- 6 months ago
VIETNAM | Solo Backpacking | Ep2: Hoi An to Phong Nha
Category
🏖
TravelTranscript
00:00I'm currently spending six weeks solo backpacking through Vietnam.
00:07You can't help immediately fall in love with this place.
00:11Cheers!
00:12Starting in Saigon, I'm travelling via bus, train, boat, plane and bike,
00:17finishing up at Ha Giang in the very north.
00:20It'll be interesting to see what it's actually like,
00:23to see if it's worth the day out or whether it's just a picture,
00:26so let's go find out.
00:28Cheers!
00:29But now it sounds like we're going to a rave.
00:34You go around the corner and it opens up.
00:36It's like, whoa!
00:38This is so impressive.
00:42So we're at the start of the Hai Van Pass.
00:44If we're going to get these views for the next hour, it's going to be sick.
00:50It's like something from a different world, like a different planet.
00:52It's unreal.
00:54My trip began two weeks ago, spending a few nights checking out the various tourist highlights around Ho Chi Minh City.
01:13Then I made my way up to the beautiful town of Dalat
01:17before hiring out a bike and riding through to Central Highlands with Danny, who I made friends with at the hostel.
01:24As soon as Danny speaks Vietnamese, they're like, wow, they love it.
01:27Does that look Mexican?
01:33Arriving in Natrang, I didn't think much of the town, so I head up to Quynon, but I was unfortunately a bit under the weather.
01:39So I rested up so that I could properly enjoy the next leg of my trip.
01:51I got up at 5 in the morning to get the bus from Quynon up to Hoi An.
01:55So it's 8.45 in the morning, just at a stop on the bus journey.
01:59There's a wedding going on, and they blast the music out like it's a rave.
02:09It's a five-hour journey up to Hoi An, and I'll be meeting up with Danny, plus Emmanuel, who I met in Saigon.
02:16And although our schedules hadn't aligned during the day, we'd been meeting up for beers at most of the stops on my trip so far.
02:23All right, I've made it to Hoi An. Feeling better now, refreshed. Cold's nearly gone, so I'm doing good.
02:39Emmanuel's been in the wars, falling off his bike. Danny's just getting stalked as always.
02:45But yeah, we're going to have a little explore around the town. It's supposed to be a really, really beautiful town.
02:49We're looking forward to this.
02:59It's like I'm back in Morocco, where they just jump on you and stuff.
03:03The most touristy photo ever.
03:11Wow. It is beautiful here.
03:13Hoi An used to be a major port city before the trade moved up to the nearby town of Da Nang at the start of the 19th century.
03:21The old town preserves its incredible melting pot history with the colorful French colonial buildings, Chinese temples, and the iconic Japanese-covered bridge.
03:31Hoi An's center became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, with its primary visits now being tourism.
03:39Okay, this is officially the most pretty town in Vietnam.
03:43It is.
03:44Wins. Absolutely wins.
03:45It is busy and touristy, but you can't help immediately fall in love with this place.
03:49Just like, it's got such a nice charm to it.
03:51It's so beautiful, and I can't wait to see it at night as well when all these lanterns are lit up.
03:56It's lit up.
03:59Let's try this.
04:01Well, yeah, we're spending the afternoon, actually, just exploring the town.
04:04Just stopped at this little cafe to relax.
04:06What have you ordered?
04:08Egg coffee.
04:09Egg coffee.
04:10Egg coffee, yes.
04:13Stir it?
04:14It is weird.
04:16Weird.
04:17Okay, now it is.
04:18Ah, okay.
04:19Okay.
04:22That's better now.
04:23Yep, that's better.
04:24I don't drink coffee, but I do like egg, so 50-50 chance I like this.
04:30Oh.
04:32No.
04:34It's a coffee.
04:35It's a coffee in all life.
04:41This colorful building on the balconies randomly reminds me of New Orleans.
04:45Yeah.
04:52Hello.
04:53Rooties.
04:54It's five o'clock somewhere.
04:56So last year I traveled around quite a few countries that are predominantly Muslim,
05:00so it's sort of nice to be able to just walk around with a beer.
05:03Cheers, guys.
05:04Cheers.
05:05Cheers.
05:06Cheers.
05:07Cheers.
05:08Cheers.
05:09Cheers.
05:10Cheers.
05:11Cheers.
05:13Cheers.
05:14Cheers.
05:30So we're just at the fish market to gonna, like, watch what you're standing in, but
05:33they had this huge party on.
05:34Would have Kalani for Chinese New Year.
05:36All the men and women were all drinking together.
05:39It wasn't segregated.
05:40It was a random thing to find.
05:42Which one are you going for?
05:55Danny bought the faux metal jacket singlet
05:58and I was like, I want one too.
06:01So I was going to get that, but then I also saw Yoda.
06:05I'm going to have to get that too.
06:08You may want to get one size up though,
06:10it will probably shrink a little bit.
