Canoes, Weddings and Bike Rides

Early morning on the Son river

It's wedding season! We've been invited to five weddings this Month, we couldn't both get to all of them, but between us we had them all covered.

Which way is up?

As well as the weddings, we've been busy (as usual) with tours of Hang Son Doong and Tu Lan but in between we've also been canoeing along the river and bicycling along some of the back roads.

Going to be a hot one

As far as canoeing goes, when I say 'we', I really mean just Ruth, canoeing's not really my cup of tea so I've only been out once (I was really just along for the ride, and to take pictures). I did paddle a bit, not much, but a bit, and that nearly killed me! How odd to find a sport I'm not good at.

Rest time

The only advantage (as far as I'm concerned) with early morning canoeing is that you do see some interesting sights along the way, oh, and it's cooler and the weather seems to be better. Still. I prefer to sleep.

Scrubbers

The first wedding was our neighbours, a loud affair especially as it took place just outside our bedroom window. Fortunately I wasn't there but Ruth managed to go. One good thing about wedding parties here is that the celebrations all seem to finish by ten pm at the latest, even if they do go on for days!

All set for the big day

Next up was Jamie and Thanh. Jamie used to be in charge of bookings for Hang Son Doong, until she had a baby, Thanh was a guide, until Jamie had a baby! We were both on separate tours which meant that Ruth got the pre-wedding party and I got the main event the next day.

Indoor fireworks, is that really safe?

The very next day was the wedding of the daughter of the owners of the Vung Hue restaurant (which we go to quite regularly). Ruth was in Son Doong so I went on my own, meeting the rest of the Brits there, I arrived on time but everyone else was about ten minutes late so I was sat on my own for that time, a definite spare part at a wedding!

The happy couple, Quang and Yen

The final wedding was a double event, Quang, who is an assistant guide in Son Doong, was getting married to Yen, who packs our equipment for Son Doong. In Vietnam, there are two wedding parties/ceremonies, first the bride (at her house) and then the groom (at his house) which meant two weddings in two days (three parties if you count the 'stag do' the night between. Not really a 'stag do' as women are present, including the bride).

After the party, some cleaning up required

After Yen's party (we were all a little drunk) Watto had sloped off early, somewhat the worse for wear, but as we left, who should we see but Watto cycling up the road on Seamus's three wheeler bike.

Taxi!

Ruth and Geraldine jumped on for a ride back to our house.

All aboard, home James and don't spare the horses

Sadly, there was no room for me so I had to walk, less than five minutes though so no real hardship.

Wait for me!

While I was busy working, Ruth went on a couple of bike rides with Adam.

Near the end of the road

One was along the opposite site of the river to us. The plan was to cycle along to the ferry near Phong Nha cave but this was thwarted when they ran out of road shortly after they had passed a very muddy section, so muddy that the wheels wouldn't turn until they had been cleaned in a nearby stream.

Bike washing

Their other ride they had was along some back roads in the direction of Dong Hoi, stopping off at The Pub with Cold Beer, The Duck Stop, Phong Nha Farmstay and the Moi Moi restaurant.

River reflections

Once I was back from a tour, Ruth and I tried to repeat this second ride, we didn't quite manage it but we still had an interesting ride, going places neither of us had been to before!

Ferry, bikes and people only

Initially we followed the route taken by Ruth and Adam, out of Phong Nha, cross the river and turn right. The idea was to follow this small road and then take the second ferry back across the river.

Phong Nha Ke Bang panorama

We turned off too soon and ended up on the first ferry. Just before this a massive new church is being built, I can't see how they are ever going to fill it, but perhaps there will be some divine intervention!

Giant church to be

Then we followed the road to get back on track where the second ferry crosses but we soon became lost again when we couldn't find the correct track to the Phong Nha Farmstay and ended up taking a shortcut to The Pub With Cold Beer where we had lunch (and cold beer for me).

Where's the road gone?

After lunch we started off on the normal route back but tried to avoid a boring stretch along a busy road, another interesting diversion where we got temporarily misplaced again! Still. we eventually found an interesting and obscure route back to Phong Nha.

Boats and fish farms

Evening meal was back to one of our old favourites, Banh Khoai, street food at its best. After a brief stint as a hairdresser last year they are back in the catering business, but they are still trying other things so now they do travel bookings as well.

Banh Khoai restaurant

Occasionally we see some interesting things on the back of motorbikes (like a washing machine!), sometimes we even manage to get a picture like the one below, of a large metal tube. I'm not sure what it's for but this guy regularly drives up our street trying to sell them.

