We had a dinner in town and played some cards before waking up early for our two day tour of Hang Tien caves. After our safety briefing, we jumped into the van to get to the start of the trailhead. Construction trucks took up the whole passage, so our hike was extended by about forty-five minutes.
We had to hike through dense jungle to reach the campsite, located at the basin of a river. Near the camp was a pool of water coming seemingly from nowhere, but trickling into the nearby river. We later found out the water comes directly from one of the caves we would explore. At the camp, we were flushed from the hike. We quickly changed and jumped into the cool river. It’s hard for water to achieve the perfect, refreshing temperature. This water couldn’t be one degree more perfect.
After lunch, we set forth to our first and only cave we would explore that day, named Uy. As I’ve learned a bit about photography, I know dark shots are impossible to achieve without a tripod. These caves are pitch black. In the past, I’ve explored tourist caves which have walkways and are beautifully lit to produce the best pictures. These caves are raw. Looking up with your mouth open is ill-advised as bats are nestled overhead. Of course, our tour guide had a story about that. Crickets and other insects crawl and jump over the rocky and sandy floor. An occasional rat will scurry along, being the bats’ only predator.
We had gloves on and our helmets affixed with strong lights to help guide our way. Looking at the different rock features inside the caves has been on my bucket list for years. Every time I turned my head, my light fixated on another beautiful sight to see. Often, we had to use our hands to traverse up or down steep or narrow passageways.
After taking some pictures and learning more about the caves, we walked back to camp where we would spend the night camping. We grabbed a quick swim before sitting down for dinner together. Jungle flies of all varieties buzzed around the few lights that hung above the table. We were able to last outside until 6:45pm, when the flies became so unbearable that we all said our goodbyes and headed to our tents, protected by fly nets.
The next morning, we were awoken early after getting a full nine hours of sleep. After some banana pancakes (which was breakfast almost every morning of the trip), we began the hike to caves Hang Tien 1 and Hang Tien 2 in the pouring rain. Hang Tien 1 was discovered around 1995 and Hang Tien 2 around 2008. They believe that these two caves were once attached, but due to shifting fault lines throughout history, they became separated. After taking a small row boat to forge the river, we ascended to the first cave. The entrance was majestic. The cave has a massive opening that could probably fit a medium sized airplane. In the two caves, I practiced more of my long exposure photography skills with the rest of the group. I collected everybody’s emails so they too could gain access to my pictures. This way, everybody seemed pretty content being patient with me setting up the tripod.
After exploring the two caves and grabbing lunch, we set forth to hike for three hours back into civilization. This hike was hard, there’s no mistaking this fact. You didn’t need incredible physical fitness, but our shoes should have had suction cups attached to the bottom of them. We had to hike through dense jungle, slippery mud and rocks, and traverse up and down large boulders. We were required to keep the gloves on. I think we all fell at least once during the hike. At times, my shoe would sink so deep into the mud that you could hardly see my ankle. My clothes have never been more wet or dirty. What a great day for a hike. We made it.
Upon returning to the office, bad news would await. I would be in quarantine for the next 18 hours, but at the time I did not know how long. This is explained in my Corona Virus post. My third day of caving would also be cancelled.