Motorcycle ride in the rain
A few of us are riding up to the caves tomorrow, why don’t you hop on the back and tag along? Suggests James. He had jumped into the conversation I was having with Louisa about malaria pills. James, from Edmonton, studies birds, and had applied for a masters program at a university in Holland. Half Thai with long shaggy hair, he talks a bit like a surfer/street kid. Later, when I ask him if the caves impressed him, he says “yah, they’re dec”.
So I tagged along on the back of James motorbike. We rode up to the Phong Nha caves with two Kiwi boys, Max and Oscar. We meet up with several others from the Farm Stay who had ridden up there on bicycles. All of us chip in for a boat, and we crouch to get under the awning to sail toward the caves.
The mouth of the Phong Nha caves is a small and low. If the water level rises much, I don’t think we’d be able to get into the cave. During the war, the Vietnamese hid in this cave and used it as a bit of a hospital. The Americans couldn’t get their missiles and bombs through the narrow opening into the cave. When we get inside we see the cave is massive; I can imagine a whole community living underneath here.
I’m stopped by a Vietnamese tourist, “can take picture?” he asks me. Sure, no problem, I say and reach for his camera. But no, instead he hooks his arm through mine and stands next to me to pose for a photo. Next, two other Vietnamese girls surround me, and then the remaining 6 or 7 others come and we all pose for a group shot. They move on to Ben, the British guy standing near me and ask to pose with him too. We feel like celebrities…haha. This usually only happens to Caucasian tourists…but today, I get the star treatment too.
On the boat ride back, we see a storm building. It starts to rain…then pour. Tropical rainstorm. By the time we get to the shore, it’s properly bucketing down and we dash to find cover in a restaurant nearby. Running through quickly forming giant puddles, we’re soaked by the time we sit down at the restaurant./ Three of the guys decide to bicycle back in the rain. I stay to eat lunch with the other four, hoping the rain will ease up by the time we finish eating, but no luck. We brave the rain and climb on the motorbikes and ride back to the village with the rain stinging our faces and the tires splashing through giant puddles. Great fun!
