Ta Phin Cave

The lamplight moves across the vaulted roof of the rock. Shapes of stone come out of the dark, dim at first, then clearer with every step. Some look like flowers and leaves hanging upside down from the ceiling. Thin curtains of stone drop down, fine as lace. Narrow bands of dripstone run along the mountain wall. This is the world inside Tả Phìn Cave.

The cave lies in the hamlet of Sả Xéng, in Tả Phìn commune. That is in Sa Pa, in Lào Cai Province. It sits inside a mountain that the Red Dao call Trị San Kỳ.

A Lào Cai newspaper report says that in the Dao language spoken here, Trị San Kỳ means the hills behind. It points to a mountain that stands behind the villages. The Red Dao have stayed close to this cave through many generations. They treat it as a part of the landscape and of the community's memory.

According to the same report, Tả Phìn Cave is a karst cave, formed inside a limestone mountain. Its stone formations take countless shapes. Stone curtains hang from the vaulted ceiling like embroidery made by nature. Underground streams still run through the cave. All of it comes from millions of years of water seeping through limestone, wearing it away bit by bit and building it up bit by bit. People can only walk into such a space and look. They could never make it.

In 2017, Tả Phìn Cave was ranked a national scenic site. This is an official recognition of the cave's value in nature, and also in history and culture.

The same newspaper tells of a guide named Lý Quang Sì, who has stayed with the cave for more than 16 years. He is Dao himself. He leads visitors inside, points out each special formation, and tells the stories that his community has passed down by word of mouth from one generation to the next. The electric lights in the cave show only the way along the path. Flashlights matter once the path goes deeper.

The cave is not a stop on its own. It sits among other places in Tả Phìn village: a Red Dao village, a herbal leaf bath called Đìa zảo xin, and an old monastery from the years of French rule, standing among the mountains.

A visitor who steps out and looks back at Trị San Kỳ in the Sa Pa afternoon can see why the Red Dao here have stayed close to this place.