06:11How much for two?
06:1340,000.
06:1440.
06:15Okay, yeah, deal.
06:16Yeah, yeah.
06:21So yeah, if you want some badass t-shirts in Hoi An,
06:24come to this shop.
06:25Very nice shop.
06:27Very nice.
06:28Cheers.
06:29My new t-shirt.
06:31It's been a fun afternoon exploring Hoi An.
06:34I bought two singlets, two t-shirts,
06:37and two beers so far.
06:39But yeah, I love this town.
06:43These giant model boats just make me think of the Vietnam Top Gear Special.
06:46I'm not riding with one of them on my bike though.
06:48We're only, we're like a two minute walk from the Japanese bridge,
06:56but just sort of back away from the main street.
06:58And then, you know, there's still t-shirt shops over there,
07:01but there's like a little local joint in the corner that we just walked past.
07:04Again, once again, the blessing of having Danny with you,
07:07so you can just translate and order stuff for you.
07:10Um, Emmanuel just sits there.
07:12I don't think.
07:14You're a good guy, Emmanuel. Don't you are.
07:16Cheers, bro. Cheers.
07:17I'm gonna buy you a watermelon shirt later.
07:20Oh, dear.
07:21As long as not the banana one, it's fine.
07:23What if you order this?
07:25Bancom.
07:26Okay, what is it?
07:28It's like a rice noodle thing.
07:31It's specialized.
07:32Sweet.
07:33And I ordered a bunch of random other stuff.
07:35What do you want?
07:36No, no, no, no, no.
07:37It is what?
07:39Vegetable with any kind of meat.
07:40Yeah.
07:41I'm not going to eat with this at all, but it tastes like egg.
07:45Yeah.
07:46Spicy.
07:48Good?
07:49Hahaha.
07:58So we've literally gone from one extreme to the other today.
08:09We were eating at this local Vietnamese place.
08:13Just tucked away around the corner from the busy crowds.
08:16And now we've come to the Shamrock Irish Pub.
08:19Cheers.
08:21It's nice to have a proper, cool, full pint.
08:24Amazing music playing.
08:26This guy's got a horse and guitar.
08:28I just sit here and watch the sunset with all these lights.
08:30The lantern's lighting up.
08:42Well, it's night time.
08:43The lantern's on and it's just so beautiful here.
08:46I think it's just only the first day, but already my favorite place in Vietnam.
08:51Pretty, man.
08:52Real pretty.
08:53Yeah, man.
08:56Got to sit here.
08:57I'll never mind the Russians.
08:59I'll never mind the same.
09:00I'll never mind the same!
09:01For the first day, I'd love to see you.
09:02For those years, I'm quite happy.
09:03These lanterns were introduced by the Chinese immigrants at the end of the 16th century when
09:04Hoi An was a bustling commercial port exchanging goods with merchant ships from Asia
09:09and Europe.
09:10Other than their practical uses, the lanterns were a way for the Chinese to pay homage to
09:14their motherland.
09:16They're made from bamboo and silk, and as silk had become one of Hoi An's top commodities,
09:20the lanterns grew in popularity and so the rest of the community began to hang
09:25lanterns as well for decoration and also in the hope of bringing good luck and a
09:30sense of coziness to the town
09:40there's a really nice vibe to the town actually like it's it's busy but it
09:44still feels calm and it still feels chilled out so you could easily spend
09:48all evening just wandering around the streets just soaking it all in
09:54so come to the night market by the river get some food got tons of different food
09:59on offer street food in Asia is just the best I mean it's probably not the
10:03cheapest one we'll get because we're in a very touristy spot it's freshly cooked meat
10:07when you're feeling a bit cackish hits the spot absolutely hits the spot
10:12sitting down on the small seats very spicy
10:17I put too much on my bun me
10:19woof
10:20look at that ice cream
10:26hello
10:27how are you doing mate?
10:29called the banana pancake with Nutella
10:39banana pancake
10:41how are you doing mate?
10:43how are you doing mate?
10:44how are you doing mate?
10:45how are you doing mate?
10:46how are you doing mate?
10:47how are you doing mate?
10:48what are you doing mate?
10:49yeah this is my private room and hostel it's only like what £13.00 I don't know $16.00
10:54$17.00 a night for a private room and they got so much on at this hostel like it's really
11:00well organized like they'll have lots of free different day activities and also help you book all the activities
11:06call the activities you want to pay for onward transport they got parties every
11:10night tell everyone your name my name Eric Eric anything you want Eric's your
11:19man you got it so this morning I'm gonna do this
11:23basketball experience miles who I met in that track he recommended it so should
11:29be a good laugh only takes like an hour and a half including the journey there
11:31and back and stuff okay had some in character now so I think we have a
11:48little ride around maybe do a bit of fishing a bit of paddling ourselves
11:53so I think about to have a go fishing some crab fishing we're gonna get a little
12:06lot each see what we can get crabby crabby put the bait right by it and they
12:13always run back inside crab fishing failed so far
12:23got three crabs now Wow Wow
12:53So we've done our fishing, we've spun around a bit, but now it sounds like we're going to
13:08a rave.
