Vietnam Caving Expedition, first trip out

A view, in the jungle, that's something you don't see everyday!

The Expedition is here, it comes once every two years. I managed to get a bit of time off and so was able to go out for the first eight days.

What's for lunch, My Tom of course

The first six day trip started off on familiar territory, we walked to Hang En! We camped just short of the cave and the next morning we went to the entrance and turned left, we then walked uphill for over 4 hours.

Jungle scrambling, it's steeper than it looks, sharp too

A long hard slog in the heat (one of the few hot days so far) with some nasty sharp rocky sections. At the top there was a rare view and then we continued over slightly easier ground for another four hours to camp.

Weird tree

The next day we were up early and off to the first cave, Hang Bang. This was essentially just one large sloping chamber, very pretty but with no way on. We surveyed 700m  (three ways down) before concluding that the cave was finished.

Hammock wars

Next up was Vuc Xuong Khi, a nearby shaft. As we had been told not to bring too much rope, we ran out before we got to the bottom. It was a nice small shaft with no draft, and continued down for at least another 30m, probably more. One to go back to if we're ever back in that area to visit other leads.

The entrance of Vuc Xuong Khi

That was the end of all leads in that area so we walked out over the next two days before spending the night in Phong Nha, and leaving the next day for a twp day trip to a shaft visited on the previous expedition.

Looking down the final 80m drop of Hang 13 Shaft

The shaft was 130m deep and previously the team had got to the bottom of the shaft and left it with a long swim to go at. The first day we walked up to the entrance and set up camp next to it. The entrance is completely hidden from view and you can't see the shaft untill you are stood right next to it. The pitch was rigged as a number of 20m drops before a final free hanging drop of 80m.

Prussiking back up Hang 13 Shaft

At the foot of the shaft was a large chamber (about 60m x 60m and 80m high) with a lake. We swam, surveying as we went, for about 500m, then hit a blank wall. Cave over. The next day was spent photographing before de-tackling and walking out.

Hang 13 Shaft

Moving house the easy way

The new house, smart eh?

What can I say, I've just come out from a Hang Son Doong Tour, and we've moved house. How easy was that (for me).

Entrance area

The house is a lot nicer than our old one, but as expected we do have a few teething problems.

The bedroom, lighter than before

They forgot to put a tap on the kitchen sink!

Upstairs lounge, a little bare

No internet yet, washing machine not plumbed in, no beds and no furniture.

Might start a bicycle taxi service

Easily fixed, go to market and buy some cheap plastic chairs (red of course) £2.50 each, if a little flimsy, must sit gently.

Your chariot awaits

Quickly and easily installed our new furniture so we were ready for a test drive.

Tea on the front terrace

Chairs only just take my weight so had to wrap Gaffa tape around the legs to stop them splaying when warm.

View out back, it's ok

Hang Son Doong tours, including one with Ruth's Daughter

Still busy here, a number of tours have passed, including one with Rachel.

Son Doong storage tents in Hang En, are we using teepees now?

So here are some pictures from the last few, maybe Ruth will add some text about Rachels visit when she gets back from her current Tour.

The happy couple at Hang En Exit

Orchids at the entrance

The Garden of Edam

There's not Mushroom in this cave

Looking back up the entrance climbs

Looking down to camp one

Phytokarst

Big Stalagmite in the further reaches of the cave

Hope and Vision Passage, shot 1

Ruth and Rachel at Hang En Exit

Rachel on a giant scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream, with The Hand of Dog in the background

Ruth and Rachel on the iconic stall

Hope and Vision Passage, shot 2

Tarantula

Hang En Oxbow Passage

Wednesday Night Caving Club goes to Hang Son Doong

WNCC in shirts and trousers

It's been a very busy Month here in Phong Nha, hence the lack of posts on this blog. The Bi-annual Vietnam caving expedition is taking place at the moment so if we're not in Son Doong, we are out exploring new caves (I'll do a few more posts on this as and when I have time).

Ahh, sunbeams

Darren Mackenzie is out here with the expedition so there are currently three members of the WNCC in Vietnam. Darren wanted to see Hang Son Doong, so we took him on a three day jolly (on a Wednesday of course!).

Bats

This was to be a trip with no porters, Vietnamese or other clients, going to the exit, down the Great Wall of Vietnam and through the cave to Hang En, three days and two nights in total.

Bat

As we were passing Nuoc Nut, it would have been a shame to miss that so we had a quick look. The water levels had dropped significantly since my last visit but otherwise the cave was the same, except, at the section where there is still chest deep wading through water, there was a colony of bats (bigger than the ones we had previously seen in this cave).

Darren at a waterfall

I was a little worried about finding the exit to Hang Son Doong as I hadn't been there since last year, so we had to be quick with little time for photographs, but I did manage to shoot a couple of half decent images which gives an idea of the cave.

Nuoc Nit formations

We left the cave at 2pm which gave us plenty of time to find Son Doong before it got dark. As it turned out, finding the exit was straight forward and only took an hour.

Son Doong Exit entrance!

The exit is a huge slope down before climbing back up to an area which contains many cave pearls and the calcited bones of a deer.

Inside looking out

We traveled quickly through the cave to Camp Two where we were to spend the night, dumping our gear we continued to Doline two so that we could have a quick look at the other passage which enters here, this is not part of the regular tour so none of us had been here before.

Jungle

The passage goes no-where (as we had been told) but it did give us a nice view back into the jungle that is Doline Two.

Hang Son Doong, other passage

We were back at camp by six, where we enjoyed a fine meal of (double helpings) My Tom (noodles), this was one of the disadvantages of having no porters to carry our food and cook for us. Normally, Camp Two is totally dry, but because of the heavy mist the whole campsite was damp and dripping water. This was a problem as we had planned to sleep on the floor. After much faffing we managed to construct a "tent" using a tarpaulin, a bench and the table.

'Tent'

The next morning we woke early for a breakfast of porridge and fruit before setting off for Hang En, the plan was to be in the oxbow when the Son Doong tour was ascending the slope (so they wouldn't see us).

More Doline Two jungle

After breakfast we washed up and tidied up the camp before an early start, we wanted to get to the iconic stalagmites well before the other group got there.

Iconic Stall

As it turned out we arrived with so much time to spare that we had to slow down our progress considerably. This meant we had plenty of time for photography and were able to try out some different locations.

Oxbow

Even so, we were through the oxbow early and just missed the last of the customers, but we met some of the porter team which gave them quite a shock! Two of the porters were still at Camp One and they provided us with coffee and tea before we went to look at the fossil passage area. Just before this is an obvious passage in the wall which I've always meant to look at but have never been able to while Clients are present. This was an easy, if sharp, climb up to a passage which ended when it overlooked the fossil passage. A further climb up gained a similar passage, again with a window to the fossil passage below, but this time there was another way off to the left. This was a beautiful descending phreatic tube which ended at boulders and a 7m pitch down to a large passage which we couldn't get to (no rope!).

Oxbow Rope Climb

After that little bit of excitement it was back to the standard tour route, stopping for a few more pictures, again, trying to do things a little bit different. We spent the night in Hang En, joining a Hang En tour for evening meal and breakfast before a fast two hour walk up the hill for our 10 am pick-up.

Looking back to the Hand of Dog view point

Although we have both done Hang Son Doong many times, this was a very enjoyable trip and it was refreshing to be in the cave with no Porters or clients, the silence at Camp Two was particularly memorable. I think Darren enjoyed it too.

Second river crossing