Hanoi - Day 4

The hotel was as simple as all the other places we stayed in. The rooms are all furnished with as little bling as possible. Different to European places they all have tiled floors, mostly white, and the inspection lights on the ceiling spread a cold, sterile hospital flair. The wooden furniture looks awkward, the tea pot like a theatrical gimmick, but it's those kind of things that made our stay more memorable. In the morning you wake up to the sound of traffic. Then the alarm. Another day.

For breakfast we had omelette with baguette. I'm very fond of the Vietnamese cuisine, but a nice omelette for a change sounded like a blessing to me. Too bad it was slightly salty. I mean, it was really salty. Alright, it was the saltiest piece of food anyone has ever served. But still, it was good enough. We sat down with an old lady in a black adidas track suit top. I knew Giwoun was wearing a similar jacket under his military disguise. She was in a good mood and we got an awesome shot with the two together.

Another thing you should know about Vietnam roads is that they are constantly in repair, which means that they're often less than safe. Holes in the pavement often don't let you enjoy the rural beauty passing by. Plus, all the construction causes air pollution like they didn't care. Right outside the city was the worst. We tried not to swallow any of the dirt, but it was inevitable. I remember, it was so dusty that within ten minutes my chewing gum turned into a dry piece of zwieback.

We reached Phong Nha by two in the afternoon. After lunch and a one-hour break we met back in the lobby. The Phong Nha Cave is the biggest one in Vietnam. Or the world, Lee wasn't sure. It is nearly eight kilometers long and contains fourteen kilometers of underground river. There are about fourty-five kilometers of discovered passage ways, but only the very beginning is accessible for tourists like us. The Ke Bang National Park is about five hundred kilometers south of Hanoi. That's how far we made it.

The cave is a stunning freak of nature. It's sort of intimidating, simply because it's so foreign, very real and gigantic. It was a great experience, it really was, but what's stuck in my head is the little things that happened before and after the tour. Lee was buying the tickets and kept disappearing, so Giwoun and I started walking about. We talked about this and that, checking out the premises. Man, afternoon times with Giwoun in Vietnam, that's the best comedy you'll ever experience.