Vietnam 2024 – Trip Report 4

Sunday 8 September – Monday 9 September – Phong Nha

Sunday 8 September

Downstairs a bit before 8.00am, and as we go to take a seat at one of the three or four tables, the main guy asks us if we’d like to eat out by the pool.

My initial thought is, not really, as it’s already warming up outside, but I get the feeling the request is more about keeping the tables clear for other guests; maybe the dirt bike riders (who happen to be from New Zealand) than what we would perhaps like.

I read between lines that may, or may not, be there, and begrudgingly take him up on his ‘offer’.

Outside, back up a flight of stairs, and we’re overlooking the pool.  It sounds nice.

Our breakfast, an omelette and bread roll for Lisa, the banana crepe for me, and cà phê sữa đá’s for neither, arrives.

It’s not bad.

Our guy makes a reappearance, and the topic of easy riders to Paradise Cave comes up, with him asking if we are still interested.

We are, so he asks when we would like to go.

It’s now 8.15am, and wanting to get this second, and final, cave thing out of the way, as well as spend some more time out of this town, my answer is now.

Ok, 8.30am?, he says.

“Sounds good!”

I love the way stuff happens in Vietnam.

Breakfast done, upstairs to get ready, and back down at 8.30am, and a few minutes later, two guys on bikes appear.

My guy has a small amount of English, which makes things slightly easier, and we’re quickly on our way.

Up towards the boat dock, then off to the left, and then out into the countryside.  The narrow road we’re on is being widened, and even though it’s a Sunday, work is still taking place.

Past an excavator, at arms length distance, placing small rocks in a trench beside the existing road.

We come across several more, slowing and tooting at one to make him aware of our presence, so he can stop doing what he’s doing, to allow us to pass under the excavator’s outstretched arm.

Not a stop / go person, a barricade, or a witch’s hat in sight.  I love Vietnam!

The roadworks, in varying degrees of completion, continue, with the sides of the road either an unfilled trench, a trench loosely filled with those rocks, or a trench filled with rocks that have already been steamrolled in.

There’s also the occasional small group of women, crouching down beside the road where the rocks have already been rolled in, removing the excess ones that don’t quite fit.

One by one they’re removed, and placed on what could be best described as metal dinner plates, to no doubt be added to another as yet unfilled trench.

On we go, the road now becoming steeper, and past yet another excavator, but this one mixing concrete with its bucket, in a rather large metal bin.

It’s all only an exercise in road widening, and one that would annoy the hell out of me at home, but I just find the whole process fascinating here.

The steeper road reveals a change in scenery, with almost vertical rock or cliff faces covered in the thick foliage of numerous varieties.

Even the not so steep sections, in parts, has jungle that looks to be pretty much impenetrable.

It’s pretty much nothing, but it’s beautiful.

We pull over on a bridge above a river, for a short break, which gives us a chance to take in a bit more of the scenery, as well as take a photo or two.

Lisa taking in the view…..

Legs stretched, we continue on, reaching the turn off to Paradise Cave around an hour after we left Phong Nha.

Tickets purchased, at 250 000 Dong each, as well as a ticket for the buggy ride to wherever, which is 30 000 Dong whether you want the buggy or not.

A short walk, and we sit in the waiting area while watching two female buggy drivers, sitting in their respective buggies, chatting some 20 metres away.

Eventually they run out of things to say, and one comes to collect us.

A short-ish ride to the beginning of the walk up to the cave entrance, and we have the option of a path, which is what they want you to take to ascend whatever it is we’re ascending, or stairs, which is what they want you to take when it comes time to descend.

Knowing we’re in Vietnam, I give Lisa the opportunity to choose between following the rules, or breaking them, knowing full well what her answer is going to be.

And yep, the stairs are given a miss.  But not because of any desire to do as we’re told.

The walk up the reasonably steep path begins, and as the heart rate and level of body moisture rises, the sun, which had been spending a fair bit of time hiding behind clouds, starts making an appearance, increasing that heart and sweat thing.

On we go, and five minutes in, I know Lisa is struggling, as I too am feeling it.

Slowly catching up to a western couple in front of me, the girl takes a seat on one of the numerous benches beside the path.

I reach them, and due to the uncontrollable sobbing noises coming from the girl, it becomes clear that the path has beaten her.

The guy, standing next her, is trying to be sympathetic and supportive, but it’s an exercise in pointlessness, as the meltdown is well and truly underway.

I’ve been there before, and he has my deepest sympathies.

