After discovering the hustle and bustle life in a capital city of Vietnam, Hanoi, joining a trip to visit one of the most beautiful landscapes of Vietnam in general and in the North in particular – Halong Bay (Quang Ninh province) is a very valuable experience for every visitors. In a beautiful and poetic Halong Bay, there are a lot of attractions that tourists can admire, Sung Sot or Surprise Cave is one of them.
This is the largest and the most beautiful cave of the bay and it is also home to many islands of stones with strange and unique shapes that nowhere can get the same ones. The road to Sung Sot Cave is placed under the leaves of trees with steep stone steps, tourists can get the pleasure of climbing as well as the excitement looking like walking into heaven.
The cave is divided into two main spaces, the entire first part is like a large and massive theater. Cave’s ceiling is covered with a layer of silky velvet carpet as well as a countless number of chandeliers hanging by shining sparkling stalactites, stone statues, stone elephants, seals, and flowers. All seem to be trembling between the real and dream. You are not only amazed by the magical beauty in the first stop, more interesting things you can see when you enter the second section by a small road. With a brilliant light, the cave opens up a completely strange scenery. The cave is so vast that it can be enough space to accommodate thousands of people. Go inside, the scene is full of strange things such as the Banyan tree with lush foliage, sea bears, dinosaurs….Go to the highest point of the cave, an area of “garden” opens unexpectedly for you with clear water, charming scenery, various kinds of trees and all species of birds and living ones. Monkeys often pull together down here looking for fruit that disturbs the whole region. The cave is located in the tourist center of Halong Bay and the French were named this place as a cave of surprises when they came here to visit and explore.
From the landing place, climbing about 50 steep steps and going down about twenty stone steps is the gate of the cave with a height of about 25 m and 10,000 m2 wide with thousands of stalagmites, stalactites. In the cave, there is a paved road system along the exit from the cave’s entrance gate with the length of more than 500 m. Both sides of the path are low light poles which function as a direction and decorative and lighting objects. Lighting system with elegant style lamps, soft lighting signifies the religious beauty of the cave. Near the entrance gate, there are giant stone blocks which are high from the ground to the ceiling of the cave. This is one of the typical karst caves and has high scientific value. Right next to the entrance is a stone with the shape of a horse and a long sword. The legend said that, after defeating the An enemy, Thanh Giong (one of the four immortals in Vietnamese belief) helped people here to expel the demons. When repressing chaos, Thanh Giong flew up to heaven, left his sword and horse to reassure the public and scare away demons. Currently, in the cave, there are many natural images that seem to be the remains of fierce battle, the horse’s feet of Giong become small ponds and many big rocks smashed …
Sung Sot cave not only makes tourists “surprised” by the shimmering beauty that nature has bestowed for Sung Sot cave here but also is one of the typical karst caves and has high scientific value discovered by the French in 1901. Therefore, try becoming a tourist visiting Halong tour to discover the mysterious beauty here is really a good and memorable experience for you.
