FURTHER: A TRAVEL BLOG: BETWEEN HEAVENAND HELL part 2

Gate with Kwan Yin

As you may remember, our heroes were apparently in the depths of hell nearly in the clutches of the Devil. As it turned out we weren’t really in hell. It only seemed that way.

We found our way back out of the cave unscathed. When we got back into the daylight we took the time to read the brochure handed to us at the entrance. We had entered into the Am Phu or Hell Cave. This is part of a religious site for a curious combination of Buddhism, Hinduism and Animism practiced by many people throughout SE Asia. This cave is part of a huge complex of limestone caverns depicting heaven and hell as well as other caverns and pagodas dedicated to the panoply of deities worshiped in this religion. We had unwittingly stumbled into the cave of hell. Relieved by this information, we decided to put off the beach time and explore this complex further.

We were directed to another entry about 100 yards away where we purchased yet another ticket and ascended stairs that lead up to the tiered pagoda that sucked us into this place. We first came upon a small temple that sheltered an exquisite statue of Kwan Yin rendered in brilliant white marble. Her pavilion was bracketed by a stairway with terracotta tile in brilliant colors depicting dragons and other creatures which apparently were her guardians.

Kwan Yin's "guardians"

After briefly admiring Kwan Yin we continued along the path to find another cavern. This one contained a small structure with 3 large openings. It was encrusted with mold, mildew and algae. Tendrils of vines hung down from the ceiling. Everything was dripping wet---including us. The building contained a statue of Buddha about ten feet high.

Wandering around the back of the structure we entered another sizeable room in the cavern. We were greeted by another Buddha about thirty feet in height. It was difficult to tell if he had been carved out of the solid rock or if he had been placed there. In either case it was a monumental sculpture.

We continued on into another chamber to find a huge seated Buddha tucked into a niche. We retraced our steps to find our way out of this cavern.

Next we came upon the tall, tiered pagoda that had initially caught our eye from the road. Up close it was even more impressive. The garden around it featured a sizable garden with Japanese style suiseki which is a naturally occurring rock cut and set to look like a mountainscape in miniature.

Inside there was an altar dedicated to Buddha. A wizened crone seated next to the altar smiled at me and seemed to be directing me around behind the altar with cryptic gestures. Puzzled, I went to the side of the altar to find a narrow staircase ascending the interior of the pagoda. I went back outside to grab Deb and we climbed the stairs which were lined with several plaques depicting the life of Buddha. We reached the first floor which corresponded to the first tier of the pagoda. We found an altar with numerous icons about 2 feet high. On the next level we found a large golden altar to Brahma.

We continued our climb to the top finding different altars on each level. At the top we could look out to be treated to a fine view of the coastline, karsts, and town below.

In the next two hours we explored several more caverns and visited numerous pagodas.
We left the mystery and horror of Hell Cave behind as we found our way to “heaven”.The contrast between "hell" and the rest of the complex was profound. Our climb to the top of the pagoda left me feeling somehow serene in contrast to the discomfort I felt in "hell". Marble Mountain is truly one of the special places on the planet.

Random man in monkey face

Random goddess sighting

When we finally finished our tour of this incredible site, we didn’t have much time left for the beach. On the way back we stopped again for a cocktail at Cau Dai to brace us for the last sprint to home through the afternoon Hoi An rush hour. As the sun sank slowly in the west we returned safely to our hotel after another unexpected adventure in SE Asia.