Ducks, Broken Brake Lines and 46 Mosquito Bites: This is Phong Nha
When planning your travel adventures you will most likely come across places that go on your must-see or must-do list and you'll make sure you incorporate them into your plans wherever you end up. Some places you'll hear about on the way through recommendations and some places you will stumble upon whether they turn out to be a good or bad surprise.
Phong Nha-Ke Bang was our surprise. We were planning our journey from Hue to Hanoi and being cheap backpackers our only affordable form of vehicular travel was bus. This journey would take approximately 16 hours and Vietnamese travel is hardly reliable at the best of times so that was a big no thank you. We looked at stop overs and didn't find much other than Phong Nha but it promised wonderful caves, underground rivers and jungles to explore so we were happy to break up such a horrible journey for a few adventure activity days. Our receptionist at Charming Riverside Hotel in Hue booked us in at Phong Nha Amanda Homestay and sorted our bus tickets so we headed North not really knowing what to expect.
Phong Nha-Ke Bang is 98% National Park and 2% civilisation (opinion, not accurate statistics). There is basically one main road which has a few hostels, plenty of restaurants and a few outdoor adventure companies who you can book all your cave and jungle excursions through (although you can also usually book these through your hostel or homestay). Just know that jungle treks and exploration of most caves are not allowed without an official guide. There are some caves you can buy general admission for and walk around and some areas you can pay to trek a limited part of the National Park which I will go into later. Surprisingly the restaurants on offer boasted great variety form Indian to pizza and of course Vietnamese and the hostels act as good watering holes with pool tables and the occasional mischievous puppy for some evening entertainment.
Of course our homestay ended up being further out of town but luckily our gracious hosts picked us up from the bus stop at no extra cost. Amanda Homestay was spacious and clean with lovely views on the mountains and at night it was gloriously quiet. As soon as we arrived they handed us all the activity brochures and asked if we wanted to book any tours in for the next day. It was late and we weren't really sure what we wanted to do and didn't want to spend too much money as some of the tours come with a pretty hefty price tag. We chose one which offered a jungle trek and scrambling and swimming through a cave. Then it was on the bike and back to town for a surprisingly delicious Indian to fill our stomachs for a good night sleep.
As we were visiting Vietnam during the rainy season many of the tours were cancelled due to the rain causing safety issues. If you have your heart set on cave explorations then definitely plan your trip in the dry season to avoid any disappointment. When we woke early the next morning to get ready for our tour, our host informed us our tour had been cancelled that morning as well. she offered different tours for us to try and book instead which weren't affected by the water but they were either very expensive or things we were as interested in so we didn't want to waste our money. Instead we hired a bike off them for the day and decided we'd run our own tour of Phong Nha.
First up was Paradise Cave which can in part be explored without joining a tour and just by turning up and purchasing an admission ticket which isn't that expensive. We set off and discovered the true beauty of Phong Nha National Park and its stunning luscious landscape which rivaled the wonderful Hai Van Pass which you can read more of here. Ironically, I wrote how this is potentially the best drive in Vietnam but this day ended up being one of the worst drives of my life so far. Glowing with the awe of our surrounding beauty we turned down a small road towards the cave which had lots of twists and turns, highs and lows. The jungle thickened and towered above and the constant light rain fell from above. We rose up one incline, turned a sharp corner and began descending another sharp decline.
It was at this point our brakes stopped working.
"We have no brakes!" You can imagine the panic that instantly followed. James shouted at me to put my feet down but our walking boots just slid along the concrete as we gained more speed. To the left was thick jungle, to the right was a brown river at the bottom of a steep verge and ahead awaited another sharp corner. Thankfully we chose to steer left and the jungle was so thick we slowed down in time for us to jump off with no injuries or damage to the bike. It's safe to say I refused to get back on the bike even though we didn't know how much further the cave entrance was so James sat on it and accelerated up the hills and slowly rolled it down the hills all while trying to get me to get back on but I continued to stomp down the road on my two feet. Have you seen the film Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows? The great Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock describes the horses as "dangerous at both ends and crafty in the middle" and I feel like the applies to motorbikes too. Once we reached the cave car park the security helped us to call our homestay and explain what happened. Before they intervened the phone conversation went a little like this:
This conversation went round in circles for a while! Once we got around the language barrier they came straight away and changed it over with a new one whilst we explored.
