One of the craziest adventures of our lives started on an overnight bus. We were traveling from Hanoi to Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park, an UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to the 1st and 3rd largest caves in the world. Our excursion included a 25k hike through the Vietnam jungle to explore and spend the night in Hang En, the world’s 3rd largest cave. You know you are in for a wild ride when the bus that pulls up is a sleeper bus with bunk beds. Both Jimmy and I lucked out and got top bunks!
I fit in mine a bit better and found it to be quite comfortable and a great way to travel.
After 9 hrs of weaving through traffic, scavenging for food at a sketchy rest stop, and sleeping amongst strangers, we arrived at our destination with a whole day adventure ahead of us. At first, we were bummed that the weather did not cooperate as it did for our Halong Bay weekend. The rain was coming down steadily with no sign of stopping for our entire 2 day adventure. Thankfully, we would be exploring and sleeping in a cave, so rain would not mess up the highlight of the trip. However, we were worried that it would make the 5 hrs of hiking a bit unpleasant. Little did we know that what lay ahead of us would make rain look like child’s play.
Our tour group consisted of 16 brave souls and, what we discovered later, the strongest Vietnamese porter team ever. The bus dropped our motley crew off at the trailhead, and we all put on our rain jackets and ponchos in an attempt to stay dry. Ha!! We started off down hill with quite a bit of mud to traverse.
We were so pumped that the tour company gave us shoes. Awesome Vietnamese army boots that had amazing grip and impressive drainage. Plus high enough to trek through the ankle-deep mud and to hopefully keep out the leeches! Yep! Lots of leeches in the Vietnam jungles, so that is why we look ridiculous with our pants tucked into our high socks. The hike down into the valley was a little precarious at times but nothing these boots couldn’t handle.
Once in the valley, the next step of the adventure was the river crossings. We were told that there would be 35 river crossings. I was a bit nervous about this until my hard-core trekking friend who recommended this tour promised me that most of the crossings were ankle deep and that he only remembered one up to his waist. No big deal! We got to our first crossing and were so excited. How beautiful! Doesn’t Jimmy look so happy and DRY?!?!
After a few more minor crossings…
we got to one that was waist high. Cool.
This must be the big one, I thought. As the porter team negotiated the river looking for the best spot to cross, we all mentally prepared to cross the deeper section of the river, except the German crew that was with us that didn’t understand English. They started stripping off all their clothing, and one of them had already gotten down to his undies when the Vietnamese guides and porters started frantically waiving to them…no, no, please keep it on! Never a dull moment. There were too many crossings to think that we would strip at each one in an attempt to stay dry. But, the Germans seemed determined. We all made it across a wee bit wetter now but felt like hard-core trekkers. We also had our first leech victim. One of the girls didn’t get the memo of the need for high socks. So a leech made it up her pants to her knee before it latched on. Eek! I started to feel a bit itchy myself and was impressed by how calm she stayed with a leech attached to her leg.
As we waded through rivers and trudged through mud, I stopped for a moment and turned my face up into the pouring rain and thought about Forrest Gump. No really. I honestly did think about our men and women who bravely fought here and couldn’t imagine what they must have felt like day in and day out. I got a whole new appreciation for our armed forces, especially given the amount of controversy surrounding the Vietnam War in addition to the terrible conditions. We were fortunate to have a warm meal and a tent in a dry cave awaiting us.
But first, we had a few more river crossings. At this point, the adventure got kicked up another notch. We were told that the river originates in Laos, which is currently experiencing terrible rainstorms and flooding, making it higher and much faster flowing than normal. We had WAY more than one crossing up to the waist. And a few places even chest deep. The current was so strong that we would have been swept away if it hadn’t been for our porter team. They would find the best crossing locations and throw a rope across, making a rope “bridge” so that we would have something to hold onto.
The first few “rope” crossings were fun and exciting, but after 5 hrs of hiking in the rain and mud and multiple deep crossings, the cold and fatigue started to set in. Finally…the cave entrance in the distance…and the excitement started to return…
When we finally reached the cave, we realized it was all worth it. Words can’t really do it justice. I hope these pictures do.
Entrance to Hang En cave
Climbing over boulders to make it to our base camp
Overlooking our base camp near the cave entrance
We made it!
Getting dry and putting on warm clothes felt so amazing. I didn’t even care that I would not be able to shower for another 24 hrs. Our porter team put together a solid meal and wow did it taste amazing after a long day hiking in the muddy jungle. I can’t believe they carried such a wide variety of food all this way – fried chicken, roasted pork, grilled tofu, cabbage salad, green beans, stir-fried morning glory, french fries, beef stew, and mounds and mounds of rice.
Plus, we got to try Vietnamese rice wine.
Cheers! (Một, hai, ba, vô!)
