When the elevator door opened, the site, I must say, was pretty impressive. I don’t know if it was the strange newness of everything to me. But I had a sense of awe almost everywhere I went in Vietnam. As I walked off the elevator, I passed by the ticket booth selling passes to return down the elevator. I logged its location in the back of my mind. I headed to the railing of the walkway that connected the elevator to the mountainside and looked down on the neighborhood. Populated with its carving houses and shops that filled the streets below.
You could always get a better sense of the code-less and often haphazard building practices if you look at the buildings from above. I am writing this post after I explored the whole complex here in Thuy. But, trust me when I tell you, I had no idea of the magnitude of the site I was getting ready to wander around. Diễm, as was common, would be waiting near the entrance of the complex in the protection of the shade. While I headed off to explore the mountain.
She handed me the tour map the lady had given us with our elevator tickets, and I examined it closely. I was pleased to find that the names of the different sites on the map were given in English. But apart from that, the map didn’t offer much educational information. I took a look at the map and began to understand the scope of this holy site. Given the nature and shape of the mountain, the multi-level Xa Loi Pagoda Tower was all that could be seen from the surrounding area.
I had been given zero information about this place and besides seeing the tower some three weeks ago. I had no information about it save for this map in my hand right now. Upon examining the map I found the mountain to contain the Xa Loi Tower of course. But it also had two observation points, one seaside and one riverside. Additionally, 3 more pagoda and temple complexes, and no less than 6 grottoes. All are carved around a labyrinth of caves and crevices winding deep into the mountain. It seemed that I best get started on exploring The marble mountain called Thuỷ.
The first place one comes to in the complex is, in fact, the towering presence of Xa Loi. Diễm took a few action shots of me goofing off in front of the tower and then took her leave to take shelter from the tanning rays of the tropical sun. Though she often waited for me for hours, I do not feel that she was put out in any way.
I had brought several external batteries to Vietnam and had given her one as we were on the move a lot. They usually kept our phones charged for the bulk of the day. Diem spent her time waiting, participating in her gaming tournaments, or just honing her skills. I would always know when it was time to head back anywhere we were. I would always get a single text that simply said, Dennis. That was always my queue, and I would always respond with Trên đường: on my way.
After I left her on the bench carved into a tree at the base of the tower, it was time to climb some stairs, lots of stairs. The stairs themselves were quite interesting to see. Made of rough marble and some sort of ancient concrete, they climbed up and down the mountain in a very primitive, almost haphazard manner.
About halfway up this section the stairs flattened onto a rather large landing of sorts and they forked into two perpendicular paths. To the left was a slowly rising set of stairs that disappeared up ahead around a bend in the trail. At the end was a seaside lookout and where I was heading now. As I wound up the mountain path, the small pagoda-style pavilion came into view. It was a rather small lookout point, and it was a bit crowded. I took a quick photo and headed back to try the other direction.
I passed the landing and the rough marble stairs headed up the mountain and took a ninety-degree turn up and over a small ridge. The stairs settled down into a small jungle-lined gorge with steep sides and small vendors selling more trinkets and snacks. An old lady sat next to her piles of coconuts offering fresh coconut water in the shell. Another sat near her, offering Red Bull and tiger beer.
It’s always a bit odd to walk around a holy site and have people constantly trying to sell off their goods. The background noise of active bargaining. It appeared that this was the only area on the mountain where selling of goods was allowed and it seemed to be the central hub of the complex. The paths to all of the other pagodas and cave grottoes seemed to originate from here so I started to my left and worked my way around.
Van Thong Cave
I headed up a small set of steps that rose to the entrance of Van Thong cave. About ten yards in was an altar with a deity that appeared to be of Hindi origin. The cave was twenty feet wide but seemed to converge behind the altar. I paid my respect at the altar and stepped behind it to find a very steep, very dangerous, very slippery path that headed almost ninety degrees up into the mountain.
As I joined the line that headed up the makeshift pass, I was halted at the start by a group coming back down. It seemed incredibly too tight. Even hazardous for a two-way path. Judging by the sounds and expressions coming from the locals in the cave, I was probably right. I waited for what seemed like half an hour while person after person climbed their way down out of the dark abyss above. I almost gave up. But felt that if it was difficult enough to turn this many people around, it was probably worth seeing it through to the end.
