Waitomo, New Zealand North Island – April 1st – 2nd, 2017

Waitomo’s claim to fame are the glowworm caves. Glowworms are crazy larva worms that create sticky strings that hang from any overhanging ceiling (like a cave for example). At the bottom of their sticky string is a glowing blue light that attracts moronic insects which get entangled. When the glowworms feel their self-made fishing pole moving they know they have caught something and reel in their catch for a feast. After their larva stage, glow worms become stomach-less flies and live for about 48-hours before dying of starvation. I guess you really are what you eat. So, long story short, we made the trip to Waitomo to see the glowworms.

We arrived at the ticket office an hour and a half early thanks to the time change which was unbeknownst to us (side note: why do we still do daylight savings?!). Oh well, we had time to cook a gourmet breakfast before the tour. The tour took a short walk through a pretty substantial cave before boarding small aluminum boats and floating underneath a star filled sky of glowworms. SO COOL!!! Unfortunately, we couldn’t take photos in the cave, so I borrowed one from the internet for your viewing pleasure. After the main attraction, and before getting back on the road, we walked through some smaller caves nearby which were also pretty great, although not covered in blue luminescent specs.   

Waitomo Glowworm cave. Copyright not us.

Around Waitomo. The bottom-left photo is the sunrise view from our campsite. 

Raglan, New Zealand North Island – March 31st – April 1st, 2017

On a map, the Coromandel peninsula and Raglan, the surf capital of NZ, are not that far apart. Even according to GoogleMaps the drive should take no longer than 3-hours; however, Google assumes you are driving the speed limit and we soon discovered that driving the speed limit in NZ would be a death sentence. The posted speed limit throughout most 2-lane roads is 100 km/hr (62 mph). You either have to be or think you are a rally car race driver to pull off 100 km/hr on the windy narrow mountain roads. We figure NZ takes the same approach as the autobahn in Germany: drive as fast as you want, it’s your own fault if you crash, just try not to involve anyone else in your stupidity. We are under no illusion that Freddy Kiwi is a rally car, so it took us about 3-hours longer (double Google’s estimated time) to get to Raglan than we originally planned and we arrived a bit late to rent equipment and surf in the afternoon. Instead, we drove out to Bridal Veil waterfall. Apart from the fact that the water flowing over the falls is the color of watery diarrhea (understandingly so, because it has been contaminated by the excrement of the surrounding sheep and cows), the massive drop surrounded by lush green jungle make the falls udderly (cow reference) gorgeous. 

The drive from Coromandel Peninsula to Raglan.

Bridal falls waterfall. I even wore the waterfall as a bridal veil in the top-left photo!

The next morning, we got up and checked the surf forecast before fearfully making our way to the board rental place. Just our luck, a storm swell had moved in overnight and the waves were huge! Around town, the excited chatter from the local surfers about the size of the waves made us feel extra confident as we left the shop with our beginner foam surf boards and cold water wetsuits. Arriving at the surf beach, our first observation was that yes, indeed, the waves were “gnarly” and “far out man” (to be fair, nobody actually said either of those stereotypical surfer phrases). We stayed in the white water with the rest of our fellow beginners and apart from a strong current that kept forcing us to repeatedly walk the length of the beach, we had an incredible time! By the end of the day (more accurately the middle of the actual day, surfing is exhausting), we were able to catch most of the waves and stand up successfully about half the time! So much fun!

Surfing in Raglan.

Coromandel Peninsula, New Zealand North Island – March 30th – 31st, 2017

We took the scenic route from Auckland along the Firth of Thames coast towards Coromandel. The drive was stunning – look right: WOW! lush green rolling hills dotted with sheep and cows, look left: WOW! amazing unadulterated coastline! Our first stop on the Coromandel Peninsula was Hot Springs Beach. At low tide, you can walk to this stretch of beach, shovel in hand, and dig your own natural hot pool. The hot water literally seeps through the sand to fill your personal kiddy pool. Since sand is sand it’s impossible to get the pool very deep (although we tried), but we relished our 2-inches of hot water up until the point where the tide came in and flooded our hot tub. Coincidentally, my family was at this same beach when I was a kid (see photos)!

