Up in Smoke

Despite getting up before 6, I could not beat the heat and sun of the Vietnam countryside.  They were up and toiling long before I was, as we're the people of the neighboring community.  Hundreds of villagers dotted the fields, harvesting the skinny red chili peppers from the fields, to be dried on stone lawns.

Since I couldn't go on the Paradise Cave Trek, I chose the Farmstay National Park Tour, which would allow me to walk the first kilometer of the cave and get a taste of its majesty.  A group of about ten of us clambered into the van together, ready for a Vietnamese adventure.  Our tour guide, Gina, was a recent US college graduate who was taking a few years off to travel the world, working a few months in each new country to earn her keep.  She had been at the Farmstay for a month, and it was her last day.  As we drove to the start of our tour, she entertained us with a steady stream of facts about the history and current events of the region.  For example, the rice we saw being planted in the nearby area was mostly GMO rice that more than doubled the number of grains per strand.  This was due to the poorer land and climate of central Vietnam, which only allows one certain rice harvest per year (compared to two in the north and four in the south).  The cash crop here are the peanuts and corn, and we passed fields of dried husks and stalks since the corn harvest has occurred only a week or two prior.  One reason why the growing season is so short is that the land floods at unpredictable times each year.  This is why the houses are made from concrete - to prevent water damage - and often have empty first floors or a number of steps up to them.

The religious struggle - and it's role in history - is equally fascinating.  The people here are divided between Catholics and kin.  Kin is a belief system centered on the importance of family, of keeping family together in this life and for all of time.  Small concrete tombs hold the bones of the kin families: after a person dies, he or she is buried for two years and then the bones are dug up and placed in a small box in the kin grave site.  

The Catholics have actually kept this tradition, but their sites have crosses on top.  During the war, the Catholics were seen as French sympathizers and the kin tried to push them out of the north.  In this central region, it seemed pointless for the Catholics to move a few hundred kilometers and start over, so they merely moved across the river and into the jungle, hacking small clearings out of it on which they could live and farm.  The Catholics remained, but theirs was the poorest land available.  This de facto segregation of Catholic and kin persists today.

The war history penetrates very deeply in these communities.  We drove past and on former Ho Chi Minh Trails, including Highway 20 (so-called because the people who built it were 15-20 years old).  We saw small holes carved into the base of the giant limestone mountains were 50 people would squeeze for protection from the bombs raining down.  Due to the strength and material of the mountains, the bombs could only break off pieces of the rock face, so unless they became blocked in the cave, the people were safe in these holes.  Millions of tons of bombs fell on Vietnam, and an estimated 100,000 unexploded bombs remain.  Many of these bombs were left over from WW II, built to be dropped on concrete targets instead of dense, soft jungle.  As these bombs lay silently in the ground, they have caused over 100,000 reported deaths since 1975.  Groups such as the British Mine Advisory Group (MAG) work hard to find and detonate these bombs before they can hurt people, but the locals are also on the case.  Many venture out on their own to find bombs, deactivate them, and then sell the high-quality steel to buyers in Hanoi.  It's incredibly dangerous work, but the region is so poor that the risk is worth it for many people.

Beside bombs, the jungle is rich in both caves and vegetation.  The jungle is some of the thicker - and most dangerous - in the world, the convergence of plants from different ecosystems creating a battle for resources and space.  

The vines and branches disguise the hundreds of caves within the mountain ranges, formed by water dripping through the limestone cliffs and forming underground rivers.  Only 10% of the park has been explored, and already over 300 caves have been found.  Much of the organized caving has occurred in the last few years, including the discovery of the largest cave in the world.  The local man who discovered it runs a coffee shop in town, the walls covered in articles and photos of his many caving conquests.

But back to our tour.  After a few tops to see Highway 20 and the like, we walked up to Eight Lady Cave.  It was a cave used by eight women to hide people from the bombings.  One day, bombs broke the cliff face and buried eight people - seven army fighters in their 20s and one older adult - inside the cave.  They could not move the rocks, and eventually the occupants died.  Years later, they were able to open another entrance to the cave and found the bones of the survivors, as well as sandals, hair clips,and other material possessions, and created a museum and memorial for those eight people but also for war veterans and casualties in general.  

The Chinese influence on Vietnam (the result of thousands of years of occupation) was evident: dragons on the roof, a high step to get into the building, incense burning outside the door.  We also learned that fake money - but not Vietnamese money because Ho Chi Minh's face is on it - and paper pictures of material goods are burned at funerals to make sure people have these goods in the afterlife.  It could be a picture of an iPhone or the cardboard box of a plasma screen TV.  The Vietnamese dead shall not want.

Finally, we went to Paradise Cave.  It is a vast and winding route, full of moon-like craters, jagged stalactites and stalagmites, and coral-like formations. Carefully placed lamps cast light or shadow to dramatize the formations' enormous size and interesting crevices.  Being a cave light designer would b a pretty interesting job, I imagine.  

I wish I could have gone deeper into the cave, but it was nice to see a least part of it.

We had a lovely lunch and I was reminded of my favorite part of travel: the other people.  I met two Swedish guys who had agreed to travel with a mutual friend who became sick and dropped off the trip (three weeks in, they are now good friends, as well).  I met a couple who work on conservation in South Africa and used to live in a game park.  I met a nervous English solo traveler and a boisterous Swiss man traveling with a non-English speaking companion who, sadly, couldn't join in on the conversation as a result.  It was a great group.

We ended the day with a swim in a beautiful blue lagoon bordered by mountains and jungle.  

Though we could all swim and the water was neither deep nor rough, we were required to wear life jacket by the strict, whistle-blowing (literally) lifeguards.  It should be noted that, like many Vietnamese people, these lifeguards couldn't swim.  They wanted us to prevent incident because they wouldn't know what to do if one arose.  After our swim, we learned that the water in which we had splashes had an unknown source.  I bubbled up from some deep cave, but was clear when it stormed in Vietnam (unlike other streams) and muddy when it stormed in Laos.  

See the bubbles?

Therefore, they think that it comes from a huge cave in Laos, possibly bigger than the current biggest can.  The necessary equipment is being assembled for further exploration.

Our group headed home happy and chatty.  It wasn't the rigorous day I has originally planned, but I was still a lovely way to see Vietnam and get to know other (inspiring) travelers.  As the sunset loomed large, we watched a haze of smoke obscure the mountains, from the locals slashing and burning the fields.

Spotted: leaping grasshoppers.  I had never really appreciated grasshoppers' ability to fly until I was going through bushes here and they were leaping out of the way by the hundred.  They sprang aloft, then fluttered to a new perch out of the way.  It was beautiful.