You step off the air‑conditioned van into a pocket of limestone rising from the coastal plain—staircases cut into stone, incense smoke drifting from pagodas, and the distant Pacific glinting beyond the cliffs. The Marble Mountains (Ngũ Hành Sơn) present a compact landscape of caves and carved niches where light and shadow move like tide. Nearby, Am Phu Cave opens into a cool throat of rock where carved Buddhas and natural columns crowd the dim interior. Later the route climbs toward Monkey Mountain (part of Son Tra Peninsula), where the Lady Buddha statue watches the city and sea.