Hang Lanh

Coffee and Cream

Hang Lanh is planned to be part of a new tour including this cave and Hang En, this trip was undertaken to check out the suitability of the tour. Normally, when tours go to either Hang Son Doong or Hang En, the drop off point is at kilometre 35 and passes through the Ban Doong village, the plan is to use a different path starting at kilometre 37 so this was the route we took.

Fossils

We were told that the route had no ascent but soon enough we were climbing! That said the route seemed mostly flat so we were puzzled when we arrived at the main river just below the village, it was a pleasant walk and will make a good path with just a little improvement.

Chert beds in the main stream

From here the walk is the same as the walk to Hang En until you get to the helicopter landing point about twenty minutes walk from the entrance. At this point we cut through the jungle for about twenty five minutes to reach the stream at the entrance. This was not such a good path as it was a complete and utter leech fest (the plan would be to cut a shorter, more direct route from the main path to the cave).

Sand dollar fossil

We had a leech competition here, who could find the most leeches on them, I was third with nine, Adam second with eleven but Deb a clear winner with twelve, and she found three more (that had fed) later in the day.

Hang Lanh entrance

The cave itself starts off with a small entrance and a swim, Hanh Lanh translates as Cold Cave and it certainly lives up to its name! Fortunately the swims are comparatively short lived so at least you are not in the water all the time, even though there is also a constant cold draft. The tour goes into the cave for about one kilometre, it's fantastic caving, big impressive passage rather similar to the streamway of Hang Va, only bigger.

Stormy weather approaching, spot the rainbow

The tour ends after a swim though a boulder choke at a section named Coffee and Cream, although the cave continues beyond this point, it gets rather muddier and this would probably be enough for most customers (who would most likely be starting to get cold by now).

Village house in the rain

After we left the cave, we walked out to the main river by following the stream, fifteen minutes of wading, cool and leech free, before walking to the road via the normal route. There was a heavy thunderstorm from the point where we leave the main river to about half way up the hill, followed by a nice sunset.

Ahhh, sunset over the National Park