Up on Marble Mountain

Starting from the bottom at the Mountain of Water or at the Marble Mountains.

Buddha in the first cave.

Tiny chapel by first cave.

Worshippers at Marble Mountain.

Temple details.

Entering a cave.

Worshippers in a cave.

Detail in a cave.

^{WHEN APPROACHING The Marble Mountains over the flat fields, they appear to diminish in size as one closer. My taxi driver left me in the sculpture making and stone-cutting crafts village at the base of the most popular hill. It is known as Mountain of Water (or Thủy Sơn). The ascent up the steep sides of this karst stone formation was by way of a broad uneven staircase. In the growing heat I just wanted to reach the shade patches on top. This natural world, on an intimate scale, with Buddhist retreats and places of worship, felt quite fairy-like. The hill had a dense layer of vegetation, thick jungle really. Paths of concrete and flights of stairs led one up and down amongst the little peaks, past temples and monasteries and into numerous caves and caverns too. Oftentimes, Buddhas and other statues appeared in the gloom behind rising curls of incense smoke. In the largest cave, a spectacular place of worship, shafts of angled light, penetrating from holes high in the ceiling above.}