My Actifit Report Card and ulog: Abandoned Valley Tour in Phong Nha, Vietnam

Today, our sleeper bus from Ninh Binh arrived at 04:00AM outside a random hostel in Phong Nha, yet the homestay that we would be staying at was 30 minutes walk away and our check-in wasn't until midday. Thus, we opted to pay $10 for a private room at this hostel for just under 2 hours of sleep as we decided to book a caving and trekking tour that would start at 08:00.
The caving and trekking tour was organised by Jungle Tours. Our guide came to pick us up at 07:45 and we proceeded to their office to change into more suitable gear - trekking boots, water bottles and towels where provided. We paid $75 each to do this tour called The Abandoned Valley Tour. The tour consists of a 12km trek through dense and diverse jungle terrain. It will lead us to visit two caves; one cave called Dark Cave where we would venture 700 meter into the Cave with helmets and the second cave is called E Cave. This cave would require us to swim into the Cave for 600 meters and then turn back. As you go further into this 5km Cave, the swim gets more difficult as the currents can change and the cave gets narrower. Inbetween the two caves, we were served a BBQ lunch of grilled pork and tofu, which we used to make fresh spring rolls.
The day was very eventful and we would recommend this tour and tour company to anyone coming to Phong Nha. We are glad we could get over 12,000 steps in, yet there were bits of the trek like in the caves where our phones were left behind.

The dense jungle ahead with the two porters carrying lunch and snacks

Most of the terrain and route was like this

DIY Fresh Spring Rolls

E Cave - would you swim in that and go 600 meters?

Success!

Deserved local beer at the end!

Daily Activity, Hiking, Walking