Phong Nha! Ah we loved it here. Things definitely weren’t going according to plan from the get go, but it all smoothed out from there! I’ll just skip to the moral to the story and say always ask what time you’ll arrive in a city and then always double check that timing on Google. Also, don’t assume you’ll sleep on a night bus even if it has the reclining bunks. We arrived in Phong Nha on our night bus at about 3am instead of 7. Not realizing this town is actually a village, we made the decision to try to check in early and for an extra night, unfortunately we were met with locked gates in a dark street. Deciding to walk back to the main “town” we ran into a group of rough dogs that apparently didn’t want us on their turf. After some yelling and bag swinging we managed to work our way around them. However, not much later I was viciously attacked. Not actually. I thought a rabid dog had grabbed my foot, so I yelped only to turn and see the most adorable puppy trying to play with me! It was a real monster 😉 Luckily when we made it back to town we found the only hostel with an employee sleeping in the lobby that was happy to take us in for the night!
After some sleep we arrived at our homestay, Song Que Homestay. This place was perfect. The family was adorable, so sweet and actually owned the place. With the help of their eldest son who moved off and found a job in Korea they were able to save enough money and build a homestay that is actually more like a 4 room bed and breakfast. The rooms were nice and the view was outstanding and the family were great hosts. Only the children spoke English and they were still working on their skills so they liked to sit around on the rooftop with us and socialize. Oh the roof top! Great river view and a great spot to watch the thunderstorms every evening. It was rain season after all.
In Phong Nha tourism is rapidly turning this village into a town, but most of the people here are extremely poor and live off the land and river, or rent boats from the government to drive tourists into parts of the national park for an opportunity for income. This means most accommodation that is built is owned by someone not local and likely not even Vietnamese. Because of this, the village encourages their children to learn English so they can get jobs in the growing tourism when they grow up. Or, move away like in the case of our homestay’s eldest son. It was common to walk down the street and every little kid run up and say hello and try to talk with us. We loved this! It unfortunately was also common for them to try and beg which is a problem not unique to this area. As responsible tourists, it’s our job to say no, no matter how hard these kiddos pull at your heartstrings. When we give money to children, they are less likely to continue attending school. Instead buy from local stores and eat at local restaurants to support the community, and if you feel inclined to donate money, give it to a reputable organization that is working for your cause.
Besides our lovely accommodation, we were actually here for the caves. Phong Nha National Park is home to the world’s largest cave and many other large and impressive caves. Phong Son Dong, the largest cave, is heavily protected so we didn’t actually have the time or money to see this main event, but we did have the opportunity to see a few others including a river cave that was used as shelter and hospital for the local people during the Vietnam War. We also saw some of the most beautiful butterflies here. Unfortunately they are quick little suckers so I don’t have photos of the most impressive ones.
Next stop, Hue to learn more about Vietnam history and the Vietnam War.
Check out some photos from Phong Nha below:
