Vietnam Part III: Into the Jungle - Tun Lan Style!

The morning of the adventure finally arrived.  After hours of sweating whether it was right to travel to a new place, far from home, alone and then go into the jungle with strangers, it was absolutely the right thing to do. I boarded the bus and heard English, English I understood clearly.  I'm not anti-accented English, but it was psychologically reaffirming.  Turns out our trip would have two Canadians, four Germans and a couple from Singapore.  Our two guides were local Vietnamese and charming to the max.

We organized gear, passed it on to the porters, laced up our jungle boots and stepped off into the wild.

The pace was easy, the ground flat and the cows plentiful.  We passed tree farms, fields of crops and curious cows seemed to materialize out of the brush.  We were quickly upon our first cave, Rat Cave!

 

 

 

This spider may look like nothing until you realize it is about 8 inches across.  When one of the German gals asked how big spiders would be, the guide indicated they would be about the size of a quarter.  Well, they were the size of a quarter, their bodies were....  The fascinating thing is that their eyes were significant enough to actually catch and reflect light.  Creepy factor - 6.5 out of 10.

 

No one was eaten by a spider and fortunately our first cave was dry so we started the hard climb over 3 steep, jungle covered mountains: Locom Mountain, Langur Mountain and Mango Mountain.  This was challenging to say the least. Where it wasn't slick and muddy, the rocks were jagged and seemed to be near climb, rather than trek.  The highlight for me at this point was figuring out there would be all kinds of bugs and fungus that I had never seen.  No one was terribly upset by my need to take a photo break (insert breathing break).  All of this was under the canopy of sounds produced by monkeys, birds and other noises foreign to the ear. 

 

We stopped for a lovely lunch by a creek side.  We had Laughing Cow cheese, eggs, cucumbers, tomatoes, bread, oranges, oreos, and mysterious Vietnamese snacks. This is when the full briefings on the hazards of the jungle started to play out.  They have their own version of poison ivy, that looks nothing like the North American variety.  The trekking potions were annotated by calls of "Poison ivy on the left" and "It's slick up here" or "Rattan on your right."  You quickly figure out that off trail isn't really an option as the rattan sports spikes that not only cover the stem, but protrude over an inch.  We discussed jungle survival and concerns with cobras, bears, tigers and bugs that could cause heaps of trouble for the unaware trekker.  The best part is you just let it go.  You are there and statistically you have a good chance of outrunning the slowest member of your party. 

 

Poison ivy of southeast Asia. 

Our view at lunch.

Fungus among us!!!

You can see Christina and Steve disappearing through the jungle. 

So happy to see this kind of thing. 

 

My favorite fungus of the trip.  So cute, so strange.

Parasitic tree taking over another tree.

Safety briefing and breathing break from Thang (pronounced Tang with a hard T).

Big old probably poisonous caterpillar.

I'm not sure what these trees are called, but I really enjoyed them.

 

Our next stop was camp for the night.  The only way to describe it is akin to Eden.  You hear the waterfall before you get there.  Then you break into a clearing with the maw of Kim Cave releasing water in a torrent.  This feeds into a clear swimming hole before flowing on into the stream.  Camp is simple, but brilliantly constructed.  We are shown to our tents before casting off our hot trekking clothes and running into the water.  A quick dip was enough to restore us before a hearty dinner.  The vegetarian fare consisted of tofu, veggies, egg, rice and cabbage.  We were so full and so tired.  Tea around the campfire took the chill out of the night air.



 

Where all the cooking magic happened!

Boats for the time of year when the water is too cold to swim the caves.

 

The sign of peace popular with locals towards Americans.

Andi and Lisa.  Tired German adventurers that were good sports about it all.

Tsa (pronounced Sa) getting a good bath after taking care of guests all day!

 

View from camp.

Our tents.

Awesome civilized bathroom in the jungle.  The bags were full of rice husks which acted to absorb the odors of the waste.  My favorite part was the stick that was bearing the toilet paper.  It was actually pretty advanced for being in the middle of no where.

Dinner prep by the porters.

 

 

The first camp fire of the trip was perfect.  There was a little chill in the air.  The guides put some coconut candies on the tea kettle to soften them up.  The other guests went to bed and conversation with the guides turned more philosophical.  Thang drew in the sand to explain concepts and we talked careers, war and music.  It is pretty amazing that over 40 years after a terrible war, the next generation, from both sides, can sit around a campfire and watch bats dart about and ponder the questions that we all have in our late 20s, early 30s. 

 

The next morning we got life jackets on after a hearty breakfast.  We headed for Kim Cave and our first cave swim.  The water was cold to say the least, but this didn't detract from the cathedral like ceilings of the cave.  The sheer size and scale of the caves is so different from the ones I've seen in the states.  It's impossible to explain, but your headlamp won't even reach the depths of the furthest walls.  Occasionally you are fortunate enough to sweep across a glittering white calcium deposit or see the yellow of ochre that has seeped though ground water to create brilliant hues. 

 

A lesser spider traversing a tree at camp before we started our cave adventure.

Go team!

Sometimes you just have to jump in!

Adventurers at the ready.

We went from wet to dry and back.  Although the hot air and cold water caused a bit of condensation on the lens, it is a great illustration of the total darkness, water and little lights that guide the way.

Climbing up for a dryer view.

See the tiny speck of light.  Spider eyeballs reflecting light....

A close up of our non-friend, friend.

