CENTRAL VIETNAM - Phong Nha-Ke Bang Nat'l Park, DMZ, Hue, Hoi An

PHONG NHA-KE BANG NATIONAL PARK (May 29-31, 2013)

 

We continued our Vietnam adventure towards the center by catching the train from Hanoi to Dong Hoi. The train is the more expensive but still very affordable transportation option in Vietnam. So in order to save on costs a bit and because we were traveling during the day we opted for soft seats. We would have been better off paying a bit more for soft sleepers. We still weren’t quite caught up on sleep from our northern trips and we left the station at 6:15am. We tried sleeping in our seats but it was too noisy to get much.

So with sleep not being an option our 10 hour train ride entertainment consisted of our iPods, the Lonely Planet guide book, tv programs and movies on the train televisions (although all in Vietnamese), the outside scenery and a local drunk on rice wine. It wasn’t until near the end of our train journey the local got a bit carried away, pulling out a knife and getting a bit violent with train authorities, but it’s all part of the adventure right? We never felt in danger though. We were actually pretty much ignored except for when Adrian was offered but politely refused some of the potent alcohol.

Once we reached Dong Hoi, we were then transferred to a farmstay in a rural area near the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park. We read about the place in the Lonely Planet and thought the farmstay and the national park would be a great way to experience the less touristy and more nature side of Vietnam. And it sure was.

The view from our room

We had one full day in this area which we spent doing the farmstay’s “Bicycle, Boat and Cave Tour”. The first part of the tour was riding bicycles towards the entrance of the national park about 8km away. Along the way we got some information about and history of the area and cycled past rice paddies, corn fields and chili farms. We also cycled past many children along the way who were genuinely happy to see us and gave us high fives rather than trying to get money out of us. It was really nice.

The "Hollywood sign" of the National Park

Once we arrived at the national park we transferred to a dragon boat and cruised along the Song Son River to get to the first of the two caves we would visit for the day. Along the way our guide (also a fellow backpacker and an American) gave us an incredibly detailed and intriguing overview of the Vietnam-American War.

 

Half of our group for the day - a couple and two girls from Red Deer, a British girl, an American guy and us!

The first cave we got to explore was Hang Toi or the “Dark Cave”. It has been given this name not because we needed headlamps to see but because of the colour of the rock inside which is black limestone. This means it is older rock compared to light-coloured limestone.  It was awesome to be inside this cave with only our group, no other travelers or tourists but a bit freaky wading through some of the deeper water.

Entrance to the "Dark Cave"

Ready for some caving!

We then took a short boat ride to a place to have lunch and then we were off again to visit the second cave of the day. This cave was the Phong Nha Cave which is much more touristy with, well, more tourists and also different coloured lights lighting up the inside and highlighting different rock formations. It was a massive dry cave which was once used as shelter for the Vietnamese as well as a hospital for the soldiers during the war. At the entrance you can see damage from American rockets trying to penetrate the cave but the limestone was far too dense to get through.  There is also one section of the cave that has 1000 year old Cham graffiti. We also learned about the different rock formations which were pretty impressive!

Entrance to Phong Nha Cave

1000 year old Cham graffiti

Columns formed from stalactites and stalagmites growing into each other.
The Vietnamese believe if you walk through these columns you will find your soulmate!

Some fantastic rock formations

"Rice terraces"

After exiting this cave we took a dragon boat back to the entrance of the national park and returned to the farmstay by our bikes.

It was a short stay at the farmstay but well worth it with all the beauty and history around us! It was also a cool experience to visit the National Park before tourism really takes off there. It's predicted it will do so because the world's largest cave was discovered in the Park only a couple years ago and will open to the public in the next few months.

DMZ (May 31, 2013)

From the farmstay we decided to take a transfer service they provided that took us to Hue by minibus but also included some short tours around the “Demilitarized Zone” or DMZ. The DMZ is situated around the Ben Hai River which served as the dividing border between the North and the South from 1954 to 1975 and is where a lot of historical events took place. 

Our first of the two “tours” was to the Vinh Moc Tunnels. Many villages in the area took cover from the war by building an underground tunnel system which not only provided shelter for the village but also connected to neighbouring villages. The tunnels contained very small living quarters, guard posts, only one deep hole which served as the toilet, a meeting room, a maternity room, a kitchen and some storage rooms. It was incredible to walk through the tunnels (hunched over mind you) and learn how these poor people lived for over six years. 

Outside trenches that linked the villages

An overview of the tunnel system

Heading into the tunnels

This area is one of the living quarters meant for four people to sleep in

The maternity room where 17 babies were born

Our second stop, more of a self-guided tour, was the Ben Hai River Museum which recounted a short summary of the war through plaques, photos and artillery. Not overly compelling but still interesting enough to go through a short while. We found the bridge only a short walk away more captivating because it was built to relink the North to the South after so many years once the war ended. There is a memorial at the end on the South side but we didn’t get a chance to walk across and see it up close, only drove past it.

Ben Hai River Bridge

After these two stops we continued on our way to Hue.

HUE (May 31 – June 2, 2013)

Hue is the old capital of Vietnam and the city still has many of its historic buildings intact despite American bombings. These buildings, ranging from the Citadel (containing the Imperial Enclosure and the Emperor’s Reading Room) to past rulers’ tombs to pagodas, have been deemed part of a yet another World Heritage Site in Vietnam.

Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to see any of these because I finally and inevitably got sick and Adrian wasn't that interested. We had only planned to stay in Hue for two nights and one full day, enough time to explore the Site, but it was all spent indoors, resting up and trying to feel better. 

We stuck to our plan and took off on the second morning even though I still wasn't feeling that great. During the four hour bus ride to Hoi An Adrian and I didn’t have a chance to sit together because we were the last ones to be picked up. But it worked out alright because I got to meet a guy born and raised in Vietnam but he had moved to Australia for more and better opportunities. He was just here for a few weeks seeing what Vietnam was like now and visiting friends and family. It was fascinating but also saddening to hear a Vietnamese perspective on issues such as the war, the government, the economy, and work and living conditions in Vietnam. He was quite happy to have moved his immediate family to Australia and establish himself there while taking time to visit Vietnam and do other traveling now. 

HOI AN (June 2-6, 2013)

After hearing other travelers’ experiences in Hoi An we were so excited to experience it for ourselves! We were going to take a cooking course on the beach, explore the Unesco World Heritage Site of the Old Town, bum on the beach, maybe take a half day trip to My Son to see some remains of the ancient Cham empire…buuut unfortunately we both ended up getting sick. We went to go see a doctor and were diagnosed with the ol’ bowel infection, lovely…So we started taking our meds and after a day or so we were well enough to walk around town, check out the Japanese Covered Bridge and do some souvenir/gift shopping. 

Japanese Covered Bridge

A stroll through the Old Town

But disappointingly that’s all we felt up to doing. After four days we thought it best just to move on and enjoy the rest of the time we had planned in Vietnam. It’s such a shame and we would like to do Hoi An over again but that will have to be during another trip. 

We did have Mui Ne, a quieter and not too developed beach town, to look forward to after all. And we were sure some fresh ocean air and soaking up the sun would do us some good!