There's a long and steep walk up to the cave entrance which is at the top of the mountain. Paradise cave was huge. You first enter into one big 'room' and descend the stairs down to the walkway which winds its way deeper and deeper. The stairs in get very wet if its raining outside so descend with caution... or take the piss out of your girlfriend who is walking down them carefully and then slip and slide down ultimately bruising your bum... *cough* James *cough*. You can pay for a tour which then off-roads it past the walkway and takes you another 7km deeper into the cave but this has to be pre-booked and is a lot more expensive. The cave is full of giant stalagmites and stalactites and the walls are covered with swirling purple and peach hues: to me this is how I imagine what it would look like on Jupiter.
The rest of that day was spent driving around the National Park and taking in all the beautiful scenery, with hot pho to warm up again for lunch and then finished later on with a delicious dinner in the town and a few drinks and games of pool at a hostel. We also made a lovely friend who tried to leave with us but unfortunately we couldn't take him home.
The next day we decided to explore more above the ground and ventured to the Botanic Gardens. This is a set area where you pay for admission and then follow the track to explore jungle and climb waterfalls. After a full body spray of 70% deet bug repellent we began into the gardens... Now if you tell me somewhere is called the Botanic Gardens I imagine a paved walk with exotic flowers and wildlife. This was not a garden. This was full jungle.
Not long into our walk we cam to a crystal clear pool so we striped to our cozzies and... did not dive in: it was freezing! There was a nice swing perched at the edge though so that was fun for a photo op. Then we clambered through bushes, over giant boulders and then upwards further into the jungle where we were met with a fork in the road. I thought left, James thought right. We followed my instinct and we followed so very wrong. Instead of a 15 minute walk to the waterfall we detoured hours away through dense jungle and around a mountain. We later checked the map and found how far off route we went. From the screen shot below you can see we were meant to follow the route lines in blue but we followed the route lined in pink. Oh dear.
There were peculiar sounds and big lizards to catch our peripheral vision and freak us out enough we just walked straight and barely stopped. We were rewarded to stunning views over the jungle canopy once we reached the top before we began a very steep clamber down that led back to the correct path.
After a cooling dip in the waterfall pool we scaled up the side using a frayed rope and sheer determination. This walk around a garden definitely turned into one hell of an adventure that we weren't expecting.
If this day hadn't already been crazy enough we decided to spend our afternoon visiting the absolute most bizarre place ever. After doing a search of Phong Nha on Instagram we came across The Duck Stop which had hilarious photos of people surrounded by ducks and raving reviews on TripAdvisor. What the heck: who wouldn't want to pay to be surrounded by ducks?! A little out of town and down a bumpy road, the sun was finally out and shining down on The Duck Stop. This is a family farm turned innovation success. Just turn up and one of the family will greet you with an info card and ask if you just want to see the ducks or if you want to the whole package of lunch, ducks and Donald Trump. We went all in. First up was lunch served by a babble of giggling children. They serve homemade Banh Xeo which is a crispy Vietnamese pancake made from rice and vegetables which you roll up in rice paper and it was really delicious.
Then off came the walking boots and on came some seriously stylish jelly sandals and into the duck pen we went. So why go and visit a duck farm in Vietnam? I doubt this activity graces many bucket lists but it really should. This place is just pure unfiltered happiness and laughter. You feed the ducks, you're forced to be stupid and make a fool of yourself whilst the ducks chase you round and then they massage your feet before you finish with a duck throwing competition (not as horrific as it sounds).
It is absolutely bonkers, or should i say absolutely quackers?! I guarantee you will never have experienced anything like this before. You feel like a child again just being silly and playing and it's wonderful.
After the ducks you head to the rice fields to meet Donald Trump the buffalo. Take it in turns to climb on his back as he wades through water and around the field before you're encouraged to release your inner Kate Moss. Having a photoshoot atop Donald Trump is not something I ever imagined myself doing!
After that we headed back to the seating area and were joined by all the children again. Three younger girls grabbed our hands and raced us up the hill to see the views from the top. Then we spent a while just playing and exploring with them.
The whole afternoon was so wholesome and even though we had high hopes we never expected to enjoy ourselves that much. After lots of hugs it was then time to leave. I don't urge you to go to The Duck Stop - you NEED to go. This was honestly one of the highlights of our entire trip.
When we arrived back at the homestay later than evening I found myself covered in irritated mosquito bites and not just a few. From the jungle to the rice field I had been a full dinner platter ripe for the taking. 46 bites I had. 46!! The irritation was horrific. Our host sat and applied what I think was eucalyptus extract to each one to ease the pain.
