We went on an EPIC CAVE adventure in VIETNAM! (Wild Tu Lan Cave Explorer Tour)

This ranks up there with one of the most epic things we've ever done. Never forget this. Welcome to Phong Nha, Vietnam, an area in central Vietnam known for its many caves, including the world's largest natural cave by volume, Hong Son Dong, at 38.5 million cubic meters. However, visiting it comes with a pretty hefty price tag, so instead, we're going to visit some of the many other caves in the area on the 4-day Wild Tulon Cave Explorer Tour with And over the next few days, we're going to be hiking, exploring, and swimming in caves, seeing waterfalls, and camping on one epic adventure. We just met up with our guide, Dat, and the rest of our group, got shuttled closer to our starting point, went through a briefing, and packed up our gear. So we each get a bag to carry with our gear, we give a bag to the porter that we'll get at camp at night, and then we're also leaving all of the rest of our gear here at the lodge. And now it's time to head to our first cave of the trip. The Tulon Cave System has over 20 caves, and on this trip, we'll be visiting six of them, and the first one is Rat Cave. We're just going to cross our fingers that there's not a specific animal that lives in there that gives it its name. We've already learned so much on this tour, and we're still at the very beginning, but we just walked by an oxalis plant, and our guide told us that that's what the company is named after. It kind of looks like a four-leaf clover. The reason why the owner chose this leaf, because he used to eat this when he was young, childhood food. And this also has a symbol for it, it means unity, because they always grow together in the bush. Getting our first glimpse of the cave, and it's so cool. And apparently, to get to it, we have to cross the river. Oh, it's chilly. Oh my gosh, it is strong. Oh wow. So three factors for the size of the cave is the quality of the limestone, the amount of water, and how big is the first crack. So if the crack is small, the cave will be small too, because it doesn't have enough time for the water to erode before it gets lifted out of the water. This cave is four million years old, and one of the ones we'll go to at the end of the trip is seven million years old. Hearing that just makes you feel like a tiny speck in the universe. Many of these caves have been found by locals, and whoever finds it, gets to name it. This cave was named Rat Cave because it looked like the mouth of a rat, with two teeth on top and the tree line being its tongue. One amazing thing about this tour is that they cook all of our meals for us, and we're about to have a picnic in a cave. Not a bad spot for lunch. We are climbing up to the second floor of this cave. It's so tight, and apparently it's going to be even tighter tomorrow. I'm crawling. We only had one cave today, and for the rest of the day, we're going to have a very muddy, very wet hike up three mountains to get to our campsite. It's so muddy, and everything has thorns on it. Everything wants to hurt you. I have a leech right on my wrist. Oh no. So you're supposed to spray it with bug spray, and it'll go away. If I don't pull it off, then now I'm bleeding. So we sprayed it, and it fell off, and now I'm bleeding. But you're not going to die. It's okay. I'm not going to die, hopefully. Woohoo! We made it! This is our home for the night. How epic is this? For the first two nights, we are tent camping, and on the third night, we have a bit more of a luxurious stay. At the campsite, each group has a tent, and inside of the tent, there's a sleeping pad, a sleeping bag, and a pillow. They also have an area to eat, an area they're cooking, a changing room, a sauna, and a bathroom, which we have yet to go see, so let's go check it out. So we've got a composting toilet. Living in the van, we know all about these. So do your business in here, and then dump some rice husk on top of it so it stops the smell, and that's all there is to it. This experience is like glamping backpacking. What I love about it is we still get to go camp in very remote locations, just like when we go backpacking, but the best part is we don't have to do any of the hard work, minus the hiking. That was a little difficult, but we don't have to lug out the tents, the gear, the food. We have someone here that sets up the tents, and they cook us home-cooked meals, no dehydrated meals. I could get used to this. All right, let's go take a dip. It's not too bad, though. I'll take that back. You won't get in unless I get in, so here we go. Come on, let's go. All right! We did it. Donna time. Oh, it's so steamy in here. I don't think you can see us, but this is nice. Nice and warm. We forgot a towel, so we're just kind of letting ourselves air dry. This isn't helping, but it is making us warmer. Oh, wow. That was nice. This dinner spread is ridiculous. Never would I have ever expected a spread like this on a camping trip. Like I said, I could get used to this. Jackfruit salad, barbecue pork, JFC jungle fried chicken, we got chips, bok choy soup, stir-fried bok choy, and beef stew. Wow, thank you. This tent feels pretty comfy. It's got like a mattress pad on the bottom, and it is way bigger than ours. We're going to sleep good. Oh, yeah. It was such a fun first day out here, and from what we hear, tomorrow is going to be insanely epic. Good night. Good night. Sleep tight. Good morning from day two. Slept pretty well. I was very tired when we went to bed, so the padding in the tent felt really good, but then as the night progressed, it got a little harder, but that's to be expected when you're camping. Today, we're going to be swimming in two caves, and to get to the first one, we have to take a boat. Actually, it's more like a raft. It should be fun. The cave entrance looks like a mouth, and