Demilitarized Zone- Vinh Moc Tunnels

The next day we left early to go to the DMZ. In 1954 Vietnam was fatefully partitioned into North and South, creating a DMZ that saw some of the heaviest fighting in the American War. After more than 30 years, there is not much to see. Most sites have been cleared, the land reforested. Since 1975, over 5000 people have been injured or killed in and around the DMZ by mines left from the war.

We visited the Vinh Moc tunnels, which is a village that literally went underground because of the bombings of Americans. More than 90 families lived in three levels of tunnels running 2 km in all. Over the years 17 babies had born underground. Our guide was a man who was born in the tunnel, he was deaf and mute, and he tried to scare us in the tunnel by turning off the lights and screaming! He was a bit weird but in a good way. The tunnels are accessible from 12 entrances and up to 100 visitors can enter at the time. There are lights inside now, something the villagers didn't have. These tunnels have been kept in their original form unlike those in Cu Chi, near Ho Chi Minh City. The Vinh Moc tunnels were also larger and taller, we could walk through. It was pretty amazing!

That same day we continued our road to Phong Nha. Chung, the Vietnamese guy who sold the bike for us, recommended going to Phong Nha Farm Stay. It's kept by an Australian guy called Ben and his wife and their family. We told Stefan about this place so he went there before us.

We stayed 3 nights there. They had a dorm, 8 dollars one night. We thought it was a bit expensive, and also the restaurant was expensive. But it was a nice place; in front of the house were a big rice field and some hills. They had also a pool.

Phong Nha is a national park and there are many things to explore. The first day we went with Stafan to see the Phong Nha cave. The name means Cave of Teeth. It was my first cave ever to visit and it was amazing. First we took a boat to go inside the cave, and then we could come back by foot exploring the place. Really amazing.

The next day we went to the Phong Nhe- Ke Bang National Park and visited another cave, called Paradise Cave. It's located at 360 meters above the sea level, so we had to climb many, many stairs. After the stairs we arrived to the entrance of the cave, and from here you enter and you have to go back down again. But the view from there was so amazing. It was huge! The stalagmites were huge and it seemed that you were somewhere else than in Earth. The cave is 31.4 km length, 40 to 100 meters height and 30 to 150 meters wide. It is the longest dry cave in Asia, with a lot of stalagmites.

We should have had a permission to visit the national park, but Ben told us that there is a back way that we can use and enter from there. So we went!

The place wasn't yet in the earliest version of Lonely Plant, but it will be in the newest, so it's going to be busy for Ben and Co.!

At the farm stay we met a Canadian couple, Robyn and John who also travelled by motorbike.

We decided that we would all leave the same day and ride together! It was a real motorbike gang!

We drove 2 days together. First day we drove to Huong Khe, a small town with nothing to do. The ride there was not very nice, it started to rain and in the end we were so cold and soaking wet. The evening we had a nice dinner in a Vietnamese restaurant, where we had hot pot and rice.

The next day we continued more north and stopped in Thai Hoa. The ride was better but still very cold. That evening we went to have a bbq dinner, with chicken, beef, fish and vegetables. The next day we all left for separate ways, me and David to Ninh Bin. It's a city where tourists go to start a trek or see the country side of Vietnam. We found a hotel where we could have French fries and some other nice dishes after a long ride. We were so exhausted and cold and very dirty after that day.

The next day we continued to Hai Phong. It is a huge city and it was weird to be there after all the smaller towns. We arrived to a hotel, which had, for the first time, a heater! We were so happy! Also, Robyn and John met us there; they took the same road as we. That evening we had a great dinner in an all you can eat restaurant. It was delicious! We stayed 2 nights there, Robyn and John just one because they wanted to go to Cat Ba Island. We decided to meet them there, because anyway we wanted to go there.

When we went to check what time the ferries go to Cat Ba, there was a lady who came to us and proposed to sell us a ticket to the ferry. We didn't want to buy from her, because you never know the real price, it's usually easier to buy it from the ferry. So the lady started to get angry and frustrated because we didn't want her tickets and said that she was so sick of the tourists and just buy the ticket so that I can go home! She was so rude that we just told her to get lost and eventually she did. Not the best way to sell tickets to tourists, right! Finally we fund the ferry and the time it leaves and decided to buy the tickets the next day from the ferry.

The morning we left we went to the pier and right away there was a guy who wanted to sell the tickets to the ferry for us. We knew the price of the ticket, because John and Robyn took a ferry too to Cat Ba. So we didn't want to pay more than they did! In the end we agreed on a price and they took our motorbike and literally carried it to the roof of the ferry! There was 6 men carrying the bike, and you should have seen David's face when they started doing it, we were both afraid that it will fall and break! But they did ok, and the bike was safe on the roof!

The trip took about 3 hours to Cat Ba, it was very misty and foggy, and we couldn't see much. It was actually little bit scary, when you're on the open waters and there are lime stones everywhere and you can see maybe 10 meters ahead!

In Cat Ba we found a very nice hotel, just 5 dollars a night. The receptionist was so funny and maybe little bit too enthusiastic. But in a good way. For example, we gave them our laundry and the next day or morning he just opened our room door and said that the laundry is ready and started to through the clothes on the bed. I was like ok then, and started to gather all the clothes in one place… I think he didn't realize that you don't just walk in a guest's room like that.

Cat Ba is the largest island in Halong Bay, well-known for its activities like rock- climbing hiking or bird-watching. Almost half of Cat Ba Island is a national park, protecting the island's diverse ecosystems. The park is home for the golden-headed langur, the world's most endangered primate, only 65 remaining. I wanted to see one but they were hidden in the middle of the forest, so we didn't go. We just went for a 2 hour hike to the top of the hill where we saw amazing views over the national park. We saw also a cave called Hospital Cave, which served as a secret, bomb-proof hospital during the American war and safe house for the Viet Cong leaders. There are 17 rooms, a cinema and even a pool.

W e stayed 4 nights in Cat Ba and then took a ferry to Halong City. The trip took us about 1 hour and we could see the amazing limestones in the sea. From Halong City we continued straight to Hanoi.