The drive from Auckland to Coromandel Peninsula.

My dad, sister, and me at Hot Springs Beach when I was a kid. 

Present day Hot Springs Beach.

That night, we parked Freddy Kiwi (the van) at the Cathedral Cove parking lot (for free) where we watched the sun go down and back up again in the morning. It was beyond words beautiful. The iPhone camera photos do not come close to doing it justice (our other point and shoot camera suffered an untimely death thanks to the humidity of Asia, but do not fear, a new fancy mirrorless camera is on the way for your viewing pleasure!). First thing in the morning, we ventured down to the Cathedral Cove beach where we finished watching the sun rise and explored the water eroded rock formations. We didn’t hit the tide quite right so ended up attempting to run through the arch without getting drenched. On the way out, we were highly successful, but confidence can be a terrible thing in excess, and on the way back through Andy got drenched while I took my shoes off and pranced like a deer through the ankle height waves (after watching (and filming) his hilarious tide fail).  

Camping at Cathedral Cove.

Cathedral cove + shadow puppets. 

Tide fail.

Auckland, New Zealand North Island – March 28th – 30th, 2017

We left Hoi An at 5:00am to start the 30-hour journey to New Zealand (NZ). The itinerary went something like his: Drive 1 hour to the airport, wait 2 hours, fly to Saigon, Vietnam, wait 7 hours, fly to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, wait 4 hours, fly to Gold Coast, Australia (beautiful there by the way), wait 2 hours, fly to Auckland, take a shuttle to our hotel. Hard to believe that the 4-layover trip only cost $250 each! Considering how long the journey was it, the time passed relatively quickly, and before we knew it we were jetlagged in NZ!

Travel from Vietnam to New Zealand.

Our hotel appeared to be a Motel 6–esque sh*t hole from the outside, but we were surprised and pleased when the interior was clean, comfortable, and more like a mini apartment than a hotel room. Exhausted, but ravenous, we ordered very marginal Indian food delivery before turning in. First thing in the morning, we hired a taxi to take us to our new home for the next 6 weeks – a van! After signing our lives away and greedily stocking up on the free items left behind by past travelers, we were on our way (on the opposite side of the road in Auckland traffic). We spent most of the day running errands and shopping for warmer clothes. Our first order of business was to run the high-top van into the height restriction barrier going into the mall parking lot. Lucky for us (and the van’s forehead) the height pole was foam and we narrowly missed the metal structure about 2-feet above the warning pole – I guess we are taller than we realized. At the mall, we stocked up on groceries, got a SIM card for the phone, and bought wool socks, a raincoat, long underwear, and sweat pants for Andy, and a long sleeve shirt for me. Prices were astronomical in comparison, but the quality and style was spot on. The Kiwi’s know their cozy fashionable clothes. Ahhh it was good to be back in the first-world. It was also a crazy sensation to be able to communicate with EVERYONE! We spent all day smiling and laughing at the joy of such a simple luxury.

Top left: Our hotel during the 24-hr downpour that welcomed us to Auckland. Top right: Andy donating his old raincoat which was ripped and had dandruff... not sure the Red Cross will want it. Bottom Left: Shopping! Bottom Right: Andy relaxing in the van.

In the evening, we met up with some friends that now live in downtown Auckland. We had a lot of fun hanging out at their apartment, walking along the harbor, going out to eat, and catching up. Both being ex-pats, they supplied valuable insider tips about NZ, and even gave us a map showing where to go and what to do! Since Indian food has become our go-to meal in Asia (because you can find authentic food everywhere you go and it’s a welcome change from rice and oily vegetables), it only seemed appropriate that our last meal in Vietnam, layover meal in Kuala Lumpur, and first and second meals in NZ should be Indian. The main difference was that the Vietnam meal cost $6 for exceptional food, while NZ cost $60! At least all were tasty! Now full and happy, we spent our first night in the van (nicknamed Freddy Kiwi) on the downtown street right outside our friends’ apartment. The clean public toilet right outside made it uber convenient and the free price tag was affordable. 