13:09It's only like 11am, but getting the party started here.
13:23It's crazy.
13:38I didn't want to do the spinning thing in the boat, because any kind of ride just makes me
13:42want to throw up, you know.
13:43I love a good roller coaster, but spinning stuff, no.
13:46How do you feel?
13:47It was nice.
13:48Yeah?
13:49It gets fishy after.
13:50Yeah.
13:51Yeah.
13:52How do you feel?
13:53Yeah, good.
13:54Not feeling sick?
13:55No, no, no.
14:08Where are you from?
14:10Taiwan.
14:11Taiwan.
14:12Where are you from?
14:13UK.
14:14Oh, UK?
14:15Yeah.
14:16Welcome to Taiwan.
14:18Yeah.
14:19That was good, clean fun.
14:20Nice and relaxing ride around.
14:21Thank you very much.
14:22Okay.
14:23After a fun morning with the basketball experience, I head back into town and hide out a bicycle
14:29from the hostel to go explore one of the nearby villages.
14:32Alright, so I've got myself a bicycle for the afternoon.
14:35A little ET basket at the front.
14:37It feels very weird.
14:39After having been on a motorbike and a scooter a lot this trip, being on a bike like a normal
14:46bicycle, it's like, what do you mean I have to pedal?
14:49Yeah.
14:50So, yeah.
14:51Not that you need to, but I'm going to go explore Cam Kim Island, just across the bridge from
14:56the main bit of town.
14:57Yeah, you know me on a tour with the hostel or whatever, but I'm just going to explore it
15:02myself and see what I find.
15:04See, maybe it would have been good to have a guide just to explain what I'm seeing,
15:19because it's like, ah, yep, it's a village.
15:22It's where people live.
15:23It's beautiful.
15:24I don't have much else to say about it though.
15:27It's nice just getting away from this sort of busy part of town and have a little ride
15:30around.
15:31It's funny though, because like, I love Hawaiian to death, but there's obviously plenty of
15:36tourists there.
15:37But like anywhere in the world, you just go a tiny bit further and it's just normal people
15:41going about their lives, you know?
15:46Yeah, it's worth doing.
15:47If you're in Hawaiian, just come to Cam Kim, have a cycle around, see sort of more day-to-day
15:51kind of rural life.
15:52And you'll find little, beautiful little spots like this.
16:01Back in town, Danny and I had signed up for an evening street food tour with the hostel.
16:09And the first stop on a street food tour is a restaurant.
16:13So, um, what do you want?
16:14Oh, yeah.
16:15You got this stuff from the rice paper.
16:17You have to massage it.
16:18No happy ending, just massage.
16:19Massaging it, massaging it.
16:20See?
16:21Perfect.
16:22See?
16:23That's just like the worst roll ever.
16:24Most people would be ashamed of my rolling skills, but...
16:27Just massage.
16:28Massaging it, massaging it.
16:32See? Perfect.
16:36This is like the worst roll ever.
16:39Most people would be ashamed of my rolling skills, but...
16:43As you can see, it looks perfect.
16:52I like it.
16:54It's really good, see?
16:55Despite my ship rolling.
16:58Alright, second effort.
16:59A lot better, a lot better.
17:01Everyone at the table is very impressed.
17:05We're doing a street food tour organised by the hostel.
17:08And basically, it's a really good way,
17:10if you've come backpacking in Vietnam
17:12and you want to try out the local food
17:13but don't really know how to go about doing it,
17:15signing up for a tour like this is a really good idea.
17:17I've been fortunate on this trip to try out lots of local food
17:20with the help of Danny, but other people,
17:22you might not know what to order, what means what.
17:24So this kind of thing is really helpful.
17:31But anyway, today we're going to head to Danang,
17:33go up the Barnai Hills to the Golden Bridge,
17:35which is sort of a place that's kind of exploded on Instagram
17:38the last couple of years.
17:39So, be interesting to see what it's actually like,
17:42see if it's worth the day out,
17:44worth the cost of the ticket going up there,
17:45or whether it's just a picture.
17:46So, let's go find out.
17:50Hiring out a scooter from the hostel,
17:52it was just over an hour's ride to the Barna Hills.
17:55This place feels like a theme park,
17:58and it's because it is a theme park,
17:59but it doesn't feel like we're in Vietnam.
18:01It's all modern and brand new,
18:03and it's kind of strange.
18:06Starbucks.
18:07What is he doing here?
18:08True taste of Vietnam.
18:10Starbucks.
18:13We're literally just riding through fields
18:15with real water buffalos,
18:16and then we've paid money to come to a place
18:18where they have fake ones.