the river is like a tongue, and tongue in the local language is lan, and tu means boobies. You see that? There are two mouths that look like boobies. Tu lan literally translates to licking boobies. That's a great name for a cave. That's a perfect name. That's awesome. We're ready to get up to the dry passage, where we have to climb into a small hole a bit. We are climbing up into this cave with ropes to assist us. This tour is so much more adventurous than I thought it would be, and I'm loving it. This is so cool. Oh, wow. We go this way? Oh, my gosh. This is so intense. It's kind of scary. This is so fun. These fungus have golden color, but also it's killing the cave slowly. The fungus is sucking the moist out of the rock, making the whole structure a bit weaker and weaker. The size of this cave depends on how long it stays in the water, because the longer it stays in the water, the more time for the water to erode all of this and make it bigger in the chamber. The exit to this cave is so epic. Got the light beams coming in, and then just the jungle on the outside. It's like from a movie. I'm just waiting for a dinosaur, like King Kong, to come busting through this cave entrance. Graceful. Okay, I lied. We were not swimming at the last cave, but I think we have a chance to swim at this cave, and this cave that we're going into next is the one that was at our campsite with the waterfall coming out of it. This cave is called the Ken Cave and was discovered back in 2010. At the time, there was no water flowing out of it, but in 2011, the waterfall that exits the cave appeared, and it is now the longest river cave in the Toulon cave system, with a total length of more than 3 kilometers. We just climbed up to view the entrance of this cave, and it is so magical. This tour just keeps getting better and better. What's really cool is that every single cave has been different so far, so it's just kept it super interesting. Alright, we're going for a little swim. 1, 2, 3! Woah! That's fresh! You just go in your clothes, so you have to be okay with being soaking wet. We're in a cave! Heck yeah! I'm a little concerned about how we get out. We're gonna go down this hole. Wait. Down this hole? We go down that hole. I can't believe we're going in this hole. I was not expecting that. Oh my gosh! I don't know how I'm gonna fit through this, but we're gonna try. Easy does it. Success! This is cool. Holy cow! This is so cool. We're straight climbing in a cave right now with water below us, in a cave canyon. We have to lower ourselves down into the water. This is so narrow. Tight. Squeeze. Alright. We did it! Oh my gosh! Just went to the rock to the left of the waterfall, and you crawl along it, and you can get behind there, and there's like a grotto back there. And the water is just like caving down. You just hang out in there and sit in there. That was so cool. But then when I was coming out, you gotta really punch out. I didn't do that. It's like really pushing you under the water, and you kind of get trapped there a little bit. It was kind of scary. Alright, and now it's time for our third and final cave of the day. And from what we hear, we're going to be getting pretty wet. This can withstand a lot of pounds. What are you trying to say? So to get out of this cave, you have to swim. So we've been carrying these dry barrels here for all of our electronics and things we don't want to get wet. So this camera and our other camera will be going in there, and we're just going to cross our fingers that it really does stay dry. It makes me a little nervous, but I think it'll be okay. Stay safe. We are about to get in the water in this pitch black cave. It's so cold. I thought it was crazy earlier. This is next level. The bats are flying so low. Bats are flying all around us right now. It's one thing to swim in a cave, you know, where there's some light, but to swim in winter, it's completely dark, and the bats are flying right over you. Wow. Never forget this. Oh my gosh. That one was like six inches from my face. This ranks up there with one of the most epic things we've ever done. Heck yeah. Oh man, that was an adventure. The campsite's just over there, but to get to it, I've got to swim to it. That was fun. Now for the moment of truth. It feels really heavy and full of water. I hope you're kidding. A little too tight. Oh, this looks dry. This looks dry. The camera looks dry. Heck yeah. Another absolutely jaw-dropping campsite. While the adventures on this trip were epic, some of our favorite moments were just hanging out at camp, getting to know the other tourmates, enjoying ginger tea by the fire, eating delicious meals, and just relaxing at the end of the day. Sometimes, the small moments are just as memorable as the big moments. It's day three, our last day on the trail. We've got two caves today, starting with the Sung Cave. That was an intense one. But check it out. We made it. I'm wearing my rain jacket. It's like the only thing I had that was dry. I'm like drenched in sweat. That was such a workout. The hikes have been a lot harder than I anticipated. I'm not mad about it because we wanted a challenge. And we've done. Oh my gosh, that is a tiny hole. Here we go. In the air, there's sometimes plastic water. And then the water just fly around with calcium carbonate in it, stick onto the rock, and just form slowly, slowly into... looks like coral. All these formations are just so cool. They're just the craziest things you could ever imagine. It's a whole other world under here. It truly is. Whoa, that is so cool. They look like the little terracotta soldiers. This formation, it needs a unique type of condition to make this. In the past, this used to be a pool of water. And the thing is, there is no motion in this water. And there are some calcium wrap on the water. And by chance, the water