Missing Mockba

As an old friend were we greeted when we reached Cat Ba in the sunset. Memories from last visit flooded back and with them as a filter could I relive the island like it was my very first time. Al thou my body was tired after a tedious day on the road could I feel inside me the ecstatic sensation of a child on crack, or the same child on the day before Christmas, whatever lay closer to heart. I couldn't wait to get out in the bay.

Cat Ba is an island surrounded by limestone formations, eroded over the centuries to a majestic maze of steep cliffs and mysterious caves and tunnels. A few fishing boats bobs around in the coves and hawks circle in the sky. It's all very pretty, but there's one place on this island I wanted to visit more then any. I wanted to return to Mockba.

If you by kayak follow the east coast for half a day north from Cat Ba Town, then you will find a tunnel leading in to one of the mountains. You'll probably find plenty of tunnels, and this doesn't look peculiar in any way. In fact it looks fairly insignificant, but on the other side hides a cathedral. A floor of resting jade and on the other side, twenty meters up on a overhanging pedestal Mockba sleeps. He looks like a demigod, four meters high and carved in a single peace of rock. It's possible it's a piece of the mountain, and in many ways I'm sure he is, for he is the guardian of the cathedral and, what I can only assume, a long lost religion.

Maybe we can go there tomorrow?

//Nisse