18:19This is so weird.
18:23Ciao.
18:25Ciao.
18:26Come in, please.
18:29So, it's 750,000 for a ticket,
18:32which is like 30 US dollars,
18:34which in normal life's nothing.
18:36In Vietnamese life,
18:37that feels like a fuckload of money.
18:39Yeah, it does.
18:40And we just beat a massive tour group,
18:42so we got it to ourselves.
18:43Here we go.
18:45A lot of passionate money to learn.
18:46Yeah.
18:47The cable car ride is 5.8 kilometers long,
19:01and holds the record for the longest
19:03non-stop single-track cable car in the world.
19:06Towering high above the lush green forest below,
19:09it climbs up to a height of nearly 1,500 meters above sea level.
19:14It's like a 2-year-old kid going on family holidays in Switzerland,
19:17I've just absolutely loved cable cars.
19:19So going on this was something pretty special.
19:23I've got a picture of him.
19:24There you go.
19:25Yeah.
19:26Like done.
19:27It's like we're walking inside Instagram.
19:30I've just got here.
19:31It's pretty impressive, actually.
19:32I mean, they make all the cynical Instagram jokes, but it's really cool when you're here.
19:37The concept of the bridge was to have two giant god-like hands bursting out from the hills.
19:44Made from fiberglass, these hands support a golden thread of a bridge to guide people through nature as they walk above the treetops.
19:51And the legend of its construction dates all the way back to 2017.
19:58It's a little travel hack.
19:59You can keep the platform or just stand on the flower bed right beside you.
20:05All right, so now what do we do?
20:06We should just go back.
20:07The giant Buddha's over there.
20:08Giant Buddha?
20:09It's all right.
20:10Giant Buddha.
20:11Let's go.
20:12Let's go.
20:13I still haven't quite figured this place out.
20:14It's like walking around a theme park without any rides.
20:15It's all the way back to 2017.
20:16It's a little travel hack.
20:17You can keep the platform or just stand on the flower bed right beside you.
20:22All right, so now what do we do?
20:27Can we go home?
20:29We should just go back.
20:32Giant Buddha's over there.
20:33Giant Buddha?
20:34It's all right.
20:35Giant Buddha.
20:36Let's go.
20:37I still haven't quite figured this place out.
20:40It's like walking around a theme park without any rides.
20:43It's with the pigs.
20:45The monkey king is very popular in Asian culture.
20:48It's like the Superman.
20:49Monkey king.
20:50Welcome.
20:51I watched the show when I was a kid.
20:54Yeah.
21:01So the plan is we're getting the cable car to another part of the park where there might
21:06actually be a ride.
21:07Oh.
21:08Yeah, I know.
21:09It's really exciting.
21:10There we go.
21:11So there's a lot of construction going on down here.
21:16Where maybe they'll build rides or more pigs.
21:20I don't know.
21:21We need both here.
21:22That's like quite a spooky shot there.
21:24Yeah.
21:26Yeah.
21:27That's the other line.
21:29It's huge.
21:30Well, it's the only thing to do.
21:32There's always a line.
21:34It's Europe.
21:39Yeah, Europe.
21:40I think all of Europe is exactly like this as well.
21:43It's kind of like they wanted to do their own Harry Potter world but couldn't get the
21:46rights.
21:47They just made it slightly different.
21:48So I think the thing to understand about the Barnard Hills is Barnard Hills isn't aimed at Western tourists.
22:00It's for Asian tourists really because there'll be plenty of Asian tourists there who may have never been to Europe or may never even get to go to Europe. I don't know.
22:17And so for them, it's like a cool fairytale fake version of Europe.
22:22But for us Western tourists, you know, I've come to Vietnam to see Vietnam, not to see a fake version of Europe.
22:30So you're spending the whole time wandering around going, what the hell is this place? What am I doing here?
22:35I mean, I admire it as a piece of construction, like the cable car is incredible and the whole huge fairytale village they've built on top of the mountain.
22:45But it's just not actually that much to do there.
22:47It's like mostly overpriced restaurants and cafes.
22:50So it didn't take too long before we got the cable car back down.
22:53So, you know, like I said, the cable car ride was epic. It was beautiful and going over that rainforest, especially on the route down of the waterfalls, just looked incredible. So that was good.
23:13Wow.
23:23And the Golden Bridge is impressive, but there's so much better things you can do with your time and money whilst you're here. So, you know, personally, I'd skip it.
23:40It was our last day in Hoi An before we hit the road again. So we decided just to have a chill day on the beach.
23:46Yeah, I've really enjoyed Hoi An, really enjoyed it. I mean, it's such a beautiful town and there's so much to do, but we've also had just so many fun evenings here as well.
23:57Like at the hostel bar, there's a really great crowd and they've got something on every night.
24:01I mean, we even went to a neon party one night, which was a bit of a throwback to sort of backpack in Thailand when I was younger.
