We had met a young German woman at our hotel in Ninh Binh and she was also going to Dong Hoi and so she and a young Brit shared a cab with us to Red Pepper Hotel. Our room is quite sparse and it is a shared bathroom but we have a front row view of the river and the South China Sea and it is only $15 per night.

Today we rented motor scooters; this was the first place I would even consider driving around. The is not too much traffic and the roads are good so we rode around most of the day. We drove up and down the beach road and went into town to mail postcards. That was quite a time so if anyone gets a postcard from us from Vietnam it will be a miracle.

Dong Hoi is not a tourist city; in fact Western tourists were mostly unheard of until about 2 years ago. We got many double takes and triple takes while scootering around. Its primary occupation is fishing and beaches. Well about 3 months ago, a Chinese company several miles away “accidentally” poured some toxins from their plant into the ocean killing all the seafood for miles around and now these people’s livelihood is ruined for at least a year. The company was fined $100 million USD which was supposed to go to those losing their livelihood. Well, they each received 500,000VND ($23USD) and then the government came and took it back. And a couple of weeks ago, a typhoon flooded this area and farther north, 24 people dead and crops and houses ruined. The beaches here are no longer sand but refuse and wood being washed down the river from the flooded areas. The only good news is that this is off-season for beaches so they might be able to recover for next year.

We briefly met a young Brit at the train station here and he gave us a business card of a beachside bar. So we decided to go there for lunch. And what a great lunch it was! They are right on the water and the vibe of the place is very chill. The owner, Anh, bought the remains of an old home and installed the columns and ceiling and little second floor that was used to store possessions in flooding times.

Two others, Katja from Berlin, and Ross from the UK, were on our train in and we shared a taxi because we were all staying at the same place. So last evening we were all sitting on the porch having a drink and we all decided to go back to the beach bar for dinner. How do I describe last night? Probably one of the funnest nights on this vacation and one of the funnest nights I have had in a long while. We started with a beer for them and a cider for me. Then we ate a delicious dinner. Then Oscar, the Brit who gave us the business card and who is staying there for a couple of months and helping out, came and joined us. Then Anh, the owner started pouring us shots. We had 6 different rounds, a vodka/tequila/peach schnapps mixture (which was fabulous) and a couple of local rum, and some Sapphire gin, and some Russian vodka, and who know what else. We ended the night by singing to Queen songs at the top of our lungs and dancing around the bar. Not to over-analyze it, but we were in Vietnam, partying with people we didn’t know existed 24 hours ago, having the time of our lives! One of the young Brits wants us to adopt him! It was pure and simple global fun!

And as a side note, one of the Vietnamese waitresses…I am pretty sure she was hitting on me!!!!

Buzz and Katja and Oscar rode the scooters to Paradise Cave. I figured I had seen a lot of caves and I knew that meant lots and lots of climbing and I would rather go to a cooking class at the Beachside Bar, taught by Anh.

So off they went….I will let Buzz tell you about this part….

So, the scooter ride was absolutely amazing. It took longer than promised by about 2 hours, but that was fine with us. The scenery through the countryside was stunning. We were on part of the Ho Chi Minh trail for about an hour and went past rice fields that still had bomb craters in them. Once we turned off the main road to head back to the cave, we still had about 45 minutes to go. We went past small villages, schools, stores and churches. There were lots of cows and water buffalo on the road that we had to swerve around which added to the challenge. Swerving around “road apples” from horses back in PA is nothing compared to “road cantaloupes” from water buffalo!! Turns out, the valley to the cave was used by the Viet Cong as a base of operations during the war. Evidently many American planes had flown up the valley straifing and bombing.

Paradise cave is by far the biggest and most beautiful cave I have ever seen. To be honest, I had gotten rather jaded about caves. I was tired of the colored lights trying to make them look pretty. And if I hear one more tour guide say “Look over there and you can imagine that is an elephant!” (Yeah, if I keep one eye closed and poke the other one out maybe….)

Anyway, this cave is different, way different. It is managed by a caving group from the UK and the US. The white only lighting is subdued and well done; the colors of the cave itself are accented rather than being artificially enhanced. The signs are minimal and the walkways are wide and built to protect the kilometer long cave as much as possible. I will let the pictures speak for themselves, but trust me, they do not do justice to it.

Back to Kim…..

I had arranged to use the bicycle from the AirBNB to get to the cooking class. When the time came, no one who could speak English was around and they had no idea what I was talking about, even though I thought bicycle would be a universal word. So I stated asking for Phil, the owner, still no recognition from her at all. It took me 50 minutes to walk and it was so humid and I was so mad. So I got there, calmed down, and cooking class started and we had delightful time. We cooked Banh Loc, which is a dumpling using tapioca flour and I really didn’t like it; the texture is too sticky. You go through all the trouble of wrapping them individually in banana leaves for they won’t stick together when you steam them and then you put them in a big sticky pile! We also made fried spring rolls out of corn paper, instead of rice paper and they were quite good. We had our fill and some discussion with Anh, the rest of the staff and Niko from Switzerland. A filling lunch, a hard cider, and a coffee shake, and the cooking lesson cost $6. I walked back in a good mood and enjoyed the stroll back.

When everyone was back from the cave and I saw the photos, I was sad I did not go but when I heard about the climb up the horrible stairs, I was ok with it!  We headed over to the Beachside again for some dinner and an early bedtime.