Going underground in North Vietnam

After 26 days travelling in Vietnam we have finally crossed the frontier known as the DMZ - the demilitarized zone - which separated North and South Vietnam during the American war. It seems like we've been travelling north for a long time through this remarkable country, but it turns out we've only seen half of it. To give ourselves a bit more flexibility with what we do next, we've extended our visas for an extra two weeks.

From the beautiful, quaint paradise of Hoi An (with so many beautiful clothes shops, that I can't begin to tell you how hard it was for me not to buy an entirely new travelling wardrobe!), we headed to Hue (pronounced Whey). Hue was the capital of the Nguyen dynasty in the 19th and 20th Century. It was a puppet empire, first for the Chinese and then the French, but left behind a stunning citadel full of beautiful archways, buildings and Chinese architecture - until the French, followed by the Americans bombed most of it to the ground.

We spent the afternoon wondering around what is left of this amazing place. There's a big restoration project in place, but I doubt it will ever be close to its former glory.

From Hue we got the 10:00 train four hours up the coast to a quiet, untouristic town called Dong Hoi. We're really off the tour routes now and far away from the 'buy one get one free', 'free drinks for girls' and 'cheap price' venders. Our soul reason for stopping here is the caves in Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park. We hired a driver to take us and an American girl yesterday... and WOW!!!! This place is amazing! We spent most of the day with our jaws on the ground.

The landscape around the caves is breathtaking - my geography geek really came out again. Limestone karst mountains which look like strange dragons rising out of the flood plain. And inside, the most incredible, enormous caves. First we visited Phong Nha cave, which has been open for some time. Only accessible by boat, this cave is something of a Vietnamese tourist attraction. The incredible limestone formations are lit with multi-coloured lights, but were probably the most beautiful caves I've ever seen. That was until we headed for our second destination - Paradise Cave. This cave only opened to the public a year ago. It's part of the longest cave network in the World, and it's massive! The stalactites and stalagmites in the cave are off the scale they are so enormous. We both find the fact that most people visiting Vietnam don't stop here incredible. We definitely got our fix of caves for this trip.

Tonight we're off to Nim Binh to see more amazing limestone mountains.

Love to everyone at home.

Jo x