I joined in on one of Phong Nha Discovery Tours’ excursions to Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park today. This park consists of old karst mountains and at least 300 caves, many of which are open for visitors to explore.

We started off with a walk through the Botanic Garden. Our destination here was the Thac Gio Waterfall, but because it’s the end of dry season, the waterfall was little more than a trickle and there wasn’t too much to see there. However, the walk was beautiful and included lots of butterfly, caterpillar, and peacock sightings.

We also passed by a monkey rehabilitation area and fed a couple of monkeys some bananas.

Then, after a short drive and a climb up more than 500 steps, we arrived at Paradise Cave. This is the longest dry cave in Asia (though we only walked through about 1 of the cave’s 31 kilometers), and included some incredible rock formations and impressive views.

However, I’ve never seen a place outside of an amusement park so packed with people! Tourists and locals flooded the cave, and it was actually a little scary descending into the cave with such huge crowds of people at my heels!

After getting out of the cave, I rewarded myself for all the stairs I’d climbed so far with an ice cream while I appreciated the views of the landscape around me.

After a break for lunch, we drove to a boat dock and boarded a motorized dragon boat that would take us up the river towards Phong Nha Cave. The journey on the river lasted about half an hour, and it offered some great views of local life on the river. I saw people out fishing, collecting seaweed, and ferrying their motorbikes across the river.

When we got to the mouth of the cave, our dragon boat’s motor was shut off and we continued the journey by being paddled along.

Phong Nha Cave, along with being beautiful and the site of the world’s longest underground river, has a pretty cool history. It was used during the Vietnam War as a bomb shelter, a weapons storage site, and a hospital with weapons installed at the entrance. There are also traces of ancient writing that have been found carved in the rock.

After touring a portion of the cave by boat, we were dropped off and continued to explore the cave on foot.

We then hopped back on the boats and were brought back down the river to the town of Phong Nha.

I didn’t post anything yesterday, but I had a very relaxing day. After I got to Phong Nha, I found a nearby hostel with a pool and sat poolside for hours, then swung in a hammock for a couple more hours, and then I found a really great Indian restaurant where I had a delicious dinner. Not the most eventful day, but it was very nice.