Auckland skyline and harbor.

We got up bright and early to avoid a ticket and ventured to Mt. Eden (coincidently one of about a dozen active volcanoes surrounding the city), where we had a beautiful view over Auckland. By this point, less than 40-hours in, we were already in love with NZ and plotting our future move. The people are down to earth, happy, and friendly, the scenery is spectacular, access to outdoor adventures is unmatched, and Auckland is clean and modern. Auckland even reminded us a lot of Seattle, although to be fair, it could have just been the rain. The only drawback is that to move to NZ we would have to move to Hawaii for 6-months first to avoid a crazy long quarantine for Tucker the dog – wait…is that a drawback? Regardless, we were already dreading leaving to go back to Asia in just 6 weeks. 

Auckland city-scape from Mt. Eden. You can see the crater of the volcano in the bottom right photo. 

Hoi An, Vietnam – March 22nd – 27th, 2017

From Hue we ventured to Hoi An on… get this… a tourist bus which made frequent stops at the sites along the way. Yea yea, out of convenience we temporarily turned into the people we are frequently annoyed by (oh the irony!). For just $10 each we had an easy travel day on a deluxe new bus and stopped at a historic bridge, a beautiful beach ordained with a dog carcass (sad), viewpoints at the top of Hai Van pass, and Marble mountain, a touristy marble hill with pagodas, temples, and views. With door to door service and a tour guide which told us about each site, our unwavering hatred of tour buses wavered… slightly.

Tour bus journey from Hue to Hoi An. 

Marble mountain. 

We spent a good amount of time in Hoi An doing relatively little compared to our usual cram-and-go travel style (ug, it’s exhausting). It was hard to believe that almost five months had passed and this was our last stop in Southeast Asia. With New Zealand fast approaching we spent quite a bit of time planning for our next adventure. We also managed to take care of ourselves. We worked out every day, went to a nice spa for a pedicure and massages, Andy got a haircut, shave, and ear cleaning (hilarious), and…(drum roll please)… we went to the dentist! We each got a full exam and teeth cleaning from an ex-pat oriented dental office which was decked out in more high-tech equipment than any dentist I have been to in the US. Makes you wonder why we are being brainwashed into thinking that the best medical care is in the US. Plus, get this: without any insurance, we got a same-day appointment, were in and out the door in an hour and a half, and paid just $7 each for professional dental care! The 90-min yoga class we took cost almost the same amount! The yoga class, by the way, was brutal! By the end of the class, after multiple attempts to correct my yoga form, the Indian guru unceremoniously mentioned that I have to work on my shoulder, back, hips, and leg flexibility… soooo essentially all of it. 

TLC in Hoi An. Hope you enjoy Andy's post 90-min. massage pic as much as I do!

Our guesthouse in Hoi An was great! We had a big clean room and free bikes to ride into town whenever we wanted. It was about a 10-minute ride into the center of the tourist area, which was charming and pristine to say the least. The old buildings along the walking/biking streets are covered with lush vines, flowering plants, and colorful paper lanterns, making it an incredible beautiful place – at least in the winter when the streets are not flooded. Apparently, the river floods and drowns the first floor of the buildings each year – what a pain that must be! In town, we enjoyed local food (which by the way is much better than the food in the north of Vietnam) and had custom clothes made at a tailor. We used a family owned tailor shop which was run by two sisters who were about our age. They were incredible! Over the course of our five-day stay in Hoi An, we stopped in at the tailor five times to order, measure, try on, adjust, try on again, adjust, etc. By the end, we each had several new items that fit perfectly, but can’t be worn until we return to normality (for now, the clothes remain a useless brick in our bags).  

The beautiful city of Hoi An.

Culinary delights including Greek souvlaki, Vietnamese coffee, Pho, and drinks while watching the Formula 1 race live.

Making custom clothes at Faifoo Tailors.

About 50 rickshaw drivers waiting for lazy tourists, a boat that looks like a half coconut, giant swirly incense in a temple, the most hilarious Chinglish bathroom sign ever (they mean to say, "Please do not put toilet paper in the toilet, thanks!"), and a very creepy skeletal temple statue.

