Two kilometers south-west of Ti TốpBeach is the Mê Cung Grotto or Bewitching Grotto. It formed on Lom BòIsland, and seen from afar, the entrance is like the roof of a housedenting the island’s side.

After a narrow crack only allowing oneperson through at a time, many partitions appear. These chambers aresomewhat small and narrow, but very refined, and with many stalagmitesand stalactites bearing beautiful forms.

Threading your way through narrowpassages, you find a dim light from afar, which signals the exit of thegrotto. On getting out of the grotto, climb up several rugged stonestairs and look down, you see a large round lake surrounded by themountain. Its waters is blue all year round. The lake is home to manykinds of fish, shrimps, octopuses, algae, see weed, and coral. Lyingadjacent to the lake there is an area of old trees popularly known as analluring “royal garden”.

It is dry and well-ventilated, andfeatures a thick layer of shells forming the foundation of the entrance.Formerly, this layer was 1.2-meter-thick and semi-fossilized. In thecourse of research, there was also a fossilized animal’s skeletondiscovered in the interior. The Mê Cung Grotto has been recognized byarchaeologists as one of the vestiges of the pre-Ha Long new Stone Ageculture, that existed between 7,000 and 10,000 years ago.

Pushing into the grotto, tourists feellike walking in a palace of a Persian king. Hearing the murmur from outof nowhere, you think that Scheherazade is telling the stories of theThousand and One Nights for her king.

On the island, there are many ancienttrees casting long reflections on the water of the bay. They are home tomany species of birds and animals (monkeys, chamois and varans).

(halong cruise.info)