Big ol cave discovered in Vietnam

[Mad Man]

For decades, geologists have known that Vietnam is home to some of the world's most spectacular caves, many of them largely unexplored. Now husband-and-wife cavers have documented perhaps the world's largest: Hang Son Doong, big enough in places to accommodate a New York City block of skyscrapers.

The cave in the Annamite Mountains contains a river and jungle (its name translates to "mountain river cave") and even its own thin clouds, and its end remains out of sight. It's part of a network of about 150 caves in central Vietnam near the Laotian border.

Howard and Deb Limbert of England led the first expedition to enter Hang Son Doong in 2009, but they were stopped a couple of miles in by a huge calcite wall. The team returned recently to climb the wall, take measurements and try to find the cavern's end.

So what do you thinks in there, how long before a Starbucks gets added?

 

[Mad Man]

Maybe there's dinosaurs, a new civilisation, or lost American solders still clinging to life thinking the war is still being fought.

 

[Holycannoli]

Pretty cool. Until I see pics I say that's one of the places where we can enter the hollow earth and visit the people living inside.

 

[Narz]

Needs pics!

 

[Mad Man]

Some of the pictures I yanked from Yahoo News.

 

[Cutlass]

Good for them. How open is `Nam these days?

 

[Narz]

Wow, looks wonderful.

 

[Mad Man]

Good for them. How open is `Nam these days?

You'd probably need a passport, but other then that you should be fine. It seems to me that there trying to market them selves as a tourist destination in the west.

 

[Ajidica]

I read about this in National Geographic. It looks neat, but I hate caving with a passion.

 

[Perfection]

I've heard it's under Bruce Nguyen's manor.

 

[Bugfatty300]

I saw them on the National Geographic channel. Apparently they're so big that you can fly airplanes through them from end to end.

 

[Narz]

I read about this in National Geographic. It looks neat, but I hate caving with a passion.

How come?

 

[Ajidica]

How come?

Really bad experiance when I went caving for the first time with boy scouts. I managed to smash my flashlight against a rock and I lost my light so I had to wait a while before my partner found me. That and I hate tight spaces.

 

[civ_king]

Really bad experiance when I went caving for the first time with boy scouts. I managed to smash my flashlight against a rock and I lost my light so I had to wait a while before my partner found me. That and I hate tight spaces.

That's why you have extras! on caving (I bring like six)

 

[GamezRule]

No room for claustrophobia.

 

[Bugfatty300]

Flashlights? How silly.

One should experience the depths of a cave in its natural black state.

 

[Thoughtful Thug]

Now Yuppies have a new vacation home.

 

[warpus]

View attachment 277752

If that's inside a cave then I will crap my pants.

You'd probably need a passport, but other then that you should be fine. It seems to me that there trying to market them selves as a tourist destination in the west.

Southeast asia has a huge boner for tourists from the west, and that includes Vietnam. Most people will go to Thailand, but those "in the know" go to Vietnam for a similar experience and much cheaper prices.. that is, if my sources are to be believed

 

[Skwink]

View attachment 277752

I must see this here cave.:

 

[schlaufuchs]

I read about this a few weeks back in NatGeo. It sounds like pretty cool stuff

P.S. The spelunkers who discovered the thing are bloody crazy.