On our last day, we joined a free bike tour lead by a local university student working on her English. We took a local ferry across the river to Kim Bong Island where we visited a boat carpenter shop, mat weaver’s house, family temple (where they worship their ancestors rather than gods), rice noodle maker, and wood carving / souvenir shop (always have to stop a souvenir shop or it’s just not a proper tour). At each stop, with the exception of the boat maker, we got to try out making their goods. Fair to say we are not excellent weavers or noodle makers, but we enjoyed trying. The tour was pretty great, made even greater by the fact that it was free! On the way back to the guesthouse, Andy’s chain broke and we were forced to abandon his bike at our tailor’s shop. To get back, I peddled both of us on my bike, with Andy uncomfortably straddling the metal bike rack behind my seat. How hard could it be, we’d seen hundreds of Asians using this mode of transportation!? Answer: Ridiculously difficult!!! Not only was he weighing down the bike making peddling a strain, but balance was nearly impossible. Our progress was hilarious since we discovered the best technique was to use Andy’s legs as training wheels. We were laughing hysterically the entire way back.   

Bike tour around Hoi An. 

Hue, Vietnam – March 18th – 22nd, 2017

An uneventful short train trip dropped us in Hue, the old empirical city of Vietnam. We spent three full days in Hue walking around the city and visiting the temples, gates, palaces, and buildings in the citadel. We also spent a day on motorbikes touring the tombs of dead kings. Although the hordes of tour buses seemed to be stalking us, with the aid of our trusty travel blog (Travelfish), we managed to find some completely abandoned tombs which were just as impressive as the pay sites with buses parked outside (and without the annoyance of endless tourists with their selfie sticks). Overall, the 1800’s architecture throughout the citadel and tombs were much more “Chinese” than we expected (higher quality than the products influenced by China today though). Sadly, the majority of historic sites in and around Hue suffered massive losses during the Vietnam war (due to Hue’s proximity to the DMZ) and consequently either lie in ruins or have been repaired/rebuilt.

Being a touristy city, the food was full of comfort – French bakeries, “Mexican” food, pizza (2x), Indian food, and supermarket baguettes lathered in peanut butter and jelly. A guilty realization as I write this blog: I don’t think we ate Vietnamese food the entire time. 

Around Hue.

The Hue Citadel.

The Hue Citadel.

The non-touristy tomb. Also the oldest tomb around Hue.

The touristy tomb. Also the newest tomb around Hue.

Dong Ha, Vietnam – March 17th – 18th, 2017

From Phong Nha we caught the local bus to the train station. Think full to the brim clown car… that’s what the small local bus was like. Every time we thought there was no possible way that another person could fit, somehow, they squeezed in, packing us in even more. Strangely, the girl crammed up against my seated knee kept reaching down and pinching me in the calf. The bus eventually cleared out (including my grabby friend) and we made it in time to board our punctual train to Dong Ha.

Ridiculously overcrowded bus including the head of my grabby friend in the NY hat. 

As far as towns go, there is literally nothing going on in Dong Ha itself. We only came as an overnight stay in order to see the demilitarized zone (DMZ) sites from the Vietnam War the following day. Dong Ha is located just south of the DMZ which separated North from South Vietnam prior to and during the Vietnam war. With limited hotel options, we made a last-minute booking from the train to stay with a family at their home. Although a taxi ride away from the train station, the welcoming family and $8 clean room was worth the drive outside of town compared to the expensive ($20 per night) shabby hotels near the station. Although the family did not speak English (with the exception of their young son who was learning), we communicated via pictures and our extremely limited Vietnamese skills to order some dinner which turned out to be pretty good – oily collard greens (ug…again), well-seasoned omelet, and rice.