The Vietnamese call it ‘wine’, but in reality it is a distilled rice liquor similar to moonshine. I struggled to get it down! But, we got Oreos for dessert to finish on a high note. I still can’t believe that Oreos have been in every single country we have been to so far. So popular! We also got some strange Asian dessert cracker made with rice, honey and soy sauce. And Belgian waffle chips.
After dinner, Jimmy and I snuggled up in the tent, not quite believing that we were actually sleeping in a cave. We relived the whole crazy day and got excited for the next morning when we officially got to explore more of this giant cave.
Sticking my head out of the tent and looking up to the cave opening was an unbelievable way to start my day. What a breathtaking sight!
Breakfast was a great carb loading spread to give us energy to explore the cave all morning and then still hike all the way back in the afternoon….French toast and pancakes, which really were more like crepes that we wrapped around bananas, chocolate syrup, and honey.
We started the cave exploration with some serious bouldering to get to the top of the opposite side from where we entered. We got great views of our camp from this spot.
We then entered another room of the cave that had 300 million-year-old fossils and some cool stalactite and stalagmite formations. Also some cascading natural ponds.
We were greatly enjoying our DRY trek through the cave and were a bit bummed when we were confronted with the river again. We knew we had a long trek back so mentally it was hard to get started with the wetness again. But, once on the other side, we had quite possibly the best view of the day so totally worth it.
This is the exit of Hang En cave. The scene is so magical that it was recently used as Neverland in the 2015 movie “Pan”.
We were all giddy after this as we hiked back to camp a different way. We could see our camp through a low archway but had to cross the river one more time. At this spot though, the river had picked up a ridiculous current. Even the experienced porter team was struggling across, and one of the guys almost got swept away into some boulders. It was quite scary! After setting up a rope line, a few of the men in our tour group went first. Seeing the heavier, stronger men struggle to cross was intimidating. The porters knew that the women were too light and wouldn’t be able to keep their footing with the current. They called for backup. All the cooks and extra porters from camp came out to help. They set up a double rope for the women with 4-5 men holding each side plus a few porters holding on in the middle of the river to assist. We couldn’t believe it. I was so nervous for the first couple ladies to go across. Sure enough, they lost their footing and were just holding on between the ropes to avoid getting swept away. This is when the porters truly impressed me. They essentially held on to the rope themselves while virtually carrying the women across the water. You pretty much had to see this to understand, but the scene was ridiculous. Not a single woman made it to the other side without losing her footing, myself included. I fought the current for a few steps, but my legs flew out from underneath me regardless of the effort. With a rope underneath each armpit, I shimmied to the other side while the porter supported my legs.
Wow! After full submersion, we were freezing and finished the last few yards to camp. Here, we got a bit of hot tea to warm up and then had to grab our stuff to set off for the long trek back. Already soaked, we had a hard time staying optimistic considering the number of high river crossings ahead of us. The river had actually gained another foot or so overnight so each crossing this day was actually more intense. We had such a great crew with us though that everybody was making jokes and staying positive… rating each other’s style as we “mud surfed” downhill. So it was fun in a crazy, I can’t believe this is happening, kind of way. A couple crossings in particular were much higher with a stronger current than the previous day.
On the one pictured above, a couple ladies completely lost their footing and literally got picked up by the porters and carried out of the water. Like I said earlier, the porter team was ridiculously strong! A couple times I thought we were maybe going to lose somebody. But, they had it under control the entire time. I didn’t think they could just pluck people out of the river like that. One of the guys even managed to yank Jimmy up when he lost momentum going up a steep muddy embankment. He thought for sure the porter was going down with him! The porters were instrumental to the successful completion of our trek and the true heroes of the day. These men all grew up in nearby villages and have an astounding ability to survive and thrive in these jungles. Watching them hop from boulder to boulder and ford the fast-flowing rivers while in cheap plastic red sandals, you realize that our exhausting, challenging adventure is everyday life for them.
After all the river crossings in the valley, we then got to play in the mud, which had gotten even worse with the torrential rain the night before. Coming up to the village for our lunch break, we weren’t quite sure how much was mud versus excrement from these lovely fellows.
Luckily, our lunch stop was perfectly planned out with hot soup for everybody. A little traditional Pho to give the boost we needed for the final stretch.
Our lunch stops were in a little village called Ban Doong, and trekking is the only way in or out. Could you imagine having to go through this to get supplies? Or living in these rainy, muddy conditions? Tough group of people. How cute are the kids?!?!
The last hour of the trek was all up hill out of the valley. I’m sure most people dread ending on a tough uphill, but I was ecstatic because it finally got my heart rate up a little bit so I felt warm!
Finishing was so surreal. Everybody grabbed a beer from the cooler awaiting us at the trailhead, and we piled back in the bus to the tourist office. We were cold and funky, but all we could think about was just how unbelievable our adventure really was. We got WAY more excitement and adventure than any of us could have imagined. And the majesty of the cave will forever be imprinted in our minds.
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