Phong Nha is a beautiful place that can take weeks to fully explore. There are many caves in the region accessible to the public and perfect for day trips as well as a multi day exploration. Phong Nha is also home to the largest cave in the world called Hang Son Doong. This cave is ridiculous, it's so large it can fit an entire New York City block inside and it has its own weather system inside, it creates its own clouds. So Phong Nha is kind of a big deal to say the least. As much as I wanted to explore this cave it costs crazy sum of money and it would be a week long expedition. I settled for some of the smaller caves which were also really cool.
Exploring Phong Nha
On the first day in Phong Nha me and my mate went to check out the Phong Nha Cave which was lid up and had a lot of man made passages. It was more for the masses. The cave I was more excited to explore was called the Dark Cave. It was only accessible by boat and it didn't house any man made infrastructure. We went through this long and dark narrow passage that led to a waste deep mud pit. It was a really cool experience. After exploring the cave we relaxed near the river that was surrounding the cave. It's an awesome place with ropes and other stuff you can use to jump in the river. River itself looked out of this world, it was coloured in this very saturated light blue color.
Apart from exploring caves this area is perfect for exploration on a motorcycle. The landscapes are incredible everywhere you look there are plenty of empty roads. One other unusual experience one can have here is called the Duck Stop. It's basically a little farm and the owners of the farm have like 100 white ducks so you can go feed them while they completely surround you. It's a fun experience and the owners are really nice people.
Evening I spent having a good time in my hostel, the Easy Tiger. It has a large outdoor area, and an outdoor bar covered by roof, a pool, hammocks and other good stuff. Every night they have live music and they offer free beers for an hour, as much as you want. The first night me and my mate just kept chugging those beers as fast as we could to get new ones. Not the smartest decision though, the next day was rough. I loved my stay here, It was a blast and I met a lot of cool people. it was a perfect addition to this gorgeous area and these few days were probably one of my favorite during this entire trip.
Facing Some Challenges
It was, however, time to get back on the road. The next stop on most people's itineraries is Ninh Binh and my mate was on a shorter time schedule so he was heading there as well. My plan was to continue riding in Laos before returning to Vietnam further north.
The Easy Tiger Hostel owners were very experienced travelling Asia so they gave me a lot of tips about crossing borders between Laos and Vietnam so with that I got back on the road.
It would be a tough day. I had to make it all the way to the Laos border checkpoint and to get to it I had to go through a range of mountains. Also I didn't have any Lao Kip, the local Laos currency. There was nowhere to get them so I got some US dollars instead. Accomodation was another issue. The village I found on Google Maps that had a couple of decent looking guesthouses was far away. It was on this popular loop, a lot of people do by renting scooters, so I knew it would be a good choice. There was not much else in the area between the loop and border. The main concern, however, was crossing the border. I had very little information on this border as it was small and mainly used by commercial vehicles. I had to trust some reviews I had read on Google Maps and the guys at Easy Tiger.
With all that I was back on the road. The upcoming stretch of Ho Chi Minch road was just as beautiful as before. I was surrounded by limestones all the way before turning off to the road leading up to the Laos border. The weather was starting to worsen so I had no time to enjoy it.
On The Way To Laos
That border road was not mentioned anywhere as a great driving road but it surprised me. It was a spectacular road going through some ridiculously high mountains. I couldn't even raise my head high enough. This road was going along the bases of these mountains so it felt incredibly surreal when one of these plant covered giant walls would pop out of clouds.
Naturally since this road had one purpose and because barely any traveler would cross this border this road is unknown. It's also dangerous to drive because those large commercial trucks going to Laos were struggling getting uphill a lot.
The clouds were turning black so I was racing to the border as fast as I could. My goal was to get into Laos as quickly as possible. It was supposed to be clear sky in all of Laos but I wasn't sure how that would be possible with that giant black cloud all over me.
I finally reached the border. It was located on a mountain pass and it looked rough. I was starting to doubt they would let random travellers cross it. Luckily they did. I used my US dollars to pay for my 1 month visa and I was in. It was surprisingly smooth experience. They didn't care that I was on a Vietnamese motorcycle nor did Vietnam side care about me leaving Vietnam.
Totally Different Climate
Sky was clear above me on the Laos side of the border and just a kilometer back in Vietnam it was all dark. This mountain range was basically dividing the climates. Laos was all sunny and dry, it looked like it hadn't rained in months.
I immediately noticed how underdeveloped Laos is. The road from this border wasn't even paved. I was making really slow progress and all of the passing trucks were leaving me in their dust. I spent a good hour and a half on this road before reaching a beautifully paved road that was built by Chinese I only assume.
What A Day
I was facing new issues. I lost a lot of time on that bad road so making it before dark to the village I was hoping to stay overnight would be difficult. I was also starting to run low on petrol, with no local currency and ATMs in sight I was really worried.
This part of Laos looked so underdeveloped people were living in small wooden shacks, I am not even sure they had electricity. Finding an ATM or a petrol station seemed hopeless.
It was getting dark, somehow I was still going and it was clear that I won't make it to the village I scouted on Maps. Fortunately for me I reached a town that had a petrol station, more importantly an atm and 2 decent looking places where I could get a room and a meal. I felt incredibly lucky to have made it this far under my conditions that day.
I checked into this newly built hotel on the side of the road and found a cafe. I was flushed with Lao Kip so I got myself a huge meal and one large Beerlao. This must have been one of the toughest days I had on this motorcycle trip.
To be continued.