That night before our bus to Hanoi we enjoyed one last delicious dinner. The bus was extremely late and we didn't think we would even leave Phong Nha that evening but in all honestly we probably would have been happy to stay.
If you're planning a trip to Vietnam definitely don't miss out Phong Nha. We didn't even do all the cave exploration that its famous for and it was still great fun.
Love, Rachael x
Phong Nha-Ke Bang was our surprise. We were planning our journey from Hue to Hanoi and being cheap backpackers our only affordable form of vehicular travel was bus. This journey would take approximately 16 hours and Vietnamese travel is hardly reliable at the best of times so that was a big no thank you. We looked at stop overs and didn't find much other than Phong Nha but it promised wonderful caves, underground rivers and jungles to explore so we were happy to break up such a horrible journey for a few adventure activity days. Our receptionist at Charming Riverside Hotel in Hue booked us in at Phong Nha Amanda Homestay and sorted our bus tickets so we headed North not really knowing what to expect.
Phong Nha-Ke Bang is 98% National Park and 2% civilisation (opinion, not accurate statistics). There is basically one main road which has a few hostels, plenty of restaurants and a few outdoor adventure companies who you can book all your cave and jungle excursions through (although you can also usually book these through your hostel or homestay). Just know that jungle treks and exploration of most caves are not allowed without an official guide. There are some caves you can buy general admission for and walk around and some areas you can pay to trek a limited part of the National Park which I will go into later. Surprisingly the restaurants on offer boasted great variety form Indian to pizza and of course Vietnamese and the hostels act as good watering holes with pool tables and the occasional mischievous puppy for some evening entertainment.
Of course our homestay ended up being further out of town but luckily our gracious hosts picked us up from the bus stop at no extra cost. Amanda Homestay was spacious and clean with lovely views on the mountains and at night it was gloriously quiet. As soon as we arrived they handed us all the activity brochures and asked if we wanted to book any tours in for the next day. It was late and we weren't really sure what we wanted to do and didn't want to spend too much money as some of the tours come with a pretty hefty price tag. We chose one which offered a jungle trek and scrambling and swimming through a cave. Then it was on the bike and back to town for a surprisingly delicious Indian to fill our stomachs for a good night sleep.
As we were visiting Vietnam during the rainy season many of the tours were cancelled due to the rain causing safety issues. If you have your heart set on cave explorations then definitely plan your trip in the dry season to avoid any disappointment. When we woke early the next morning to get ready for our tour, our host informed us our tour had been cancelled that morning as well. she offered different tours for us to try and book instead which weren't affected by the water but they were either very expensive or things we were as interested in so we didn't want to waste our money. Instead we hired a bike off them for the day and decided we'd run our own tour of Phong Nha.
First up was Paradise Cave which can in part be explored without joining a tour and just by turning up and purchasing an admission ticket which isn't that expensive. We set off and discovered the true beauty of Phong Nha National Park and its stunning luscious landscape which rivaled the wonderful Hai Van Pass which you can read more of here. Ironically, I wrote how this is potentially the best drive in Vietnam but this day ended up being one of the worst drives of my life so far. Glowing with the awe of our surrounding beauty we turned down a small road towards the cave which had lots of twists and turns, highs and lows. The jungle thickened and towered above and the constant light rain fell from above. We rose up one incline, turned a sharp corner and began descending another sharp decline.
It was at this point our brakes stopped working.
"We have no brakes!" You can imagine the panic that instantly followed. James shouted at me to put my feet down but our walking boots just slid along the concrete as we gained more speed. To the left was thick jungle, to the right was a brown river at the bottom of a steep verge and ahead awaited another sharp corner. Thankfully we chose to steer left and the jungle was so thick we slowed down in time for us to jump off with no injuries or damage to the bike. It's safe to say I refused to get back on the bike even though we didn't know how much further the cave entrance was so James sat on it and accelerated up the hills and slowly rolled it down the hills all while trying to get me to get back on but I continued to stomp down the road on my two feet. Have you seen the film Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows? The great Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock describes the horses as "dangerous at both ends and crafty in the middle" and I feel like the applies to motorbikes too. Once we reached the cave car park the security helped us to call our homestay and explain what happened. Before they intervened the phone conversation went a little like this:
James: "Hello, our brakes have broke on the bike, we can't drive it"
Homestay: "The bike is broke?"
