We got a local bus at 11.20am from Hue's northern local bus station. It was 150,000 VND (£4 each) for a 5 hour ride and took us to the door of our homestay in Phong Nha town. It was, however, a form of Vietnamese torture. Vietnamese pop music played as loud as the speakers could blast it. I had ear plugs in and it was still way too loud for me! The bus staff actually seemed to enjoy the fact that we were suffering. One of the passengers near us kept clearing his nose and throat ON THE BUS too, not nice! Anyway, we were going to spend 5 nights in Phong Nha, an area relatively new to toursim. It features the Ke Bang national park and the Phong Nha caves - one cave Hang Son Doong is the largest cave yet discovered in the world and was the subject of a Nat Geo documentary. We had found a homestay in the area, the website looked very professional and in word-perfect english. It waxed lyrically about the fact that it was the home of Ho Khanh, the Vietnamese guy who had discovered the largest cave. We would have an expert on the premises! We were greeted at the cafe at the front and taken to the accommodation at the back - the view was the best we've had (see photos) set on the banks of the river Son with hills and limestone karsts all around. The little wooden hut looked very pretty and we were so excited. Smile soon wiped from our faces when we discovered that it was just a bedroom. The website had said western style bathrooms - so where the hell were they? We asked and the young girl pointed round the corner - eek! Outside toilets and a shower room. This place was not cheap either at $30 per night it was more expensive than our 4* in Hue. The owner's wife Nghia (Nia) asked what time we would like breakfast and disappeared off to leave us seething! I later went to ask her what was for breakfast - blank face, then I tried miming like an idiot, this prompted her to giggle a bit. It looked like breakfast would be a nice surprise. Other questions over the next few days that I thought might be too difficult to mime were "The wifi isn't working, can you fix it?", "The brakes on the bicycles don't work, can you fix them?", "The waste tissue bin in the toilet hasn't been emptied for four days, can you empty it?", "What information do you have about the caves of Phong Nha?"
As there was no food at the homestay, we cycled (on the free bikes with dodgy brakes) the 3kms into town. It was like running the gauntlet, dogs barked and chased us, children ran into the road to high five us. We grabbed a cheap meal at the Cavern Bar - no connection to the Beatles. When we got back, we sat on the porch and shared travelling stories with our lovely neighbours an Austrian girl and her Australian boyfriend. We discovered that we could also chat to them in the room as there was a gap up to the rafters and shared roof space. After two hours of dog barking, we finally got to sleep. At 01:30 we were woken by the cockerel with the messed up body clock. He continued his cock-a-doodle-do competition with a distant friend at regular intervals throughout the night. Ah.. the country life! Next day - the mystery solved - 3 delicious pancakes, honey, coffee and a tangerine. On the suggestion of our neighbours we cycled to the entrance of the national park, 3kms away. Only 40,000 VND (£1.20) to enter to do route 1. We photographed the map of the looped route. We had to persuade the gate keeper to let us take the bikes in - good job too as the park was massive. The views were stunning at every turn. The cycling was tough with no working brakes, rather than coast down the steep hills I had to walk the bike down. The road was relatively empty; no cyclists, a few motorbikes but around 10 construction lorries passed us, in a national park?? A few British lads on motorbikes stopped to chat to us, they had bought bikes in Hanoi and with no experience of riding and no valid licences, they were making their way down to Saigon. We came to the gate of the Gio Gio waterfall, which was on the map, it was locked!?! We climbed over a low point in the barbed wire fence. Lovely waterfall, but why was it locked up? We proceeded around to the Botanic garden which was completely dead, so we didn't bother. (We later discovered that the waterfall can be accessed from the Botanic garden). We weren't sure how long route 1 was and we had been cycling up/walking down hills for a long while. At other stops on the route we were chased by barking dogs as the guards looked on, nonchalantly. After several hours, we made it round to the path to Paradise cave. The hills were too steep for the bikes, so we locked them on the roadside. The guard said 1km ride, but he had obviously never done it. It was a further 3km walk to the entrance (120,000VND £4), then 1km walk to the climb (locals took golf buggies), then a climb of 600 plus metres up the steps to the cave. It was worth it though! The cave is kept very naturally by Vietnamese standards (no tacky lighting that encourages the build up of algae). White unobtrusive lights light the walls and ceilings. A board walk takes you 1.6kms into the cave - other tours can take you on a proper caving expedition further in. The cave interior is an intricate landscape of stalagmites and stalactites - so beautiful. Like a Gaudi-esque dream. Hardly any tourists here and on the two of us and the 3 Brits in the national park - weird!
