The end of year Son Doong Porter party and other pre-Tet parties

Hmmm, can we eat all this food ourselves?

It's official, party season has begun!

Ho Khanh does the speeches

A few days before the New Year (Tet) and the parties have begun, at the moment it is the end of year parties.

Cheers

First up was the Son Doong Porter Party, a riotous affair held at Mr Nguyen's house. All the usual ingredients of a successful Vietnamese party, food, drink, speeches, loud music and dancing.

Men dancing!

Two days later was the Oxalis end of year do, held at the Vung Hue Restaurant and included food, drink, speeches, loud music and (probably) dancing, but we left before this.

Wedding feast

After that I had a day of weddings (Ruth was in Son Doong), first was Lam, a guide with Oxalis, (We actually had an invite to this one!) and from there I was taken directly to a second wedding, this was of one of the cooks at Oxalis.

Jo arguing with the bride and groom

No Speeches at either but food, drink, loud music and dancing, lots of drink with various relatives of the happy couples.

Wedding feast, tastefully presented

The weather continues to be cold and damp, so Ruth had a few cold nights on her Hang Son Doong tour.

More food, can I fit any more in?

Finally, we had the opening night (even though it is not actually open yet!) of Bó'm's (I think that's close to how you spell his name, pronounced Burm) new restaurant and Homestay, he is one of the cooks on the Hang Son Doong tour. It is going to be a fantastic place, he's a good cook, the build quality is excellent and so are the views.

Here comes the rain again

It was Howard's birthday so a cake was provided, also Colin is leaving Phong Nha to go back to the UK so another cake was provided. It really is a hard life out here and very difficult not to loose weight so you have to eat plenty.

Testing out the restaurant food. It passed

We Westerners, and some of the more respected guests got to sit at the restaurant tables while most of the porters sat on the floor, which is normal for them and suits them fine.

Poters get to sit on the floor

Watto got into a bit of a drinking match with some of the porters, the porters won and he had to be helped home. So now we have one day off before the Tet celebrations begin.

Give me me that cake

Hang Va and Nuoc Nut

Fun guys in these parts

The Hang Va and Nuoc Nut tour is a new tour that was started towards the end of last year, at first we joined the guides on this tour because there is a traverse which requires rope techniques. The guides received extensive training at the end of last year so it was expected that they could run this tour without any expert cavers present and that one of us would turn up once a month to monitor the state of the equipment and ropes.

Not mushroom in this picture

In reality (at the moment), one of us is accompanying each tour, at least for the second day, and for both days if the guide has never done the tour before. I have managed to get two tours in before Tet, which is good as both caves are really superb.

Nuoc Nut high level passage

The tour starts with a briefing in the morning, and then we set off at about 9, it's quite a short tour so first we visit "8 ladies cave" this is just a large boulder and shrine where a number of Vietnamese were trapped and died as a result of bombing.

Nuoc Nut first pool

After that we drive up to the drop off point for the short walk down to the entrance of Nuoc Nut where lunch is served before exploring the cave.

Nuoc Nut main passage

After a small entrance you emerge in a large passage with some formations and a couple of climbs to avoid pools.

Nuoc Nut sump pool

A final easy climb joins a stream which is the water from Hang Va, continuing downstream are a number of river crossings and a couple of deep (neck deep!) pools, a final low section through water gains the sump pool and the end of the cave. We return the same way to the entrance and then it's an hours walk to the Hang Va Campsite.

Nuoc Nut Waterfall as the main stream is joined

Overnight here (in hammocks) and after breakfast we explore Hang Va. Initially Hang Va is a nice river passage, climbing over and under boulders, this finishes at a larger section where there are two ways on.

Evening meal

The lower level is with the water is an easy and pleasant  walk to a sump, if it's wet then there are waterfalls along the way where water cascades from the roof.

Waterfall in lower passage of Hang Va

After finishing exploration of the lower level, the tour climbs up and traverses across to a higher level. This is the Tower Cone Passage and is much bigger than the lower level. You start of walking up a mud slope but the gours increase in size, getting up to about 3m in height as the tower cones appear, access is restricted here by a metal walkway for conservation purposes. After exiting the cave lunch is served before walking out via a different route to finish at the Khe Van bridge.

Hang Son Doong Tour 51, the first tour of the year!

My first trip into Hang Son Doong of the year. Labelled as SD51 because this was an extra tour, originally it was due to be a film trip but this was cancelled.

Hang En, the new version

The tour was due to coincide with a cold spell which turned out to be the coldest period ever recorded in Phong Nha.

Crossing the second bridge in Hang En

The first day was raining all day so I walked in my Vietnamese waterproof, unheard of but totally necessary as I was freezing by the time we got to Hang En.

Camp One Hang Son Doong

As ever, there was a strong breeze blowing through the campsite which made it very cold even with all my clothes on. The customers were feeling the same so we all pretty much disappeared off to bed as soon as we had eaten.

Crossing the lakes after Doline One

The next day was similar, rain and cold, the water levels were high so we took the high level route to the Son Doong entrance, waterproofs were needed again.

Doline One Hang Son Doong, note the waterfalls

Once inside the cave things were a bit warmer or at least drier but the water levels were too high for the river crossings so we used the new bridges which are fine constructions. As it was so cold, the visibility in the cave was very clear.

Camp Two Hang Son Doong

Another cold camp though, as there was still a strong breeze so once again it was early to bed!

My tent, Camp Two Hang Son Doong

Day three proceeded as normal, except there were no sunbeams at Doline One, instead there were waterfalls and lakes at the green gours.