We push on, higher, hotter, sweatier, before finally reaching the cave entrance at 10.00am.

We made it!

Down the stairs, into the cave itself, and then down more stairs, with it quickly becoming apparent just how big it is.

We eventually reach the boardwalk, and yep, the whole thing is just huge.

The height, the width, the colours, the structures; it’s incredible.

But it’s a cave, and we saw one yesterday.

And like yesterday, it’s just so difficult to comprehend the sheer size of it all, which also makes it incredibly hard to photograph.

We walk the boardwalk, and while there’s a few around, it’s not that crowded.

The end is reached, Lisa offers to take photos of other tourists, who then in return, take really blurry ones of us.

The best of several bad ones…..

Back the way we came, stopping occasionally to take photos that won’t really work, as well as watch tourists touch things next to signs which ask that you not touch those things.

They either all look the same, look boring, or are just ordinary photos that show no size or scale of what was being looked at.

We reach the cave entrance an hour after we originally reached the cave entrance, and then reward ourselves with a Coke (15 000 Dong) at the shop outside.

The meltdown girl has made it, and is sitting in the corner with her partner.  She looks much happier, but I’m not sure for how long, as she hasn’t seen the stairs that need to be traversed in the cave, yet.

Time to go, and not at all surprisingly, this time Lisa does insist on breaking the rules, by once again avoiding the stairs.

Down the path, and past lots of red faces on the way up.  There’s not many who look happy, and as much as I would like to tell them that they don’t have too much further to go, I can’t.

We reach the bottom, find one of those electric buggy things, and we’re returned to where it all started, when I first handed over the money.

Our easy riders are found out in the carpark, and we’re quickly on our way back to Phong Nha, but this time along a different, but still very scenic, route.

It takes us past Dark Cave, which causes me to realise I have absolutely no desire to see another cave, neither on this trip, nor quite possibly again in my life.

Over a narrow suspension bridge, which just adds to the scenery, and a bit further on, we come to a stop.

Lisa’s guy has a flat rear tyre, but as luck would have it, there’s a roadside puncture / motorbike repair place a few metres up.

Nice little coincidence.

The repair guy is found, and his incredibly helpful young kids make sure we have plastic stools to sit on, while Dad goes about the repair.

The repair gets underway.

The tube is extracted from the tyre, but with the puncture being more a split than a hole, it, apparently, can’t be patched.

A new one is required, but that will mean the back wheel will need to come off.

My easy rider guy is worried that we’ll be kept waiting, even offering to get someone else to pick us up, but he is immediately made aware that this inconvenience, is actually no inconvenience at all.  In fact, it’s quite possibly more interesting than the cave we just saw.

Nuts are removed from the bike, along with other bits and pieces, but not the actual wheel itself.

It’s becoming more difficult than first thought, and with blood now on our repairer’s forehead after it came into contact with something harder than it, it’s decided that the unpatchable tube can, in fact, be patched.

A few minutes later, after ‘admiring’ the dead, and rather squashed, snake on the road nearby, the puncture is repaired, and we’re once again on our way.

Keeping watch in case the repair fails.

Back to Phong Nha around 12.30pm, two lots of 400 000 Dong handed over to our guys, and we head off to do something about lunch.

Still desperately trying to avoid ‘upmarket type’ western tourist oriented places, we head over towards the boat dock.

There’re several options there, and while they’re all still tourist focused, they are at least fairly small locally run places.

Fried rice and pork (60 000 Dong) and fried rice and chicken (80 000 Dong), as well as a Coke each (15 000 Dong), and it’s all okay, without being great.

A bit of a chat with a couple from Queensland and their young kids, upselling the Duck Stop to them, and then back to Thao Nguyen for a rest and recovery session.

The walk up and down the mountain, along with the heat, has finally caught up with us, and I suspect we are essentially done for the day.

Somewhat recovered, we head downstairs at 3.00pm to make use of the pool we’ve continually walked past, over the last few days.

Drip drying on the lounges, checking Vietnam related stuff on Facebook, and it becomes apparent that Typhoon Yagi has made quite an impact on the country.

While Phong Nha has seen nothing of it, the same can’t be said for the North, including Hanoi.  The photos and videos are hard to comprehend, and the loss of life is just devastating.

I head off at 4.00pm to do my thing, doing the household chore of collecting the laundry along the way, and then over to Paradise Pizza.  There’s no sign of Drifter, but Pete from last night is there.

