We were all up pretty early again, even though breakfast wasn’t ready until 730am. Before leaving the retreat in the boats, we tried on some of the Vietnamese attire – the hats were really quite heavy. Mandy and I also ended up wearing the same top and shorts – both from Sweaty Betty!

We said our farewells to our lovely host family before setting off.

On the way back to the bus, we stopped off at Puong Cave. This cave is 300m long and over 30m high. It was formed when the Nang river ran through the limestine mountains.

There are lots of beautiful stalacmites and stalactites within the cave. But the main attraction is the bats, there are tens of thousands of them and they are very noisy. One of them was lying on a rock and looked quite dazed, but after a couple of minutes, he flew off.

We obviously took some posey photos in the cave, too.

We reunited with our bus and then drove via Ban Na and Na Phax villages across the Pia Oac mountain range.

We stopped off at a local cafe for a lovely traditional lunch. There was a massive spider there, luckily on the other side of the room, and some cute dogs.

After lunch, which we shared with the dogs, we continued our journey into the mountains along narrow, windy roads. A couple of times, we came face to face with trucks, and either us or them had to reverse.

The minibus couldn’t get to our homestay, so we had to walk a short distance through the village to get there. The homestay was slightly more basic than the previous one but also had flushing toilets and showers (in the same room).

Our hosts were from the Lola tribe who migrated south from China in the 18th century. They tried to make an autonomous area within China but were unsuccessful, so migrated to the mountains in Vietnam.

Once we were settled in, we started a hike up to a pass overlooking the village and surrounding villages. The views were stunning.

As we were walking, we chatted to Nhan about healthcare in Vietnam. The health service is funded by the government in terms of hospital care but only covers the cost of cheap medicines. Vietnamese people have to pay for the more expensive and effective European medicines. Vietnamese people have to buy health insurance. The government does support people over 70, but again, only via the cheaper options. There is a main doctor in the bigger towns, but each community has a small emergency centre run by a nurse.

Many people who live in the mountains just accept dying as it is too expensive to go to the hospital, and they don’t have health insurance as they can’t afford it. The Shaman pray with the people who are dying and try to get their energy back. They used to use medicines sourced from wild animals, which then became extinct in Vietnam, such as tigers.

As we were walking, the sun began to set behind the mountains.

During our walk, we came across several beautiful flowers and also tapioca, cinnamon and hemp plantations.

When we got back to the homestay, we had time to relax as the host family prepared our dinner over an open fire in the communal area.

I made friends with the family’s cat, he was extremely friendly.

Dinner was served on top of newspapers laid out on the floor. It was very tasty.

The host family invited us all to partake in some homemade rice wine – it tasted like schnapps. Both Chris and Jackie weren’t drinking, but the rest of us tried a glass or two. It was very strong.

After dinner, we chatted for a bit before heading to bed.

Unfortunately, I had an extremely hard mattress, so I didn’t sleep that well. The family members slept behind us, just through the partitions.