Hanoi Part Two, West Lake and Long Bien Bridge

For our final day in Hanoi, we had some time to kill. Our train was not until 10pm, so quite a lot of time!

Not quite as luxurious as our Hotel

Ruth and I decided to hire some bikes and cycle around West Lake, around 12 Km.

Here be Dragons!

Unfortunately we had a rather overcast day so the views were not so good but at least it was not so hot.

Time for tea

We stopped off half way round for a quick break, and to admire the view!

Infinitely long bridge

Once we had finished, we still had plenty of time to spare so we walked over to the Long Bien Bridge.

Makers sign

This was designed by Gustav Eiffel (of Eiffel Tower fame) and built by the Vietnamese. Originally it had 19 spans and was one of the four longest bridges in the world.

Detail from handrail

There's a few less spans now since the American war. As well as trains there is a section either side for motorbikes and pedestrians only.

Ghost on the line?

It is a popular spot for wedding photographs for some reason. Underneath is a flood plain which is very fertile and many of the vegetables old in Hanoi are grown here.

Living with bananas

Some people even seem to live here during the summer. We managed about half way across the bridge, not bad for a hot day, before turning around and walking back to the Hotel.

Bakery

Here are a few more pictures of the sights we saw on the way.

Must be some cash around here somewhere

Lantern shop

Hanoi Part One

Old building, new wires

We're back in Hanoi for a few days, no real reason except Ruth is visiting a Dentist while we are here (she may be developing an abscess) and  it's also nice just to leave Phong Nha for a while.

Another old French colonial building

With nothing planned, we are just wandering the streets, looking around, shopping and visiting cafes.

Slight trip hazard here, so watch out

There is plenty to see if you look closely enough, many of the buildings are old French colonial ones, although the lower levels are more modern shop fronts, the upper levels can still show what Hanoi old town must have looked like years ago.

There's a flower seller around here somewhere

The streets are jam packed with cars, motorbikes and bicycles. Utter chaos, or at least it seems like it although the traffic is continually moving so the system works somehow.

Street seller with a heavy load

Most of the pavements are fully parked up with motorbikes so you have to walk on the edge of the road, risking life and limb. Crossing the road is fun.......

If I get just one more balloon I can fly

Street sellers are everywhere, trying to sell all sorts of things like fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, fish, ready sliced pineapple, cakes, pop up cards, balloons and anything else they can think of.

Fruity

Sometimes it's nice to just sit in a cafe and watch the world go by, you can also play games like "how many people can you see on one bike?". Eight is the mythical record but so far the best we've got is five, see if you can spot them in the collage below.

Is six on one motorbike really possible?

Another good game is "spot the most ridiculous load on a motorbike (or bike)", there are so many possibilities for this one that it is very difficult to judge the winner, Here are some of the entrants so far (there may be more to follow!)

Big but possibly light

Definitely not heavy

Looks heavy and difficult to balance, the winner so far

In the evening, it's time for tea. A good area seems to be near the Hoan Kiem Lake, not too far from us.

Hoan Kiem Lake at night

Hoan Kiem Lake at night

Oxalis Four Day Tu Lan Caving Tour

Tu Lan campsite from Hang Ken entrance

Another fine tour, weather good and water is warming up nicely.

Hang Chuot, or Rat Cave

Here's a few selected pictures from the tour, mostly caves as that's what it's about!

The short swim through cave on day two

Day two is mostly jungle trekking, with just one short cave to swim through.

Jumping off the water fall at Hang Ken

On Day three, we arrive at our campsite in time for lunch, early enough that there is time for a swim before heading into Hang Ken.

Hang Ken

Hang Ken entrance

Hang Ken

The Tan Hoa local equivalent to Pho Bo, very tasty

After we finish the tour (and after a hot shower we head into the village for a spot of lunch before the drive back to Phong Nha. There seem to be two different eating houses in Tan Hoa, both serve very tasty servings of noodle soup. This one was new to me, a very colourful plate full.