The next morning, the guide we had arranged in advance, Mr. Hoa, picked us up at our guesthouse. He was a Vietnam war vet who had fought in the war for the South Vietnamese army (with the Americans). Our first stop on the tour was the largest National War Cemetery in Vietnam. There were thousands and thousands of graves, many of which were for unknown soldiers. The only soldiers buried at the cemetery were soldiers who had fought for North Vietnam. The bodies of the South Vietnamese soldiers that were killed in the war were returned to their family when they died and buried in the villages, while North Vietnamese soldiers were only recovered after the war when their remains were relocated to war cemeteries scattered throughout the country (over the following decades). The graves were small since only the bone remains were relocated. Interestingly, some unmarked graves had been claimed by family members who had hired fortunetellers to tell them where their loved one's bones were buried. The war cemetery turned out to be the first of many examples of war propaganda relating to the Vietnam war – or as they call it “The American war”. In the center of the cemetery, there was a story wall which surrounded massive sculptures that glorified the northern cause while showing the opposing side surrendering or dying. Also, every gravestone was inscribed with the words, “Liet Sy” meaning “Martyr Hero”.

North Vietnam war cemetery. The bottom-left and top-right graves are of unknown soldiers, but top-right grave was claimed by a fortuneteller. The ying yang vessel in the center photo is for burning fake money. It is believed that your ancestors need money to live in the afterlife. It only makes sense that burning fake money is a way to fund their afterlife activities. 

After the cemetery, we made our way to a museum with military weapons on display and then stopped at an old American air base hanger in the middle of a residential area. Without a very thorough guide, you would never know it was there. The hanger was partially destroyed (by US bombs after they were forced to retreat) and currently being used as warehouse storage. The last stop before lunch was the Mine Action Visitor Center which sought to educate visitors on the effects of unexploded ordinances throughout the country (very similar to the COPE center in Laos). Unlike Cambodia and Laos, most of the unexploded ordinances in Vietnam have been recovered (through a massive effort and lots of moola), but many innocent locals suffered loss of limbs and death due to accidents related to the hidden threats.

Old US hanger in Dong Ha and the UXO museum.

After lunch, we traveled north towards the DMZ. Along the way, Mr. Hoa explained the events which led to the separation of North and South Vietnam after they gained independence from France and the events which led to the Vietnam war. He did an incredible job of explaining the history from a neutral perspective as well as giving us insight as to what it was like for him and his family before, during, and after the war. He was, without a doubt, the best guide we had in Asia and never failed to answer our endless questions – even the uncomfortable ones. For example, after seeing yet another anti-American museum exhibit we asked why the war was called, “The American War” when it was really a civil war which America got involved in. He answered that almost all war history in Vietnam is plagued with propaganda. We were surprised to learn that regardless of the seemingly endless government “guidance”, Mr. Hoa and our previous guides, in general, approve of the Vietnamese government.

The last stop on the tour was the Vinh Moc tunnels where over 500 people lived during the war. We spent about an hour wandering through the three levels of interconnected tunnels (the deepest level is 30 meters underground!). In the dark, cramped underground city were living quarters for 60 families, weapon storage, food storage, kitchens, bathrooms, wells, ventilation shafts, meeting rooms, a maternity and emergency room, and bomb slides. It was incredible how small the living space was for so many people. A family literally had enough space to lay down in their hole branching off the main tunnel. It was hard to believe people actually lived about 5 years completely underground with 9,000 tons of bombs constantly exploding overhead.

The reconstructed bridge separating North and South Vietnam (top). On the north side, the arch and original building were reconstructed in glory. On the south side, only a monument was created showing a south Vietnam woman and child waiting longingly for their husband/father to return to free them from the terrors of democracy. The Vinh Moc tunnel (bottom). The living space (bottom-middle) has about a 7x5 ft footprint and is about 4-ft tall. It housed a family of four.   

Although obviously a somber topic, we had an incredible day touring the DMZ with Mr. Hoa. We learned much MUCH more than we expected and appreciated getting the perspective from a local who had actually been there. Although we clearly disagree with using propaganda to manipulate people, it was interesting to see the opposing side’s perspective on the war and we were left wondering how much propaganda is being used in the US to control society's opinions… unfortunately, it’s likely happening more than we realize. Fair to say that the US is more stealthy with their propaganda than the Vietnamese government.    

