The last segment of our trip started in Phong Nha - Ke Bang, a small village situated on the Son River, a tributary of the Gianh River. The upstream segment of Son River flows underground beneath limestone mountains of the middle Annamite Range (Trường Sơn in Vietnamese) inside Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park. It is a region containing the world's largest cave, based on volume (Hang Son Doong). There are over 65 miles of caves and underground rivers in this preserve, making it one of the most extensive limestone karst ecosystems in the world. While the caves are the biggest attraction, our plan was to search for birds and butterflies within the National Park. Right now, there is no substantial trail system into the jungle, so we were limited to trails within the Phong Nha Botanic Garden and touring the countryside by motorbike. The Vietnam Coracle provides five different mapped routes for exploring the area by motorbike.
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| Phong Nha and the Son River |
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| Son River with boats ready for cave exploration |
The pace on the motorbikes is a bit too fast to see much in the way of butterflies and birds, and there are few places to actually get into the forest and enjoy it at a slow pace. In addition, we had some overcast skies with off-and-on rain which kept all of the critters hidden.
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| Motorbiking |
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| Exploring the countryside |
The Phong Nha Botanic Garden had some nice trails, although they were not extensive. Exploration and developed access to this preserve is fairly recent. The park is named for the Phong Nha caves and the Ke Bang forest. The Vietnamese government designated the 211,000 square mile area a nature preserve in 1986, and it was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. The entrance to the Hang Son Doong cave (world’s largest by volume) was only discovered in 1991 by a local man searching for timber. He mentioned the discovery years later to some members of the British Cave Research Association who funded an attempt to rediscover the entrance. They managed to find it again in 2008 and conducted a survey in 2009. There is a 2022 documentary called A Crack in the Mountain about its discovery and impacts to the local people. The volume of the cave was calculated to be 1,360,000,000 cubic feet with a length over 5.6 miles. A Boeing 747 could fly through without its wings touching the sides. It was determined in 2019 that it is connected with a nearby cave, Hang Thung, further increasing its size. There are reportedly 36 endangered plant species that inhabit the forests as well as 23 endangered fauna. Over 92 percent of the park is intact primary forest with trees dating at 500 to 600 years old.
Key sections of the Ho Chi Minh Trail (the communists called it Trường Sơn Strategic Supply Route) were located near Phong Nha. The Ho Chi Minh Trail was the supply line that kept communist forces equipped with personnel, weapons and food during the American-Vietnamese war. It consisted of thousands of miles of tracks rather than a single road and looped from North Vietnam into Laos and Cambodia, then back into South Vietnam. It ultimately contributed to the victory of North Vietnamese forces. There are many monuments in the Phong Nha area dedicated to that effort. There was an informational board at the botanical gardens concerning the war effort in the Trường Sơn area.
Access to the gardens is well maintained, and there are several waterfalls and swimming holes to enjoy in better weather.
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| Dense jungle on both sides of the trail |
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| Buttress roots in Phong Nha National Park |
While Jeff watched birds the visitor center, I ventured out onto some of the trails in the hope to find some butterflies. I was caught in quite a downpour and took cover in a gazebo.
Despite the lack of butterflies, there were gorgeous streams, fungi, plants, monkeys, lizards, and other insects. I did find a few butterflies as well. I uploaded other sightings at iNaturalist.
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| Trails in the Phong Nha Botanic Garden |
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| Genus Mycalesis? I'm open to suggestions |
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| Lemon Pansy (Junonia lemonias) at the hotel, of course! |
We explored this area, mainly by motorbike, for a couple of days before we headed to Dong Hoi, another city that was heavily bombed during the war due to its location near the 17th parallel and the DMZ, the dividing line between North and South Vietnam. According to internet sources, American B-52s obliterated the city on February 11, 1965, razing it to the ground. Only a water tower, the Quang Binh Gate, Tam Toa Catholic Church and a single palm tree remained standing. It is now a very pleasant town and is generally considered the gateway to the Phong Nha park. The next morning we boarded a train in Dong Hoi to Ninh Binh and Tam Coc, two hours south of Hanoi and the gateway to Cuc Phong National Park.
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| View from the hotel in Dong Hoi |
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| Train to Ninh Binh |
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| Vendor at the train station |
We arrived at our hotel which was just within biking distance of the town of Tam Coc. The town itself was quite busy with tourists. There were some lovely views from within the town itself, and our hotel was surrounded by rice fields and limestone outcrops. The following day we would travel to Cuc Phong National Park to try again at some birds and butterflies.
