When we woke up it was fairly early, around 09:15 so we showered and headed over to easy tiger. I feel a bit better today i just need to eat something to stop me from fainting as the cave we plan to visit today has 527 steps to the entrance, god help me. We packed up our bags and left the, downstairs in our hotel to pick up later before we head off to hanoi. I ordered an iced lemon juice and fruit salad which was diced mango, dragon fruit and banana. I could only eat about a third of it as i didn't want to vomit but ate mainly some mango and banana for energy. Daniel ordered an omelette and baguette which made me gag to just look at it. "Easy tiger" is like a small backpacker community in the heart of the national park. A bar filled with fresh, tanned, white faces drinking beer and smoking as well as a few families. It seems like a hippy refuge. We booked our bus ticket to Hanoi for 18:00 this evening which gives us plenty of time to explore the park.

Once we finished breakfast we went back to our hotel to rent a scooter. Paradise cave is around 20km away and there's no chance i would be able to cycle that in this heat! The man showed us the breaks and horn were working before handing over the key. Dan mounted the bike as he is doing the driving and we drove across the road again where i hopped off to ask if they had a map. The western guy at the desk highlighted the route which is pretty simple and is a 60km loop around the park so once i had that we were ready for the journey, driving at a slow and steady pace. We went to fill up the tank before hitting the highway which was practically empty.

The scenery on the drive was breathtaking. In every direction were large, untouched mountains. You couldn't tell the different between any of the trees as they were all so overgrown, so natural. It was like moss had been spread all over the mountains, it really was nice to know that because this is a protected area, everything would stay exactly the same. Humans have ruined too much of our planets natural beauty. After around a 25km drive we arrived at the entrance to paradise cave.

On the way up the hills there were a group of four kids on a motorbike riding towards us laughing with a rusty knife in their hands. I panicked so much but they swerved passes us in hysterics i just wanted to kick the lot of them off the bike and slap them twice across their faces, what a stupid thing to do. We paid 5,000Dong to park our bike and headed to the ticket office. It was 120,000D each for entry into the cave and you could pay 50,000 more for a ride on an electric buggy to the steps. We decided against it and instead took the footpath as we could see more insects and plants.

When we got to the steps i was a bit happier to see there was a slope option; just walking up diagonal slopes to the mouth instead of trekking up the steps. On the way up we were surrounded by beautiful butterflies, all with different coloured wings as well as a spider the size of my palm with blue, black and yellow markings. An old vietnamese woman wanted to cut out the slope so started climbing up and she gestured at me so i waited for her and gave her a helping hand up while holding her phone and bag. It was still quite a long, tiring walk and i was sweating buckets. Finally we had made it to the top, where we sat down at the service area admiring the view of the mountains before stepping into the mouth of the cave.

As we took the first few steps into the cave we were hit by the cool temperature which felt amazing considering i was dripping sweat. The view was breathtaking and cathedral-like. There were wooden staircases leading down to the bottom and around the cave as well as illuminating lights dotted around the stairs and various parts of the cave so we could see the stalagmites better. The steps were a bit wet and so Dan slipped down a few; he shouldn't have worn flip flops! The different formations of the limestone were so unusual and there were even quite a few that resembled the vulva, good old mother nature.

There were a lot of oriental older people in the cave and at one point it seemed Dan and i were the only ones in there, we had the whole thing to ourselves! Except for the few guards sitting around to make sure people don't touch the stalagmites. The roof of the cave stretched out so high, almost like a dome. in fact, the cave only opened to the public a few years ago but has been there for four million years. It seemed like a fresh cave with small beads of water dripping from above us and falling onto the unique limestone creations. We had read online and in books that there is an option to swim at the end of the cave but when we reached the end of the wooden walkway there was no water to be found, only a locked gate which was a bit annoying as i wanted to laugh at Daniel easing himself into the crisp cold water (it was only later that day on a mini bus we got speaking to an Aussie guy who said you have to pay the guard to be let through the gate and you cam continue the trail off the beaten track with no lights or walkways to help).