View from Camp One Hang Son Doong

No further changes until we got to Camp Two, this was the same but at the end of the cave the lake was higher than I've seen. We have proper boats this year, although they are a little low in the water and one group of three customers sank at the wall and had to swim back. Fortunately the boats float, even when full of water, if not customers!

Hang En campsite

However, despite the sinking incident everyone really enjoyed themselves.

Porters on the first bridge, Hang En

It was still a cold and windy night at Camp Two, but by the morning the breeze had eased so breakfast was a much warmer affair. New addition to the breakfast menu, Eggy Bread, a great success. The water was still too high on our return to Hang En so we had to use the bridges again.

Porters on the second bridge, Hang En

Another cold and windy night (as expected) in Hang En, but not as bad as our first night. Our final day saw an improvement in the weather, not exactly sunshine but no rain and a lot warmer so we too our time on the walk out
A great start to the season, everybody had a great tour.

Exploring new caves in Quang Tri Province

Ruth, Adam and I were fortunate to have a trip to the neighbouring province of Quang Tri. In terms of tourism, Quang Tri is overshadowed by other provinces nearby and the local Peoples Committee are keen to improve this situation, as they have a small block of limestone and a few caves they invited us to look at these with a view to opening them up to tourists.

Cu Bai border area

We drove through stunning scenery (bypassing the Phong Nha Ke Bang National park) joining the Ho Chi Minh West road to get to the Cu Bai Border post where we were staying for the night.

Fifteen go caving!

Once there we were met by various members of the Tourism Department of the Peoples committee, the man in charge of the border post and various others.

Welcome to the jungle

At first were were sat in a large room, facing the officials, it felt like an interview! They explained their hopes and what the plans were for the next two days. Much shaking of hands occurred.

Our ward/bedroom

After the interview we were shown our accommodation for the night, a hospital opposite the border post, before lunch with the officials plus about twenty others. We were certainly being well looked after.

Home sweet Hospital

Lunch over and it was time to go caving, with fifteen Vietnamese! A fifteen minute walk from the base got us to the entrance to the first cave.

Hang Po Da

Hang Pô Da turned out to be quite large and had been used as an "Army Cave" during the American War and by various Vietnamese since then. The cave was just short of 900m long with a few nice formations along the way, but not enough to make a decent show cave.

Binh, in Hang Po Da

The Vietnamese had explored about half of the cave, stopping a a low section which obviously sumps in wet weather.

More Hang Po Da

Beyond this section the cave was generally of smaller proportions and few formations but it did have a good draft blowing out.

Hang Po Da, the pretty bit

We surveyed up to a low wet section where Adam was reluctant to progress so we sent Ruth for a look see. On her return she reported that the cave improved again but that she had stopped after about 80m at a difficult climb so I (and a load of Vietnamese) continued to the end. It was a tricky climb over a deep pool but I passed this to a final Aven/Chamber where the only way on was a 30m aid climb. End of cave! My estimated length for this section was 140m.

Arrival at the Bru Van Kieu village

We did a spot of photography on the way out before returning to our base for hot showers and a fine meal prepared by our hosts.

Village life

Breakfast was again provided before we drove for a few kilometres to a Bru Van Kieu village which was our drop off point for the second cave, from here it was a short walk of twenty minutes to the cave entrance, we were told this had not been explored before.

Preparing to enter Hang Ta Puong

We soon found out why as the cave, Hang Ta Puong, was an active stream cave which soon necessitated swimming, sometimes against a strong current where I found it difficult to make forward progress.

The dry entrance bit of Hang Ta Puong

An altogether different cave from the last one, again no good as a show cave but a fine sporting trip, just over 200m to where the way on was too tight above water.

Waterfall

After the cave they took us downstream to see a beautiful waterfall of about 30m which would make for an exiting abseil.

Village People

Then it was back to the village, en route Ruth got whacked in the head by a branch and I got my first leech of the year.

I've been shot?

First blood to the jungle!

So, I've been bitten

Back at the Cu Bai border post, we were treated to yet another fine meal before departing for Phong Nha.

Villagers?

A very enjoyable and memorable trip.

Tu Lan Four Day set up trip.

Tan Hoa area

Our first trip into the jungle since our return to Vietnam.

Luong and Dihn, our porters

The Tu Lan four day tour has had to be changed because Oxalis can no longer use Hang Tien. The purpose of this two day trip was partially to show (new guy) Trevor the area but also to sort out an abseil down a water fall for the second day of the tour.

Where to put the abseil?

The abseil does not have to be anything spectacular as it is just a practice abseil for the main one in Tu Lan cave (same as last year).

Below!

On day one we left Tan Hoa and then walked through Rat Cave into the La Ken Valley.

Adam goes first

From there we walked over the hill via a new route to the Tu Lan valley where we swam through Hang Kim and Hang Hung Ton and the back into the La Ken valley for our overnight camp.

Going down

The next day we walked the same route as day three of last years tour until we arrived at the small swim through cave where the abseil was to be set up.

Watto on the way down

Once rigged, Adam had a go, the abseil is short but should be good fun for clients. At the bottom he missed a boulder and disappeared in the water but soon popped up none the worse for wear, if rather wet!

Watto goes under

Watto and Ruth had a go next but as official photographer I managed to avoid further a soaking.

Looks wet down there

Splash down!

By now we were all rather cold so we set off on a new route back to Tan Hoa via the La Ken valley.

Tan Hoa