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Published: August 4th 2012
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After an enjoyable but surreal five hour train journey with the family of nine, we arrived at Dong Hoi around 6pm, jumped in a taxi and checked into our hotel.
We had read that Dong Hoi wasn’t geared up for tourists and we quickly realised the reports were right. Most people head to Dong Hoi to visit the caves which are about 30 miles away. There are hardly any hotels, restaurants or bars but it is actually quite a refreshing change. It was raining so we quickly found the only 'local' restaurant within a mile of our hotel and sat down to enjoy some food. Now, I have loved Vietnam, for me it has been by far the most enjoyable country, but there are something’s which are just plain weird.
Firstly, ordering food in restaurants - After the waitress has given you a menu they will just stand there right next to you waiting for an order. Then, after around ten seconds they will say "Wat you wan?” In normally circumstances I would just reply with, "I'm sorry can you just gives us a few more minutes", however this place was so local and I could feel the of
eyes of Dong Hoi burning my skin, my heart beat was increasing and I was starting to panic. My eyes suddenly focused I ordered Stir Fried Beef with Vegetables, Plain Rice and a beer....or I thought I had. A few minutes later I had a plate of stir fried beef with grilled pineapple round the side of my plate! The beef was fine, if a little dry, but there was no need for the pineapple - I can't understand why anyone would want to eat warm fruit. Luckily for me, Jane had ordered Vegetable Fried Rice and there was enough for me to mix with my dried beef.
Secondly - browsing in shops. As soon as you walk into any shop and take a mild interest in their wares the shopkeeper will stand as close as possible, not say anything to you, and just follow you round the shop keeping the close proximity. Most of the time, Jane and I end up swiftly walking in a circle around the shop until we are quickly back on the street. If they'd have just left us alone I'm sure we have purchased more goods, so it’s probably actually a good thing.
Another thing is, the way the Vietnamese will ask you the same question trying to sell you something over and over, even though their best mate, family member, husband, wife, whatever has just asked you the same question seconds before. We were once we were asked if we wanted a motorbike taxi by ten different people that were all stood next to each other?! What’s that about? Maybe they thought we had suddenly changed our minds or that we maybe had said no because we didn’t like the way they were dressed or something. Very strange.
And don't even get me started on the roads or footpaths here. The roads are terrible but I was sort of expecting that one. However, because of the French, Vietnam has some lovely wide footpaths and boulevards. But the Vietnamese in the wisdom seem to want to block them off with anything possible, food stalls, bikes, cars etc. so you have to walk on the busy roads with all the motorbikes and crazy bus drivers!
Anyway, rant over. I love Vietnam really.
So the reason why we stopped at Dong Hoi is the nearby caves at the Phong Nha-Khe Bang
National Park. We opted against staying in the $35 a night farm stay near the caves(which after reading a few blogs isn't actually a farm and is just a hotel near some farmland) and just decided to hire a motorbike and ride ourselves there. We headed north along the Ho Chi Minh trail and the scenery was beautiful, endless paddy fields, farmers herding their buffalo, streams and rivers stretching out towards the limestone rock formations in the distance.
The first cave we stopped at was Phong Nha Cave. The cave was shaped by the Chay River and is only accessed by river so you have to hire a boat, to take you up stream, the 20 minute ride was very relaxing. The boat then enters the cave and takes you approximately 1.5km into the cave and there are points where you can get off the boat and explore the stalagmites and stalactites which they have kindly illuminated for your viewing pleasure. The cave is about 44km of grottos but the public can only see the first 1.5km. The cave is also closed between October to December because the river totally fills the cave - scary. It was quite spectacular.
Next we headed off to Thien Doung 'Paradise Cave' which was about a 30 minute journey away. The road there was even more amazing as it followed a lovely blue river along the valley with huge limestone rock formations on either side. Paradise Cave was only discovered by a local man in 2005 and only opened to the public in 2011. After parking up, you have to walk about a mile to the 556 steps up to the cave opening - hard work in the heat and humidity. Once inside the cave is just unbelievable and it’s hard to describe the size of the thing. According to the leaflet it is over 31km long and can reach to over 100 metres in height and 150m wide in some places. We walked for over an hour in awe and disbelief at the amazing rock formations, it was like being in another world. The biggest cave in the world, Son Doong Cave is also located nearby in the national park but is not open to the public because it is too dangerous. In 2009 a local jungle man helped British explorers find their way across the ten kilometre jungle path. He
originally found the cave in 1991 but then forgot the way back to find it until 2008 – Doh! After walking back we got on the bike and enjoyed the journey back before it got dark. That night we had some food in the hotel who kindly lets us hobo about in their lobby until we took the late 11:30 sleeper train to Hanoi.
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