Early on we approached the entrance to one of the (supposedly genuine) tunnels. The hole in the ground entrance was absolutely tiny and it didn't look possible that a grown adult could enter it. Moments later, a tourist popped out of it, followed by another. It was a very tight squeeze, but nevertheless I intended to go in. A few people dropped through the hole before me, just squeezing in, although the large American before me just stuck in the hole. I had a sudden desire to play 'Whack A Mole', but opted against it.
Once the American climbed out, I dropped down the narrow hole myself. Stupidly, it was only once I had crawled a couple of feet that it hit me that it would be pitch black! As I slowly felt my way forward and round a bend, it was impossible to see where to go. I could hear the voices of some of my group members ahead of me and I was able to follow their voices. Meanwhile it was impossible to know if I was wading through leaves, mud or insects. At one point I appeared to place my hand through what felt like a large spiders web.
Suddenly I noticed that the voices ahead of me had totally gone, and so I called them. There was no response. I called again but they were gone, totally baffling me.
As I carried on crawling, something fairly large seemed to flutter past me. Then I placed my hand on something flat on the wall, triggering lots more fluttering; large flying insects I presumed. A voice from a fellow tourist soon came from behind me - "They're probably bats"!. Despite the frequent fluttering I continued to try and feel the way, but all I felt was wall. Somehow I appeared to have hit a dead end. By now a little bit of light was flashing around and a tourist appeared behind me. I told her it was a dead end and so borrowed her torch. It revealed a bat hanging upside down immediately next to my face, and another few flying about. I had somehow missed a turning and crawled straight into a mini bat tunnel! Just a few feet behind me there had been a left turning, and the exit! We were not many feet below ground, but even the voices of the tourists above ground had been completely shut out.
That evening I bought my open ticket bus ticket which granted me multiple stops in Vietnam until I reached Hanoi in the far north. The following day, therefore, I caught a bus to the first stop, Mui Ne. Here I met Swedes Martin and Jennifer.
On Sunday we each took a motorbike taxi to the White Sand Dunes. The sand dunes were huge, and we were able to rent a plastic sheet to ride them. Riding down the dunes is hard; you have to lay right down in order to spread out your body weight, and lift up the front of the sheet to stop any sand weighing you down.
After a couple of test rides, we trekked to the highest, steepest peak we could find. By the time we got there we were exhausted; climbing sand dunes is extremely tiring, and it was very hot. Once my energy had returned however, I ran towards the hill, jumped, and slid down. While I hadn't quite mastered the technique I started to really pick up speed towards the bottom. After climbing back up the hill again, however, I was too exhausted to face doing it again.That night was spent in a bar with Martin and Jennifer and included a game of pool with some Vietnamese. The following day involved a bus ride to the next beach; Nha Trang. My time in Nha Trang has largely involved relaxing on the beach, watching TV or reading the brilliant Da Vinci Code (The Lord Of The Rings trilogy was finished in Mui Ne). Tuesday was a very late night. I met a Dane called Alex and a couple of Russians guys he had met, and by the end of the surreal night we ended up on the beach until sunrise surrounded by lots of early rising Vietnamese.
Time is short in Vietnam though; Its a large country but I still have many more places to go before my flight from Singapore in May. Today I will experience my very first sleeper bus, an experience with I've heard mixed reviews about.
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