Sobering Realities and Startling Beauty in Phong Nha

So, here we are, at the famous ‘Pub With Cold Beer,’ just outside of Son Trach, and one of the freshest meals of our lives is rapidly approaching. Normally, our mood regarding something we would call ‘one of the freshest meals of our lives’ would be jubilant and ecstatic, as both Rachel and I love to eat, but this time it was rather reserved and apprehensive. Why, if Al and (especially) Rachel are such foodies, would something that sounds that great be cause for concern under these circumstances?

Well, because I just saw the chicken that they were going to feed us have it’s jugular severed and its life-blood drained away in front of me, that’s why.

Upon arriving in Son Trach, the gateway to Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, we were excited to get off of the bikes for a couple of days. We had some fun stuff planned, including trips to the caves that the area is famous for, and a stopover at the infamous ‘Pub With Cold Beer.’ After our first night, sitting out on the terrace and enjoying a couple of Hudas (central Vietnam’s beer of choice, brewed in Hue) while overlooking the river, we decided that we would take our time here, appreciating the area without packing more in than we had to. We were glad that we did.

Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park is a beautiful protected park in the center of Vietnam, famous for it’s cave systems, limestone karsts, and untouched beauty. The cave systems, however, are what really put this place on the map, especially with the recent confirmation of the world’s largest cave, Hang Son Doong, which is so big you can fly a 747 through it, it has it’s own underground jungle, and has been surveyed to at least 9 kilometers long (5.6 miles). Sounds great, right? Probably like to visit it? Well, you better be ready to shell out $3000 and place your name on a substantial waiting list, son.

Needless to say, we didn’t get to go visit Hang Son Doong. We did, however, get to see some smaller caves, including Hang Toi (Dark Cave) and Hang Thien Duong (Paradise Cave), which were spectacular. Hang Toi is a six-kilometer-long (3.75 mile) cave system that has been heavily developed into a tourist attraction, with a zipline to the mouth of the cave, swimming, mud baths, and exploring inside the cave, and an obstacle course and kayaks outside. We know it sounds a bit ridiculous, but they have done a great job inside the cave of keeping it natural, as you can only visit the interior of the cave with a guide and even then, only for a short distance – plus, despite the rampant development, it’s still a hell of a lot of fun.

Post mud-bath smiles in the dark cave.

Swimming in the dark...cave.

We’re not sure why they called Hang Toi the Dark Cave, as all caves are dark by definition, but the reasons why Hang Thien Duong was called Paradise Cave was very self-evident. Entering Paradise Cave was like entering another world – the stalactites and stalagmites, rock formations, and still pools were unearthly, reminding one of science fiction more than anything that could be natural. We spent over an hour wandering through the caverns here, taking it all in.

Mind-blowing stalactites and rock formations...

Underground Eden in the Paradise Cave.

The mirror-like surfaces of the underground pools in the Paradise Cave.

Unfortunately, the magic at Paradise Cave was spoiled (as usual) by the busloads of tourists that started to show up after lunch, so we high-tailed out of there stat to find some more peace and quiet. We spent that afternoon taking it easy, and getting ready for our trip around the park and our pub crawl the next day.

Yay, caves!

The next morning, we hopped on our bikes for a quick road-trip around the Northern extents of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, and followed it up with a trip to the infamous ‘Pub With Cold Beer.’

Tired of riding motorcycles.

The ‘Pub With Cold Beer’ has become an institution in Son Trach, after a New York Times article and several mentions in Lonely Planet started talking about it’s fresh food, laid back owners, river tubing, and, yes, cold beer. We decided that we had to make our way out there and check it out for ourselves.

About six kilometers out of town (3.75 miles), we turned Michael J. Fox onto a dirt track, hand painted wooden signs telling us we had 1.5 kilometers (1 mile) to go for some Cold Beer. After a jarring and back-breaking 3 kilometer (2 mile) ride on what I can’t in good conscience call a road, we finally arrived to find an idyllic little bar, surrounded by hammocks and a beach volleyball court. We noticed a few people hanging out, and one of them had just sat down for their version of the ‘freshest meal of their life.’