24:07Although I much preferred the dive bar in town because I had like a live band and a pool table and that was, that was much more my scene.
24:15But yeah, we had some really good times, some heavy, heavy nights, but some really good times.
24:20And now we're heading on to the town of Hoi and to get there, we're going to be biking along the Hai Van Pass, which was made popular in the Top Gear Vietnam special.
24:29And so now in Vietnam, it just gets referred to as the Top Gear Challenge. That's how they try and sell it to everyone.
24:35So you pay your money and hire out a bike and drive it one way and they'll take it back for you.
24:40And so that's what we're going to be doing today.
24:44One of the nice things is you can hire out a bike, you don't have to bring it back and they transport your bag for you so you don't have all your shit on your bike.
24:52Which is great, except I left my GoPro in that bag so it's going to be very hard to film this motorcycle challenge as we go.
25:00So basically what that means is we're going to film our own version of Top Gear but with lower production values and hopefully less casual racism.
25:07So first off is going to be Marble Mountains, so let's hit the road.
25:12Hit the road.
25:13The Marble Mountains are a cluster of five marble and limestone hills that are about a half hour drive from Hoi An.
25:25Danny and I were joined by Chris from the UK. We met on the beach yesterday and we're going to explore what's called the Water Mountain as each mountain is named after the five elements.
25:35I'd say we follow the signs to this cave and we'll probably check things out along the way.
25:46The entrance is so cool. It's so pretty around here and they've carved it all out of the mountain which is really impressive.
25:53Oh yeah, you're feathered up. Yeah.
26:05I'm going to just take my backpack off.
26:07Yeah, get skinny.
26:09Yeah.
26:14Well, we made it to the top.
26:16That's one hell of a view.
26:18So Hoi An's back that way, and you've got the name of Ryan's for show.
26:24Amazing view all around.
26:26What's up in the world?
26:28Boom.
26:30You alright?
26:33Yeah.
26:34These rocks are so slippery.
26:37Whoa.
26:38Another huge cave right here.
26:44Wow.
26:45There are several Buddhist and Hindu grottoes within the marble mountains.
26:50The sanctuaries feature statues as well as relief depictions of religious scenes carved out of the marble.
27:00So you think you're in the main bit of the cave.
27:02Then you go around the corner and it opens up.
27:04It's like, whoa.
27:06Okay.
27:07It's a soul person.
27:15You've got a light race coming through, beating it down on the temple.
27:30Climb up to the highest peak there.
27:32Very, very steep stairs.
27:34Made it to the sub of the highest peak.
27:44Oh, that was hard work.
27:46Well, this has been awesome, but we're going to make a move, get on with our top gear challenge.
28:00And those hills over there, that's actually where we're going to be driving around.
28:12Alright, so we're at the start of the Hai Van Pass.
28:14This is the road here.
28:16This is what we're going to be driving above.
28:18Oh, you'll see the train going down there as well.
28:20Just gorgeous beaches.
28:22And this road kind of weaves along beside the coast.
28:25Man, it is so, so beautiful.
28:27And we're just literally just at the start of it.
28:29And if we're going to get these views for the next hour, it's going to be sick.
28:33Alright, just made another quick stop all along the road.
28:46You've got these little cafes you can stop at with viewpoints, selling drinks, even beer,
28:50which obviously you don't want to drink.
28:52But yeah, the views are just incredible.
28:54It's such a nice drive winding along here.
28:56See why it's a popular route.
28:58We just come over the hill.
29:08And so, the way is going to that way.
29:12But the views are just insane.
29:14Basically stopping every like two minutes just to take it in, have a look, take some pictures.
29:20That's what we're riding towards.
29:22Down there, the way is just sort of around the corner.
29:26I like it, Danny.
29:27Oh, I love it.
29:28Beautiful.
29:29Man, I mean, people said the high-van pass was good, but yeah, it didn't have to be spectacular.
29:36Alright, let's go.
29:45After we'd finished the pass, we still had about an hour and a half's worth of riding to reach Hue.
29:50Hue.
29:55Alright, I've made it to Hue.
29:56I've got a couple of nights here in Hue.
29:58I think I'm just going to keep it simple and decide for a little city tour and then another tour to the DMZ.
30:02So just keep it simple, have someone else show me around rather than do it myself.
30:07Feeling a bit lazy after that long drive.
30:09But yeah, yeah, awesome day of riding.
30:12Bit tired, but I'm just going to settle in, enjoy Hue for a couple of days.
30:15Just coming to town to get some much needed food and Emmanuel's back.
30:23Hello.
30:24I'm back.
30:25It's a pleasure to see you.
30:27Are you ready?
30:39The city tour I'd sign up for was going to take us to the main sites of Hue, including the citadel as well as some of the tombs of the old emperors.
30:46I was being lazy and just signing up for the city tour rather than doing it myself and it's already turned into a bit of a clusterfuck.