James: "No the bike works but the brakes are broke. We're at the cave"
Homestay: "Yes, just park the bike and buy a ticket for the cave"
This conversation went round in circles for a while! Once we got around the language barrier they came straight away and changed it over with a new one whilst we explored.
There's a long and steep walk up to the cave entrance which is at the top of the mountain. Paradise cave was huge. You first enter into one big 'room' and descend the stairs down to the walkway which winds its way deeper and deeper. The stairs in get very wet if its raining outside so descend with caution... or take the piss out of your girlfriend who is walking down them carefully and then slip and slide down ultimately bruising your bum... *cough* James *cough*. You can pay for a tour which then off-roads it past the walkway and takes you another 7km deeper into the cave but this has to be pre-booked and is a lot more expensive. The cave is full of giant stalagmites and stalactites and the walls are covered with swirling purple and peach hues: to me this is how I imagine what it would look like on Jupiter.
 |
| Look at that beautiful face! |
Not long into our walk we cam to a crystal clear pool so we striped to our cozzies and... did not dive in: it was freezing! There was a nice swing perched at the edge though so that was fun for a photo op. Then we clambered through bushes, over giant boulders and then upwards further into the jungle where we were met with a fork in the road. I thought left, James thought right. We followed my instinct and we followed so very wrong. Instead of a 15 minute walk to the waterfall we detoured hours away through dense jungle and around a mountain. We later checked the map and found how far off route we went. From the screen shot below you can see we were meant to follow the route lines in blue but we followed the route lined in pink. Oh dear.
 |
| Straight after this we heard a nearby growl and both screamed and began running! |
After a cooling dip in the waterfall pool we scaled up the side using a frayed rope and sheer determination. This walk around a garden definitely turned into one hell of an adventure that we weren't expecting.
If this day hadn't already been crazy enough we decided to spend our afternoon visiting the absolute most bizarre place ever. After doing a search of Phong Nha on Instagram we came across The Duck Stop which had hilarious photos of people surrounded by ducks and raving reviews on TripAdvisor. What the heck: who wouldn't want to pay to be surrounded by ducks?! A little out of town and down a bumpy road, the sun was finally out and shining down on The Duck Stop. This is a family farm turned innovation success. Just turn up and one of the family will greet you with an info card and ask if you just want to see the ducks or if you want to the whole package of lunch, ducks and Donald Trump. We went all in. First up was lunch served by a babble of giggling children. They serve homemade Banh Xeo which is a crispy Vietnamese pancake made from rice and vegetables which you roll up in rice paper and it was really delicious.
Then off came the walking boots and on came some seriously stylish jelly sandals and into the duck pen we went. So why go and visit a duck farm in Vietnam? I doubt this activity graces many bucket lists but it really should. This place is just pure unfiltered happiness and laughter. You feed the ducks, you're forced to be stupid and make a fool of yourself whilst the ducks chase you round and then they massage your feet before you finish with a duck throwing competition (not as horrific as it sounds).
 |
| No ducks were harmed in this competition! |
It is absolutely bonkers, or should i say absolutely quackers?! I guarantee you will never have experienced anything like this before. You feel like a child again just being silly and playing and it's wonderful.
After the ducks you head to the rice fields to meet Donald Trump the buffalo. Take it in turns to climb on his back as he wades through water and around the field before you're encouraged to release your inner Kate Moss. Having a photoshoot atop Donald Trump is not something I ever imagined myself doing!
After that we headed back to the seating area and were joined by all the children again. Three younger girls grabbed our hands and raced us up the hill to see the views from the top. Then we spent a while just playing and exploring with them.
The whole afternoon was so wholesome and even though we had high hopes we never expected to enjoy ourselves that much. After lots of hugs it was then time to leave. I don't urge you to go to The Duck Stop - you NEED to go. This was honestly one of the highlights of our entire trip.
When we arrived back at the homestay later than evening I found myself covered in irritated mosquito bites and not just a few. From the jungle to the rice field I had been a full dinner platter ripe for the taking. 46 bites I had. 46!! The irritation was horrific. Our host sat and applied what I think was eucalyptus extract to each one to ease the pain.
That night before our bus to Hanoi we enjoyed one last delicious dinner. The bus was extremely late and we didn't think we would even leave Phong Nha that evening but in all honestly we probably would have been happy to stay.
If you're planning a trip to Vietnam definitely don't miss out Phong Nha. We didn't even do all the cave exploration that its famous for and it was still great fun.
Love, Rachael x
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