Ho Chi Minh Trail – Day 5

We landed on the Ho Chi Minh trail. Phong Nha-ke Bang National Park is a beautiful immense moutaneous cave region just a couple hours above HUE.

We took the overnight train to Dong Hoi We stop at the Quang Ly Hostel for coffee banana pancakes and conversation with another traveler. The owner’s husband drives a taxi.
Onward.


We found travelers Mecca, one of those places that in 2 years time will be gone. It’s a double edge sword isn’t it. Your part of the flood of tourism that’s coming but you can’t change it and your amazed to see something that’s untouched.

We randomly fall into the best place in the village. The accommodations are stunning we are the second guests in the new bungalow. The owner is the man who found the largest cave in the world. National geographic was here a day before we arrived.

The children yell “hello!”, and “hello what’s your name / where are you from” at us as we ride bicycles. Everyone stares at us. We are the main attraction, the weird foreigners are still a novelty. It’s a great experience. The scenery is so staggering description escapes me, Photos won’t do it justice and my best efforts will fail to show your mind how it feels to be here.

Our room overlooks the Phong Nha river. Mist from the mountains across the river burns off by 7:30am. A man in a working dragon boat scoots by the morning mist masking the sound, his two sons drive as he fished out the front. He uses a long bamboo pole with a self made net at the end and we watch as he pulls fish after fish from the river. I have no idea how this works, none.

Women with large hats scoop grass off the bottom of the river and pile it up in the boat. This is a village untouched for hundreds of years.

It’s one of the most bombed areas in the world. The US during the “American war” dropped bombs here every day for years to try and stop the supplies moving from the north to the south.

Read the other entries from our Vietnam trip below
Day 1 – Day 2 – Day 3 – Day 4 – Day 4 1/2 – Day 5 – Day 6 – Day 7 – Day 8 – Day 8 1/2 – Day 9 – Day 10 – Day 11 – Day 12 – Day 13 – Day 14 – Day 15 – Day 16 – Day 17 – Day 18 – Day 19 – Day 20 – Day 21