By Carolina –
Guess who’s back?! – I know. It’s been a few days since our last update. But sometimes to be aligned and mindful with what one is experiencing, one needs to be off-line.
These few days have been SO intense, that seems a bit hard to summarize them in a post. I will try my best, tough! So, here we go 😎
Ok. First things, first! 🔜 are you planning to visit Vietnam, or are you either north or south of Vietnam, right now, trying to figure what to visit in this country? Have you been wondering of whether or not it is worth your while, making your way to Phong Nha? – here’s my answer to you 👇🏼
If you love to be blown away by nature’s majesty, if you’re passionated about seeing new places (some of them just very recently discovered), if you enjoy feeling your pulse going up whilst trying something new and daring ❓- then Phong Nha is definitely a stop you must make, whenever you visit Vietnam‼️
👆🏼 This is of course based on the subjectivity of these 3 travelers, but I have to mention that, even though we can be very different and go after different things, all 3 of us agree on this manner.
⏮ The previous post was about our visit to Sapa, where we were living at just 20 km from the border with China. After Sapa, we came back to Hanoi for a couple more days, where we parted ways from Marisol (Daniela’s mother, who had joined us for the first half of our journey).
We were certain we wanted to check the caves out. However, how to get there is a constantly asked question here in Vietnam. The country doesn’t look specially big on a map 🗺, but once you get here prepare yourself for some loooong rides on these (sometimes hideous) sleeping busses 🚌 🔜 I’ll write some more about transport, transfers and the like, in a separate post.
After traveling in these sleep-busses to both Halong Bay and Sapa, we decided to invest a bit more on our comfort and safe some time by flying from Hanoi to Dong Hoi 🛩. Here, we were picked up by the transfer service we’ve arranged with Easy Tiger Hostel.
🚐 It was a ride of a little less than an hour, from the airport to Phong Nha – and we didn’t know what to expect. We went into mindful-ride mode : on – and just enjoyed the beautiful landscape, which by the way reminded me a lot of parts of Venezuela. The greens and the curves of the mountains shaping the horizon ⛰
When we finally arrived in our hostel, it felt like stepping back in time – in a cool way!
The place was big, with a sort of messy and a laid back atmosphere. High ceilings, like the majority of constructions here in Vietnam. Old stair cases that revealed the corridors of a building, that could have hold gubernamental offices back in the late 60’s – early 70’s. Lost of huts here and there, posters and signs in neon-colors.
The atmosphere is very chilled during daytime and partying-because-we’re-having-the-time-of-our-lives-in-Vietnam at nights.
There’s a good variety of tours to the national park and its wonders, so the decision is not easy to make, as one adventure seems cooler than the other one. Exploring caves, swimming in underground rivers, zipline through the jungle, swimming in rivers… and all of these at very reasonable prices!
This time we decided to take it easy with the tracking. We ended up buying the «Jungle Boss’s National Park Tour» 👇🏼
Which included:
🚐 The tour into Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park
👁🗨 Visiting Paradise Cave and walking the first kilometer of the 31 this cave extends through
👁🗨 A visit to Highway 20 Martyr Temple, where we stood on the Ho Chi Minh trail, at only 5 km. from Laos 🇱🇦
👁🗨 Exploring and swimming in an underground river in Tra Ang Cave
🚶🏻♀️🚶🏼🚶🏻♀️ – and 2,5 km walk through the jungle, along with lunch on the riverside, prior to the Tra Ang Cave adventure.
This tour has been one of the coolest things we’ve experienced on our trip through Vietnam. So, if you enjoyed reading what I’ve just described, try to imagine how 🆒 it’ll be when/if you get to try it yourself 🙃
That’s all from Phong Nha – Ke Bang. We’re currently in Hoi An and we are ❤️ Loving-living it!!! What a beautiful city 😍 – but that’s for our next entry 😜
Until then, remember to be happy and follow you heart ❤️
See ya 👋🏻
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