The reason for going here to Dong Hoi was not the town itself but the Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park around an hour away. In it is a collection of different caves which we had heard were beautiful. As it was the wet season we knew we'd only be able to see two, Paradise Cave and Phong Nha. Although if you'd gone when it was drier you could go on an expedition to the worlds largest cave! 
 
When we'd left Hue it had actually stopped raining so we thought our luck was in. By the time we got to Dong Hoi though it had started in earnest again! After settling into our hotel we spoke to the owner, a very sweet young lady called Cindy, about the best way to get to the caves. Well the cheapest way was by motorbike, as we'd expected but she advised us that it wasn't a good idea to go with the rain like it was as the roads are very dangerous and the caves probably wouldn't be open anyway! Hmmmmm, we had not expected this. So that night we prayed for the rain to stop but to no avail. 
 
We spent the following day stuck in our room because the weather was sooo bad. The only time we went out was to try and find lunch or dinner. This was particularly difficult here as the area we were in wasn't really set up for foreign tourists so had very few restaurants and certainly no English menus. Luckily we knew the words for beef, rice, soup and noodles which we were happy with. It's best not to pick something randomly off a menu in Vietnam as they do eat quite a bit of dog and cat we're told. 
 
The next day was the last chance we'd have to go to the caves as we had to leave that evening. Luckily the rain had stopped in the night and we were good to go. We hired a scooter and set off with instructions from Cindy and a map. The route according to the map seemed fairly easy. Of course this was not the case and we got lost almost immediately and as soon as we'd got back on the right track we'd got lost again! Eventually however after about an hour we made it to the small town of Phong Nha which was near the first cave we were stopping at, oddly enough called Phong Nha. Now we knew we were close because we'd seen a massive sign for the turning but once we got into the village itself there was nothing to tell you where to go and see the first cave! We asked some English people who were walking if they knew and they were having the same trouble! Garrrrrrrr why is it so difficult to just put a sign up saying where something is!? It boggles the mind. 
 
Anyway, we found a local hotel/restaurant to have some breakfast in and asked them where on earth the first cave was. With a big broad smile he said “Sorrrrrry it's closed. Too much rain”. At first we thought he was just pulling our leg but nope, one of the only two caves we were visiting was closed. Apparently you needed a boat to get to it and the river was too high. Understandable I guess. 

The other cave we were going to go to was called Paradise Cave and that was open. We had another half hour motorcycle drive to get there but the journey was absolutely stunning. Through lush green countryside and forest with limestone rock formations sprouting up here and there, absolutely incredible. 
 
We got to the cave and had quite a bit of a walk up 500 steps to get to the entrance. We were both very sweaty by the time we reached the top. We then climbed down into a nice cool and beautifully lit huge cave. I don't know how to describe it so I will just let you look at the pictures. It went on and on though, we couldn't quite believe how big it was. Absolutely incredible. Sadly the serenity of it was spoilt slightly at times by a Vietnamese tour group with a very squeaky voiced Vietnamese lady for a tour guide who had a very loud microphone! 

Once done we started our ride back through the lush countryside to our hotel, making sure to go a bit slower and take in the views. This really was the best way to see such a beautiful country. Riding through stunning scenery along the river and past huge limestone cliffs, through small villages where the children run out to say hello as you go by. Awesome. At one point though we were told to stop by some locals, also on motorbikes, initially we weren't sure what for and then we saw they were all waiting for an absolutely huge, and I mean HUUUUUGE, buffalo who was walking straight down the middle of the road towards us. He was being told which way to go by a couple of kids but if this guy wanted to go somewhere nothing would have stopped him! Eventually he went off the road onto a dirt track and we all continued on. Then as we were driving over a bridge Hannah spotted two extremely long snakes crossing the road right in front of us! Apparently I almost drove over one of them but as I didn't see them I cannot say. We weren't sure what type they were but they were very long so could have been cobras! 

SO much fun riding in the countryside. One of our favourite days so far :). 
 
Once we got back to our hotel we had some dinner and then waited for our sleeper bus to arrive.