here, there, everywhere

We stayed in Cao Bang for a few nights making day trips out of the city; our first excursion was to Pac Bo cave, right on the China border, famous for housing Ho Chi Minh for several weeks in 1941.


The cave itself was small and filled with drunk Vietnamese tourists who found us hilarious - lots of laughing, pointing and Tay! Tay!ing ensued; I don't usually mind being called Tay ("West") since, obviously, I am a complete foreigner in Vietnam, but it was getting a bit annoying there, possibly because we were all crammed in a tiny cave together.


But, the area around the cave is gorgeous, and it was easy enough to get away from all the pointing and laughing. Here I am, modeling my fetching wrist bandage:


Pac Bo cave probably isn't the most exciting place I've visited in Vietnam, but it's pretty interesting even if you have only a cursory knowledge of Ho Chi Minh's career (which, I am embarrassed to say, I do), and I'm still happy we got to see it.