The following morning when we asked about getting to Son Trach, it seemed that the bus service was a little erratic. So we managed to get a good deal with a cab to take us straight there, by 1pm we were booked into our new hotel.
When i had been researching Phong Nha NP a common complaint was that there is not a lot of information on the ground. This is in fact completely true, i think because people have not been visiting the park for that long, they are not really very organised. The National Park has recently appeared on the travellers radar because of its cave and grotto systems as it is composed of 300 caves and grottos with a total length of about 70 km, of which only 20 have been surveyed by Vietnamese and British scientists. In 2005, scientists from the British Cave Research Association discovered a new cave and named it Paradise Cave. The newly discovered cave was acclaimed by the British scientists as "the largest and the most beautiful cave in Phong Nha area. Before Son Doong cave was found, Phong Nha cave was regarded by British Caving Association as the top cave in the world due to its top four records: the longest underground river, the highest and longest cave, broadest and most beautiful fine sand beaches inside the caves, and the most spectacular stalagmites and stalactites. In the survey conducted in April 2009, the British cave explorers discovered 20 new caves with total length of 56 km, including world's largest cave Son Doong. According to the assessment of UNESCO, "The karst formation of Phong Nha National Park has evolved since the Palaeozoic (some 400 million years ago) and so is the oldest major karst area in Asia" and "Phong Nha displays an impressive amount of evidence of earth's history. It is a site of very great importance for increasing our understanding of the geologic, geomorphic and geo-chronological history of the region - So now you know. As you probably also all know by now I really dont like caves, but these were supposed to be something special, so you gotta do what you've gotta do.
The village of Son Trach has about 10 hotels and they are all of the same standard, all are cheap (in comparison to other places we have been) at $10 a night. The village is right on the edge of the National Park, and our hotel was up against one of the karsts, this is the view from our balcony
That first afternoon we wandered around trying to get any information possible, but all we could get was a really bad map from our hotel. So we spent some more time that evening trying to work out how to get to the caves and the National Park.
The following morning we set off on the road that loops around the National Park. It was a lovely drive and the scenery was very dramatic.
About 10 minutes after leaving there was a little track off the main road leading under the bridge down to the river. So off we went, and we came across buffalo bathtime, they are actually pretty entertaining to watch.
Then we found a really pretty part of the stream and set off for a bit more exploration.
The next stop on the agenda was the eco-trail, but when we arrived there were about 10 buses there, and the place was teeming with Vietnamese tourists. As it was Sunday we reckoned that returning on Monday was definitely the way forward when we hoped it would be a bit quieter. So that afternoon we hired a boat to take us to Phong Nha Cave. Despite it being a cave, it was quite a nice boat ride.
The cave was very impressive, with lots of swallows and the entrance and then bats the further in we went. The boats are only allowed a certain depth into the cave and then you can get out and explore on foot. It was very clearly marked the areas that you were allowed to walk on. And apart from a few very gaudy coloured lights, it was quite nicely done.
The following day we headed off bright and early to Paradise Cave. Now this may be getting old but i really dont like caves, then i learnt that it was 500 steps to climb to get there, i was not keen. But Craig persuaded me and I am so glad he did, because for a cave it was stunning. To be honest its indescribable and the pictures dont do it justice (except for the two professional ones we paid for). Everything about it is so overwhelming from the size, to the shapes that you see, to the fact that its taken millions years to form, to the fact that you are god knows how many feet under a load of mountain. I was scared pretty much all the way through, but I am so glad i saw it and the fact that it was only discovered in 2005 made it all the more special.
Walking back from the cave all you could hear were the cicadas in the trees and sometimes they can really be deafening. So i thought i would show you, this is only two of them so you imagine what they sound like when there are hundreds. They are everywhere and the most dissapinting thing is that when they are around there are no birds because they cant stand the noise either. S'cuse the french!
That afternoon we headed to the eco-trail and it was a lot quieter. To be honest we have done a couple of eco-trails or jungle walks and you never see anything. I think there are just too many people traipsing through, and especially here the jungle is massive and so dense. All the monkeys and really exciting things are far away where we cant see them, but you can always hear their calls. Phong Nha is supposed to be home to a few different species of languar, and they are protected, which is good. It was a pretty walk though.......
One of the main things about this National Park, for me at least was the butterflies. There were literally thousands of them, in every shape size and colour. Now as we all know I have a little bit of a butterfly obsession and a very patient husband. So quite a bit of the last couple of days was spent with me screaming stop as we whizzed along on the motorbike, running after the butterfly and then getting very frustrated when it would not settle. Here are a few pictures that i did manage to get, I am pretty impressed to be honest. Oh and a couple of random bugs........
One of the main problems with Son Trach is that the food is shocking, the place is really set up for tours so a lot of the resteraunts only serve dinner, at extortiant prices for set meals. Also although the National Park is beautiful it is very hard to actually get into the forest without being part of a tour group or having a personal guide. But i really enjoyed the bits we did get to see, and Craig loved the caves so after a bit of grooming, shave for him and root touch up for me, we were on our way again.
Another taxi back to Dong Hoi, where we asked our hotel to book us tickets to Haiphong, our next stop. Well, most places you stay get offended if you dont book your tickets through them, so we always ask them. This is the first time they have not been able to do this, apparently most buses goHanoi, not Haiphong. But let me explain, we are going to Haiphong to go to Cat Ba Island, from where you can see Halong Bay. The reason for this is that i have heard many stories of people being scammed trying to get to Cat ba via Hanoi or Halong City. So I was determined this is where we were going, so we had to traipse to a bus office about 2km away to book the ticket. But when we arrived the lady spoke no english and did not have a clue what we wanted. This can be quite frustrating so after a ciggie break outside we decided to call our very efficient hotel receptionist fron Nha Trang, Minh. Now Minh is a star, and she managed to communicate exactly what we wanted, and relayed back us that we could not buy a ticket but had to go to the bus station at 6.45pm the following day, buy a ticket and then wait. Apparently the bus could turn up anytime between 7pm and 12 midnight, due to it being a bus that has come from the very South of Vietnam, Saigon. As it turned out when we returned to the hotel, they said no you must buy a ticket before the bus comes and you can wait at the hotel. The hotel receptionist wrote down exactly what we needed, and we hired a motorbike and headed back for the 3rd time. Anyway it really is 3rd time lucky and we got two tickets to Haiphong for the following day. We were to wait at the hotel from 7pm and the bus would call when it was half an hour away to give us time to get to the bus office.
Well this all sounds like fun, so until next time, hopefully on Cat Ba island...................
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