It was 'only' a five hour bus ride to Phong Nha, a huge national park in Central Vietnam. It's famous for it's 400+ caves yet only 35% of the actual national park is discovered with the majority of it covered in dense impassable rainforest. Until recently the national park was strictly controlled by the Vietnamese military. Although it's more relaxed now, officially hiking and exploring isn't allowed without a guide.

We stayed in Shambalaa Hostel, a quirky colourful hostel located right in the centre. Although the entire town is one street so no matter where you are staying you're walking distance to everything. The next morning we gathered a few other backpackers and went to discover Phong Nha Cave and Tien Song cave. We took a slow dragon boat down the river for half an hour, as we arrived at the beginning of the cave they turned the engine off and rowed us into the depths of it. Massive stalictites and stalicmites were scattered around the cave, I've never been in a cave so large. We had the opportunity to get out and walk about for an hour or so. The cave next to it, although there were 500 steps to climb to reach the top was well worth it for the views of the valley below.

We had lunch in a local restaurant nearby and then borrowed bikes from the hostel and headed off exploring the countryside. It was rice and peanut harvesting season and every house we passed had them drying out in front on plastic sheets before bagging them to sell. There were loads of cows with calves, and buffalos with their young just wandering the streets. We found a really nice place; Phong Nha Farmstay to have a drink and watch the sunset over the mountains behind. That night Ed and I went for dinner in the D Arts Zone and tried the famous Bon Cha - a mix of soupy noodles veg and meat.

The next morning we rented motorbikes and headed to see Paradise Cave with a gang of seven. The drive to the cave 40km away was spectacular, a visual feast of wet tropical evergreen forest clinging to craggy karat. However we were late leaving the village and arrived at 9.30 - just in time to join all of the Chinese tourists groups with their megaphones. Although stunning the beauty of the cave was tainted as we moved within the crowds behind a multitude of cameras and smartphones. The cathedral size rooms with glittering formations just didn't quite impress me behind the flashes of cameras. Next stop was Dark Cave, which was more of an adventure park than a cave. We ziplined across the river, clambered into the giant cave barefoot with our headtorches to experience the supposedly beneficial and weirdly buoyant mud 'baths' inside.

The next morning we rented motorbikes again and heading off exploring what else the national park had on offer. The botanical garden was a world away from one at home, this was a dense forest of tropical plants and wild tangled trees. We did a little hike to a waterall for a swim within the 'garden'. We went to the famous Duck Stop after lunch. As odd as it seems it was as simple as feeding hundreds of tame ducks and letting them nibble at your feet! That night I said goodbye to the crew I had met there as they moved on and I decided to stay an extra night.



The next morning I headed off on a tour with Oxalis adventure company to experience the biggest cave in the Tu Lan national park 70km away from Phong Nha - Hang Tien Cave. As much as I would have loved the opportunity to trek into the biggest cave in the world, my budget didn't include the €3000 price tag so I settled for second best! This was an unforgettable experience, taken miles away from the well trod tourist path to the depth of the Vietnamese jungle. It was just unbelievable to realise that this majestic cave was created by nature, over 80m in height and 200m in width. The hike back out was another story, getting caught in a vietnamese thunderstorm was a terrifying, lightning striking and thunder rumbling at the same time. The rain was too heavy and we had to seek shelter under a large boulder for an hour while we waited for it to pass. Soaking wet we headed back to Phong Nha for my last evening before getting the bus to Hanoi that night.