Hello my dear friends on Hive,
How are you doing? I hope you're doing well. I haven't done any caving in a long time, and I just returned from a two-day, one-night expedition in the jungle last week. It was an incredible trip for which I had to wait two years.
Because I was so eager to visit the caves, I tried to get up early the next morning, double-check the manifest, and then have breakfast at a small restaurant in picturesque Phong Nha village.
At 7:30 a.m., I called Mr. Phuong, our professional driver, to pick me up from the Oxalis office, and then we drove to the Chay Lap Farmstay to pick up our visitors and begin the journey. It takes more than an hour to drive from the Farmstay to the Tan Hoa office, where we had a trip brifing. I spent approximately half an hour introducing our team members and providing some basic information about the location. I had a total of 9 visitors from Ho Chi Minh City. They're a lot of fun and have a lot of energy, and they're really looking forward to the trip.
We arrived at the Tu Lan office about 9:45 a.m., and my wonderful guests had 15 minutes to use the restroom. I then began the safety briefing to ensure that everyone understood what was expected of them as well as certain safety rules. We gathered our bags and returned to the van to continue our journey to the trekking site along the concrete road. We were joined by two more friendly safety assistants, one chef, and two more porters. Lai and Tai were our safety assistants, and they were in charge of the guests' safety throughout the tour.
We took it easy on the first day of the trip. It took us about 2 hours to walk from the starting point to the first cave; the terrain was a little muddy due to the rain the night before, but it was still enjoyable. We spotted numerous huge trees on the way up to the walk, indicating that this region is well-protected. On the walk up to the cave, which the locals call Bat Cave since so many bats live within and residents used to gather enormous quantities of ancient bat/swift guano as fertilizer.
We had our lunch in the cave's beautiful and welcoming entrance. Fried spring rolls, which were one of my favorite foods, were served with fresh spring rolls, breads, laughing cow cheeses, bananas, fried eggs, and plenty of bisquits. We captured some incredible photographs in the cave after an hour for lunch and a nap. Tai assisted me in putting together scale models for the picture so that I could realize how spectacular the cave is.
We returned to the jungle's T-junction and turned left to reach our beautiful campsite. We arrived at the camp at 4 p.m., and I showed them around the tents, changing room tent, and toilet... After a long day of trekking, we changed into bathing clothes and went to a beautiful swimming pool to swim. This pool was unquestionably one of our trip's highlights. We swam for an hour here before returning to the tent to enjoy the Oxalis jungle steambath. With the scents of herbs like lemongrass and ginger, it was a wonderful experience. It is thought to be one of the most effective ways to treat and prevent Covid-19. For me it was also made me feel much better after along day trek and swimming in the cool water.
Mr. Hien, our friendly cook, inquired as to when we wanted to eat. We eventually agreed to eat dinner by 6 p.m. because we were all starving. The food was delicious. Oxalis also brought us some "happy water," a local rice wine. Yes, this is true because the more rice wine you drink, the happier you become.
After a delicious meal, I had approximately 5 minutes to discuss the itinerary for the next day of the tour. After that, we built a campfire where we told some local stories, played games, and finished the last of the happy water. At 10 p.m., we went to the tent to sleep. It's likely that everyone had a great time on the first day of the trip. I was so excited for the second day.
To be continued...
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