After what seemed like an eternity I found myself first in line and the path upward and ahead empty. I put my first foot forward and carefully, slowly climbing my way up and out to the opening in the mountain. It was a wide and incredibly high cave with nothing in it. There was only a hole high above that let the sunlight flow down to the marble rubble strewn about on the floor. Rough marble rubble that has been smoothed and polished through a thousand years of sandals and shoes trodding over. There was no one else in front of me, and after a quick inspection, I discovered why everything had been, as it was, for the past half hour. At the far end of the chamber was an almost vertical shaft with a beam of sunlight cascading down. It was, from what I could tell, the exit.
I approached the shaft that was to be my exit point with a little hesitation. Almost everyone I had seen come this far had also turned back. Now, everyone behind me wanted to press on. There was no way I was going to relinquish my spot at the head of the line. So I put my foot down and headed up the shaft. Near the top, it became almost too narrow to pass, so I stopped and took a selfie as I climbed out of the narrow shaft and out onto the path above.
As I ascended out of the cave, a path with a rustic wood railing appeared. As my eyes adjusted to the bright tropical sun, I could see that it was still a few more yards to the summit. I had no idea this was the way to the mountaintop as I turned a few switchbacks out of the cave. I would soon learn why it was called “ Heaven’s Gate.” There were quite a number of people up here, and there was no way they were all headed back the way I came. I spent some time at the summit, taking in the view. I soon realized there was a separate path back down to the other sites.
As were most things in this fabled country, the effort was worth the end result. From the summit, one could see the high rises of Danang to the north and the ancient lantern village of Hoi An fade out of sight in the south. Straight ahead was the South China Sea, or as it was known locally, the East Sea; it stretched north and south to what seemed like eternity. After some time taking in the views, I started my way down the incredibly haphazard path that led down the summit. There is no way you could get away with this as a park of any kind back home.
Vietnam has not become a litigious society yet, and it was easy to see this by the lack of warning signs and labels. In fact, any kind of warning was nonexistent, which was often shocking to me, seeing that hazards lay everywhere in this land. Back home, we’ll slap a warning sign on a box of sleeping medicine to warn its users that it may cause drowsiness. It is, however, a bit refreshing to be in a place where people are expected to use common sense and not be an idiot. So I stumbled and somewhat fell down the sharp-edged marbled walkway of unmarked potential death.
I emerged out into the central area just ahead of where I had gone in an hour or so before. Archways and entryways dotted the area around the central stone plaza, and I headed off to the other caves and grottoes that dotted the landscape. For several hours I walked the paths, prayed at the pagodas, and meditated in many of the incredibly beautiful caverns that filled this ancient mountain. One of the last caves I came to took my breath away.
Huyen Khong Cave
As I crossed the light barrier that separated the jungle sun from the massive dark cave chamber that made the interior of this ancient holy site, my eyes slowly adjusted, and the majesty of my surroundings slowly came into clarity. This particular site went deep down into the mountain resulting in a tangible dampness. The stairs were wet and slightly muddy, and I took my time descending down the ancient staircase. Directly across from the entrance was a statue of the Buddha perched high above the cave floor, some twenty or more feet up. Almost everything in this grotto was lit by natural sunlight, and it’s rays shining down gave the whole site a very real and penetrating feeling of spirituality.
High above, you could see the openings in the cave ceiling, allowing the light to shine down like spotlights on the different aspects of the cave interior. It was a truly impressive sight. At the base of the staircase sat several deities, protective and ever-watchful over their domain. As I descended down onto the marble-tiled floor, I turned to stand before an ancient pagoda carved into and out of this ancient precious stone cave. The light that flowed down from above absorbed and reflected until it lay upon the pagoda in a calming blue hue. The whole cave was incredibly humbling and beautiful. I stood deep in the cave somewhere in the middle of meditation, contemplation, and joy.
I must have stood in the cave for some time as suddenly my phone vibrated and snapped me out of my trance. It simply said, “Dennis”. As often happened here in the land of the blue dragon, time seemed to evaporate and become meaningless. I had roamed the mountain for hours and hadn’t even realized it. Diễm was calling me back to reality, and it was time to go home.