The reason why the food is so famous here is that it defines farm-to-table. Everything that gets served here is grown and/or raised on premises, picked or plucked directly before your meal, and cooked directly in front of you. The most famous meal that they serve here is the chicken, peanut sauce and morning glory – you get the option of picking your very own chicken from the coop, then killing it, and help preparing it so you can eat it afterwards. Of course, Rachel and I being recently strictly vegetarian*, the whole killing thing was a bit over our heads.

Both Rachel and I are city kids. We’ve never hunted, we don’t raise livestock – I mean, hell, I’ve never even seen my dogs put down. We haven’t ever come face-to-face with death. We know that it happens, and we know where meat comes from, but we’ve never had to look our meal in the eye before we eat it. It’s a humbling experience. When they pulled the chicken out of the coop, and tried handing me the big knife that they use to (quickly, thankfully) end its life, I balked and couldn’t do it. Never have, never could, and I hate chickens. I can’t imagine how I’d feel if it was a cow or pig or, god forbid, a dog.

So, we felt a little queasy about the whole situation, but we tried our best to get over it with a tube down the river adjacent to the pub while our food was cooking. After getting caught up in some rapids and walking our way upstream back to the pub, we arrived back just in time for our meal.

Double-fisting to work up our courage!

I will say this – the food was fantastic. We were initially reserved about eating it having just met the little chook, but the chicken was cooked to perfection, the peanut gravy was rich and delicious, and the morning glory was buttery and fresh. I don’t necessarily want to say that the little hen died for a good cause, but it was helpful to know that her whole life was spent running around the place with wild abandon, chickening to the best of her ability, before a quick and painless end. Even if we couldn’t do the deed ourselves, we gained a new perspective on what it means to eat meat, an appreciation for the old way of farming – free range and semi-wild – and the meaning of true farm-to-table meals.

With full bellies, we hopped back on Michael J. Fox for the bumpy ride back to town. We decided to take the scenic route by the river on our way back, and stopped in at the Bomb Crater Bar for a drink and the sunset.

Some stunning color over the river at the Bomb Crater Bar.

The Bomb Crater Bar is called that because, you guessed it, it’s surrounded by bomb craters. The bombs that were dropped by the US Air Force exploded and created depressions of different sizes all throughout Vietnam (and are easily visible everywhere if you know what you’re looking for), but we were told by the proprietor of the bar that UXO (unexploded ordinance) is still a huge problem, especially in Central Vietnam. More than 40,000 people have been killed in Vietnam since 1975 from the leftover bombs, bullets, and shells that people have accidentally run into, mostly while farming, and it’s most prevalent in the provinces that we were currently in and would be travelling through soon. Luckily, the only injuries we saw at the Bomb Crater Bar was two drunken backpackers hitting each-other on their motorbikes, but it was a sobering thought nonetheless.

However, even those thoughts couldn’t diminish the beautiful sunset we saw over the river, and with that final image of Phong Nha burned into our retinas, we went back to the hotel to prepare for our next stint on the road. This time, we were heading down to Khe Sanh, the location of one of the bloodiest battles of the American war, and we were hoping and praying we wouldn’t run into any UXO on the way.

One of the best sunsets we saw in all of Vietnam.

* Aside: During our time in Vietnam, we found it extremely difficult to find any food that was strictly vegetarian, whether we asked for it or not. If you asked for pho with only veggies, it would still be cooked in beef broth, and if you asked for a vegetarian meal the Vietnamese would assume that meant that chicken was OK. Though we liked our lifestyles and diet back home, we knew we'd have to make some sacrifices in both while we were travelling; as food is such an important part of the cultures that we were going to be visiting, and immersing ourselves as much as possible in the local way of life was paramount to us, unfortunately the 'strictly vegetarian' diet had to be relaxed to 'vegetarian when possible.' We'll go into more depth on this in a later post. 

JUST ONE MORE PHOTO OF THIS MAGICAL SUNSET.