We were on the way to Paradise Cave inside Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park. The van wove through dense forest where mountains rose like giant hairy mammoths.

Photos of Halong Bay with their picturesque mountains were not just in the very north of Vietnam. The same mountains graced this countryside too.

We left the van to climb to the cave, but many of us had to stop on the way to take photos of tall straight trees, massive boulders and the picturesque mountains.