings and our day off were spent seeing the places we'd been recommending to all our guests, like the super fun Dark cave, where you kayak, swim and get covered in mud. Or the Pub with Cold Beer, a lovely bike ride away, or Mr. Dai's exceptionally good coffree (and highly entertaining company). I became rather fond of Vietnamese people: their love of kareoke and gambling, their hard working, but relaxed, natures, the way they chew with their mouth open, creating a rather comforting chorus of clucking noises. Every day, as I walked to work and back, to our little place, I was greeted with smiles and "hello"s from somewhere inside a cycling rain poncho and lampshade hat. The weather may be cold, but the welcomes were always warm.

Tom canceled his flight home and extended his visa, so I left him, sadly, to continue my journey. I arrived somewhere in Hanoi, Vietnam's capital, at 5am with very little money in my purse, so I left my fellow white people to get their taxi and walked off in the wrong direction. However, I did stumble across a lot of dawn dancing, and even joined in a bit of walz and jive by the lake, so it turned out, once again, to be exactly the right direction. Apparently Ho Chi Minh used to enforce morning dancing every day, so the older generation keep it up, which gives the viewer a rather entertaining medly of classic ballroom and Taichi-Zumba to Gangnam Style. Hanoi was therefore a surprisingly good few hours stopover on my way back to Africa. Some great street food, very helpful hotel owners and a tattoo later, I waved goodbye to Vietnam, South East Asia and a great detour. Till next time!