Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park is a UNESCO world heritage site, created to protect one of the worlds largest karst regions which contains more than 300 caves. In 2009, the worlds largest cave was discovered here by a team of British explorers.

Travelling from Hue to Phong Nha town involved a 3 hour minibus journey. The bus itself was quite luxurious, and as well as giving us the usual free bottled water, this one also had free wifi. The journey started our smoothly, but it swiftly became apparent that we had once again found a driver who followed the one and only transport rule in Vietnam, ‘Make sure you keep the accelerator pressed to the floor at all costs.’ The roads are generally in a terrible state of repair, and we kangaroo hopped from one pothole to the next, while swerving round scooters, motorbikes and cattle. We picked up more and more locals, and all of their associated luggage, along the route. We were sat at the back, and the bus seemed to fill up from the front. Being the only non-Vietnamese on the bus seemed to afford us some space. Eventually though someone came and took the seat next to Graham. This lady was travelling with A LOT of stuff, which took up most of the aisle and all of her leg room. Of course her only solution was to rest her feet on Grahams lap. Being British meant we couldn’t possibly say anything, but I did chuckle to myself. This was nothing in comparison to the amusement of the locals watching the stand up comedy / karaoke routine being blasted from the minibus TV.

Wehn we neared the National Park, all of the locals turned and told us to get off here. Here being major junction in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. However, we followed their directions and sure enough arrived at our hostel after a short walk. The scenery in the area is breathtaking, and we were very excited about the next few days.

We did a couple of amazing tours, but I think they deserve their own separate blog. We also hired bikes for a day to sample ‘The Best Coffee in Vietnam’ and to cycle to ‘The Pub with Cold Beer’. We also ate at a place called ‘The Best Spit Roast Pork – Probably’.

Cycling to the coffee shop

Graham was delighted with his coffee / chocolate / condensed milk concoction

Bikes casually resting against a shell casing

The bike ride to the pub followed along the river bank for 10 km, and meandered through villages. This area of Vietnam is only slowly appearing on the tourist map, and the locals hadn’t seen any tourists 3 years ago. The children we passed ran out to the road to shout hello and high five us. After fording across the river we found the pub. The speciality here is that you can select, kill and cook your own chicken. We opted out of this and went for pork with ‘probably the best peanut sauce in Vietnam’ which lived up to its name. However, another couple of guys from the hostel turned up and chose their bird, which the named Jeffery. Jeff was apparently very tasty!

Saying it like it is

Cycling to the pub

I will cross rivers and move mountains to get to a cold beer

Taking a break while our pork cooks

Step 1: Choose your bird

Step 2: Get the expert to sacrifice it

Step 3: Tuck into your delicious meal

The internet is going crazy about this little corner of Vietnam and I think it is the best thing we have done in Asia so far. We trekked, cycled, swam and kayaked in some of the most stunning scenery I have ever seen. There are very few tourists here and the tours on offer are run by very knowledgable guides. You should all add it onto your ‘must see’ list, although I hope not too many people do. It would be a shame if this beautiful, tranquil place turned into the next Phuket!