Tube seller on a motorbike

Finally, for this entry, one day we were sat by the river at Khanhs' Cafe when we noticed some pollution in the river. Mr Khanh was soon on the 'phone to some official who came out for a look but we used it as an excuse to ride up to Phong Nha Cave to see if the pollution was coming from there or from the other branch of the river. A nice quick ride before sunset.

Wheeee

Flood!

A wet start to the day

What a difference a day makes! A lovely day yesterday on the walk out from Hang En, but an overnight thunderstorm of almost Biblical proportions has changed things somewhat. Many of the roads on the way over to Tu Lan were very wet,  and the road through the village of Trooc was under thirty centimetres of water. The streams were orange with mud and in full spate.

Have we got to cross that raging monster?

The situation was no different at Tan Hoa but the guides and office staff assured me that the rivers would be ok to cross, one tour had already left so I assumed that if things were bad we would see them before we got to the first river crossing.

First river, deep and nasty, should have got the safety line out - or even a boat!

We managed to cross the first river, three at a time holding hands, but it was nearly chest deep with a very strong current, Personally I thought it was a little risky and we would have to take more precautions for our next crossings.

A stormy La Ken valley

After lunch in Rat Cave, the weather had improved, but it was going to be some time before the water levels dropped. We made our way to the crossing which would enable us to get to Gibbon Cave (and beyond). Vū (the guide) had one attempt at crossing before I pulled 'the plug' and decided that it was not going to be safe. We moved on to where the porters cross, but that to was far too dangerous so we moved on to a final location, after that I wasn't sure what we could do.

River deep, mountain high

The final crossing location was still not possible with the equipment we had, but we were able to make a call to the office for life jackets and a floating rope. As the water was deep and not so fast here, with fewer dangerous obstructions in the water, we figured we would be able to cross once we had the safety equipment.

Second river crossing.

While we were waiting for the life jackets, some porters came back and crossed exactly where we were. Coming towards us it was a wade, followed by three metres of swimming across the current to a tree, once at the tree they walked on submerged branches to our side, we had a route across!

Third river crossing

Having crossed into the La Ken valley proper, we only had one more river to cross before our camp in Hung Dung for the night, and with the equipment that we now had I was confident we could make it although we no longer had time to visit Gibbon Cave.

This is normally the swimming pool at the Hung Dung campsite

Once at camp, I immediately spilled a cup of coffee over myself, this was not going well. By the next morning the water level had dropped by over a metre, although it was still high I thought that there was a good chance that we could get through Bat Cave.

Bat Cave, way too wet for safety

How wrong I was, the water was still way too high so we had to retrace our steps, back to the Hung Dung camp for a swim before continuing on to the La Ken campsite.

A much improved Hung Dung Swimming pool, still wet though

With the water levels dropping, everyone was more relaxed and happier, knowing that we should at least be able to complete our itinerary for the next two days.

Monster card game?

The walk over to the Tu Lan valley was uneventful and we arrived in time for a swim before lunch. The water levels were high but manageable.

Butterflies in the sun

After lunch it was Tu Lan cave, no problem for us but the porters had fun getting the boats into Tu Lan. Crossing the bridge between the two camps is easy, but in high water there is not much room to get a boat beneath it!

Boat limbo dancing

At the entrance to Tu Lan we saw a baby bird that had obviously jumped out of its nest just a little bit too soon. Hopefully it will survive.

Bird is the word

After Tu Lan, we went to Hang Ken before dinner, there was some more rain overnight but this had no effect on the water levels. On the downside, I seemed to have developed my first case of foot rot, hopefully I can get rid of it before my next tour in three days time.

A nice night for an evening

By the final morning, my foot rot was no worse, which was a good sign, so we set off to swim through Hang Kim and Hang Hung Ton.

Hang Kim, before the swim

Thankfully the swimming was uneventful, leaving just Secret Cave to go. I saw the little chap below right beside the entrance, not the neatest spiral in the world, but not a bad effort.

Spider spiral

The picture below shows the river outside the Tan Hoa office before and after our tour. Next up for me is Hang Son Doong, passing Ruth on the hill. but before that there is the small matter of two weddings.

Same spot, before and after the tour

b

SD 24

Jumping for fruit

So, another week, and another Hang Son Doong tour, this time with Watto. As well as the normal quota of porters, there were others in the cave who were doing a bit of tidying up and fixing, more on that later.

Do you expect me to go there?

One of the jobs was to put directional signs for the toilets (as these are not always visible from the camps). Just one problem with the signs, they only pointed left! The porters were gong to have to get creative with their sign placements.