Once we soaked up the hidden, natural glory of our planet we climbed back up the wooden steps and out into the sticky, heavy heat of the national park. We took the slopes back down again instead of the stairs as i still couldn't be arsed for steps and it would be easier going down the slopes than up. On our way down we crossed paths with loads of oriental tour groups who all said hello to us which makes a change as they usually always keep to themselves. We got down to the bottom and began walking on the pedestrian path back to where we parked the bike when the man in the electrical buggy stopped for us and gestured us to get on which was really sweet as we got a free ride instead of paying the 50,000 VD. We thanked the man when we got off and went to grab a cold drink before getting on with the rest of our loop around the national park.

There were loads of busses and tour groups with older people on and i just couldn't imagine them all getting up the steps or even the slope easily but they were all smiling so i guess they had no trouble. A few more western tourists were arriving on bikes as we were leaving, feels good to be an early bird for once! We got on the bike and continued our journey around the park- we were around half way through already. The roads were virtually empty on the ride although we were always careful to beep the horn before going round a ben as on the other side could be anything from a herd of goats, cows, a motorbike, a horse and carriage, a mini bus or even a truck.

The scenery was incredible on the drive, we went over small streams with large boulders around it as well as mighty mountains dusted with the lush green variety of trees and plants. It is very apt for something out of Avator or Jurrassic park and i kept expecting to see a flying dinosaur rise from behind the tops of the cliffs and swoop above us on our bike. We would feel as insignificant as we really are on the scale of nature. Our drive also took us on smaller roads where we passed two locals picking small, round fruits off the side of the road and they waved and gestured us to try some but we had already sped off. We drove passed an eco-trail, a botanical garden as well as an animal conservation centre but we didn't really have enough time to visit them (or money).

As we drove around the loop, we ended up riding beside a lake nestles between the mountains and a small village. There were long boats transporting tour groups of tourists but i still felt we had taken the cooler route around as we dislike being part of tour groups. We stopped off by the lake to take some photos as it was just so beautiful. The reflection from the small but of sun that peered out through the clouds was reflecting off the surface of the water like thousands of pearlescent beads glimmering in all it's beauty. We continued our drive back to where we started and parked up in Easy Tiger for a drink and some food. They had a pumpkin soup on specials and i was torn between the soup and cheesey chips but Daniel swung me to order the soup and when it came i couldn't have been more disappointed. It looked amazing served with a warm french stick but when i put a spoonful of the warm, orange soup in my mouth all i could taste was earth. It tasted nothing like pumpkin so i added quite a bit of salt and pepper but sadly, it still tasted like s***. I had to eat something though so i ordered the cheesey chips and left the soup on the table.

The fries were amazing, a massive plate full covered in melted cheese which takes me back to doing the tarkar trail in devon and stopping off at a pub for a bowl of cheesy goodness. When we finished our food we took the bike back to our hotel before getting our mimi bus to Dong Hoi to board our sleeper bus to Hanoi. When we got to the hotel the couple running in sat us down with some strong green tea and gave us sweets and mints while speaking to us. The man had a really long thumbnail but we couldn't figure out why and i did 't want to ask him. We were joined at the table by an israeli couple who we got chatting to. The woman was an officer in the army and she said women have to do national service as well as the men. She showed me photos of the dresses and shoes she had made in Hoi An which made me regret not getting anything made even more. They told us that because they are Israeli, they are not allowed into Malaysia or Indonesia which is a bit petty but I suppose two can play that game.

We said goodbye to the couple at our hotel and the woman gave me a hug, we waved bye to the israeli couple and wished them luck with the rest of their trip and got onto a mini bus with some other tourists to Dong Hoi. We sat with a 25 year old from Melbourne who's mother had met him in the national park and they both visited a cave that you could swim through to get to the other side, his mum had paid for it for his birthday. We spoke about jobs in Australia and where he would stay in Hanoi and he said he would be at hanoi backpackers and they offer dorm rooms with double beds which tempted us as we want to experience a dorm room on our travels. We got to Dong Hoi around half an hour later and dropped off the aussie as he's getting the sleeper train before being dropped off at a tourist info place to wait for our sleeper bus which took a while to come.

When we got on it was pretty packed but we managed to get two together right at the front. I got talking to an irish girl next to me who said it was the nicest bus she'd been on as she has only been taking local busses. My compartment was shorter than normal so i couldn't really stretch my legs out which got annoying during the night and there was a mam snoring behind me as well as a young local sleeping beside me on the floor in the aisle.