We had originally planned to travel to Cuc Phong park by motorbike, but the ride was a one-hour, one-way drive (by car) and we were wanting to be finished with the motorbikes. So, we hired a taxi instead. The driver dropped us off at the park headquarters. In contrast with Phong Nha the park, Cuc Phong had a good network of trails, and they were deceptively short on the map! We started on the "small" loop out of the park center and it took us most of the day. There aren't many good maps online, so here's our park brochure.
The forest was absolutely amazing, primary forest with enormous trees and dense jungle. The trees were so impressive, it's difficult to capture their massive size in photographs.
Cuc Phong National Park was established in 1962 by Ho Chi Minh and is the oldest national park in Vietnam. There are reportedly 307 bird species, 133 species of mammals, 122 species of reptiles and over 2000 plant species. The wildlife is elusive, however, and the weather may or may not cooperate. We unfortunately visited during a period of cloudy, rainy weather and had to be content with enjoying the scenery. A good description of the park is provided
in English here. We did see a few unusual bird and insect species and got to have a look at the many leeches present throughout the park, although they're not bad if you wear long pants, socks and good shoes. We didn't have problems. Here are photos of a few other critters with a few IDs from iNaturalist, but it was generally "slim pickings:"
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| Gastropod |
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| Podontia dalmani (member of the flea beetles) |
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| Genus Neope? |
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| Faunis eumeus? (Large Faun) |
We wrapped up the trip by taking a van from Ninh Binh to Hanoi where we spent a couple of days exploring the Old Quarter, Temple of Literature, and National Museum of Vietnamese History. The Old Quarter was sensory overload and is the heart of Hanoi. The streets are narrow, chaotic, congested, and difficult to cross. During the 13th century, thirty-six guilds were established in that section, each occupying a different street (today there are more than 50 streets). There are streets for silk, wooden bowls, baskets, leather, copper, charcoal, bamboo, etc.
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| Congested streets |
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| Lamps for sale |
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| Metal working |
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| Wire |
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| Produce |
On the northeast side of the Old Quarter is the
Old East Gate (Cua O Quan Chuong), built in 1749 during the reign of King Le Hien Tong (1717 - 1786). It is the only surviving gate of the Imperial
Citadel of Thang Long. When Chinese control ended in the 10th century, the Thang Long citadel was built in the same place; however, not much remains of the original citadel, and the east gate was added at a later time.
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| Old East Gate |
We also visited Hanoi's
Temple of Literature, founded in 1070 by Emperor Ly Thanh Tong and located west of the Old Quarter. Vietnam's first university was founded here in 1076. While the university was initially only available to those of noble birth more gifted students from all parts of the country were admitted by 1442. It was a very high honor to attend. Being the weekend, the grounds were extremely crowded while we were visiting. The grounds are divided into five courtyards. Two of the courtyards were places where scholars would relax. The third courtyard contains the
Stelae of Doctors, a series of turtle stelae containing names and birthplaces of 1307 graduates successful at the
Royal Exams.
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| Stelae of Doctors |
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| Stelae of Doctors at the Temple of Literature |
The fourth courtyard contains various altars to Confucius and his disciples with the House of Ceremonies in the center and an additional building where Confucius and his four closest disciples are worshipped.
The fifth courtyard was added in 1076 by Emperor Ly Nhan Tong and contained the grounds of the imperial academy. There are two floors. The first contains a statue of Chu Van An, a teacher and the first rector of the Imperial Academy. The second floor was where people worshipped the three kings contributing most to the foundation of the temple and the academy.
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| Altar to Chu Van An |
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| Second floor altars for (two of) three emperors who built the Temple of Literature and contributed to the cause of Confucian education: Ly Thanh Tong, Ly Nhan Tong and Le Thanh Tong |
We intended to see the National Museum of Vietnamese History but ended up at the Vietnam Museum of Revolution! So, we missed the museum dealing with ancient Vietnam. We were pretty exhausted at this point, were having trouble walking, and our flight home was tomorrow, so it's not surprising we got the wrong place. The museum we toured was established in 1959 and walks the visitor through the Revolutionary Period, with exhibits related to the struggle for independence from the French and the story of the Communist party. It was interesting, although the exhibits could use an update. It gives the visitor a greater understanding of the long struggle for freedom from French, and Japanese occupiers as well as the American invasion from the Vietnamese perspective. Overall, it was a great trip and fascinating country to visit. Loved it.
