6/5/25
It was a beautiful morning in the jungle. Jonathan woke up early to take some photos. He chatted with a Vietnamese guy called Dei. The tour company had sent Dei to England to learn more caving skills. He’d been to Ingleton in the Yorkshire Dales. Jonathan has been there to go running. It’s famous for potholing due to its extensive limestone caves. Dei had also been to Scotland. The first time he’d seen snow. He had a video of him eating it.
Breakfast was rice pancakes with bananas and a bowl of vermicelli noodles with tofu. We left the campsite without our PVC bag and went towards the cave above the waterfall next to the campsite. The rocks were a little slippy. The gaping opening housed a large pool of water. Entering the water fully clothed was odd. We swam 200m upstream, the ceiling of the cave revealed the complex combination of rocks. When we climbed out it was time for an ‘instagram’ photoshoot next to largest column in the Tu Lan system. Then we went on a higher pass to view the cave formations. It was fun to climb through the cave. Then we had another photoshoot.
We returned the way we came. But to leave the cave we climbed through a narrow passage. Treading on the protruding stratified layers. We were a little surprised we were allowed to do it. Back at the campsite we ate lunch. We only got peanuts. Literally. No tofu or other dish in sight. We looked irritatingly at the omnivores who not only had peanuts but also meat dishes too.
Afterwards we went to Tu Lan cave. Still without our packs. We swam down the river to get there. They used to think it was the last cave in the system but Tien cave is the same river and the convention is to name the system after the last cave. Hu took great delight in telling us that Tu Lan translates as “licking two boobs”, on account of the shape of the hills visible from the entrance where the tongue, the river, emerges.
It wasn’t far to swim inside the cave. We saw a few fish jumping out of the water. We then climbed over an otherworldly looking graveyard of collapsed formations before going through a narrow passage which led through a series of small ‘rooms’ into a large cavern. We took yet another special photo. There were some beautiful gour formations. They looked like tiered rice paddies.
We exited at the back of the cave and then walked through the jungle for 20 minutes. It was the best bit of jungle so far. It felt a lot more isolated. We saw a beautiful snail. We couldn’t help but feel there should be more wildlife, but alas there wasn’t.
Our PVC bags magically appeared again and we entered Kim cave at a dry entrance. The story goes that a client ran away from the camp in 2010 and found the cave. There were several long sections of swimming. The insects ferociously chased our lights. It was also horribly humid. This was the worst part so far. The desolate subterranean environment was interesting though.
We exited a stones throw from the next campsite. On the sandy bank nearby we found some incredibly small baby toads. We had time to wash and swim before dinner. Underneath another waterfall exuding from a cave.
Dinner was as excellent as it was annoying. There were three bountiful plates of tofu in tomato sauce but they gave two of them to the meat eaters as well. Who also had plates of meat. Jonathan slyly relocated a plate of tofu but the porters noticed and took it back. We essentially had to beg for the omnivores scraps. We would have to give some constructive feedback. Wojtek, Anna’s partner, said at one point “I don’t like to eat meat with bone or fat”. We couldn’t help but wonder exactly what type of meat that is.
After dinner we saw some wildlife. Numerous toads and spiders. Then we played cards with Erin, Seb, Johanna, ‘Hung’ and Hữu. We played an exciting card game called Donkey. Frankie found it hard to pick up. It was frustrating for her as other people were quick to work it out. Especially the Vietnamese guys. We’d seen the porters playing cards. They would smash the cards down on the table excitedly. Hữu was a lighthearted guy who enjoyed the banter.
We played until after 10pm while snacking on sweet potatoes and nuts. Most people weren’t hungry so Jonathan ate the sweet potato. This time we went to sleep one fan running at a time. They only lasted a few hours each and it was more humid. It was a gorgeous place. We went to sleep listening to the sound of the jungle.
Surly They Won't Make It 