Sit and chat over a few beers, and while doing so, I become aware of slight stomach cramps, which frustrates me greatly.

Back to the room about 6.00pm, quick shower, and then back outside to do the dinner thing.

Rather than wasting time looking for something that doesn’t exist, we head back to the same restaurant from the last two nights.

That, like the stomach cramps, annoys me.

A chicken salad; yep, a salad….; for me, noodles with vegetables and tofu for Lisa, and a beer each.

Part way through, I get a text.

I gulp when I see the text is from Vietnam Airlines, as we have a flight with them in two days’ time.

And yep, sure enough, it’s to advise us that our 10.50am flight has been pushed back three hours to 1.45pm.

It’s frustrating, but I’m not that surprised, and I was actually half expecting a time change.

Knowing that Noi Bai (Hanoi) airport had been closed due to the typhoon, I had wondered what airlines did to catch up on missed flights.  My guess was that if they needed to ‘steal’ planes to make up those missed flights, then they would likely ‘steal’ them from quieter routes, such as a flight into and out of Dong Hoi.

And now, that is exactly what appears to have happened.

In the whole scheme of things, this little ‘first world’ problem, especially considering what some of the locals are currently having to deal with, is hardly a major issue.

But it does muck up an already organised catch up with William, who we met in Hanoi in 2022, on Wednesday afternoon.  He flies out that evening, and this change will now impact how much time we will have to get together.

This change also now has me thinking about the chances of the flight actually getting cancelled completely, and my brain begins doing that overthinking thing, it’s known to do.

Should we just cancel the flight, and instead do the night train tomorrow night, which was the original plan, way back when we first started organising this trip?

A look at the Vietnam Railways website shows there are now four berth sleeper tickets, at 650 000 Dong, available.  They weren’t actually being shown as available, even just a month ago, and because of that, we scrapped the train idea, and instead booked this now delayed flight.

But if we booked the train, the temptation would then be to bring forward Ninh Binh and Mai Chau, but that of course would then mean the cancelling of our catch up, which, as far as I’m concerned, just isn’t an option.

Aaaaargh…….., I just don’t know what to do!

Dinner, as well as overthinking, for the time being, done, and the bill of 250 000 Dong is fixed up.

One decision I am capable of making, is that I see no point in going out looking for a beer place, after last night’s awkward and uncomfortable experience.  Instead, it’s back to the nearby convenience store for supplies, along with an itemised receipt of product and cooling charge.

Onto the bed for the usual Trip Advisor and a few notes, along with more of that overthinking.

I’m stuck.  Like really stuck, and I just don’t know what to do.

Lisa’s no help, and it’s clear I’m the only one concerning myself with this potential issue.

In the end, the conclusion that it’s all just too hard, is arrived at, and the decision is made to leave it as it is.

I just really hope that Vietnam Airlines will also do the same.

Last full day here tomorrow, which is good, and the plan is a bike ride or two.

Two bike rides might be pushing it, so I will have to mindful of where and for how long, but I just need to get out of this town and try and find some ‘real’ stuff.

Monday 9 September

It’s a slow start, as we head downstairs a bit after 9.00am.

There has to be around 25 western tourists in the reception / communal area, with bags strewn everywhere, and a bus, which is clearly the vehicle that delivered them here, parked out the front.

Interestingly, every one of the newly arrived has the same appearance; hot and extremely grumpy looking.

I’m not really sure why, and I’m struggling to work out where they’ve come from, and there’s no way I’m going to find out, cause I ain’t hanging around.  We forgo our ‘complimentary’ breakfast, and head outside.

Down towards Paradise Pizza, and we find a small homestay which has a sign out the front offering bánh mì’s and coffees.

This will do, and we soon have a cà phê sữa đá each (30 000 Dong), while Lisa also has a bánh mì opla (30 000 Dong).

Both items are pretty good, and the woman running it was incredibly friendly, and seemed appreciative that we’d dropped by.

Back to Thao Nguyen, the grumpy ones nowhere to be seen, and we get organised for our bike ride.

Downstairs and on our way around 10.30am, first heading over towards the boat dock to check out a small local market that Pete, at Paradise Pizza last night, made mention of.

Sure enough, it’s there, but not surprisingly, very much in the winding down stage.

Back onto the main road, and then head out of town, turning off to the left before we reach the highway.

The road takes us under the bridge that carries the highway, and then continues to follow the river.  While there’s a few homestays around, the whole area has a much more local feel to it.