Phong Nha, Vietnam – March 13th – 17th, 2017

Our travels to Phong Nha began with an eight-hour ride on the train with backwards facing seats and a fogged window. Not the best conditions for a long travel day, but thankfully neither of us got motion sickness. Our seats were actually the ones in the exact middle of the car so we had a shared table with strangers. The strangers were a sleeping elderly Vietnamese couple that sported some seriously impressive foot fungus that always seemed to be just a little bit too close to our bags. After hours of craning our necks to look out the other side of the train at the magnificent Vietnam countryside, we arrived at Dong Hoi. From Dong Hoi we caught a minibus posing as a local bus to Phong Nha proper, an amazing national park filled with some of the world’s largest caves.

Our train experience to Phong Nha and a few goofy pictures for your enjoyment! The top right picture includes the famous local egg coffee: a coffee with a whipped egg on top. I really love eggs but I have to admit it had a funky texture.

On our first day, we rented a motorbike and got going early in an effort to beat the crowds to some of the caves. We went to Dark Cave first, where we heard you were able to swim in the river and take a mud bath in a cave. Turns out our early morning was for naught, as the tour operator at the cave (apparently required) made us and the growing crowd of tourists wait until there was over 20 of us. After a quick zipline ride to the opposite riverbank, the group of 20 waited patiently for another 20 minutes with no instructions until, finally, an additional 10 people joined us along with the “guide”. We swam the 20 feet from the zipline landing platform to the cave entrance platform and queued into the cave. We walked and swam for a few hundred feet through narrow and twisty passages and eventually piled into the main attraction, the mud pool! The mud had a liquid consistency like a milkshake, but was denser than water so that you can literally float on only your butt! It was the craziest sensation to not be able to even stand in the mud because you kept floating upwards before your feet could touch the bottom. The feeling is hard to put into words, but it was incredible and totally worth the tour operator gimmicks. Once we had found two bandaids swimming in the muck, we called it quits and headed back out with the crowd.

Welcome to Phong Nha!

The gimmicks continued with a canoe trip 500 feet back up the river to an adult waterpark area with ziplines into the water, a suspended obstacle course, and paddle bikes. Ziplining into the water was fun, but the most entertainment came from watching people nearly maim themselves on the obstacle course. You had to zipline about 100 feet over the river and release yourself at the right moment to land on a net to begin the course – this is a lot harder to do than it appears. You end up going much faster than is appropriate and end up landing in ridiculous fashions on the painful, thick-roped knotted-net. It was hilarious watching people releasing the zipline late and get whipped into summersaults and flips before landing upside down on the net. We had big bruises on our bodies for the next week from the experience. Our time at Dark Cave was highlighted by the cesspool (I mean mud pool) and the zipline entertainment, but it was a painfully obnoxious example of a tourist trap in Asia. It was obvious that they were simply padding their brochures with the various types of adventure sports. Leaving Dark Cave, we continued riding through the national park taking in the jaw-dropping beauty of the jungle, cliffs, and mountains.

Our motorbike day escapades. Sorry, we couldn't get any pictures in the Dark Cave.

The following day began our two-day trek to the third-largest cave in the world, Hang En. In the company of 11 other tourists from America, Germany, Canada (but living in Vietnam), and the UK, we hiked five hours through jungle and along a riverbed to our camp. Though we were expecting rain, the first day’s trek turned out to be simply overcast so thankfully we could see the beautiful scenery. Gratefully, we also had boots on loan from the tour company so we didn’t need to worry about destroying our only pair of shoes with all of the river crossings and muddy tracks. After settling in at the camp, we put our caving gear on and swam into a bonus cave, Hang Lanh (aka Cold Cave). This cave was basically a super long and twisty tunnel (cross-section about the size of a school hallway) with a cold river running through it. We swam and trekked a further 1.5 hours into this cave, seeing a tiny cave worm with its trail of sticky, silk traps and many amazing cave formations. We were quite cold by the time we exited the cave, but the experience was out of this world!

Our first day trekking: there's Dani showing us what we did a lot of (wading across the river) and there's the whole crew enjoying the lunch spread on the ground.

