Week 84: Ba Be National Park: boatride to Puong Cave

November 2, 2016

We planned a restday to see the National Park and Mr. Linh's is a comfortable place for that. They also offer tours into the park; we are not interested in hiking up and down slippery jungle trails, but the half day tour on the lake sounds good. A Dutch couple joins us on our tour which brings the price down also.

The "harbor" is about a kilometer and a half from the guesthouse. We all hop onto mountain bikes and escorted to Mr. Linh's tourist office where we leave the bikes. Then we are introduced to the "boat driver" and he walks us to the harbor and onto one of the many steel long boats. He's not very talkative.

The boat has a very noisy diesel engine. First we cross the lake, then up a long narrow arm until we get to the river that flows out. Almost immediately there is a confluence with another river which we start to follow upstream. The karst mountains around us are impressive, they rise almost vertical with trees and plants clinging to its sides. Normally with mountains this steep you would expect narrow and steeply rising valleys, but in this karst landscape the valleys are still narrow but also fairly flat.

The Nang River we now follow flows very gradual with narrow fields between it and the karst mountain sides. There are small villages and quite a bit of boat traffic. After about 5 km the river turns and abruptly disappears into a mountainside. There is a huge cave clear through the mountain through which the river flows. We get off the boat and walk through the cave to see stalactites hanging from the ceiling. Thousands of bats squeak and circle overhead. The cave tunnel is 300 meters long and 30 meters high according to the internet, but in the middle of the tunnel it seems like there is an even higher shaft going up into the center of the mountain. A very unique place.

On the way back we stop to see a small lake up in the hills that is called Fairy Lake, and a little later hike up another hill to see a small temple. At about noon we return to our guesthouse just in time for lunch of spring rolls and fried rice noodles. The afternoon is spent with watching the lake, reading, a little bike maintenance and the internet until another fantastic dinner.

Tomorrow back on the road. There have been quite a few backpackers on mopeds staying here, some of them have been further north and all of them say the scenery was amazing. We cannot wait to get there.

A long boat with a very noisy engine takes us across the lake and upriver to see Ba Be National Park.

The lake has several arms that stretch in between impressive karst mountains. At one end where a river drains the lake, another river joins it. We follow this river to where it flows through the Puong Cave.

Sheer karst cliffs along the Nang River.

The Nang River flows through the Puong Cave.

The Puong cave is 300 meters long and 30 meters high. And a river flows through it.

Inside the Puong Cave. The sound of the river and thousands of squeaking bats overhead.

The other side of the cave. Villagers are filling a long boat with sand from the river.

On the long boat in Ba Be National Park.

We take a short hike to see a small green lake up in a karst mountain. Along the trail are these ladies selling food stuff, beer and souvenirs.

There is a temple on one of the islands in Ba Be Lake. We stop for a visit.

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