7/5/25
Jonathan woke up to go to the toilet in the middle of the night. He sat on the edge of the tent structure putting his sandals on when someone came walking past. It was Hữu. Jonathan waved and Hữu jumped out of his skin making a weird gibbering noise. Jonathan obviously found this hilarious.
Next time Jonathan woke up it was 5am again. He went to listen to the birds by the lake, leaving Frankie sleeping in. The Vietnamese couple also liked to get up early. They did some kind of active yoga activity. Jonathan had another chat with Dei. He had some incredible pictures from his explorations in the jungle. Some really unusual creatures.
Breakfast was piss poor. We were served instant noodles with a stingy 4 small pieces of tofu each. Deep fried brioche and honey. They barely understand the concept of no animal products. At least there was some guava. But no chilli salt.
We got ready and left at 8:30am. Climbing a steep rocky hill for 40 minutes. It was very fun. We were dripping with sweat when we were forced to take breaks. It was obvious they were only to let the Vietnamese couple catch up. We’d learnt that they were only here to get fit for a trip to Son Doong. They definitely didn’t meet the fitness requirements. They were nice people but it was a little bit annoying. ‘Hung’, the tour guide assistant was leading the trip. His English wasn’t great. He didn’t sweat but he got out of breath easily. He smoked. Just like Quan.
Song Oxalis cave had been discovered by porter chasing a bee. It sounded ridiculous. Without the path, climbing the steep slope would be hard enough. Let alone while looking for a bee. We left our bags outside. The cave had several tight passages. There were interesting cave formations and we explored it for a while, going through several rooms. The route was slippy and difficult for some of the group. There were a few ladders too. The formations were spectacular. The best being a little forest of tiny stalagmites inside gours.
It was a narrow path between guidelines that were desperately trying to preserve the cave: It felt a little futile. We were certainly having an impact on the caves development. Jonathan insisted we took the journey slowly. Knowing that we’d waiting a while for people to cross the many obstacles on our return. Not only that but another ‘photo opportunity’ arose.
When we came out of the cave we walked into a huge flurry of butterflies. The entire trip had been excellent for seeing them. There were so many varieties. We all went for a swim to cool down before lunch. It was equally poor. A few thinly sliced carrots and cassava noodles. Lacking in vegetable and protein.
Hữu made a big deal about just swimming straight through Ton cave. But when we’d booked there had been some hype about climbing a 15m ladder. We got the impression the ladder was too much hassle for them. But this was our once in a lifetime adventure. So we insisted we wanted to do it. Swimming through the caves lost its intrigue quickly and the higher passages were always more interesting because they lacked water washing everything away.
So we entered the cave and swam with everyone else at first but then we split to the right with Hung. Alicia and Baptiste had also decided to try the ladder, but once they saw it they decided to swim instead. Odd. We soon realised why the ladder was discouraged. It took ages to attack the harnesses. Get clipped in and climb up. But it was awesome. The cavern was huge. We were being hurried a lot but Jonathan ignored them and tried to get some nice pictures. When we reached the upper chamber we saw a tarantula living in a hole. Once Hung could see the others weren’t waiting for us he chilled out. He told us they’d discovered some very old skeletons at the bottom. The upper part of the cave had probably been inhabited in the past, maybe they’d fallen or been buried.
The walk back wasn’t interesting but just a simple and nice ending. A small hill and we got back to where we’d crossed the river to start the adventure. When we got to the office/hotel we unpacked. The giving of a tip gave us some angst. We didn’t enjoy the idea we were responsible for whether the team got a fair wage. Jonathan had tried to find out their pay but they refused to tell him. We decided that if it costs more then they should charge us more and we wouldn’t encourage tipping culture.
We were checked into our room. It was a nice conclusion to the trip to have it included. It was utter luxury. The nicest place we’d stayed in South East Asia so far. The whole hotel had been designed to be flood proof. The bamboo clad structures were on stilts above the flood plains. Floor to ceiling glass walls allowed you to see the beautiful karsts beyond the village. Even from the bathroom. The bed was unnecessarily large.
When we went for dinner at 6pm we were happy Anna also commented on the uneasiness of the disparity between us and the villagers. We had a different guide for the evening. Son took us on bicycles to a locals house. They had a large nice room but on either side the quality of the building reduced. They had one floating shack. It had empty barrels beneath it and was attached to metal poles so it could rise and fall with the water. They couldn’t put much in it because if it was too heavy it wouldn’t have sufficient buoyancy.
It was then some classic tour type stuff. We were given a little demonstration of how to prepare two traditional foods. A green salt and herb paste we’d been eating on the trip and also a corn and cassava ‘cake’ that required pounding. We ate a delicious meal. The best yet. Aubergine, tofu, peanuts. Broccoli and spinach. Best of all it was an equal quantity for vegans and omnivores. Sadly the locals didn’t actually eat with us. We could see them on the floor in another room. Then one of the porters came out. It was his family’s house. He was completely smashed. His eyes red.
We rode back to the hotel and sat around playing a long game of charades. Some people went to bed but we stayed up playing cards. We enjoyed the time together. It was a nice experience for us and very different to the last few months. We went to bed at half ten. Not long after Johanna knocked and invited us to see a snake they’d found in the dark. A shiny thin green beast, hanging in a tree pretending to be a branch no doubt.
Surly They Won't Make It 