When we were planning our trip to Vietnam, Rajesh suggested that we should spend a night or two in the caves! I always knew Rajesh was a caveman, not because he has any Neanderthal like features (although, he does grunt a lot) but because he has never used moisturizer! “HUH?????? WHAT DO YOU MEAN???!!” I shrieked! I was shocked when I heard that at 26, I am 36 now and still shocked. He has repeatedly shocked me since then by announcing that he has always washed his face with just a bar soap. He also has better skin than 75% of the planet, I am still mad at how amazing his skin is, LIFE IS UNFAIR!!! *sob* I dont know why my skin is so terrible when I never once drink water and regularly consume salty chips!?!!
And as it turned out, spending a night in the cave was one of the best decisions we made! Vietnam’s Phong Nha National Park is home to some of the most spectacular caves on earth, and I do not say this lightly – they are JAW-DROPPING, EYE-POPPING, HEART-STOPPING (you get the point) GORGEOUS!! I guess that didn’t need to all be in caps but the excitement consumed me! It isn’t the easiest place to get to, but nothing good comes easy (except this blog)! It is also probably why it is still not as touristy as some of the other places in Vietnam but is gaining a lot of popularity!
Vietnam houses the largest cave in the world – Son Doong as well as the third largest cave, Hang En. The Son Doong cave expedition takes longer (about 5 days) and is more expensive( 3,000 USD per person). But it does include a visit to the Hang En cave, since you need to pass through the Hang En to get to Son Doong. The Son Doong isn’t fully explored till date, it is ginormous and several areas of the cave are yet to be explored.
Hang En on the other hand is a 2 day, 1 night expedition and costs around ~320 USD per head. We were able to accommodate it in our itinerary, so we decided to go to Hang En!
There are other caving expeditions in the National Park as well, some less strenuous than the others. We would definitely recommend adding it to your Vietnam Itinerary. It was the highlight of our trip and you will shortly see why (If I can write this blog fast enough)! While I’m only mildly less sedentary than a sloth, I’ll gladly take the chance to do a hike when exploring a place rich in natural beauty and stunning vistas and the sort.
Background
Hang En aka Swift Cave (also called the En Cave) is the third largest cave in the world. It has long been home to hundreds of thousands of swifts during their nesting season. It is located in the central area of Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park, the cave kingdom of Vietnam. At the time of writing this blog, Oxalis is the only tour company that runs tours to both Son Doong and Hang En.
It is a very well organised tour where you are accompanied by two english speaking tour guides and porters who carry 35-40 kg sacks on their backs (filled with food to feed everyone, tents, sleeping bags, and your belongings), they traverse the uneven path, climb over sharp rocks and steep hills, and have the campsites ready for you upon arrival. Despite their small size, their strength is remarkable, you can witness brain-numbingly awesome feats of human strength, balance, and agility, making you feel like a big old bag of useless fat and muscle in the process!
What to pack:
For the 2 Day trek, here is a list of what we packed:
• Easy to dry pants, 2 long sleeved shirts and a rain jacket for the hike
• Thick leggings and warm clothes to wear at the campsite
• Swimwear if you plan to get into the freezing cold water. (There are no showers in the campsite but you can swim in the lagoon)
• A towel and a pair of flip flops for the campsite
• Fresh clothes to change after the trek
• Good hiking shoes (Oxalis will also have some that you can borrow)
• 2 pairs of calf-length densely woven socks!
• Water, sunscreen, sunglasses, hat, mosquito repellent (You cannot escape their probey mouthparts.They will consume you. Attack/repel by all means necessary!), sanitizer (also helpful to get leeches off your leg and there are so manyyyy!!) and a power-bank to charge your phone!
• Waterproof bag covers (Oxalis has a few that you can borrow)
How to get here:
We took a train from Danang to Dong Hoi. The train takes about 6 hours but offers the most spectacular views of the countryside as it passes through Hai Van pass. And we would highly recommend this over the bus route which does not take as long but isn’t nearly as scenic!