Hang En, between the entrances

It was a lovely warm and pleasant first day walk to Hang En with no drama and no rush, a pleasant change after my last Tu Lan tour, and, although I didn't know it yet, the calm before the storm (see next blog post)! The porter team even had time to stop by a large tree to collect some small bitter fruit, they all seemed to like it, even if it wasn't to Western tastes.

River valley walk

After Hang En, we had the usual walk along the valley bottom before the climb up to the entrance to Hang Son Doong. I haven't posted many pictures of Critters so far this year so I'm on the lookout for new ones to show (or simply better pictures of those seen last year). There's two below and expect more. Don't get too squeamish, they really can be quite beautiful if you look closely.

Marvelous moth

Spotted this beautiful moth on the path up to the entrance, I couldn't get a decent picture (shaky old hands!) until a client lent me his tripod.

Sweat munching butterflies (can you spot them?)

Another hot day, so after the climb up to the entrance, the clients had sweated a bit, this proves very attractive to butterflies, one 'brand' simply couldn't get enough from this Buff.

Witch in the mist

Inside the cave was very misty, it seems the hotter it is the more the mist and cloud forms, not great for pictures but very atmospheric.

Old fossil, rather like the cave safety experts!

The group were not the quickest, so we arrived at Camp One a little later than average, but there was still time for a quick trip down to the Fossil Passage for those that still had the energy (only three!). On my last tour I spotted a really good example so this time I went in to photograph it, it had moved! So I couldn't find it, maybe next time?

Camp One

Back at Camp One, the cave was still misty and damp so no drying of any clothes here (as usual). However the cooks really excelled themselves with their presentation, and of course the tastiness of the food.

Tasty food

We were still being followed by directional signs for toilets, could have been very confusing and dangerous to try to go where the signs were pointing at times? Fortunately no one was desperate and in a rush to go!

Where's the light switch? I can't see where to go!

The mist continued to follow us through the cave, so the sunbeams in Doline One were not as good as they could have been, although I shouldn't complain as this was the first time I had seen them properly this year.

Garden of Edam before the storm

It was misty all the way to the second doline and the Garden of Edam, and then a thunderstorm struck. In seconds the cave went from virtually zero visibility to crystal clear, amazing.

Garden of Edam seconds later

We all waited in the dry for the storm to pass before making our way to Camp Two, and then, as usual to The Great Wall of Vietnam and the end of the cave for clients.

View from my tent in Camp Two

Earlier in the year, the porter team were improving the paths in Doline One when they found two bomb fragments, these were on display where we normally stop for 'photos but one disappeared, on this trip it had re-appeared so on the way back I nipped up into the doline to take some pictures. I'm sure the Americans were not trying to bomb the cave (after all, no one new it existed then) but the pilot was probably just dumping his load into the jungle and one bomb happened to explode near the top of the doline, throwing some fragments into the cave.

Bomb bits

Back at Camp One, the porter work party were busy constructing new toilets. The old ones, which are made of wood (and this camp being continually damp), had got rather mouldy and were falling apart.

Constructing the toilet

Back in the jungle and on the way back towards Hang En, I spotted this spider, probably the best one I've seen in Vietnam. The body is about two centimetres across and if you look closely at its head you can see a smiling face.

Isn't it cute?

And so that was it, another tour over, except for the walk out to the road. As it was due to be very hot we had an early start, making for good visibility during the first part of the walk back and good views back to Hang En.

Hang En Entrance

No rest for the wicked so the next day I'm straight back out on a Tu Lan four day tour.

Washing day

Dong Hoi, and Phong Nha in March/April

Ruth paddles into the early morning sun

Time marches on, two more Months have passed since my last general update, so here's a few pictures and some news that got away. Ruth has been doing a few early morning canoeing sessions with John since he arrived.

Orange moon

The weather has finally improved, it's now super hot but after three Months of cool and cloudy weather this is almost welcome.

After the rains came

Even though it has warmed up, there are still some intense thunderstorms about.

Dong Hoi fishing nets

The other day we had a trip to Dong Hoi asWatto was form filling in order to get his driving licence.

Fishing boats, some rather old

There has been some serious ocean pollution around Vietnam and all the fish are dying and not safe to eat. This means that the many fish restaurants in Dong Hoi are either closed or will have very limited menus. We think that swimming in the sea is also banned. Very sad for the locals who rely on the sea for their living.

Fisherman's hut

Dong Hoi was almost totally destroyed during the American war, a single church is just about all that remains.

What the Americans did

The only thing left standing