Several of the limestone monolithic islands are hollow, with enormous caves of which one, the ‘Surprise Cave’ was the object of our excursion this morning.
Skipping the Tai Chi class on deck – I was still knackered from ascending Tiptop Island – but before breakfast, we were transferred by small boat to the ‘Surprise Cave’. Not quite sure how it came by this name but I think the surprise was its enormity in terms of depth width and height (See photos). The Viet Cong used the cave as a hideout during the Vietnam War.
The stalagmites and stalactites all gave rise to various shapes to which various titles had been given. I’ll leave you decide what some of the shapes represent! The tour of the cave took over an hour and of course the place was jam packed with tourists from the flotilla of junks so marshalling smaller groups became something of a competitive game between the guides I was also amused to see that the same locals as had supervised our ascent of Tip Top Island, were on had this morning to ‘control’ entry to the cave. The procedure was to queue up for a ticket and then walk a few metres at each venue to another guy who punched a hole in the corner and then took the ticket from you! Well I suppose it was one way of keeping a tally of numbers.
The last photo shows the travelling ‘boat shop’ offering all kinds of goods to locals and tourists.
Back at the junk for a welcome breakfast and then the flotilla ‘upped anchors’ and sped off for an early return took to the Ha Long pier and the long, bumpy coach trip back to Hanoi Airport for our flight this afternoon to Saigon and an overnight stay at the Sheraton Towers Hotel.
Ho Chi Minh City formerly named Saigon (although the name Sài Gòn is still commonly used) is the largest city in Vietnam. Under the name Saigon, it was the capital of the French colonial Indochina and later of the Independent Republic of South Vietnam from 1955–75. On 2 July 1976, Saigon was officially renamed Ho Chi Minh.
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