from the top, when it falls down, it falls directly onto the calcium wrap. And through the time, the calcium wrap becomes heavier and heavier and sinks down to the bottom. And from there, the water keeps dripping down, and the water inside the pool builds the formation slowly and slowly. There are only around five caves in the world that got that formation. This is one of the craziest things I've ever seen. So this point is the end of this cave. Because you can see around here, it has a really good terrain for us to sit down and enjoy the darkness. Okie dokie. After enjoying the darkness, we made the hike out of the cave and back down the mountain, devoured some lunch, and then hit the trail to our final cave of the trip. Bye! They left us! Just kidding, there's just not enough room for all of us. They came back for us! Woohoo! Let's go! Hey! That is a massive ladder. We read that it's 15 meters tall, and we have to wear a harness to go up it. It's a little scary. I'm not going to look down too much. Alright, I'm almost there. Made it! Woohoo! We made it out, and that was a really cool grand finale, but even though the cave part of our tour is over, the tour's not over quite yet. We now have a hike to our home for the night, and it should be pretty sick. There are three things you can guarantee on this tour. One, you're going to have fun. Two, you're going to get wet. And three, you're going to get muddy. Yeah! I'm a champion! We are the champions! Welcome back! Thank you! Yay! Thank you! You're the best! Cheers! This is where we're staying tonight, and I am so excited. Well, this beats the heck out of a tent. As part of this specific excursion, we get one night included at the Toulon Lodge, and holy cow, this place is incredible. I think it's probably the nicest place that we have ever stayed. First, we have this gigantic bed. It is for sure bigger than a king-size bed. It's actually wider than it is long. It is ginormous. I think the entire tour group could fit on this bed together. And then the best part, this view, this is the best view we've ever had from a place we've stayed. Just mountains all over, so many water buffalo. I'm already so excited to wake up tomorrow just to see this view out the window. And apparently, the bathroom in here is pretty unique, but we have no idea what they mean by that, so let's go check it out. Oh, nice. Very nice. Oh my gosh, it's huge! You can dance in here. Oomph, oomph, oomph, oomph, oomph, oomph, oomph, oomph, oomph, oomph. And then you got the view again. You don't have to miss the view while showering or going to the bathroom. I don't want to leave. Could we stay for the rest of the trip? I don't know what's better. The tour through the caves or this hotel room. The tour. The tour was definitely better, but this is the perfect cherry on top. It's a nice added bonus. And last but not least, we have a patio that is locked. Hold on. Tomorrow morning, this is the spot you'll find me sipping on my coffee. Yeah, baby. Running up to you like a million bucks. We are all clean and smelling fresh and tonight we get to do something pretty special. We're going to be going to one of our supporters houses to learn more about the culture of the people who live in this area and have a home cooked meal. The village surrounding the Toulon Cape system is home to the Nguyen people and every year their village is impacted by flooding that fills their houses with water. But partially due to fundraising efforts by Oxalis, these locals now have floating houses which they move to during floods while they wait for the water levels to go down. We got to see these floating houses as well as learn about their permanent homes. Basically, every single house in this area, they will have the same structure. You see there are three different chambers. On one side will be for parents, the other side for the kids, and in the middle is the altar for all the passed away family members. On top over here, you see there are wooden beams. This wooden beam before the floating house was where the locals would bring all their stuff put it up there to keep it safe from the flood. Our porter's family cooked us a huge spread of local foods with some items that we have tried before plus some that were new to us. My first try of snail. Pretty good. Not bad. Here we go. Chew, chew, chew. A little chewy. But it's not bad. Getting to spend the evening in a local's home and learn about their way of life was an extremely rewarding way to end an incredible few days with Oxalis. I'm so excited to sleep in a real bed. Oh yeah. That was the best night of sleep in a long... Although we are so far away from each other. I still can't even touch him. Maybe that's why he slept so well. I had to call her in the middle of the night on my phone. She was so far away. In case you couldn't tell, we had a blast on this tour and there are so many great things we could say about it. Starting with our guide, Dat. Dat, you were awesome. Thank you so much for everything. The porter crew was also incredible. The campsites were amazing and beautiful. The food was... So good. We had no idea we'd be eating such good food ever on a camping trip. It was delicious and then of course the caves were just absolutely insane. Everything was just 10 out of 10 and this was our first time ever doing kind of a longer group tour experience and we weren't sure how we'd feel about it but we loved it. It was so fun to get to meet other people and just kind of have people to hang out with at night. I think it made the experience even more fun. They do offer other tours both longer and more intense and shorter and easier so there's options for everyone but if you're on the fence we highly recommend the tour that we did but from here we are flying a couple hours north to another area of Vietnam that is loaded with natural beauty.