Getting Off the Beaten Track in the Central Highlands of Vietnam
I woke up to the bus driver tapping my shoulder. It was 5 AM and we had reached our initial destination, Dong Hoi. The night sleep on the sleeper bus was less than ideal, but hey, you have to make some sacrifices when you’re backpacking.
A few days prior, when on a trekking tour in Sapa, some people in our group raved about exploring some caves located in the central highlands of Vietnam. Since Jess and I wanted to stop somewhere to break up the long journey south from Hanoi to Hoi An, we decided to go with their recommendation. The gameplan was to rent a motorbike in Dong Hoi (the nearest city) and ride out to the national park/caves. We had also heard that the roads were safe and relatively uncrowded. To ease Jessica’s nerves, I took the bike for a short spin around the surrounding roads before letting her hop on the back. While I would never think to drive a motorbike in a hectic city like Hanoi or Saigon, it was pretty straightforward and easy to drive in more rural areas, especially when the land is flat and the roads are well paved. Moreover, the freedom of being on your own motorbike meant that we were able to get off the beaten track, as we drove through rural villages and farmland that few westerners travel to.
After driving for about 1.5-2 hrs (and a few pit stops verifying we were driving in the right direction) we reached paradise cave, which is the largest dry cave in the world. Apparently, it was only discovered in 2005 and opened to the public in 2011. The scale of the cave is simply enormous. The walkway inside went for 1 km, although the entire cave is over 30 km deep. Instead of describing it in too much detail, I’ll just direct you to the pictures below. Also, while there were quite a few tour groups of Vietnamese and Asian tourists at the cave, there were very few westerners.
That night we stayed in a hotel in a small town near the entrance of the national park. After a few beers and some grub at a local spot called Jungle Bar (and sharing a drink with a 71 yr old Aussie and his son), we hit the sack early, knowing we would have an early morning.
In order to catch a 7am bus out of Dong Hoi on to Hoi An, our alarm sounded at 4:30 AM. While I’m generally not a morning person, riding on the Ho Chi Minh Highway towards the rising sun was one of the most thrilling and memorable experiences I’ve had yet. Our timing also worked out perfectly, as we arrived back into Dong Hoi, dropped off the motorbike, and then was dropped off at the bus station with less than 5 mins to spare before our minibus departed for Hoi An. A throw back to Cape Town, we were squeezed into the back row of the minibus (which at times had 4 adults and a child sitting across it). Since Jess and I had seen 5 am on 3 consecutive mornings (sleeper train from Sapa to Hanoi, sleeper bus from Hanoi to Dong Hoi, and this morning) we were luckily able to drift off for at least part of the 6 hr ride.
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