30:51The day tour doesn't include the entrance fees for any of the sites we're visiting, which is fine, except a lot of other people in the group weren't told this when they booked the tour, which led to a lot of arguments kicking off from the word go.
31:04And this is one of those tours. You arrive and you're like, oh, I've made a mistake, but I'm going to make the most of it. Hopefully it's all uphill from here.
31:12The first stop was a 19th century citadel. Hue was the imperial capital of Vietnam during the Nguyen dynasty from 1802 to 1945.
31:22And within the citadel is the imperial city where the emperor lived and worked.
31:26Basically, the city was built to protect the religious and political activities of the region.
31:31And so, yeah, the emperor's house here and obviously a lot of the place got damaged during the Vietnam War or the American War, as they call it here.
31:39Kind of reminds me of the forbidden city in Beijing. There's just a lot less people.
31:47Next up, we went on a quick dragon boat river cruise, dropping us off at the pagoda of the Celestial Lady.
31:53All right, so this pagoda is the oldest pagoda in the city and it's built in 1601.
31:59And they've got these five monuments around it for the five elements and one of them's got the second largest bell in Vietnam.
32:09After we had lunch, we drove out of town to visit the royal tombs of three different emperors.
32:15There were a total of 13 emperors during the Nguyen dynasty.
32:19And these monuments were often designed and built whilst they were alive in preparation for their death.
32:24Now we are visiting the number two emperors.
32:28Ming Mang history.
32:30He has 500 wives.
32:32Oh, I'm sure.
32:34He has 500 wives.
32:36And 142 children.
32:38Wow.
32:39He's a busy man.
32:40Busy man.
32:41Very busy.
32:42I'm wondering if he actually had names for all the kids.
32:45Or knew all their names.
32:46But yeah.
32:47The whole site is 15 hectares big.
32:50And no one actually knows where he's buried in the grounds.
32:53It was kept a secret.
32:54So even though he had 500 wives, only the first one becomes queen.
33:01The rest are just notches on the belt, if you like.
33:08Alright, tomb number two this afternoon.
33:10I think this is for the 12th emperor.
33:12The 12th emperor out of 13.
33:14So this is the emperor's tomb here.
33:19But apparently this ceiling guy painted it with his feet.
33:23He had scaffolding set up and painted it with his feet.
33:25I don't know why.
33:28So I asked him how come they painted the ceiling with his feet.
33:32And he's like, because it's very difficult.
33:34So he just wanted to put that extra bit of effort in and just show off basically.
33:38So this last tomb we come to is from the fourth emperor.
33:46And because we come right at the end of the day, it's actually really peaceful here.
33:49There's not many people about.
33:51And the sun's setting, so the light's really good.
33:53So yeah, it's pretty, pretty beautiful.
34:03But basically for this last tomb, I kind of just walked away from the group.
34:07Just wanted to wrap by myself because it's so quiet here right now.
34:10It's nice to have a bit alone time.
34:12I think they spent three years building this tomb.
34:16And it's 15 hectares, same as the first one we went to.
34:21But yeah, this guy only had, I think it was like 103 wives.
34:25But no children, so they adopted.
34:28And one of these places is the resting place for his wife.
34:31His first wife, who becomes the queen.
34:34But these places are just magnificent.
34:37I wasn't sure what to expect when he said we're going to go see some tombs today.
34:42I thought there might just be a tomb in a building.
34:45But these huge grounds that they've built are just beautiful.
34:48Just magnificent.
34:49Yeah, really glad I made the effort to come here.
34:53Even if the tour's been a bit iffy, it's still awesome to come out here and see all this stuff.
34:58So today, doing a tour of the old DMZ, the Demilitarized Zone.
35:23And then I'm going to be dropped off in a town near there and put in a bus to go off the Phong Nha.
35:29The one thing we're missing right now is our bus for the day.
35:32The bus showed up and it broke down, so I'm just waiting around until they get that sawed.
35:36It was about a three-hour drive to our first main stop, the Khe Sanh Combat Base, which was a major US Marines outpost during the Vietnam War.
35:52So I'm in Khe Sanh, which was sort of like a cork in a bottle to stop the flow of the Viet Cong.
36:09Coming in from the Ho Chi Minh Trail from Laos into South Vietnam.
36:13These helicopters are absolutely huge. Bloody hell.
36:19I got a shutdown plane here.
36:24This place just got battered to death by bombs and artillery from both sides.
36:29And the US Marines described being here as just hell on earth.
36:33So it's kind of strange being here at a place where so much death and destruction happened.
36:40The town would just be walking around as a tourist taking pictures.
36:43But it's fascinating to see, not my less.
36:49Leaving Khe Sanh, we drove back down the way we came towards the coast.
36:53We then turned north towards the Ben Hai River, which ran through the demilitarized zone.
37:00But we didn't actually stop at this memorial site for the DMZ on this DMZ tour, because of reasons.
