Berry's SEAJ trip Day 10: Phong Nha Cave day (6/15/15)

Woke up and attended the daily hostel meeting where they discuss the attractions of Phong Nha area. After the discussion, they have people raise their hands with what they want to do, you group together, and then make your plans.

Panorama view from hostel balcony. Paradise awaits!

View from the back of the hostel. Berry loves being in nature.

Side view from the hostel balcony out my room's back door. Berry wanted to know every inch of the hostel.

Beds at the hostel. Our room was the jaguar room so our comforters were jaguar print. Forget what the other rooms were but wonder what theirs looked like. 

Walked down to the boat pier to go explore the name sake cave (phong nha cave) and Berry wanted a picture of the official sign so he had proof of his visit.

The boats awaiting the day's trips. Which one you want Berry?

Excellent idea on their part as it mediates the socialization process of staying in hostels. Our group (which was a multinational group of amazing people – Eric and me (USA), Stephanie and Julia (Germany), Tom (Australia) and Andrew (Ireland) were the core group, while today we had another Tom (UK) with us) heads out to the dock to get the boat (350kD for the 2 cave trip regardless of if you have 2 or 14 people on it) and then we head to the caves. First is Phong Nha cave, we boat into it a ways, come back near the entrance and the boat lets us off to walk around.

Small village on the water. Cant be too bad walking out your front door and that is your sight. 

Beautiful day to be out on the water

On the boat ride, out to the cave and come across some people's houses/villages. This one had a prominent church on display.

We started approaching the cave and we see many boats hanging out at the waiting spot for their groups to return.

We will follow this guy into the dark abyss of the Phong Nha cave. 

View of the cave as we enter via the boat.

Little panorama of the different sights/colors in the cave. Was pretty.

Berry wanted a picture of the 2 of us once we disembarked from the boat.

Berry striking a pose on the sands of the cave.

Berry was really getting into the different rock formations in the cave. This was also about the time where I was being asked to be in random people's pictures. I know I am a goofy looking gringo but I didnt think I was that goofy looking.

Berry was seeing the light. I told him that it was time to go towards the light indeed.

Berry enjoyed the natural cascade formed in the cave. Those were pools of water that would overflow to the ones below

Berry is glad he is getting to escape the darkness. What he doesnt know is we are about to climb the hill to go right back into the darkness. 

As we walk around and take pictures, I had a guy ask me to take a picture, so I of course said yes. Turns out he wanted me to be in the picture with his friend and then with him. Why everyone is so fascinated with taking pictures with white people over there I do not understand but it is what it is. After we finish this cave we hike up the mountain to the Diem Son cave which was nice cause no one else was in there. These caves were also enjoyable cause they were 10-15 degrees cooler than outside.

Berry wanted to take a break on the way up so I took his picture with the amazing surroundings.

Panorama of the park from our view point as we make our way to the next cave.

We finally made it to the next cave up the hill. Lets get in there and check it out. Berry doesnt want to go back in but he doesnt have a choice.

Berry sees the stairs and starts to get excited to see what lies beneath. 

Berry was just enjoying the silence of the cave. We were the only people in this cave for most of our trip which was pretty surreal being in a vast open space and having no external noise.

Staring through the rock window at more rock formations. Berry wanted to squeeze through there but I could not so we stayed on this side.

Made it to the end of the walk way (if you do the over night trip, you go to this point then you go off the path back into the cave's recesses). It was nice and cool and quiet back there so we all sat down, took our back packs off, and let the cool air refresh us. Berry was all for that break.

We have to walk back up there? Well time to start the climb I guess.

The rains caught us as we were coming down from the cave on the hill. One of the great things about being up on a mountain is you can see how the clouds/weather moves over the land. 

A local set of livestock getting some water from the river. 

Back of our boat. This boat is a hybrid (motor and oars). Fancy!

After the caves our group heads back to the hostel and grabs some food down the street before going for a swim in the hostel's pool. That was incredibly relaxing to just float around and swim and cool off. After that we grab dinner and some beers while listening to more live music and just chatting with each other.