Where did the time go?

Full to bursting

So, we've now been back for nearly one Month, and yet it seems like only yesterday that we arrived in Phong Nha. No doubt the time will pass equally quickly until January when we return to Vietnam.
In the meantime we will be kept busy with work, a trip to Mallorca (which we've already done!) and a trip to trek the Manaslu Circuit in Nepal (October).

Where's that river bank gone

We intend to keep the blog going and as we sort through our pictures I will upload any decent ones that come to light. At the moment it's raining in Phong Nha and the river is rising rapidly, see the pictures from Howard (who is still there).

Coffee tastes better with a view

As we've been working so hard! It was time for a holiday to Mallorca.

Boats at Soller

We stayed in Alaro, with many members of Ruth's family (parents, daughters, grandson etc).

Commanding views from the castle

Generally it was just a relaxing holiday with minimum activity, except swimming in the pool.

Can you see our villa from here?

But one day we walked up to the castle above Alaro, good views all round and a reasonable day for a walk (not too hot, not too cold).

Danger! Man eating Donkeys!

At the top of the hill, inside the old castle, there is a hostel and a cafe so we were able to enjoy a nice drink. Fortunately the donkeys were locked up.

Commanding views from the castle ramparts

We really didn't do much else of note, except drink vast quantities of wine from Jose Ferrer of Binnasalem, which is just 5 kilometres down the road.

Black and White gatehouse, very atmospheric

As stated, we've got a few posts in mind and as we sort through the mountain of pictures we will continue to post random Items

Don't wander off the path!

I'll also try to review some of the gear we have used during our trips, blatant plugging for both Castleberg Outdoors and Inglesport!

Steep steps on the approach

Once we're back from Nepal, we'll do a few posts about the trip (I suspect that we'll have limited time and internet access while we are there).

Gatehouse

Cu Chi

Our flight from Ho Chi Minh City is not until 8:20 pm so we had some time to spare. Having seen enough Museums we decided to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels.

I put it here somewhere!

We booked a coach tour from our hotel, half day only but it was a slow start and we didn't finish picking up customers from the city until over an hour had passed. We had a hard sell on the bus for a return by speed boat, which we took as it was going to be quicker that the bus.

Ah, here it is.

Our guide first showed us some of the tunnel entrances which were well hidden.

Bamboo spike pit trap thingy

Then we saw some of the traps that the Viet Cong set for the Americans (nasty).

Cu Chi Tunnel, enlarged for fat Westerners

The tunnels were small and hot, even though the one we went into was thirty percent bigger than actual size (so westerners can fit!). In total there are about 250 Km of tunnels in the Cu Chi complex, which was built over three levels. The tunnel we went into was only 100m in length, but it was still too long for some!

Up and down the river.

After the tunnels, it was back to HCMC, by speedboat for us, no aircon, but there was certainly a good breeze.

Speedy boat

The river was pretty deserted at first but as we got closer to HCMC we saw more boats (of all shapes and sizes).

Slow boat

Some were traditional wooden build but there were other giant metal ones.

Crash? Or just good friends.

Banana boat? No, it's a melon boat.

Once back in HCMC it was straight to the airport to start our long haul back to Blighty, arriving at Manchester at 07:40.

Homeward bound

It's time to pack up and move out.

Stormy skies over Phong Nha

While I busily packed, Ruth was whisked all over the province, trying to get a police check done so she can get work in the UK.

Ready to go!

At one point we thought she might have been married off to Vinh! But eventually, at the last minute, she had done all she could, so now it's just a waiting game to see what turns up.

Not yet ready

Tonight we fly to Ho Chi Minh City, spend the day there and then fly back to Manchester.

Final days in Phong Nha

So that's it! We've done our final Hang Son Doong tour and now we have a day left in which to clean up and pack.

Rainy Phong Nha

This last month has really flown by, we've done two Son Doong tours, plus a couple of exploration trips (which I've already blogged about). Below are a few pictures from the last month.

Nhia, resting at our lunch spot.

It's been a month of sunshine and showers, and our first tour of the month was no exception.

Here comes the rain again

Shortly after lunch the heavens opened and we took shelter for a short while at a convenient rock over hang.

Second river crossing in Son Doong, bridges now permanent

After the rain, it was an uneventful trip into Son Doong, although it was different as six of the customers were a film crew from Singapore who were doing a travel show 'Adventure Duo' (only on 5).

Doline One from the top of the Hand of Dog

It was my turn to climb the Hand of Dog to pose for pictures and as I arrived at the top I climbed through a layer of mist to clear views.

