After our two day adventure in Ha Long Bay, Jamison and I took a much needed shower at the hostel in Hanoi, ate a quick dinner and then loaded on to the overnight bus to Phong Nha, home of the world’s largest cave (and many other caves!) and absolutely gorgeous scenery.
It was a reluctant goodbye, for sure. For some reason, I get vibes of places, and Hanoi had a really good feel to it. Yeah, it’s busy and crowded and smelly and full of touts and you most certainly need to barter and check your change constantly, but it has good character. And it’s super cheap! I would love to return for a longer visit.
The bus was quite comfortable, and a great deal for $27 dollars. This “boomerang” bus is a deal you can get where you can do a jump-on, jump-off travel along the north tourist towns in Vietnam at your own leisure (for the most part). It had A/C, reclining seats with plenty of leg room, blankets, water, snacks, an onboard movie, and wifi!
When we arrived in the morning, we found accommodation easily, as the town is just a small strip with some hotels and restaurants. I believe it was called “Easy Tiger”. Jamison convinced me we needed to rent a motorbike, and I am very grateful that we did, because it was a highlight of the trip! We zipped around exploring the gorgeous scenery for a few hours, visiting a few of the main caves in the area.
First we visited Paradise Cave, which was a very large cave with a lot of intricate formations and ceilings that had the most gorgeous colorations, almost like the earth’s own Sistine Chapel.
I was asked to take a photo with several groups of Vietnamese, but this girl below was super cute AND she was wearing an American flag hat, while I was wearing a Vietnamese flag hat, so I had to get a photo as well.
Before heading back to the bike, we got the most yummy coffee ice-cream I’ve ever had (and I’m not an ice cream fan usually). Then we headed to tour “Dark Cave” which was a really fun and affordable ($13) experience. I have zero photos of this because it is a VERY muddy and VERY wet trek, so all of our belongings and most of our clothing was removed and stored on shore.
First, Jamison and I had to get back in a kayak and fight our way down and across the river to the cave entrance. If you read my previous post you would know that we are pretty much incompatible when it comes to navigating a kayak together. It didn’t matter how much we tried to communicate or let the other lead; we were lost. By the end we were all incredulous laughter.
In the cave, as the guide practically ran ahead into the darkness, we struggled and scrambled and slipped and climbed our way through a progressively muddier and muddier cave until the mud and muddy water was up to our chest in some places. Then we reached a “slide” which took us down into a big mud pit where the guide instructed us to turn off our headlamps and take a “mud bath” for health. So we complied and laid back in the mud for a while until we couldn’t help experimenting with making rude noises. We were 12 for a while.
Then the guide took us back up to an underground lake in the cave, where we cleaned the mud off. Then the guide told us to swim all the way to the end of the lake and then turn off our headlamps and swim back in the dark!! Jamison and I weren’t too excited to go off into the darkness of the water and down into the back of the cave, but we did it anyway like good dumb-and-overly-trusting tourists.
I tried very hard not to think about what sorts of long, scaly, and sharp-toothed creatures could be lurking beneath the water. I tried very hard not to think about the creepy bug life climbing the walls or the potentially-hazardous bat excrement I was breathing in as we did our fastest breaststrokes to complete the course and appease our guide. And we made it!! No bites, no drowning, and no diseases . . . That I know of.
The next day Jamison did a day tour of several other cave systems in the area, and I saved my money and stayed in to get some errands done (Traveling is not vacation, people! It is a lot of work and things pile up just as quickly as back home, believe it or not!). During his absence I was accused of stealing headphones from this annoying backpacker who was certain my headphones were his (you know, ‘cause white Apple earbuds are so rare in this world!) to the extent that he approached me three times, including seeking me out in my room where he walked in without even knocking and demanded to see them himself to get “the serial number” so he could order more . . . Right . . . I got pretty upset, I admit. For anyone to think that I would STEAL or LIE, particularly about something like this was profoundly upsetting. It felt like an attack on my character and I was CERTAIN they were mine but I won’t bore you with the details of why. I didn’t think about the fact that this guy knows absolutely nothing about me, no. After calming down, I was surprised at myself for my reaction and how I let it get to me. The guy did take it way too far, it’s true, but his suspicion, particularly in a hostel environment is not unfounded in general. The whole thing reminded me that unfortunately there are a lot of people that would take something left on a table and then lie about it later if the original owner came back to claim it.
I know that I need to work more on not taking things personally, especially from people ignorant to who I am or just plain ignorant in general. Why care about what someone thinks about you if you already know their intellectual abilities to be flawed or at least that their philosophies and belief systems are not in line with your own?
Well, the guy chilled out and Jamison and I enjoyed a very delicious dinner with our super cheap beers that evening and laughed about it. The next morning, Jamison and I caught the boomerang bus on the scenic trip to Hoi An; a town that is a UNESCO world heritage site. It is famous for its architecture, being a great place to get cheaply tailored suits and other clothing, and being a quaint, laid back town. I ended up staying for over 2 weeks!
Jamison was only with me for a few days here. We went to the beach, discussed our uncertain futures, and relaxed by the pool at the hostel before he flew on to his next destination.
I miss you, buddy! Cheers!
