Son Doong Cave listed among 25 Great New Places to see in 21st Century

September 09, 2015 | 15:13

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Son Doong Cave has topped Smithsonian magazine's list of 25 Great New Places to see in the 21st Century.

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Found in 2005, Son Doong Cave, in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in central Quang Binh Province, has beenrecognized as the largest cave in the world.

"Son Doong Cave in Viet Nam's Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park has ceilings so high (180m) they could accommodate the Washington Monument," writes on the magazine, adding that a cave is so massive that a 747 could fly through its largest cavern.

A space is so mesmerizing that it forces you to question whether you are still on this planet at all. Foreign landscapes found nowhere else, enormous stalagmites rising from the ground and statuesque stalactites hanging from the ceiling like an alien species.

Jungles emerge from inside the cave itself, a scene so surreal that you have to see it to believe it. Misty clouds envelop the whole scene, a result of the cave’s own localized weather system. Passages adorned with ancient fossils offer evidence of the millions of years that have passed on this Earth.

The other top four great places to see are Home of the God Particle: Cern laboratory in Switzerland; Leaving the Earth: Spaceport America in New Mexico; Gorillas in their midst: mountain trekking in East Africa; and The starriest night: Alma telescope in Chile.

VGP

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