u/Femboy_Felix_Argyle

Just got to the early steam age and I'm finally exploring the Beneath for the first time, but I'm not 100% sure how it "functions" if that makes sense. There are a few mechanics I have questions on.

1. I noticed that some trees spawn down there (though not many), does that mean that you can grow trees down there even without sunlight? Could I be slick and plant some Kapok trees down there to get latex without building god's longest railroad to get to the equator?
2. I'm assuming that the elemental endermen and piglins work similarly to vanilla, where endermen will stay neutral unless you look at them and piglins won't attack you if you wear gold armor. Is this true, or do I need a disguise kit to not get ganked while trading with piglins?
3. Right now I'm using a pit with a ladder to get to and from the Beneath, but every time I come back up the hallway I built gets messed up when the 3x3x3 area around you gets hollowed out. Is there any way to prevent this, or some other way to get down the the beneath that doesn't require that 3x3x3 area to get deleted?

Those are all the questions I have so far, but feel free to give advice about anything else helpful you can think of! Ways to stay cool without chugging ice soup, ways to prevent mobs from spawning inside bases built in the Beneath, all that stuff! Thanks :)