Mmm, Beer

The whole of the village floods in the wet season, up to six metres deep so many of the locals have a small floating house. In the winter they put all their belongings inside the small shed so when (if) there is a flood, all is safe until the waters recede.

Floating house

Vietnam Caves, Hang Dong Cây Sanh, our final Expedition outing

Riverside Campsite

Ruth, Watto and I just had time for a quick two day outing before another Son Doong tour. A short drive and forty minute walk got us to our campsite by a dry riverbed.

Hang Dong cây Sanh entrance

From the campsite it was a thirty minute walk uphill to a cliff and an entrance to a cave by a large "Strangler vine" tree, hence the cave name, Cây Sanh being the local name for this type of tree. It use another tree for support, then slowly strangles the support tree as it grows, eventually the supporting tree dies but by then the tree can support itself.

Oh Dear, this Deer seems to have got stuck in the mud

The entrance was a steep slope down to a large area with big formations, at the bottom of the slope was a muddy floor with many deer prints and a pit containing bones which we were told were Deer.

The Skewer

The cave was full of formations, including one lone stalagmite, tall and thin, which we called "The Skewer".

The Skewer

After a while we reached a big chamber with many loose blocks and a choice of ways on, we chose left and down, past a pit estimated at 20m deep.

Oh Deer Chamber, you can just make out the daylight, up and left of the people

This gradually decreased in size before ending at calcite chokes. Time was running out for the day so we had a quick look at the way to the right. This appeared to continue down a short pitch or climb so we had to schedule a return the following day, instead of visiting another cave as initially planned.

Final Rift

The next day we returned to the right hand section, one route ended at a large chamber while down a roped climb ended at a high rift where the draft seemed to go. This was as far as we could get. We also descended the 20m pit which turned out to be 30m deep and ended at a too tight slot which drafted out.

Nice formations

That was it for new cave, apart from a side passage near the entrance so we did some photography on the way out before exploring the side passage.

Big Passage

This had a number of bat skeletons so we called the passage The Bat Graveyard, this ended after about 150m, very pretty but unfortunately that was really it.

Pretty side passage near the entrance

All in all, about 900m of new cave, most of it very pretty.

Strangler tree, or Cây Sanh, at the entrance

b

Exploring Hang Bom

The path's here somewhere

In between tours, we managed to squeeze in another day of exploration. This time we had a big team of six of us.

The Bomb of Hang Bom

We had been told that we were looking for a 20m shaft with a river at the bottom, after about 40 minutes of walking we were told to wait while our guides searched for the cave. After five minutes they showed us a small muddy hole which I looked into. This was a descending rift which drafted out, but was not the promised shaft so we moved on.

Main streamway

After another 20 minutes we arrived at another cave, another small hole which I squeezed into, once I was in it was pointed out that the rusty tin can I had crawled over was in fact a fragmentation bomb. It was moved before I came out!

The start of the high level passage

Once through the squeeze, I soon met a stream, upstream was another entrance which was a pitch. I left the cave to discuss what to do as this was still not the promised cave. Once outside we discussed what to do, as it seemed that we were not going to get to any other caves we decided to explore this promising lead.

Calcite river

The other entrance also had the remains of the main part of the Fragmentation Bomb. Ruth, Dan and I surveyed down the small entrance while the others surveyed down the pitch.

Formations in the high level passage

We all soon met up at the stream way and followed a magnificent stream passage down to a junction with a high level passage where we split up again, with our team taking the high level passage.

The end of the high level passage

This started small but soon grew in size and had some fine formations before reducing in size again and following a fantastic "moonmilk" floored passage.

Main stream way

After about 100m this ended as we entered another large section of passage which unfortunately soon came to an end when the only way on was a pitch down to the main streamway.

Dan admiring a stalagmite

The other team followed the (lower) stream route to a point where there was a swim and duck through deep water with a strong draft into the cave. With no lifejackets and time running out they had to turn around at this point. We all met up on the way out before the walk (a shorter route) back to the road, not quite making it back before a thunderstorm.