Cave Adventure
We'd read that the caves in Phong Nha national park were worth seeing and that the company to do it with was Oxalis, so we booked a last minute 2-day, 1-night excursion into the jungle to see Hang Tien. I was a little nervous about how my knee was going to hold up on a hike full of mud, rock scrambles, and river crossings, so we booked a private tour so that I could go at my own pace. We'd barely left Oxalis HQ (en route to the trailhead) before our pickup lost traction in the mud and slid off the road. Good times! (Also of interest in this photo is the pile of rocks which is someone's grave - the people who live out here bury their loved ones in the field when they die.)
Our lead guide, Tha, was the best. Super friendly and knowledgable, and a lot of fun to talk to. We also had a tail guide (who didn't speak much English and seemed to be part mountain goat judging by how easily he ran up the rock scrambles in his sandals), a couple porters who carried all the camping gear, food, etc, and a chef.
The jungle scenery was stunning, but the 4km trail into camp was *super* muddy. My knee held up, but a walking stick was a massive help.
Instead of attempting a slippery rock-hopping river crossing, I opted to swim. After a hot hike in the jungle, the cold water was a welcome respite.
We camped right next to the river. The chef cooked us a BBQ feast. There were hundreds of frogs that started their croaking at dusk and didn't stop until morning.
We saw 3 very different caves over the course of the two days. We saw hoards of bats, spiders bigger than both my hands combined, and some beautiful rock formations.
Our guide was pretty obsessed with getting us the perfect cave shot so we took more pictures here than we have on pretty much the whole rest of the trip so far.
It was really a fantastic adventure, and a great first test of my knee under relatively challenging conditions.
