🇻🇳 Phong Nha - Side Quests

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes

I came to Phong Nha to do some trekking in the jungle (I’ll cover that in a separate post) and had a free day to explore the town. Phong Nha is home to many caves, including the largest one in the world - Son Doong. It also has a few quirky attractions. The town itself is very relaxed, nestled between various hills and lakes. It seems like a nice place to relax and spend a few days.

The Duck Stop

I met some people in my hostel who also wanted to visit the Duck Stop - a duck farm where you become a “duck leader” by bribing ducks with food.

The cycle over was amazing. I’ve loved hiring bicycles and just riding around in Vietnam, especially after getting jaded by motorbikes in Ha Giang. It’s probably now my favourite way to explore somewhere new.

(I didn’t realise how much I was panting in the video; it was a hot day).

After arriving at the Duck Stop, we were given straw hats and took turns feeding the ducks.

The activities slowly escalated - from dropping food at our feet and having the ducks peck our toes, to sprawling duck food over ourselves and getting a “duck massage” 🤨.

There was an obscene amount of ducks on the farm, and suddenly it made sense why there are so many restaurants in Phong Nha specialising in duck…

Overall, it was a fun time, and we even got to make some (duck-free) spring rolls after. It was worth a stop.

The Monkey Bridge

A little further from the Duck Stop, but in the same village, is the Monkey Bridge. It’s a thin bridge which you can try crossing on a bicycle, based on traditional Vietnamese improvised bridges (cầu khỉ). The rest of my group left as they didn’t fancy covering the extra distance by bicycle (the backpackers here tend not to be the adventurous type I met in India and Nepal), so I checked it out on my own.

The gist is that you pay the small entrance fee, get 3 tries to cross the bridge, and get awarded varying amounts of drinks depending on how many attempts it takes you to cross the bridge (if you cross it at all). Also, the bike doesn’t have brakes.

I didn’t manage to cross the bridge on any of my 3 attempts, falling spectacularly every time.

They gave me another, 4th go. Maybe they just got a kick out of seeing tourists make fools out of themselves. I managed to cross the bridge on this attempt, which felt great. Cycling around London for 3 years prepared me for this well.

Afterwards, I got to enjoy two drinks of my choice while chatting to the other punters and assessing how badly I hurt my right knee (it wasn’t too bad). It seemed like most people fell in right away, or in the case of the Dutch, got it on their first go.

Cycling back, I saw that other homestays and shacks offered their own quirky activities, perhaps trying to capitalise on the success of the Duck Stop. Some were less wholesome than others.

I was pretty chuffed with my useless achievements that night.