The train schedule is available on the Vietnam Railway website, alternatively you can also book your train tickets online in advance. There are also local flights that you can fly into Dong Hoi airport. From Dong Hoi, you can take a bus or a taxi to Phong Nha! We were ushered into a yellow taxi that whisked us away to Phong Nha. If taking a Taxi remember to bargain and agree upon a fixed price before you sit in.
Where to Stay:
Arriving late in Phong Nha, we opted for a budget stay since we only needed a place to crash before our early morning Oxalis tour. Phong Nha Coco Riverside turned out to be a gem, offering stunning river views. The rooms were spotless and comfortable, and breakfast, though a small pre-order menu, was delicious and had an authentic local touch. Plus, enjoying breakfast while staring at a river and mountains? Way better than my usual view of smoothie bowls at home. They also have great coffee! I am not a big coffee person but I’m fond of Vietnamese coffee for its generous use of condensed milk. It’s a wonder why condensed milk isn’t offered as a standard coffee additive, like creamer and sugar. Sweetened condensed milk is the nectar of the gods… also known as sugar or “the stuff Mrinali likes a lot”. The sweetness was just right for my taste buds…which means you might want it toned down. If you want to be a WUSS ( Or not get diabetes)
Fitness:
You need to have the physical fitness of an average active person (which means way higher than me!). You will need to cross some really rocky terrain, go up and down hills (sometimes in the rain and it can get a quite slippery), crossing about 20-25 rivers on foot, and trek approximately ~11 kms through the jungle each way.
But to my surprise and to everyone else’s as well, I was able to complete the “hike of a million wheezes” (with a lot of help of course). I don’t recall crying or whining as sweat and exhaustion clouded my vision, mostly because talking would’ve required more energy than I could spare. Am I really that out of shape? Oh…yes, yes I am. Could’ve been worse though. I could’ve gone into asthmatic shock, passed out or rolled down the muddy hill (or one then the other). Honestly, there is nothing less graceful than me hiking! My hiking form can be best described as “slow drunk woman being chased by no-one!”.
To improve your physical fitness I suggest you start going for walks or runs in the dead of the night like I do! The added fear of getting murdered really does wonders for my cardio! Also note that you need to be over 16 years of age to even go on this hike! But it is an absolute must do in Vietnam, this cave expedition will go down as one the most favourite experiences of my life!
Day 1:
We arrived at Oxalis tours around 8 AM and were given a safety briefing and instructions. We picked up hiking boots provided by Oxalis which we highly recommended you use!! You will be walking through deep mud and rivers, and probably don’t want to ruin your shoes. The combat boots they provide are great! And please oh please, don’t show up in flip-flops for the hike! (You would be surprised at how many times we have seen people hiking in flip flops in Australia!). Also why do Australians call flip-flops ‘thongs’!!!??!!! Like WTH do they call thongs? Also why do Aussies pronounce “no” as “naeouughhhhuee”! [This should probably have its own separate blog post!] Dont get me wrong, I absolutely love the Australian accent, I just wish it came with subtitles! 🙂
After grabbing our shoes, we packed up our overnight essentials, handed them over to the porters (bless their strong backs), and we were left with just a tiny bag of trek necessities. You can even borrow some waterproof bag covers from oxalis which will be very useful when it rains. It rains a buttload in the forest, so we had a future of lots of cold rain ahead of us! Weather so lovely that you wont be able to decide whether to drink hot tea from ur thermos or just hang yourself!
Next, you’ll hop on a bus ride that’s about one hour long—just enough time to question your life choices while staring at the Vietnamese countryside. The trail begins with a cheerful descent down a slope so muddy, I was impersonating a penguin on roller skates while simultaneously discovering new muscles in my legs that were screaming, ‘WHY DIDN’T YOU JUST GO TO THE BEACH INSTEAD?!’ . Our guide also informed us that the trail was formed by the villagers who lived inside the national park. This was their route to get to the main road that would take them to the town center!! I was in awe but also kind of ashamed of myself! My fitness level right now? It took me two attempts JUST TO STAND UP!! Every person we encountered just seemed so effortlessly fit! They were casually carrying heavy backpacks and crossing rivers like it was no big deal.
