Phong Nha - Paradise and Dark Caves 1

TravelerHad a day on a caving expedition. Went to two caves. First, in the morning, Paradise cave which according to our guide was the third biggest cave in the world. I think he must mean cave chamber as some caves are hundreds of miles long. Nonetheless it was huge, with some amazing rock formations. In the afternoon, one of the odder experiences of my travels so far. We went to what is known as the Dark Cave. After a zip line over the river, we accessed it by swimming to the cave entrance. And then we walked barefoot, as we were all in swimming gear - a group of about 20 of us - deeper and deeper into the cave. I'm not very used to walking barefoot anywhere so going into a slippery muddy cave and walking over bamboo bridges was something of a challenge. Not just for me though - I think everybody found it so, especially when there were large spider-like things hiding in the nooks and crannies along the way. Eventually we reached the end and we all enjoyed the point of this trip - to indulge in a mud bath. For some reason. And then they got us to turn out the lights on our helmets - thus illustrating that it was indeed a Dark Cave. I think possibly it needs pointing out that all caves are dark that far underground when the lights are off. Still standing in a mud bath surrounded by twenty odd other people completely blind was interesting. After that we returned and spent half an hour at a water play park, with zip lines ending in water jumps and water slides.

TravelerWow!