Phong Nha Cave

Today was technically a free day but as a group most of decided to go explore the nearby Phong Nha Cave around 1pm after a sleep in and morning by the pool despite the rain. Can't let the weather stop us!

We walked about 10 minutes to the river and hopped on a boat which took us on a 45 min ride to the cave entrance. The boat was rickety and powered by a gas engine, owned by a local couple. When we reached the cave entrance they shut the motor off and rowed through the cave instead. I couldn't tell how deep the water was for sure but it couldn't have been more than maybe 2 or 3 feet, these boats are very shallow riders.

The cave is famous for it's part in the war. Locals would hide their pontoons in the cave during the day and take them out at night to transport supplies down the river. At one point the Americans discovered this and sent a number of pilots out to bomb and try to destroy the cave. Originally, the cave had long "teeth" that made it look like a dragons mouth but that has since been destroyed because of the American bombs and because of the weapons used by the Vietnamese to try and shoot the planes out of the sky. When we entered into the cave you could see the damage in the ceiling, the craters that are definitely not natural. It was a pretty interesting experience! We went into the cave about a km and then were dropped off at an area to walk a bit. The cave was also used as a hospital during the war and living quarters and we explored a bit of those areas. I especially liked the elevated "pools" that were carved into the stairs. I'm not entirely sure what they were used for but they were definitely intentionally created and I should google it later!

After our walk through the cave we hopped back onto our boat and went back to town, and back to the hostel. I spent the rest of the evening catching up on writing while the others continued their drinking and socializing. I needed a bit of down time! At 9pm we caught a night bus and began our journey to Hanoi. Of course I had to have a dream about a bus crash along the way haha. It wasn't a nightmare though thanks to my lucid dreaming abilities but I chose not to share the dream with my travel mates in case they were easily frightened :pRead more