Phong Nha Ke-Bang National Park.

With my arrival at the Phong Nha Farmstay some nine hours after I'd envisaged, another eagerly-anticiapated stop had been reached: the Phong Nha Ke-Bang National Park.

The national park, occupying three hundred and thirty-one square miles (eight hundred and fifty-seven square kilometres), adjoins the Lao border and is one of Vietnam's flagship attractions. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is home to numerous cave systems, karst mountains and lush, green jungle. The world's largest cave, Son Doong (not open to the public), is to be found here, though geologists believe that there bigger caves yet to be discovered.

Phong Nha Ke-Bang has had a rather turbulent history, since the Ho Chi Minh Trail ran through it during the Second Indochina War, leading to relentless American bombing of the area in order to prevent North Vietnam from supplying the Viet Cong in the south. Thankfully, the park has recovered somewhat, largely due to aid efforts and government attempts to ban logging and hunting. The latter is especially welcome, since the park is home to a wide range of fauna. Since much of Phong Nha Ke-Bang is off-limits and controlled by the military (partly to prevent illicit behaviour, partly due to the presence of high quantities of unexploded ordnance), the chances of seeing such animals are unfortunately very slim indeed.

Short on time, feeling lazy and weary of the bike, I elected to take the Farmstay's one day tour of the park, which would take in the Paradise Cave, some swimming in the river and an eco-trail, plus a "surprise" final activity, all at a cost of $50, including entry fees, lunch and transport. I normally dislike tours and I was reminded why when we set off, as a convoy of four minibuses headed towards the national park. Each bus was assigned a guide, and we received Mike, an affable, eager Englishman who had been working at the Farmstay for a few months.

The morning was rather stop-start and I became frustrated quite early on. The majority of the time was spent on a history lesson, with very little sight-seeing; we simply drove to various spots, where Ben, the owner of the Farmstay, would talk about his Vietnamese wife's family's experiences (quite interesting, but I wasn't paying $50 for this), usually from an anti-West viewpoint, and would give us erroneous history. Such things included the idea that North Vietnam had won the war without one military victory; I wonder what was thought when North Vietnamese troops rolled into various cities in South Vietnam after America had withdrawn her troops. This continued in the bus, where Mike fed us tripe on how democratic Vietnam was (it's a one party state), how the Americans had come to Vietnam for "power and resources" (rather than to help the South Vietnamese and stop a doctrine which they viewed as poisonous), that the Americans had never bombed Haiphong through fear of the Russians (how about the bombing in 1973, for example?) and even attempting to deny that Ho Chi Minh was a communist (he was). What struck me while being subjected to the various partisan narratives being bandied around was the complete ignorance of the South Vietnamese, with the spotlight being thrust on the West as evil colonisers and the (North) Vietnamese as vigorous, enlightened freedom fighters against the evil, imperialist Americans, who were vastly superior in weaponry (true, but the idea that the PAVN was a poorly-organised army is patently ridiculous).

Looking pretty disorganised...

Anyway, from the ridiculous to the sublime. The national park was beautiful and it was soon time for the Paradise Cave. The Vietnamese are being very careful to take care of areas of outstanding natural beauty and significance, so it was pleasing to see the various signs on the approach to the cave encouraging people not to drop their litter, smoke cigarettes near the trees etc.. The journey from the ticket booth to the cave's entrance is carried out by electric buggy rather than car and the cave is reached by climbing around five hundred steps, though a ramp is there for the less energetic. There were no other groups present, which meant that the cave could be enjoyed without endless flashbulbs going off.

Simply put, the cave is stunning. The cavern is vast and the formations are magnificent, while the Vietnamese have done a good job of lighting the place tastefully. The cave itself is twenty miles long (thirty-one kilometres) and the cavern can reach sizes of three hundred and twenty-eight feet high and four hundred feet wide (100m x 150m), although only the first two-thirds of a mile (one kilometre) is open to the public.

The tour then moved on to the Nuoc Moc eco-trail, where one can swim in the river. It's a beautiful spot, though I didn't swim due to a sudden head cold, and it looked wonderful in the sunlight. To round off, there was some kayaking and the secret activity (I have been sworn to secrecy) before soup and rum and the return to the Farmstay. Overall, I had enjoyed a pleasant visit, though the tour did feel slightly over-priced given that I could have done most of the things myself on the bike. The Farmstay offers a variety of tours, though a lot can also be arranged in Son Trach as well.

Staying at the Farmstay was nice enough. It's a great spot, family-friendly, always full and the hordes wanting to stay there are testament to a good formula. They're also employing lots of local people, drawing attention to the park nationally and internationally and passing business to local hotels when they're full, while the local mechanic benefits from them passing people like me his way. That said, the tour didn't feel completely like value for money and I would recommend visiting the park under your own steam; the erroneous morning history lesson could easily be cut out and replaced with, say, a trip to the Phong Nha Cave, which I think can be visited on the same day as the Paradise Cave.