It’s already hot, and getting hotter, and we’re soon out in the countryside, enjoying the usual sights.

We find what will eventually be a new bridge, in the very early stages of construction, stopping briefly to watch several cows making use of the nearby shade, of the now very clear and dusty worksite.

Just two of the cows enjoying the construction site that will, at some point, be home to a new bridge.

On we go, and knowing that I will very soon require an appeasing cold drink for the one behind me, we fortuitously come across a nước mía đà cart, as we enter a small town.

Seat taken in the shade, and our lovely nước mía lady duly delivers the much needed cooling drink (10 000 Dong).

Much needed!

While there’s not a lot around, it’s nice to be able to just sit back and enjoy a real and authentic town, devoid of any visible tourist places.

Cool down complete, we continue on, getting the occasional smile and ‘hello’ from interested locals.

Back to the main road, turn right, and it’s not long before we come to the turn off to the Duck Stop.

Google Maps is consulted, and in an effort to remove ourselves from the highway, we turn off right, and make our way through flat and open farmland.

Reaching the road beside the river that we were on earlier, Lisa suddenly recognises where we are, and exclaims, “You’re clever!”

If being able to read a map is clever, then yes, yes I am.

Back to the river.

We make our way back towards town, and with it now being just after 12.00pm, I start thinking about lunch options.

I’m far from hungry, but knowing Lisa will soon want something, I am going to do everything in my power to find that something outside of Phong Nha itself.

We reach the bridge, which we passed under earlier, and as luck would have it, there’s a woman set up nearby, offering various noodle soup options.

The question is asked of Lisa, in a way that I will receive the ‘yes’ answer I so covet, and sure enough, I have a win.

A seat is taken, the slight awkwardness of the woman and her young son, at the thought of dealing with these strange westerners, quickly disappears, and we soon have a bowl of phở bò (40 000 Dong) each, along with my second nước mía đá (10 000 Dong) for the day, and a Coke (15 000 Dong) for Lisa.

It’s all good, but made gooder because of where we are.  Or perhaps that’s more, because of where we are not.

I have so missed this local stuff.

My kind of place.

Food, and local interaction fix, done, it’s back on the bikes, and back to Thao Nguyen around 1.00pm for a rest and recovery session.

Batteries, somewhat, recharged, we’re back out, and back on the bikes, by 2.30pm, but this time off in the opposite direction.

Past the boat dock, and into the area of all the homestays.  It’s one of two, well, maybe three, areas that I considered when we were looking at where to stay, with the town option ultimately being chosen.

So, this area?

It seems nice, and with it feeling a little quieter and less built up, maybe it would have been a better choice.

But, it’s still, and probably not surprising, tourist oriented, and a short and quick bike ride through it is hardly thorough research, so I’m not sure.

The ride continues, and we soon reach the outskirts of ‘town’.  Dodge, and make room, for a herd of cows walking down the road, so cute and adorable looking, that you start to wonder whether you should stop eating them.

We eventually reach the end of the road, which pretty much signals the start and entrance to Phong Nha cave.

But that’s out in the river, and also, sort of, on the other side.

The cave, the blue boats, the orange life vests, a woman washing dishes in the river on the steps.  Those steps that lead up to where people congregate, to try and make money out of other people congregating.

And then there’s us, looking on from the other side, on our own, and seemingly miles away from it all.

Just us, and our bikes, and it cost nothing.  And we just got to see attractive cows.

From the other side.

Down to the river, feet cooled off, and thongs washed.  It’s nice.  I like it over here.

Back on the bikes, and we head back, taking the opportunity to play tourist at a small open air bar / restaurant, overlooking the river.

The temptation is a juice of some kind, but with the view in front of us, and it being late-ish afternoon, it screams beer.

Two are ordered, and from the fridge they are removed.  But the fridge has been acting more cupboard like, than fridge like, so the question of đá (ice) is asked.

Several times….

Eventually, the beer, now in a lovely plastic cup, becomes the temperature the brewer intended, which in turn managed to also improve that view in front of us.

At least it’s green.

Scenery admired, beer (20 000 Dong each) had, along with a chat with a friendly English couple, and then back on the bikes to Thao Nguyen.

Bikes parked, and the main guy is at the front desk, looking after his young son.

While our brief and limited conversations have always been pleasant, they’ve been rather matter of fact conversations, mostly related to answering a question, or organising transport like the easy riders yesterday.

But today he’s up for a chat, even giving us two complimentary beers from the fridge, in the process.

