Vietnam: Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park and Hue

After the cruise we had some time to kill in Halong Bay as we had booked - yes you've guessed it - another night bus to get us to our next destination!  Yes we are glutton's for punishment, but more on that later.  We found a nice 4* hotel with a pool out front with no-one in it and blagged our way in for the afternoon.  Lovely.  We had dinner and prepared ourselves mentally for the bus.  Had a random situation in the lobby of the hotel whilst we were waiting for the bus.  About 8 Vietnamese ladies trying to speak to us (in Vietnamese) and we have no idea what they were saying but they desperately wanted to have their photo taken with us.  One of them fancied Anthony and I was pretending to have a fight with her.  Very random.  Anyway we were picked up by car and then had to wait at the side of the road for the bus.  Over an hour later the bus turned up.  This was not a nice bus like the one to Sapa oh no, this was a local bus!  Yes it had sleeper beds but they were really tatty and the bus driver was smoking.  We were given our allocated seats right at the front and enjoyed the smell of smoke and the extremely loud bus horn, and terrible music videos for the journey.  We were the only tourists on the bus.

We were told the journey would take 8-10 hours and going by past experiences, we thought ok maybe 12 hours max.  We geared ourselves up for this and I went to sleep (somehow!).  Anthony however couldn't sleep & didn't feel very well.  Morning came and around the time we should have arrived I looked at Google maps (which has saved me so many times whilst I've been travelling) and looking at the map, we were nowhere near where we should have been.  In fact, it looked like we were still about 4 hours away. I told Anthony and his face fell.  We stopped for breakfast and Anthony stayed on the bus.  I ate all of the popcorn we'd bought for the journey (something he keeps reminding me about!).  Then a few hours later we stopped for lunch.  I ate some of the food but Anthony just drank some rice wine a local man kept giving him!  We were supposed to arrive at 4.30-6.30am... we arrived into Dong Hoi at 1.45pm!!!!!  Then we had a catch a taxi to the hotel, another 30mins away.  Finally we arrived at the hotel.  What a journey!!!  The hotel was our most expensive yet but it was worth it.  Four poster bed and the setting was amazing, overlooking a lake.  The hotel had a really nice atmosphere and we were excited about exploring the caves in the National Park.  The rest of the day was spent chilling and planning the rest of our trip... with no more bus journeys (we had done our fair share thank you very much!).

Next day we had breakfast at the hotel and hired a moped from reception.  Anthony had never driven a bike before but it was a quiet area and he was excited to give it a go.  We got on the bike and to begin we were both a bit apprehensive but after a while, it was like second nature.  The scenery here was also beautiful and the really sweet smells from the fields as we drove past were gorgeous.  We went to the Paradise caves which were amazing, climbing 500 steps to the entrance to the cave.  We spent about 40 minutes in the cave, glad to be out from the heat and the walk!  We had lunch near the cave and drove back to the accommodation enjoying the views and freedom of the bike.  Such a lovely day.  We both managed to get a bit of sunburn too.  The rainy season has been kind to us.

The next day we hired a bike again and drove to the main Phong Nha caves.  Here you have to pay for a boat to take you into the cave.  We went down the river which was really relaxing and we enjoyed the views.  Once into the cave entrance the engine is switched off and a young guy rowed us into the cave.  Wow this was also stunning.  Sorry to keep saying this but it really was!!  Then we got off the boat in the cave, walked through it for a while and then got back on again.  We then spent a bit more time on the bike driving around the area before being collected to travel to our next destination - Hue.  We were both sad to leave Phong Na as we had such a nice time here.  Anthony especially enjoyed the bike!

We were collected by taxi and taken to Dong Hoi where we were to catch the train to Hue.  The train goes all the way from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh city (taking 2-3 days!).  We were on a 4 hour journey thankfully!  The train was 40mins late.  Once we were on it, it was actually quite comfortable.  Everyone wanted to chat to us though.  A local guy, who then translated for us from an old guy who had fought in the Vietnam war.  Then a monk.  The journey was quite pleasant but because of the delay, we arrived into Hue later than we had planned.  We had some food and then headed to bed.

The next morning we got up really early as we only had the morning in Hue.  We walked into the Citadel and walked around the old ruins.  Beautiful place.  It was roasting hot that day and we were flagging a bit as we walked.  We had brunch and then went back to the hotel for our taxi to our next destination - Hoi An.