The view from our camp, our dinner spread, our sweet caving gear, and an amazing crystallized formation inside Hang Lanh.

After a fun night of cards, decent Vietnamese food, and getting to know our fellow trekkers, I woke up and was startled when Dani discovered that my foot and sleeping bag were covered in blood! Thinking we knew the culprit to the persistent bleeding, a lengthy search ensued and I eventually found a fat and lazy leech in my bedding! I must have picked up the blood sucker when I visited the loo in the early morning. According to our Vietnamese guide, they are nothing to worry about since they “only suck the bad blood.” It took a clotting agent to finally get the bleeding to stop.

There it is! It stole my blood! Also, the bottom left shows the "swallow entrance" to Hang En in the background. The bottom right is the river entrance we actually took.

With a bit less blood in my body than the previous day, we ate breakfast, packed up, and headed over to the main attraction, Hang En. As we approached the cave, you could clearly see the large and gaping “swallow entrance” in the cliffside, and we could feel the excitement and sense of anticipation rising in the group. We entered through a smaller side entrance and climbed up through old collapsed rubble. All of a sudden, we were standing on an enormous pile of boulders with a breathtaking view into and over an enormous chamber with a dark ceiling high above us and a river/beach low below. The scale of the place was staggering. The main chamber is nearly 350 feet tall by 600 feet wide. The sense of scale and perspective was aided by the tiny people and tents on the beach at the chamber’s bottom. After soaking in the chamber’s enormity, we headed further into the cave and explored the many formations and fossil-lined walls. At the far end of the cave, we took a rest and basked in the gorgeous view of the massive cave exit with jungle in the background. The cave was out of this world and truly extraordinary. The scale really was impressive, though, honestly, it was surprising that it is the 3rd largest cave in the world (by volume). Though the chamber dimensions were vast, the length of the cave was only about a mile and we had expected it to go on for much further. I suppose it’s simply a different sense of scale compared to the seemingly endless and maze-like caves we have experienced in the US.

Hang En: Massive.

Amazing stalagmites, stalactites, terraces, other formations, and fossils in Hang En.

Still grinning from the experience, the trek out of the cave and back through the jungle seemed to go quickly. We soon found ourselves at the end of excursion. Now sweaty, smelly, muddy, and tired, we stripped the nasty boots and socks off our wrinkly water-logged feet and boarded the waiting vans. Although over too quickly, the experience was fantastic! Visiting these renowned Vietnamese caves will forever be a pinch-me moment for us.

Our trek out from Hang En brought us through a village and up a steep and sweaty hill.

Ninh Binh, Vietnam – March 9th – 13th, 2017

The Vietnamese train system was a pleasant reprieve from the horrendous bus and mini-bus travel of the last four months. The train was clean, inexpensive, left on time, arrived on time, and had an on-board bathroom. The two-hour ride went smoothly and the owners of the family restaurant where we ate lunch in Ninh Binh were nice enough to arrange a cheap taxi to take us to our guesthouse in Tam Coc, a small town nearby. At the expense of a sick traveler who was unable to leave (likely clutching the porcelain throne), our room was upgraded for free!

The view from our guesthouse.

The scenery in and around Ninh Binh was breathtaking; outcrops of limestone karsts sprinkled the vibrant green rice patty fields, which seemed to extend in all directions. Although the weather was still a bit dreary, we spent the next four days taking in the scenery, meeting new friends, and relaxing. On the first afternoon, we wandered across the rice fields to Thai Vi temple where a ceremony was being held (our best guess is it was the celebration for a wedding). An older woman was dancing and handing out money and boxed snacks to the guests, which included us because we were dragged in by a local to join the celebration. Every few songs, she did a costume change, and the process repeated. Fascinated, gripped by the overwhelming joy of the guests, and unable to figure out a way to respectfully slip away, we stayed for a while and watched the celebration. Afterwards, we went back to our guesthouse and enjoyed a family-style dinner with all of the other travelers. We stayed so long talking, that the owner eventually told us all to go to bed.