Swimming back towards the light.

 

Once we made it out to the light, it was time to jump off the waterfall.  I would suggest that should you find yourself in a position to do such a thing, do it.  It's highly unlikely you will die.  You will have the time of your life.  Don't ever tamp down those childlike inclinations. 

 





 

Tsa first!

Fully committed and free!!! This is what me living looks like.

Andi launches

Claire takes flight!

Go Pro leap!

Thang showing out!

Andi, Christina and Thang behind the waterfall.  The joy is apparent, no?

 

After we had exhausted ourselves with swimming, jumping, laughing and living, it was time for lunch.  We make our own rice paper wraps.  The trek to Tu Lan Cave, the cave that the entire system is named for, was next.  

 

Black butterfly stopping for a snack.

Still loving the fungus en route.

Floating my Spot Beacon in front of me.  This was a great tool to help the peeps at home know I was alive.

Heading into Tu Lan Cave.  This was a cave where we swam through.  There were a few dry passages.  Much like Kim Cave, the size of the cave was the fascinating part. 

Cave crickets.

Calcium ridges built up from water run off.

Someone has been snacking in there.  This looks like a small monkey skull. 

Cave pearls!

The coolest Canadians I know!  Steve and Christina.  You two made it even better than I could have imagined!

Our porter and Tsa acting foolish and charming.

So here's the thing, I'm intrigued by all sorts of plants and animals.  I love looking at them from a distance or up close, but crabs creep me out.  They are like giant, hard armored spiders.  Well, caves in Vietnam have spiders and crabs.  Intriguing, but disconcerting

 

As you can see, the remainder of the day was more of the same amazing landscape.  After Tu Lan Cave, we went to Ken cave.  It had a fairly difficult entry that required a bit of climbing.  We passed waterfalls, ferns, moss and rough boulders.  The cave was full of long, flat passages full of sand brought in by rivers.  Mind you, this is all with ceilings that are well over 50 - 100 feet.  Still not enough words to describe it, but it is divine in it's own wild way.

 

Our next camp was a welcome site after a day of trekking, caving, swimming, crawling and jumping off of waterfalls.  We again had a waterfall and a pool, but no interested parties after a cold wet day.  The night finished with another excellent meal, great campfire conversation with Christina and Steve and a serious sleep.  A small note, I got up about 1:15 to hit the WC (3 cheers for hydrating) and when I pulled the curtain back, I was greeted by the jungle cousin of the rat I had seen in Hanoi.  He was clean looking with grey silky fur and big blinking eyes full of concern.  It struck me as funny to have a second rat in the bathroom scenario in 72 hours.  The difference was that this one presented as super cute. 

 

Intriguing camp water filtering system.

Steve, Lindi and Christina.  Adventurers ready for a new day.

The team at the start of our last day.

 

The morning started with seeing the Canadian contingent skipping rocks with the porters.  Some things are simply universal.  Breakfast was a massive portion of fried rice and pancakes.  Trust me, this was amazing.  Han Tum was our first cave and had been quietly waiting for us since our arrival at camp the day before.  This proved to be my favorite cave.  Tired from the swims of the day before, the group votes for more climbing and scrambling and less swimming.  We crawled along the sides and did a little wading.  You could see the porters lights ahead and they marched through the cave and on to basecamp.  Thang went ahead and set up a brilliant rope system to help us traverse some of the more complex portions.  It was amazing.

 



Heading into the cave.

Crossing the boards - thank goodness for that rope!

Christina making her way with the skills of a jungle woman.

Steve coming across.

More cave pearls.

An awesome calcium carbonate formation.

This photo captures some of the scale of the cave.  This view is probably 200 feet to the far side.

Fossils in the cave.  The next coolest thing to fungus!

This spider moved at a critical moment and startled the beJesus out of Andi.  Sometimes you just have to actively flee.  Remember these are 8" - 10" across.

The 45' ladder we used to ascend up and out of the cave. 

Another great formation. 

 

We had one last cave on deck to explore.  Secret Cave would definitely win the prize for formations.  While short in depth and with lower ceilings, it was visually stunning.

 

This trek through flowers did not disappoint.

The entrance to Secret Cave.

Canadian photo bomb. 

Tsa is a great guide and a really interesting young man.  It was great to meet him and Thang. 

 

After a great last lunch full of mandarins, oreos, choco-pies, sesame wafers and ichi crackers, we began the trek back to base camp.  Warm showers were waiting and the sun finally graced us with her presence.  It was a spectacular finish to a great adventure.

 

The road home.

There is no filter or augmentation to the color of these mushrooms.  That is true, deep purple.  Incredible.

Oxalis flowers.

The locals bury their dead in fields. 

Monster water buffalo grazing.

Family helping a sick water buffalo up to its feet.

There was a flood in 2010 that killed numerous villagers and buffalo.  They have adapted their homes to float.  You can see the barrels under the homes.

We had a last lunch in a local home and had loads of dogs to greet us.

More graves in the pasture.

A view of the rice fields as we journey back to the village. 

 

 

Everything about this journey was more challenging that I had encountered before.  The logistics were new, the language was a complete mystery and I had no back up.  I wouldn't trade it for the world.  It made me a more hearty and confident traveler.  I'll never back down from an adventure because it looks hard.  The challenges are what made this journey great.  I'm thankful for new companions, new perspectives and for the freedom to roam, learn and grow. 

 

NEVER STOP EXPLORING