Pác Bó Caves

Another early start from our overnight stop in Cao Bằng to go 46 km to Núi Thoong Mạ, before hoping onto an electric buggy for the short trip to Hang Pác Bó (Pác Bó Cave) entrance, smack on the border with China and north west from Bản Giốc Waterfall. Its significance is that it was the first place Hồ Chí Minh (born Nguyễn Sinh Cung) stayed at when he returned to Việt Nam, after 30 years away, in 1941 (See Việt Nam Coracle).

A short while later we were given a Vietnamese Woman’s Day extra with a visit to Mộ Kim Đồng (Kim Đồng Monument). The monument is to the sacrifice of 14 year old Kim Đồng, who was shot in 1943 while distracting French troops by running across the Sông Bằng (Bằng River, aka Lenin River), allowing cadres who had been meeting nearby to escape.

After that it back in the bus for the 7 hours or so back to Hà Nội stopping momentarily at Đèo Chi Lăng (Chi Lăng Pass), lunch and lastly at the first place we stopped at on the way up north for bamboo sticky rice. The tour was a lot of bus more than anything else, spectacular scenery though, but we covered close to 1000 km over 3 days so ..., I think I’d prefer a longer tour and see a few more things- even though all up it was a pretty good tour and well managed by Điêu.