Tiếng ViệtChi tiết tin - Du khách
Photo by Simon Dunne Ho Khanh’s discovery of Son Doong is the stuff of legend. As a young man searching for timber, he was caught in a tropical storm. He took cover in the mouth of a cave. Entering the grotto he discovered a cavern so huge that he was overwhelmed. Years later he tried to rediscover the spot. In 2008, on his second attempt, he found the entrance and went inside. A few months on he came back with British speleologist Howard Limbert and a British cave exploration team. In August of this year, Khanh and Howard led the first tourist expedition to Son Doong. The seven-day trek took six tourists into the confines of the world’s largest cave, supported by a team of 23 porters and guides. The trip cost US$3,000 (VND63 million) per person, which paid for three nights sleeping in the cave. Says Howard, “Many people wanted to open up Son Doong for mass tourism. But eventually a proposal was accepted to take through 84 people a year.” The tours run twice a month from February to August Photo by Vietnam Caving Expedition The Land of Dinosaurs Containing the tallest stalagmite in the world — the formation is 80m high — the cave is home to 300 million-year-old fossils, while one section, known as The Wall of Vietnam, is over 200m high. “Some of the skylights are 200m to 250m high,” adds Howard. “The addition of light creates a small jungle in the cave.” One such jungle area has been named The Garden of Eden. So big are these mammoth, sunlit caverns that, as journalist Mark Jenkins wrote in the National Geographic, there is “room enough for an entire New York City block of 40-story buildings. There are actually wispy clouds up near the ceiling.” A member of the exploration team in 2009, he adds, “The tableau could have been created by an artist imagining how the world looked millions of years ago.” Ben Mitchell was one of the six tourists. “Going to Son Doong was life-changing,” he said. “When I was a kid I saw Mount Everest and later on went to Maasai Mara in Kenya. It was better than the two of them put together.” Despite the price, the tours are proving popular — they are already fully booked until well into next year. And no wonder. Son Doong is spectacular. Source: World Vietnam
Phong Nha Cave is a must visit spot in Quang Binh Province
From Danang, tourists can take a six-hour train ride to Dong Hoi City, Quang Binh Province. Then they can enjoy the early morning at Nhat Le Beach in downtown Dong Hoi and the rest of the day to Phong Nha-Ke Bang tourist site.
Phong Nha is located in a limestone mountain range called Ke Bang which is 50km from Dong Hoi. Tourists should take a cab which costs them around VND1.1 million for four people for a round trip. An entrance ticket to the cave is priced at VND80,000 per guest. To get inside the cave, you will take a boat trip priced at VND320,000 for up to 14 guests. Normally, guests will wait for a full boat or they can ask for a private trip accompanied with or without a tour guide.
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A stalactite block in the shape of Goddess of Mercy - Photos: Hoang Kha
Phong Nha is known as the longest cave with the highest and widest entrance, the cave with the best sand and the best underground lake/best stalactite, among other records.
Drifting along Son River, it takes tourists around 25 minutes to get to the cave’s entrance which is in the shape of an upside down bowl which is 20 meters in width and 10m in height with numerous stalactites. People will have a feeling of gliding on a mirror surface as the water is so pure. The cave has a total length of over 20km but the boat just takes travelers on a journey of 800m and returns. Under the shades of colorful lights, stalactites look spectacular in different shapes like lion and Buddha, among others. Then, people can get off the boat and walk on soft sand in an atmosphere of cool steam and wet stalactites above their heads. Due to the dim light at the location, tourists should bring cameras to have better quality pictures instead of using cell phones.
After the boat trip, you can enjoy lunch at the wharf which offers food and drink for four people at a price of around VND400,000-VND500,000.
There’s also a special tour for those who wish to get further inside the cave. A note for tourists is that during rainy season they cannot discover the cave as the high water level covers the entrance. At that time they can only visit Tien Son dry cave located in the tourist site.
The next destination is Thien Duong Cave, known as the underground palace which is 25km from Phong Nha. The entrance fee is VND120,000 per person and VND100,000 for an electric car trip for four people to get to the foot of the mountain from the entrance. Then, tourists will conquer 500 stone steps to get to the cave.
Thien Duong, the longest dry cave in Asia, is also located inside a limestone mountain at a height of 191m surrounded by Phong Nha-Ke Bang primitive tropical forest. The cave is 36km long and has the largest corner of around 150m.Typical features of the venue is its stalactites sparkling in different colors. There’s a 1,000m-long wooden stair equipped with a light system so tourists can admire the whole view.
At the end of the day, tourists can reach their hotel/resort and should not forget to enjoy local specialties of floating restaurants like squid steamed with ginger, mussel stirred with dry pancake, crab steamed with waxy pumpkin and fish porridge at reasonable prices.
Source: The Saigon Times
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