PHAT TIRE VENTURES
If you are the kind of person that isn’t thrilled about having clothes made when it’s 35 degrees Celsius it may time to reconsider your options. Maybe you’ve seen all the cultural sights in Hoi An, you’ve done a sunset boat cruise on the Thu Bon River, you’ve gorged yourself on fresh seafood at Cua Dai Beach and yet you are still looking for something to do why not throw yourself down a big dark hole?
On Saturday 6th March that’s exactly what I did. I went out with the guys from Phat Tire Ventures a Dalat based company that has set up another office in Hoi An and they run climbing/abseiling trips and mountain bike tours amongst other activities. I chose the half day option and went climbing and abseiling.
At 8.00am I met Thanh the lead guide at their office and we threw all the gear into the waiting van, harnesses, ropes, helmets, climbing shoes, hardware and ropes and set off for Marble Mountains where we arrived 20 minutes later.
Instead of stopping to marvel at the marble carving we made our way up all the steps to the top. Thanh and his crew then set about rigging a practice abseil on a small slope for me to get comfortable with things before setting a 15 meter abseil right next to “Heaven” cave.
The hardest part of abseiling (rappelling) is getting to the “jump off” point and by the time I got there I was a sweaty puddle of a human. Geared up it was time to take the plunge and with excellent guidance and instruction from Thanh and his team I was perched on the edge ready to let gravity do it’s thing.
It was all over very quickly but great fun coming down to the cheers of all the locals gawking at the odd folk in helmets and harnesses.
The second abseil was in to a small cave, a 25 meter drop which set me right for the final one in to “Hell” a cave called An Phu in Vietnamese. This was going to be the big one – 50 meters down into a gaping abyss, no clue what was below. Was I afraid? Perish the thought! I had supreme confidence in the rigging done by the guides, the explanations and instructions made sense and the previous abseils set me on the right track, so all I was feeling was excitement.
My turn came up second and I couldn’t wait. Once attached it was time to make like a tea bag attached securely to my rope complete with a safety back up line.
How can I describe it? Amazing? Over used. Awesome? Too cliché. Bloody bonza! Yep, that’ll do just fine. How cool is it to vanish into your unknown, into a cave called Hell attached to ropes and landing in a chamber behind an altar lit by subtle lighting, a cave that hid the Viet Cong during the war.
Truly incredible!
Whilst the boys broke down the gear it allowed me the opportunity to wander around An Phu Cave a place dotted with demons and small statues in various states of trauma, experiencing Buddhist “hell”. It may sound a little “Stephen King” but I can assure you going from Heaven to Hell with Phat Tire Ventures is well worth it!
P.S We squeezed in a short climb too which had the locals admiring our fearless skills.
Contact:
Tour Guide: Mr Thanh
Mobile: 0989 686 898
Hoi An Motorbike Adventures
Now, all this adrenalin fueled activity could leave you feeling all pumped up and ready for more excitement. Why not combine the climbing/abseiling with a half day motorbike tour on the mighty Belorussian Minsk motorbike as made famous by the team from Top Gear?
You can drive yourself or if you haven’t had any experience riding a motorbike, go on the back with a professional driver and head out on a 60 km loop through the countryside surrounding Hoi An.
A great journey off the beaten track, via villages, past swimming water buffalo, kids screaming “hello”, single track through forests, past war cemeteries, over floating bridges, amongst rice paddies not seeing another tourist en route.
The Minsk motorbike has it’s own character as do the guides (Mark – Australia, Simone – Germany) that take you out on the tour.
You can’t have more fun in a day, see parts of Vietnam that others don’t, get the blood racing and it all goes to making the beer at the end of the day taste so much better!
Contact:
54A Phau Chau Trinh St
Tel: 0510 3911 930
Mobile: +84 (0) 918 230 653
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This article was written by Adam Martin. Check out Adams photography from around Asia at http://www.asianimages-
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