37:08But we made our way to this afternoon's main attraction of the Vin Mok Tunnels.
37:14Now, the Ku Chi tunnels I visited in the south were part of a massive network that would often be underneath the villages.
37:20But here at Vin Mok, they moved the entire village underground.
37:25This was to avoid the intense bombing from the US.
37:28And for six years, the villagers lived underground in a tunnel system that had three different levels going down to 24 meters deep.
37:37Today we are going to visit the second and third floor of this tunnel system.
37:43This goes so, so deep.
37:47It's incredible.
37:50So when they dug out these tunnels, obviously they had to get rid of all the mud and the clay.
38:02So what they do is wait for nighttime and then just put it in the sea to get washed away.
38:07So they wouldn't leave any clues or traces above ground for the Americans to see when they flew over.
38:12They were using this room for meeting, for big operation, for waiting, even for the children like kindergarten, for the baby was born inside.
38:26This is the one that wasn't discovered, didn't get flooded, didn't collapse, and we got no one died inside.
38:31575% at big towns were living for six years, but no one died. So that was made it special.
38:39Well, you know, the people who was fighting at that time, they just want to live in peace at all. They didn't care about communism and capitalism.
38:54After the tour, I was dropped off at the town of Dongha, so that I could get the bus up to Fongya, where I'll be spending the next three nights.
39:02So I just finished up the DMZ tour. Seeing the Gona Kei Sand was cool, that was interesting, and the tunnels was interesting, but the whole day was about 85-90% driving.
39:16If you did it self-driving, it might have been alright, but we had a whole tour group crammed up like sardines in one of those minivans for hours on end.
39:24And then we only had a short time at E-Place to see a couple of things, so whether it's worth it for the day, I'm not so sure.
39:30But now we're in Dongha, at one of these bus rest stop places, waiting for the bus to pick us up to get to Fongnau.
39:37So, I think the bus should be here in about an hour, and there should be two hours to Fongnau, but literally have no idea.
39:43So it could be here half an hour, could be here all night, I have no idea what's going on.
39:47But, it's the way it goes sometimes.
39:50See, the nice thing about Southeast Asia is they sell beer everywhere.
39:55Temples, tombs, you name it, so if you've got some time to kill, just grab one.
39:59Cheers, mate.
40:04Alright, the bus is here. It's only 20 minutes later than it's supposed to be, so it's actually not too bad.
40:09All settled in, ready to go. It takes only two hours, but the bus is so comfy, so let's get to Fongnau.
40:15Let's go.
40:17Let's go.
40:19Let's go.
40:21Let's go.
40:23FONNY
40:53My first day here, I'm just giving myself a chill day. I'm not actually doing anything. I'm just sitting by the pool, relaxing and recharging my battery sort of literally for my cameras and figuratively for myself. I mean, there's so many things that I want to do in Fongna, but I'm kind of having to resist that temptation because the trip's been pretty full on. And if I don't give myself a couple of days just to relax and take it easy, I run the risk of burning myself out. But I had my last beer with Danny because he's going to move on and finish off his bike trip.
41:23So I was actually just really lucky to be able to travel with him. But you know, everyone's doing similar routes here, but on different schedules. Like, Emmanuel's one stop ahead of me. So I'll meet up with him in Hanoi. But I'm sure I'll make plenty of new friends in the meantime before then.
41:35But then tomorrow I've signed up for a trip to go to Paradise Cave and Dark Cave because that's what this region's famous for, is exploring caves. So I can't wait to do that tomorrow. It should be awesome.
41:48Fongna is actually home to the largest cave in the world, the Songdong Cave. But less than 1,000 people are allowed to trek into it per year. And it costs you $3,000 to do so.
41:59So I'll happily settle for the two I'm seeing today.
42:08First up, we made a quick stop at the Fongna Botanic Garden to check out the waterfalls.
42:15Beautiful.
42:21Then we headed to Paradise Cave, which was discovered in 2005 by the same local man who found the Songdong Cave.
42:29Okay, we're now climbing up to Paradise Cave. 500 steps up, I think.
42:50When you go in, you just walk down and then it's this huge cavern just opens up in front of you.
42:57And it just takes your breath away.
42:59So, not to state the obvious, but this place is huge.
43:15I've never been in a cave like this.
43:17We've been in plenty of caves, but this is
43:19another level.
43:21And they've lit it all up.
43:23So you can just really appreciate the scale of it.
43:25So this cave, Paradise Cave, goes on for 31 kilometers.
43:37We can only go in for one kilometer.
43:39And then after that, I don't think it's lit up anymore.
43:41You have to do like a special adventure tour to go further in.
43:43But only like another few, okay?
43:46It's just a thing with this.
43:47It keeps going and going and going.
43:49It's like something from a different world, like a different planet.
43:52It's unreal.
43:53The caves of Fong Nha National Park are roughly 350 million years old.
