Paradise and Dark Caves

Woke up excited today, I have been looking forward to it for ages. Today we are visiting Paradise and Dark Cave in Phong Nha. My brother Joe, told me about his visit and it sounded awesome. So I was up, ready and eager to jump onto the bus to the caves. Once we got there we were told Paradise Cave, the longest dry cave in Asia, was first. But it required a hike to get to there: there are two options – the slow but easy ascent or the hard and fast. Being excited to see what was inside I chose the hard and fast. This was probably a mistake, given that once I was at the top with the other hard and fasters, we had to wait for the slow and easier anyway. But, once everyone was up and we had been given an introductory talk about the cave and the beauties within, it was time to enter. It is a massive cave with stalagmites and stalactites of varying shapes and sizes. If one is into caving it is indeed an impressive sight to see, but, I have to be honest I am left a little disappointed. I know from what my brother had told me and from research I have done that further into the caves is where it really gets good. You see the group only did the first part of the caves, and while impressive, it was nothing compared to the internal eco-system and lake that I know one finds venturing deeper into the cave. However, still an impressive cave and once I hear the price to go the full length I am not surprised we aren’t doing it, it is in the thousands apparently. Anyway after our trek back down, we have to get a mini bus back to the Dark Caves, but first lunch. Although most of the group seemed to be unimpressed I rather enjoyed it, there was a lovely lemon grass and chilli broth amongst other things. To be honest this group’s appetite for ‘foreign’ foods isn’t the most adventurous, but hey, that just means more for me.

Now it is time to head to the Dark Cave, the entrance to which is across a river so on with our annoying, but apparently mandatory, life jackets and up to a zip line we go. One by one we take it in turns to make the jump and zip across the river to the other side. Once there we have to jump back in the river and swim to the entrance of the cave. Poor Viet freezes in the water, even if for me and the others it is a much welcomed refreshing experience. We make our way into the cave which requires a mixture of walking, climbing and swimming to get into the core of it. Walking is actually the hardest part due to how muddy the floor is from the mixture of dirt, clay and damp. Once fully in the cave the group enjoys a not-so-relaxing mud bath. Not so relaxing because, of course, a mud fight has been brewing since we first entered the caves, with the occasional mud ball being flung back and forth from the very start. I will admit to maybe throwing one or two myself during this time. Although not so relaxing, I do have to admit in my limited but fun experiences with mud baths, I do find they leave your skin feeling lovely afterwards. After the mud bath we make our way back out using the swimming parts of the journey to wash ourselves off. Once out of the cave we have kayakers to get us back over to the other side of the river. I decide to swim part of the way wanting to have a proper dip after all the mud. The group finds a mini water park waiting for us on the other side. This is potentially the funnest part of the day, as it comprised of a mini zip line that ends by flinging you off the handles into the water, plus a slide, water trampoline and a floating banana boat type thing. There is also a floating walkway with the goal to get across before sinking – I am rubbish at it! We have a lot of fun with Alex and Lars even having one of their increasingly common and increasingly homo-erotic wrestling matches on the trampoline which was not easy to get onto without help.

Paradise Cave

Zipping it!
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Major surgery with only nicotine as an anaesthetic

Once we are all knackered from the fun, it is time to dry off and get back on the bus to the hostel. We checked out earlier before we left and are now just hanging about waiting for our night bus to come pick us up from the hostel. We have a couple hours to kill, so most of us get dinner at the hostel. During one of the games of pool I play with Viet we notice some of the group on one of the outside tables acting a little weird. Louis is lying back and people are shining torches at his foot while everyone seems to be staring at it. Viet and me take a closer look and stumble upon what I can only describe as a make shift clinic with Lars and Charlotte digging away at Louis’ foot trying to get a splinter out. It is a rather horrific thing to watch but also one of those things you can’t look away from. After what seemed like an age, Lars finally was able to extract one of the smallest splinters I have ever seen that according to Louis was the cause of such a pain that the make shift surgery was worth it. Finally the night bus arrived and we were off. The workers and drivers on this bus were less than helpful with even Viet, who so far has seemed nothing but lovely, calling them dicks! However, the journey isn’t a full night so we only have to deal with them until 1am when we arrive into our next hostel in Hoi An. We check in and get into some real beds for some much needed rest after a rather fun filled but tiring day and not so relaxing bus journey.

Into the Dark Cave depths
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Muddying Up
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Synchronised bombing
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