The journey took us through dense jungle, multiple river crossings—some shallow, others more challenging—and stunning panoramic views of the surrounding hills as we made our way through the valley. Trying to put the beauty of this landscape into words wouldn’t do it justice. Any description would fail to capture its true essence, maybe you can get a feel from these pictures! [violently shoves photos in your face!]
After nearly an hour of slogging through the mud, we finally hit our first river crossing. We formed a human chain, linking our arms to navigate the strong currents, with the guides leading the way and the porters following behind, ensuring that no one was at risk of being swept away by the currents. As probably the only person in the group who couldn’t swim, I wasn’t too afraid of the river—It’s just water, how bad can it be? * Gets swept away instantly*….just kidding hehehe (My blood pressure spiking with each nervous “heh”)….but if I do die in a dumb way, please lie and make up something heroic at my funeral!
By midday, we arrived at Ban Doong, a small village tucked deep within the jungle. Home to just around 40 residents, it’s incredible to imagine people living in such a secluded and untouched environment. Meanwhile, the porters travelled ahead of the group and prepared a delicious meal, catering to all dietary needs. The vegetarian options were so amazing (Because there’s no reason vegetarians should be denied the privilege of stuffing themselves with excessively caloric foods!!)
It’s the perfect opportunity to take a well-deserved break and enjoy lunch for about an hour. All the dishes we had there would sit in my “WANT AGAIN FOREVER PLEASE” category.
If you feel an unexpected hug around your ankle, don’t be flattered—it’s probably just a leech! We also did frequent ‘leech checks,’ which is just a fancy way of saying we frantically slapped our legs screaming ‘SOMEBODY SHOOT IT!’. Turns out you don’t have to shoot yourself, decapitate your legs or use a flamethrower! [YAYY!!!] A little spritz of hand sanitiser on these f*ckers, and they practically fall off! And while I have no scientific proof of this, I was pretty sure these leeches targeted us over locals because we were a big ol’ fleshbag of new, delicious foreign blood. It’s like when there’s a new Pocky flavour and you think, “I GOTS TA HAVE IT!!!!! IT’S NEEEEWWWWWW, wait I don’t think I like pickled banana mustard, but ITS NEW!!.”
Next, we continued the hike to Hang En Cave. After lunch, we encounter multiple river crossings, with water reaching up to your waist in some areas. We reached the entrance at around 4PM, before heading inside, we were given a helmet and headlamp for safety. As we stepped into this enormous cave, we had to navigate yet another rushing river, but this time in complete darkness! I managed to not kill myself, which was nice, although I couldnt help but wonder if there were snakes in the cave especially in the water we were wading through. I don’t particularly like snakes (especially the ones that disguise themselves as people!). The guide added to my fear further, he informed us that Hang En actually translates to mean “Swallow Cave” since the swift birds lay eggs in the cave, which attracts rodents as they are on a hunt to eat the eggs, which in turn attracts the snakes! Maybe other people were as scared as I was but they hid it well. Well my brain kinda works differently, it goes something like this….
BRAIN: hey whachya doin!?
ME: nothing just walking
BRAIN: would you like to think about all the ways you could die right now?
ME: whaaat no!!
BRAIN: here we go…
ME: AAAAARRRRGHHHHHHBLUHHHHGHRHR
And that is probably when the frantic yelling commenced. We went spelunking and climbing up and down steep rocks and boulders to get on a raft that would take us over a lake (inside the 3 million year old cave) whose depth has still not been measured but the guide assured us, it was very very deep. But once you scramble over the final boulder, you’re hit with a jaw-dropping sight—a gigantic cave complete with a glowing blue lagoon, white sand and tiny little tents all pre-setup for us.
Only after we reached the campground and claimed our tent, did I realise I might have overreacted in every way possible (aside from the initial bout of semi-intelligible yelling; that’s just human instinct!).
We were welcomed with hot ginger tea and snacks, which felt sooooo great especially since we were all soaking wet and cold. We had some time to get changed, refreshed and some people even went for a dip in the lake! And by some people I mean Rajesh! It was getting dark, and the water was freezing—I figured he’d last maybe 10 minutes. Yeah sure..…he lives in the lake now!! [heh! Just kidding….he had to get out else I would be married to a human raisin]. There are also pop-up toilets in the campsite (no showers) and they do have a pop-up sauna in a tent that is heated by gas which was pretty DOPEEEEE!
