[Vietnam] Chapter XXXII: In which R engages in a direct struggle with mud

Some have called Vietnam "a giant organised tour factory", and indeed wherever we went, we have constantly been beset by all manner of people --- especially hotel receptionists --- trying to sell us a whole cornucopia of amazing organised tours.

So far, we have resisted the temptation, but unfortunately there are a few places in Vietnam that can only be reached on an organised tour,

and one of them --- the Tu Lan cave system --- we rather did want to visit.

While most of the caving tours offered by the tour company we had chosen are multi-day jungle treks coupled with extreme caving and overnight camping --- presumably aimed squarely at young and fit masochists --- we instead opted for the easy single-day experience, which consisted only of hiking through nine kilometres of fields and jungles, exploring two dark and slippery caves (Rat Cave and Porcupine Cave), crossing a waist-high river twice in our full clothes, swimming a hundred metres through an underground river again in our full clothes, not to mention struggling to move through long stretches of heavy mud at several points along the way. Unfortunately, even this easy trek proved too challenging for about 33% of us. Alas, those same 33% are now writing these lines, so no further description of what might or might not have been seen during that day will be forthcoming (detailed descriptions of shoe-sucking mud and bone-chilling water are available upon request).

Luckily, not all caves are limited only to young and fit and rich tourists; some can still be visited by old and decrepit and rather less rich individuals. And so, on the following day, while still aching all over from the ordeal of the day before, we visited Paradise Cave on our own, and were welcomed by what is by far the most magnificent cave we have seen anywhere in the world. Gigantic in every dimension --- more than 50 metres high, more than 150 metres wide, and more than 30 kilometres long (only the first kilometre, all boardwalked, is readily accessible to the public) --- the breathtaking beauty of this newly-found cave (discovered in 2005, opened in 2010), with its intricate stalactites and monumental stalagmites, was all the more appreciated as a result of the subdued lighting that was cleverly installed throughout, accentuating the cave's most striking features with a melange of soft shadows.

Accommodations:
- Thuong Hai Hotel, Phong Nha (4 nights; ok)

Photo captions: (a-y) Paradise Cave; (z-cc) en route to and from Paradise Cave; (dd-ii) views from the road leading to the trek; (jj-pp) mild scenes from the trek; (qq-rr) Porcupine Cave; (ss-yy) Rat Cave; (zz-bbb) Phong Nha village as seen from the roof of our six-story hotel