Friday 29th, to Saturday 30th April 2005 - A day in the Bing Höhle with Phan and Phuong
On our first Friday afternoon away we arrived at Phan and Phuong's house in Erlangen, just north of Nürnberg in Bavaria, Germany. We were pretty keen to get a wiggle on so that we could make the most of our holiday and therefore originally intended to stay for only one night; but Phan and Phuong had other ideas. It was almost Mutiny on the Bounty when we divulged out minimalistic plans; they hollered and bleated and wailed and shrieked, whilst stamping their feet, shaking their fists, pulling nasty faces and flailing about in a frenzy: it was a Vietnamese war dance on the streets of Erlangen! We would have taken photos, but it was far to fearsome for the website...
Need I say that we crumbled under such terrible pressure and changed our plans on the spot. We'd stay three nights, and not one. And I promise that it had nothing to do with the three-day Vietnamese feast, nor the nature park excursion that they had planned... We're not that fickle!
The first night Phuong went all out in her usual style and prepared a feast of monumental proportions - Vietnamese rice paper rolls, with almost every conceivable filling and more dipping sauces than a French chef would make in a lifetime. She set all the goodies out on the table, and each person made their own rolls with whatever combination of goodies took their fancy. Unfortunately I have to report again that the night went by without photographic evidence. You see I was in an eating frenzy: rice paper rolls in both hands, rolls in my mouth, extra rolls in the making on my plate. Hell, I even took off my shoes so that I could hold the spare rolls with my toes!
Phuong had been told by friends at work that the nearby nature park (Naturpark Fränkische Schweiz-Weldensteiner) was a great place for a day's outing, so they piled into our bus in the morning and we blasted off. As we headed towards the park I inspected the map and discovered a Bing Höhle. Wow! A Bing Höhle! Coooool! I'd never seen a Bing Höhle before! I checked with the others and neither had they. So with absolutely no idea what a Bing Höhle actually was, we made haste and drove straight there! After all, we'd never seen a Bing Höhle before.
When we finally arrived at the Bing Höhle parking area there was a little grumbling in the camp. The Bing Höhle sign pointed up a steep walking track into the woods and said something about a 15 minute steep walk up. Interest waned a little at this stage, but I herded the moaning troops up the hill like a shepherd with a big stick; we were going to see a Bing Höhle whether they liked it or not!
Here's Phuong and I when we finally reached the top of the walk. Our car's parked in the village you can see at the bottom of the valley.
To my delight, we didn't just get to see a Bing Höhle, we got to go inside it! Here we are in Germany's Bing Höhle.
We found some very interesting things, wandering about in that Bing Höhle. There were big things.
And there were little things.
There was even a snap off!
All in all it was somewhat brown and cavernous, but what else would you expect from a Bing Höhle?
Here we are heading back down the hill after all the excitement was over.
And this is the lovely scenery as we walked down. It really was a pretty spot.
After a hard morning at the Bing Höhle, there was nothing left to do except stop in at the village beer garden for German snacks and refreshments.
