Phong Nha

Rice fields in the countryside.

Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng national park has become world wide famous for it hosts the world biggest cave. It takes around 5 hours to go from Hue to the touristic village of Phong Nha with a bus. It's basically 4 km of houses along the Son Con river. It's the hub to reach the national park. You can find accommodations, shops and restaurants.
When I got there, it was raining for days, thus all the caves where closed. I was lucky to have good weather the next two days.
The first day, the water level was still too high, so I rented a bicycle and went to see the local villages. I went in the Bong Lai valley, strolled along the rice fields and rivers, high-fived all the kids on the side of the road and ate delicious bamboo cooked pork and vegetables in Moi Moi.
The second day the water level went down and I booked a tour. I went for the Abandoned Valley tour. It's a 12 km jungle trek with visits to two caves. The back entrance of the Dark Cave (not the touristic side) and the Hang E cave. The trek is only 12 km but it's not easy because it's jungle walk with ups and downs, rivers to cross with waist deep water and lots of mosquitoes.

I stayed at the Easy Tiger Hostel. One of the best place to sleep, but also prepare your visit in the park. They have daily morning info about the caves condition, bicycle rental, tour booking, restaurant/bar, swimming pool.

If you want to go to the biggest caves of the park, you need to go with Oxalis. It's the only tour operator allowed by the government to take tourists into the big caves. Book well in advance. For instance, the Son Doong (biggest cave in the world) tour is booked months in advance. The smaller caves in the park can be visited with other tour operator.

Dark Cave back entrance. You can see people in the bottom. It's one of the "small" cave of the park. We walked inside until it was pitch dark.

Hang E cave. It's always flooded. You can swim inside quite fare.

Trekking in the jungle.

Village life.



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