In this photograph: under all that rainforest, is the largest cave in the world. "Phong Ra" it is named, 40 kilometers out of the city of Dong Hoi, and this largest cave in the world was discovered officially in only 2009.
Can you believe that? In Vietnam, here lies the largest cave in the world, only just discovered. (not the longest in the world, mind you, that's in Kentucky, but the "largest.")
I cannot post photographs of this cave, although I did take them, because they shrivel on the screen. The space was absolutely uncapturable. We climbed a slippery wooden staircase down for many flights, opening into this immense cavernous dream. Lights illuminated the stalactites and stalagmites, the limestone shapes bigger than elephants, more intricate than stone carvings, incomparable to anything. The cave curved through structures, as if displayed at a museum, but these were created by the simple drip of water droplets. Just enough acid in that water to break down the limestone, over millions of years, to create the wild furniture in this space.
Maybe a giant child sat here and dribbled sand through her fingers, leaving massive globs and pillars and features. Maybe we were in a cathedral. Maybe we were in Lord of the Rings, maybe on the moon; wandering through internal organs--the spleen, the intestine--of a fantastical creature. Limestone formations like the filaments of mushrooms.
"Awesome" needs to be reserved for sights like these, in its true sense.
I think my jaw loosened by a number of degrees, it was lowered so much.
My eyes are fat: they have feasted on awesome sights.
3 comments:
Holy cow! I know this cave! I remember reading about its discovery. I am so ridiculously happy for you that you got to visit it!
I love your imaginations of how the cave was formed... so fantastical.
Yes I save it as a screen saver at work. Wow I forgot all about it. A little lizard came out as new, and I put him up instead. The size of your finger nail. Yeah that sounds cool.
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