Route: Hue-Phong Nha Cave (Quang Binh Province)-Hue
--Before the trip--
Phong Nha cave was closed for nearly a month in Oct, so we were quite lucky as it reopened not long ago. I was worried that we cld not visit Phong Nha due to bad weather, but Mr Trung assured us that we cld go there. Orchid's staff was a little concern with our plan and told us that there were 2 caves (dry & wet), so most probably we cld only visit the dry one.
--1st Stop: Lunch--
We had lunch at a local coffee shop. Lots of flies. Food was alright, but the price was rather expensive.
--2nd Stop: Phong Nha Cave--
It was a 4 hrs journey from Hue to our destination. Mr Trung's wife went with us as well. We reached a small jetty and boarded one of the boats.
Phong Nha is one of the caves located in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, and the park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The cave is 7729 m long, contains 14 grottos, with a 13,969 m-long underground river. Scientists have surveyed 44.5km of grottoes in this cave so far, but tourists can only penetrate to a distance of 1500m. (from Wikipedia)
Cruising along Son river. It was raining, and the area was foggy. Cld not snap decent pics as the angle of my cam was not right and I did not want to wet my cam.
The jetty.
After abt nearly an hr, we finally saw the entrance of the cave!
We reached the underground river and this is the wet cave. If you want to visit both caves, pls come during dry season. The wet cave was totally submerged in water during this period of time. I guess even during dry season, there wld be water in the cave as well...(imagine shoes and pants getting wet~~)
The staircase to the dry cave.
There are lots of Speleothems in the cave. Above is Stalactites.
Stalactites & Flowstone.
Stalactites
Mouth of the underground river.
Lots of columns...
Stalagmite.
Stalagmites.
We cld see many crystal-liked minerals.
Forgot to mention, the ground of the cave was covered by sand. Very little water in the cave, so my shoes were quite clean. KH & HM wore slippers though...(hard to walk?)--3rd Stop: Dinner--
Weather was much better in Hue today. We reached Orchid at 6.15pm....tired! After a short rest, we decided to check out the No.1 restaurant on Tripadvisor, La Carambole.
The restaurant was quite crowded but we managed to find a table. Food was as usual, either Vietnamese or Western. However, their menu offered many choices and I had a hard time deciding what to eat. Lolz!
HM's chicken meat w/ rice.
If I rmbed correctly, this shld be my Tuna. Lolz! Anyway, the fish was delicious!!
KH's meal was really interesting, and it already looked delicious. I forgot what's the actual name but it's a pork dish. It's a pity that the girl's appetite was not good.
HM & I ordered their Lemon Gelato.Well, it's out last day in Central Vietnam. Heading to HCMC the next day. (wait for my Day 6 report~)
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