Pac Bo Cave

Useful Information

Location:	Trường Hà, Hà Quảng, Cao Bằng. Trung Hoa Commune, Ha Quang District. 350 km north of Hanoi. (22.9872767, 106.0502709)
Open:	All year daily 7-19. [2024]
Fee:	Adults VND 20,000, Children (10-16) VND 15,000, Children (0-9) free. [2024]
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Núi Các Mác, Trường Hà, Hà Quảng, Cao Bằng, Tel: +86-20-6360-0313.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

FEB to MAR-1941

Hồ Chí Minh lives in Hang Cốc Bó for seven weeks.

Description

We listed Pac Bo as a show cave, but that’s actually not correct, it is actually not even a cave. It’s the name of a village, and it is a historic site. The first communist president of Vietnam, Hồ Chí Minh, left French Indochina in 1911 to France, he was one of the founding members of the French Communist Party. He lived in France, Great Britain, th U.S.A., the Soviet Union and China. In 1930, he founded the Communist Party of Vietnam. He returned to Vietnam in 1941, after 30 years abroad, and founded the Việt Minh independence movement. He led the August Revolution against the Japanese in August 1945, and became part of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam government. But the French returned to power, and Hồ’s government retreated to the Việt Bắc. The Việt Minh fought a guerilla war and finally defeated the French Union in 1954 at the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ. This site, Pac Bo, is the place where he returned to Vietnam in 1941 from China. Here he lived in a cave while he prepared for the fight against the Japanese and the French occupiers.

Some say Pác Bó is Tày language means “the beginning of the source”, others translate it "water wheel". Actually, the village is located at the end of a valley in the huge tower karst area which extends into southern China. The village has karst springs, which are the source of Song Bang river, and there are numerous caves in the karst towers. The main cave is Hang Cốc Bó, this is where Hồ Chí Minh lived for seven weeks after his return. This is the cave which is listed here, actually it has become quite famous under the name Hang Pác Bó. Its quite unimpressive, as it has only 15 m². It is doubtful that the mouldy board on four unhewn limestones was actually Hồ Chí Minh’s bed. There are many more caves, for example Hang Diêm Tiêu (Diem Tieu Cave), Hang Ngườm Vài (Nguom Vai Cave) and Hang Lũng Lạn (Lung Lan Cave).

This site is not a cave, it is a historic monument, and obviously it’s of great importance to the citizens of Vietnam. It is an important part of their history and identity, a museum with memorabilia and historic photographs, and a way to remember one of the greatest politicians of the country. Visitors walk on the rocks along the side of the stream, where Uncle Ho used to work and fish. Beyond the bridge is the place where he often cooked soup with vegetables and bamboo shoots, after all he had worked for three decades as a cook. For foreign tourists, it is much less interesting, and the cave part is actually not very impressive. So if you are not interested in the life of Hồ Chí Minh and the history of the country, this site is not worth the long drive on narrow roads to this border village.