The train to Ninh Binh (bottom-left), afternoon walk through the rice patties (top), and Thai Vi temple.

After a few weeks of only enjoying the company of each other (can’t seem to shake Andy, he’s always around), we were glad to meet lots of new friends during our stay in Ninh Binh. Apart from the other travelers staying at our guesthouse, we met a rare American (from Denver!) at the temple who joined us while we cycled around the area. The low clouds created a mystical feel and we enjoyed getting “lost” in the endless rice fields. We stopped for lunch (the vegetarian food was again oily morning glory and white rice with all the MSG soy sauce you can handle), rode through an old ancient city (now just brick walkways with a few monuments), and stopped for a boat ride. We were skeptical of the boat ride at first because it is so touristy, both with foreigners and Vietnamese tourists (2,000 boats are used during high-season!), but it turned out to be incredible! The boat oars were powered by the legs of a local woman who literally laid back and maneuvered the oars like she was doing the breaststroke (except above water and on her back). She guided the boat through endless tiny caves which the slow-moving river flowed through. It was dusk by the time the boat ride ended, so we hurried back to town, where we had dinner with our new friends – the German who joined us on the boat, joined us for dinner as well and he turned out to be uber intelligent and interesting.

Around Ninh Binh including chickens in a tree.

More sites around Ninh Binh.

Boat trip.

The next day, we rented bicycles again and rode to a few of the sites that we had missed the day before. First stop was Hang Mua cave and overlook. As customary, when we arrived we were urged to park our bikes and pay a fee for parking. Knowing that this was a scam to keep you from parking for free at the actual entrance, we attempted to ride past the parking lot owner and were forcefully stopped by a man in a security guard uniform who told us aggressively to park our bikes. Taken back by the fact that he had literally gotten in my face, yet compelled by the presence of a local riding a bike right behind him, we turned around and parked our bikes down the street (for free). When we arrived on foot at the entrance gate we discovered that indeed it had been an elaborate scam to trick foreigners because there was free bike parking at the gate - so aggravating! Even more aggravating was that after we hiked to the overlook (which was pretty, but tainted by the low clouds that blocked the view), we returned to our bikes to find that one of my tires was completely flat (coincidence?). It took us about an hour to get the bike back to the rental place because every time we rode it the flat inner tube would escape the tire and get stuck in the gears. My only solace was that we warned all the tourists on their way to the overlook to disregard the man in the security uniform and keep riding, thereby ruining their scam at least momentarily. Sweet, sweet revenge!

In the afternoon, we rode to a massive bird sanctuary, which was a strange phenomenon because they actually have a zoo-like place for regular everyday birds. It was nice to see some wildlife, but sad that they had to have a designated park for birds to live because they are otherwise hunted to extinction, leaving the majority of Vietnam birdless. Also at the bird sanctuary, were several caves to explore. One of the caves had a long bamboo walkway through the cave. While exploring the cave, Andy backed into a stalactite, and blood instantly started gushing from his head. Truthfully, when his hand came back completely bloody, I was a bit concerned, but luckily, we stopped the bleeding and it was not deep enough to warrant stitches. While wandering around the rest of the park, we met an Australian couple that we clicked with instantly. One of the best parts of traveling is the incredible people you meet along the way – the amazing people definitely even out the scamming a**holes.

We spent the next day getting caught up on research, working out, taking a short walk through the rice paddies, doing laundry, and hanging out with our new Aussie friends. After giving the brush off to a few annoying travelers who invited themselves into our card game, we had dinner, and then chatted with the charismatic restaurant owner who wanted advice on how to court his German girlfriend (we hope she was his girlfriend and he wasn’t just a stalker – it was hard to tell). His questioning mostly revolved around the correct way to hug her when he met up with her in Germany later this year. His attempted practice hugs were absolutely hilarious! We reluctantly said goodbye to our new friends and were lucky to get back into our hotel since, apparently, they lock the gates after 10pm (oops).       

Hang Mua overlook and the bird sanctuary. The birds were not very visible through the fog (luckily we've seen birds before), but the camera make it look worse than it really was.