Phong Nha
The valley of Phong Nha is home to the cavernous and adventuresome Ke Bang National Park.
We spent 4 nights, 3 days in Phong Nha exploring the park and surrounding villages. Fortunately, we narrowly missed the 36 hours of non-stop flooding that had hit the town 3 days before our arrival. Most buildings were flooded 10 feet on the first floor:
Our view from Easy Tiger Hostel looked much like this:
Our stay at Easy Tiger Hostel was one of the best yet, with live music every night, amazing happy hour deals, a menu with Western food (see video, first burger in a month!), an outdoor pool, recreation area and super friendly staff!
So, aside from hostel life, what exactly is there to do in Phong Nha?
I’m glad you asked!
What to Do:
The Phong Nha Cave is located a couple miles from our hostel and a short boat ride down the river to the gaping cave entrance. We rounded a crew from the hostel to split the boat cost and went to splore this old cave. Interesting fact: Phong Nha Cave served as a hospital and supplies transport pathway during the Vietnam War.
High waters due to recent flooding prevented us from navigating via boat far into the cave, but we were able to hop out and explore the hollow, cool climate and gaze in awe at the cavernous features of Phong Nha on foot.
Adventure Excursion in Ke Bang National Park
Ke Bang National Park is home to many caves, including the longest cave in Indochina – Paradise Cave measuring 56 kilometers long (about 35 miles). Daayyyumm!
Our adventure tour stopped at three different caves and our English speaking guide gave us the fun facts and interesting low down on each.
Eight Ladies Cave
This is a small mountain inlet (rather than a cave) where 8 people died. During the Vietnam War, a B-52 plane dropped a bomb on the roof of the cave they were tucked away in, chipping the entrance. The rocks broke into many pieces and tumbled in front of the entrance, blocking them from any kind of escape. Survivors in the area were not strong enough to move the blockage and attempted to funnel water inside via bamboo straw. Unfortunately, the survivors had to leave the area and the eight people who remained in the cave passed away. Contrarily to the name “8 Ladies Cave,” there were actually 4 men and 4 women who are now honored at the site where their remains still exist in the cave.
Paradise Cave
This beast of a hidden hole in the ground was only found a decade ago by “Vietnam’s King of the Caves.” Paradise Cave boasts the title of Indochina’s longest cave at 31.4 kilometers. Recently, another tunnel was discovered in the cave, which extends an additional 25 kilometers!
The entrance to Paradise Cave is quite incognito, a simple hole in the ground. As we descended the wooden stairs into the mouth of the cave, Sean joking yelled, “damn, who built this?” causing the laughter of those around us to echo against the walls.
Take a look for yourself:
Our adventure in Paradise Cave lasted only 1 kilometer deep but we spent over an hour inside, wandering and taking in the beauty of this natural wonder.
We were impressed by Phong Nha Cave, but Paradise blew us out of the water with its grandiose caverns, stalagmites and robust stalactites bursting from the high ceilings.
Side note: caving extremists (who have spare money laying around), can drop $3,000 USD for a 5-day, 4-night excursion tour in the cave to explore all 31.4 kilometers. I can’t imagine how bad seeing sunlight must hurt after 5 days of cave darkness! (Whip out the wrap-around eye doctor post-exam glasses).
Pause for Feast
Dark Cave
Zip-line, swim, climb, slide, bathe.
The Dark Cave is accessible via kayak or zip-line. Of course, we chose the latter.
After a crash landing on the protective mat at the zip line ending, we hopped into the river for a chilly, yet refreshing swim to the Dark Cave entrance (dun dun dunnnn).
Our guide led us through the cave’s shallow pools and over rocks to the sandy shore. We happily ditched the life jackets and tunneled our way through the cave, slip n sliding in sloshy mud.
After 5 minutes, we reached the dark mud pool we’d all been waiting for and slowly sunk in, laughing at the oozy zero-gravity feeling promised by our guides.
Our group of 15 adventurers decided to simultaneously shut off our helmet lights and for a few minutes we played around in the darkest dark we’ve ever experienced!
After our adventure, we were in desperate need of a shower to get us clean. Since there were none around, we got created and zip lined into the river which did the trick!
Exploring Bong Lai Valley
On our final day in Phong Nha, we were pretty caved out and decided to explore the surrounding village. An Australian hostel employee, Sam, and a few other kids staying there as well joined in on the fun. Sam has been living in the area for 8 months and since he knows the area like the back of his hand, he offered to show us around (free of charge) on his day off!
Duck Farm
Our first stop was the duck farm. I assumed we’d be checking out some ducks floating in the pond and then peace out to the next point of interest.
As we rolled up on our motorcycles, we were greeted by a plethora of chickens, 2 sweet puppies and a friendly local family who owned the farm.
The hospitable family brought out fresh fruit, peanuts and black peppercorns for us to snack on while we tried to cool down in the shade. A few of our crew chose to expedite the cool-down process with the family’s well and a bucket of icy groundwater: 
The family’s son, Nguyen, spoke excellent English and gave us an entertaining tour of his family’s property and the much-anticipated ducks we came to see. There were over 100 ducks that came waddling high-speed from half a mile away when he called them. The funniest sight we have seen in awhile!
The Pub With Cold Beer
We had our fun playing Old McDonald, then went to our next stop called “The Pub With Cold Beer” for chicken nuggets, chicken legs, chicken wings of the freshest kind – killed 30 minutes prior to consumption by the one and only Sean Saffell.
*Apologies to those who saw this video via Snapchat with no warning*
WARNING: The following video contains graphic images of chicken slaughtering.
After we (Sean) killed our birdie, our group reconvened at the dining table and chatted, played pool, and relaxed while our chickens were plucked, gutted and freshly slow roasted for our lunch.
Then, the moment our drooling mouths had all been waiting for, lunch is served!
For an hour we indulged on fresh chicken, rice, sautéed vegetables and a peanut sauce to die for. Oh and don’t forget the ice “cold beer” which gave the spot it’s name!
Phong Nha Eco Farmstay
To top off the day, we headed to the end of the village where the road met a river in the breathtaking valley gorge.
Those who had been smart enough to wear their bathing suits hopped right on in while others (myself) did not have proper attire and instead chilled on the patio deck overlooking the valley of rolling hills, rubber tree farms and mountain peaks looming in the distance.
What a wonderful way to end our adventure in Phong Nha, we cannot rave about this place enough!
Cheers!
Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”
– Miriam Beard