Plant life, enjoying the sun

One advantage of the filming was that we were a little slower than normal, meaning that we were at the top of the doline when the sunbeams arrived.

Doline One, more sunbeams

At this time of year the sunbeams last for a long time so we still made it down to the bottom in time for the 'show'.

The only way is down

This bat was crawling around at the bottom, I think it might have been ill, which is why it was not moving much.

Pardon, please speak louder

However, it did perk up for long enough to pose for this picture.

Sometimes we walk at a snails pace, this chap overtook us

Nothing else to note on this tour, except that the drone pilot had done a crash course in flying, except that he had not managed the landing part, and kept crashing.

Hmmmm

In between tours we tried out a new method for controlling foot rot. Sweeny had discovered that Potassium Permanganate solution was reckoned to be the most effective cure, so we gave it a go with some Pot parties for Watto, Sweeny and myself.

The ultimate butterfly picture

Our final tour continued in a similar style, Ruth has been taking pictures of butterflies all year, she finally managed to get probably the best ever.

Not quite pearly white

I went slightly off route between the two dolines, and found some perfectly round pearls, they were quite big too.

Village Chieftans

As we passed through the Bru Van Keo village we said our final goodbyes, until next year.

Monster Exploration

We've done a couple of trips recently to explore new caves.

Tan Hoa valley

Both trips were to the Oxalis Tan Hoa centre, the first was a day trip to explore a cave called Hang Monster.

Second valley on walk in

This had already been looked at by the Vietnamese, but they hadn't surveyed it so it wasn't known how much they had explored.

Jungle bashing

The walk to the cave took about an hour, along a valley, up a small hill into another valley, followed by another short hill to a col where we turned off the path for fifteen minutes of jungle bashing to get to the entrance.

Stop monkeying around

The cave itself was big, but predominately large breakdown (boulders) which made for tricky going at times.

Hang Dinh Mot exit, Hang Dinh Hai in the background

There were a couple of side passages which ended after a few hundred meters, one of these had a calcited monkey skull at the very end.

First rickety bridge

At the far end of the cave we could see daylight and emerged into sunlight. Ten metres to the right was another entrance so we surveyed this cave to an exit. Fortunately it was short as we were running out of time at this point and had to turn around, even though another cave was visible 100m away.

The new caves were named Hang Dinh Mot (1) and Hang Dinh Hai (2), Hang Dinh Hai had to be left for our next trip. In total, we surveyed about 1.2 Km of cave.

Rickety bridge number two

The next trip was planned as a two day affair, staying overnight at the Tan Hoa centre.

Busy surveying, do not disturb

On arrival at Tan Hoa for our two day trip, we were pleased to see we had the same guide, Dinh, who is probably the best jungle man in Tan Hoa, no English spoken but a good chance for me to practice my limited Vietnamese.

He knew a direct route to Hang Dinh Mot so we were able to get there without going through Monster which saved us an hour. In Dinh Mot we found another passage which led to another exit n then we moved on to our main event, Hang Dinh Hai.

Formations in Hang Dinh Hai

The cave was large with breakdown and some very well decorated sections, we surveyed to an end at an incredibly beautiful grotto which felt like it was close to the surface. Lunch was served here before we carried on with our exploration.

Aid climbing, push harder!

We continued until we were nearly out of time (we had to get back before dark) but fortunately we came to an exit where daylight was seen. Unfortunately it was a boulder choke and we couldn't get out.

How does it get so muddy?

A hasty retreat got us back to the road end as it began to turn dark, walking through the village and past buffaloes was pleasant, even if it did seem to drag on forever.

Ah, that's how!

Ruth managed to blag a lift back to Tan Hoa on the back of a motorbike, running over a dog on the way. Back at Tan Hoa we were served a six course meal, which we washed down with plenty of beers from the fridge, hard jungle camping indeed. Adding up the stats later showed we had surveyed another 1.1 Km of new cave.

Roughing it in the jungle

The next day Dinh had another cave for us to explore, in a different area of Tan Hoa. We started the day with a bike ride over the fields (see video above), then through Rat cave, along the La Ken Valley and up and over into Hung Dung.

Valley walking, very pleasant

In Hung Dung we were shown a cave which was large but was very loose, and although we could hear a river we could not get to it. When we had finished, the porters had found another entrance 200m away. This was more stable, but again, no way on could be found, even though it was vary complex with at least four entrances. In total, another 500m or more surveyed.

Rickety bridge number three, will it take my weight?

By now it was time to go, even though the porters had found another two caves, one of which was a large and promising entrance with a big stream issuing from it. Oh well, next time!