Next, a tiring walk back to the bikes. It was now 3pm and we were concerned about getting back before dark. Thankfully it was a gentle coast downhill on the bikes to the exit and what we thought was the road back to town. We passed lots of dwellings on the road, everyone said hello. The valley was, however, unfamiliar - and the river was on our right - the wrong side!! Halfway to Hanoi (only kidding) Paul finally asked for directions. We had been riding for an hour! We were directed down a concrete path across the river to the correct side! At last we saw a signpost for Phong Nha it said 8kms. We would hopefully get back to town before dark. After 9 hours and 50kms of cycling, stopping and not forgetting the walk to the cave, we were finally back to Cavern Bar for dinner at 5pm. After dinner, we headed for the homestay 3kms away - we were like duracell bunnies on those bikes! We ran the gauntlet again - in the dark this time - a dog ran out barking, chased me and grabbed my foot in its teeth. I screamed! We stopped the bikes, as I was shaken. Paul ran like a madman into the owner's house and chased the dog round, trying to scare it. The owners just smiled nervously as Paul gestured to cut its throat if it happened again. Well, what a day it had been!
We relaxed, a bit, the next day. We cycled up the river path to the mouth of the Phong Nha cave. There was no way to reach the cave other than by the tourist boats. We had enjoyed the view of the boats from our breakfast table at the homestay, see video. We cycled into town to sort out our ongoing transport and use the wifi at the Cavern to sort our next accommodation. Paul acquired a stick and when the wild dog of Phong Nha attacked again, he wacked it on the back. The next day we did the boat trip to the Phong Nha cave. We went after the 8.00am rush of tours. Luckily several backpackers had gathered to take the same tour. We had to gather 9 people to bring the cost of the boat down. It was only 160,000 VND for entry to two caves (Phong Nha and Thien Son) and the boat trip - great value at £4.62 each. The boat trip was a dream, a lovely relaxing trip along the river then the driver took the roof off the boat and rowed us into the extensive cave system. The ride inside was 1500m long, there were a few coloured lights but it was a wonderful sight - lots of complex grottoes - and so peaceful. After this cave, we were dropped back outside and climbed up the many steps to the Thien Son (Fairy cave); the climb had amazing views back over Phong Nha. The cave itself was another beauty, you walked for around 30 minutes inside the intricate cave system along wooden boardwalks.
When we got back to town, we decided to seek out the 'Pub with cold beer'. This was apparently an interesting cycle out into the countryside. We asked the owner of the Cavern where it was, but he said it was really far, around 25km and all along a difficult cycle path. We headed off anyway along the main road out of town, passing more great views of the Ke Bang national park and quiet villages along the way. About 5kms out of town we saw a sign for the pub with cold beer - clearly the Cavern owner was fibbing! We cycled down the lane and reached the muddy farm path. It was too risky for me to cycle along, so I walked it while Paul tried to cycle it. Another sign said 'Pub with cold beer 500m". This was another Vietnamese exaggeration. We followed the sign countdown, but the pub was actually around 2kms from the road. Along the way we passed paddy fields and views of the countryside. We soon stumbled upon a water buffalo bull standing right in the middle of the path. It was enormous, Paul grabbed a stick and tried to usher it to one side. It started staring him out and did not look too happy. It was tethered, but the rope was quite long. After some nifty moves by Paul with the stick, we were able to squeeze past it. At last we reached the pub. We were driving, but it is called the pub with cold beer and it would have been rude not to! Many other backpackers had also reached Shangri-la and sat smugly with their cold beers. On the way back to the homestay, the squeeking sound of Paul's bike and the drag of his stick on the road was enough to keep the mad dog of Phong Nha at bay - never again would it attack the tourists. Next stop Ninh Binh.