The porters worked their magic in the kitchen (well, cave kitchen). Somehow, despite being deep inside a cave, they managed to whip up a meal that tasted like it came from a five-star restaurant—seriously, it was impressive and probably the best vegetarian food I have had in the country! (Of course they have non-vegetarian options too) The sheer variety of dishes just blew my mind! And it completely melted my brain, replacing it with rainbows shooting out of fluffy, smiling clouds getting tickled by glittery golden rays of sunlight
They even set up a proper dining table with string lights, because who says cave life can’t be cozy? After dinner, the rice wine made an appearance (imagine saké, but way stronger), and you can spend the evening swapping stories, and questioning all your life choices that led to drinking mystery rice liquor in a cave, the guides even barbecued some potatoes in the fire directly, the potatoes tasted really good…for reasons…I cannot explain. And by that, I mean I forgot. All I know is that in the moment, they were freakin’ awesome!
The guides also told us to hang any food items we had brought with us to a high pole, so the scurrying rats wouldn’t get into our tents because of the smell. Excellent! Now I had another thing I needed to drive myself crazy worrying about. I knew I should have brought some extra peanuts to sprinkle around other people’s tents. Heh! I don’t mean to brag but as soon as I hit the bed, I am on another planet (Gone in 60 seconds could actually be a movie about me falling asleep!).
Day 2:
We were up bright and early around 7 AM, greeted with fresh ginger tea, cookies, and a front-row seat to some very acrobatic monkeys swinging through the trees near the cave entrance. Honestly, they put on such a show, it was quite a sight! Then we were spoilt with the fantastic spread called breakfast. There were eggs, fruits, pancakes, french toast and so many other awesome things you can think of! You want salty? Do you want sweet? Do you want cheesy? Do you want bready? Do you want cholesterol? Diabetes? DO YOU WANT TO HAVE IT ALL? YOU CAN HAVE IT ALL!!! BECAUSE FREEDOM!!!
Once we had fueled up, it was time to gear up with helmets and headlamps again for a deeper cave exploration. We started with a steep climb over the rocks on the far side of the campground, leading to the iconic viewpoint made famous by National Geographic!! And ofcourse we took millions of pictures!! I was completely in awe—I couldn’t believe the world could be this breathtaking, and somehow, I was lucky enough to witness it with my own eyes.
We ventured deeper into the cave, stumbling upon ancient fossils and many stunning rock formations along the way. Sometimes you’ll hear the flutter of bats overhead, pass by towering stalagmites and hanging stalactites, and as your headlamp cuts through the darkness ahead, you can only wonder how much deeper the cave goes on.
Eventually, we reached a different entrance to Hang En Cave, one that’s also featured on the Son Doong tour. What was crazy was we saw two waterfalls inside the cave! The sheer scale of these cave entrances is beyond massive. No matter how many times I try to put it into words, it’s something you have to witness firsthand to truly understand just how small you feel standing beneath them. It was truly magical!!
Leaving Hang En Cave was a whole different challenge compared to getting in. Instead of an easy downhill stroll, you’re battling upstream river crossings and a steep final incline. It’s a tough climb, especially in the marsh full of nasty leeches! Once we finally made it back to the top where we started, the staff cheered us on with ice-cold beers. Then, we hopped on the bus to the Oxalis office in Phong Nha, where we cleaned up in their showers and bathrooms, exchanged contacts with our new camp friends and said our goodbyes! 🙁
Here are some pictures with mostly unhelpful captions!
I was very skeptical at first because I hate camping and I hate people who love camping and think that camping is soooooo fun before they proceed to tell you a story about how they had to wrestle a raccoon at 3 AM. This camping experience was unlike any other and will probably go down in my top 3 favourite experiences of my life!!! Also the camp pop-up toilets were really clean to my surprise! We highly recommend anybody who is fit to add this hike to your Vietnam itinerary! Seriously, do it—you’ll thank me later (after your legs forgive you). I’m already counting down the days until I can come back and tackle Son Doong!
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