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For details of the places I visited in Vietnam along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, with GPS Coordinates, see my book Vietnam Caves.

For details on motorbiking in Vietnam and Cambodia, from buying and selling a motorbike, to border crossing, see my book Motorbiking Cambodia & Vietnam.

 

This morning I awake a new person. This trip has been testing for me at times, and it has been hard to get where I am. But I am proud of not giving up. I have managed to come this far, and have one hard days ride left to Hanoi, my end destination in Vietnam. Even if i cannot cross the border with the bike to Laos, I can still cover this trip in my book.

Little did I know what today would have install for me.

Breakfast is omelet and a bread roll, with some green tea.

The owner yesterday told me that she would give me a map that will allow me to get to the caves myself. Her map is a photocopy and a bit unclear. I go online with my iPad and get a digital map, that now actually shows the town’s roads. She indicates where the caves are, and it is only then, that i realize that the road i took yesterday at the crossing, is the back road into the town. If i had gone on, the road which is the upper Ho Chi Min trail, links up with the lower one, forming one road. If i had then travelled about 6 km back on the lower HO Chi Min road, i would have passed the main turn off to the town. A longer, less scenic but faster road.

So now i use this road, and have thus covered both ways into town. The fields next to the road is impressive.

The mountains surrounding the town is awesome, and as i ride, i pass over a large bridge.

The road is at places nice and straight, so I open the bike up as she is pulling again today. Then, I encounter a new problem. The bike suddenly loses power, backfires a few times, then dies. I back off the throttle, let the bike coast, open the throttle again, and she goes again at a slower speed. I guess fuel delivery problem, and coast a distance, then go for it again. Again at full throttle, the bike backfires a few times as she loses power, then dies. And again after backing off the throttle and coasting for a distance, she goes again. I decide I will just take it easy for now, then worry about the problem tomorrow. I pass a church on the way.

I come to a military checkpoint, and stop to ask the guard where the cave is that i want to go to first. There are two caves on this road, Paradise Cave and Dark Cave. I was told Paradise is the best. The guard says down the road. A few km on, I come along this entrance.

It looks like a miss spelling of Dark Cave, so i move on.

Soon I come to the four way crossing I was at yesterday when I took the small back road. To my right is a memorial that I know on the map is past the caves. I decide to go have a look as it is only 3 km away. The memorial is for people that sacrificed themselves during the Vietnam war.

I decide to head back to the entrance I saw, and check it out. This time there is a guard at the entrance, and he confirms that it is Paradise Cave.

There is a small road leading to the cave, and it runs alongside a river.

Soon I am at a checkpoint where i need to leave my bike. There are a number of places selling drinks and snacks.

I pass this restaurant and decide I am going to have lunch here.

Then we come to the ticket booth, where depending on your children’s height, they get priced.

After passing the ticket checkpoint, you can either walk up or pay for a cart. I walk up.

Soon I come to an open area with a gift shop, and steps leading to the top. A sign says 570m, and at first i thought it is the distance one needs to walk, but later it more seems the height that one has to climb as the numbers painted on the steps as i go up do not match the distance covered.

There are speakers along the path, playing music. This pees me off a bit, as it is blaring away, and one cannot hear the birds or other nature sounds. Why this is done i have no idea. You can listen to a short video i recorded here.

Speakers posted along the trail.

After a good workout to get to the top, i come to a restaurant, and some more stairs. At first i think it is the entrance to the cave, but it is a small temple. A guide informs me the opening is back down to the left.

Then i enter the gave. Paradise Cave, is the longest cave in the world. The biggest cave is just a few miles away. Paradise Cave has been opened to tourists, and the first 1km has steps and platforms to allow you to easily walk around and enjoy the cave. You can for about $40, do a 3 day guided hike in the cave, where you sleep in the cave at night, swim through underground rivers, and have some fun. For those that think this cave is just another cave, I will let the pictures speak for themselves. I have so many pictures, that It was hard in selecting which ones. the pictures are in order, as I go deeper into the cave.

As a cave diver i cannot help but think how stunning it must be to be able to dive this cave. I imagine how the people that discovered this cave must have felt, as they walk deeper and deeper into the cave. As i go deeper, I am taken back in time and explore the cave with them. The further back I go, the fewer people i encounter. At one spot, I go and listen to my thoughts. (Caves are good for such things).

Seeing this cave, being here, I know that had i known yesterday what lies ahead, i would have pushed the bike the 200 odd km. And I realize that in most cases, when one gets the rewards for things that really matter in live, one would have been prepared to work 10 times as hard to get it. I am now talking of things that really matter in life. Not a new car or house, but things that actually have no price tag. Like for me, a biker and caver, doing a ride out to a cave like this. For another person maybe climbing Mount Everest. For another maybe sailing around the world. Those are things you cannot sell afterwards, nor would you want to, for they have no price.

So I decide to work on a new philosophy to life and problems I encounter. When facing difficulty, say thank you that I do not need to work 10 times as hard to get my goal. And look at every problem, and respond with. Okay, what needs to be done to fix or overcome this, then do it, whatever it takes.
As I stand there, I am satisfied with what the day brought me, and the reward for not giving up. Little do i know what the rest of the day has install for me.

As I come to the end of the walkway, I notice 3 people hovering around. One lady goes over to a employee and talks a while with him. It turns out the want to go down onto the cave floor. As you can go further in any case with a guide, and there are no one else around, he agrees that they can go a few steps. I offer to take a picture of them. Then we all walk back and start talking. We make small talk, until we get to the entrance. They want to rest, and I want to go and have lunch, so we split up. We however agree to meeting up for lunch at the same place, and then going to the next cave together.

Lunch

I am about half way through my lunch when they join me. Two vietnamese ladies and an English guy. They told me their names in the cave, but at this point I have misplaced it, apologies.

We finish lunch and head out to the next cave, however along the way we do the mandatory tourist photo shoots.

most of the following pictures was taken with my iPhone, and in poor light conditions, so the quality is not as good.

To get to the dark cave, one takes a canoe to the entrance, then wade through water to get to a passage, where one then go at places hip high through mud. We have no swim trucks, and I decline to use a borrowed one, going with my long pants. I have done a few caves before, and much prefer to be clothed and muddy, than muddy and cut up. As I do not know what the cave holds, and know one can easily slip, a torn pants is better than a cut leg.

We meet two Frenchman that inform us that there is a fee per person, and then an additional fee for the guide. A guide can take 6 at a time, and together we make six, so would we mind splitting the fee for the guide, we accept and off we go.

Ready to go have fun.

arrived safely at the cave’s entrance.

Starting to wade though water to get to the passage.

Knee deep in it.

Climb up and slide down on the other side.

We too soon come to a pond like area, where we sit down in the mud. After a few pictures, the guide has us switch our lights off. As we sit in the dark, he sings in Vietnamese for us. Very good voice.

Our guide.

We head back, and encounter another group. After a exchange of mud, we move on to a underground river, where we wash the mud off, and then swim a few minutes up. Then, it is time to swim back, and exit. Taking the boats again, we row to where we left our bikes. All in all a stunning day.

We say our good bye, and I head off to find dinner.

Tomorrow I will stay another day, and see what I can do with the bike as it is getting worse. There are a number of other places to see, and I would like to do the six day gave trek. But at $80 it is to much, and I also need to get the three books I am working on finished to hopefully get additional funds in, as I have spend a fair bit on this trip and it has eaten into my savings.

I decide that I will return on another day, when time and finances allows it.