It surprises me, as he’s ‘trained’ me so well over the last few days, that I’ve reached a point where, if he’s been there, I’d just give him a simple hello, or maybe even just a smile, and a nod of the head.

There didn’t seem to be much desire to interact, so I gave him what I thought he wanted, and didn’t.

But today, the day before we leave, he’s different.

If I was a cynical person…….

‘Chat’ done, and I head off up to Paradise Pizza, leaving Lisa behind.

Drifter is there, and then Pete turns up a bit later.  Beers, lots of talking, lots of laughing, lots of fun.  They really are great guys.

As much as I don’t want to leave, the time arrives, and the rather difficult ‘goodbye’ is done.

Back to Thao’s, and in the interest of trying to get a meal here in town from a place that isn’t filled with people like us, we head down towards the bridge not far from the boat dock.

According to Drifter, there’s a guy there who does barbequed duck, and sure enough, when we find him, he does.  Along with chickens.

There’s no English, and finger pointing isn’t really working, so we revert to Google Translate.

It’s a little difficult, which is fine, as it’s all part of the fun, and the end result is that if we want duck, then it needs to be the whole duck.

We ain’t eating a bird that big, so that’s not an option.

He will, however, though slightly reluctant, do half a chicken for us, which is graciously accepted.

Being the only ones there, we get first choice on where we sit, and as we do, I ask about beer.

Two warm ones quickly appear, and with a couple of plastic cups, as well as a bucket of ice, life is good.

A few minutes later a Japanese couple turn up, and their conversation with our guy results in the half of the chicken we didn’t want, becoming theirs.

I’m happy for our guy, but only until my Japanese mate asks me how much the chicken is.

I don’t know, I never asked, and now I’m a little concerned.

It soon arrives, along with some rice and a few greens, and it’s good, and I’m happy to be sitting where we are.

But Lisa’s not really enjoying it for some reason, which now means I’m not enjoying it as much as I should be.

After finally finding what I’ve been looking for since we arrived, the preference now seems to have been the touristy restaurant.  Again.

So frustrating…..

We get through as much as we can, which fortunately is most of it, and I head over to pay.

190 000 Dong, apparently, including the two beers.  I’m okay with that.

Down to Paradise Pizza for the final time, for more of the usual, including a chat with a French girl who has just arrived.

Lisa thinks she likes me.

I tell her everyone likes me.  Which is one very big lie indeed.

But if she does, and if, as she told us, she’s as keen as I am in finding the real and authentic Vietnam, and not the contrived stuff in tourist hotspots, then maybe I should have asked for her number.

A couple of beers, then back to Thao Nguyen about 10.00pm, and onto the bed for the usual.

But tonight it’s more thinking than doing.

I’m struggling, and it’s a struggle with several things.

It started with dinner tonight, but it’s much more than that.

The typhoon, but more specifically, the photos and videos I’ve seen on social media.

Seeing the damage, reading of the loss of life, and because I’ve been up that way before, having just a small idea of how devastating and frightening it would be, to have to deal with that.

And then there’s the video of the truck disappearing over the edge of a collapsed bridge.  That made me gasp out loud when I saw it.

It all has me now thinking about what we should do.

Our next two stops, after a single night in Hanoi, are Ninh Binh and Mai Chau.

But Ninh Binh, apparently, because of people having to make alternate plans from the far North, is now extremely busy.  And Mai Chau, at present, is unable to be reached due to road closures.

It all has me now questioning what we have planned, and that self doubt is leading to more self doubt, on other, not quite so related, stuff.

Stuff that had to be dealt with before we even left, like the timeline involved with Dad’s move into the new place.

I’ve spent considerable time over the last few months, while dealing with that, trying to convince myself that going ahead with this trip was still a good idea.

And then the boy, pretty much as soon as we left, making dumb decisions, which, while extremely disappointing, didn’t come as a completely unexpected surprise.

It all feels like I’ve been getting told stuff, but I just haven’t been listening, and I now have all these doubts about everything we’re doing, and how we’re doing it.

I’ve even considered the option of pulling the pin completely on the rest of our Northern component, with perhaps just heading south to the Mekong early, and maybe somewhere like Con Dao Island, a possibility.

But I don’t know if that’s a good idea or not, as I now have serious doubts on my decision making ability.

It’s 11.30pm, I’m annoyed, frustrated, disappointed.

And full of self pity.

Aaaargh……

Cheers,

Scott