44:08The rock formations coming down from the ceiling are called stalactites, whilst the corresponding
44:12formations rising from the ground are stalagmites.
44:15Basically, because it's limestone, as the water drips through, it has sand in it.
44:21And basically, you know when you're a kid on the beach and you're forming this, you've
44:24got like wet sand and you're forming this weird shape out of it.
44:27It's basically like that over the course of millions of years.
44:32And you end up with these giant, giant sculptures.
44:37All right, we've reached the end of the line here.
44:53One kilometer in.
44:55Going to go on a special tour to go further down there.
44:57Oh, wow.
44:59It's one of those ones.
44:59I hope the video can do it justice.
45:01It's just incredible, isn't it?
45:03Just insane.
45:04And once you're a bit further away from the crowd, all you can hear is just dripping water
45:10and that's it.
45:11It's so quiet.
45:15It's very hard to find words to describe things like that, other than, wow, it's amazing.
45:22You just got to kind of see it for yourself and just experience the scale of it.
45:27See, that was really fun.
45:28Really, really fun.
45:29I loved that.
45:32Next up, we were heading to the dark cave.
45:35This one's going to be a bit more active as we'll be ziplining, swimming, kayaking and crawling
45:40into basically a mud bath.
45:42But before we got started, we were treated to an absolute feast of a lunch.
45:46And then you roll in, you're dipping with tomato soup, yeah?
45:49And dip on the chicken pork.
45:51You eat together with lemon sauce.
45:53It's more delicious, yeah?
45:55I think this is going to be really good fun.
45:56This is going to be really, really good fun.
45:57I don't know if that's what happened.
46:03Or if it is already popped, I would go home and see it when I saw something, yeah?
46:07Okay?
46:11We're done.
46:12Alright, we're going to swim to the cave now.
46:16Get on with it.
46:17Basically we're approaching a dark cave and I don't want to be crude but it looks like
46:29a giant vagina.
46:30Take it from the expert.
46:37Take it from the expert.
46:52We're going to head to the Mudbound.
47:04I can confirm the helmets work.
47:11This is so cool.
47:15This is the only one to show our headlights.
47:18You are flat.
47:21Hello.
47:30Alright, we have arrived at the mud hole.
47:39Welcome to the mud spa.
47:42It's one way to get into stuff.
47:49There we go.
47:54After you, after you mate.
48:06Just walking along and fell in a pothole.
48:09Someone's brought up to me.
48:13Yeah.
48:14Yeah.
48:15That's what I can't do.
48:18That's what I can't do.
48:20I'm starting to pull off while I'm off.
48:25This is something that's very detailed.
48:30Made it out of the cave.
48:31That was a lot of fun.
48:32Dude, so cool.
48:33But now we're going to kayak back across.
48:35Bye bye.
48:36We're not going to get into it.
48:39Oh yeah.
48:42Wow, we finished up now at the dark cave.
48:45That was so much fun.
48:46The mud bath was great.
48:47It was a really cool experience.
48:49And then there's rope swings and zip lines you can do,
48:52which obviously I didn't do.
48:54I just went for a swim in the water,
48:57and then a guy started shouting at me for not wearing a life jacket.
48:59I was like, dude, I can swim.
49:01But today has been a really, really fun day.
49:03One of the best days of the trip so far.
49:09I wish I could have spent more time in Fonya,
49:11because there's loads more here that I'd want to do.
49:13But I've got to keep moving,
49:14because everything's about to shut down for a few days
49:17for the Tet Luna New Year's celebrations.
49:20Happy New Year!
49:21Happy New Year!
49:27Sign up for this little guided bike tour.
49:30That's your...
49:31This is my...
49:32I wasn't driving.
49:33I was just like...
49:34Clearly.
49:35Okay.
49:36It shows how easily you can arrive a place not knowing anyone,
49:38and within a couple of hours
49:39you've got a whole group of friends to spend the day with.
49:45Yeah, it's like $10.
49:46$10 to buy 36 beers.
49:48Yay!
49:51I'm getting a bus today up to Ha Giang
49:54to do the Ha Giang Loop,
49:55and this is the thing that everyone raves about.
49:58And it'll be a different end to the trip
50:00than what I planned,
50:01but it's the right end to the trip for what I want
50:04and how I'm feeling right now.
50:05I'm feeling right now.
50:35I'm feeling right here.
50:41I just came off the report on how I Whoops and I'm in the swoop to45 �щips.
50:43See you spar!
50:44I've played a week before.
50:45You GOD NEPS
50:46stole your hand off your name again .
50:47Are you?
50:48I'm agartner for all of you,
50:49and I'll set thehomme soon.
50:50I'm given you away from sleep in thousands,
50:52with me Traductions.
50:53I've played nine years ago,
50:54and I can't win Miami zigzag belki again.
50:56But I'm getting an eye.
50:57At the end,
50:58I'll��
Be the first to comment