Vietnam: Exploring Sung Sôt Cave
Sung Sôt Stalagmite Tower and Light Chamber
Aside from cruising the numerous karst islands of Ha Long Bay, another activity along this UNESCO World Heritage Site is spelunking. There are a number of cave systems on some of the thousands of islands dotting the bay. On our first day of exploration, we were able to visit one of the popular caves at the center island of the bay called Sung Sôt Cave. Found on Bo Hòn Island, the cave has also been known as the Amazing Cave or Cave of Surprises.
Sung Sôt Bay and Junks
From our Aloha Junk, we rode a smaller boat to reach the Bo Hon Island wharf near the Jump-off point to the cave. There’s a separate entrance fee here which I didn’t get to see how much because it was already paid by Handspan for us. There’s a short steep climb of stairs to reach the cave mouth. On a resting platform, you could view the bay on which the junks are docked. The place really reminds me of the entrance bay at Kayangan Lake, Coron.
Sung Sôt First Chamber
When we got to the top, we entered the first chamber. It’s fairly a small chamber but have a ceiling area. Pretty cool temperature inside. But being quite a popular cave in Ha Long Bay, there were lots of visitors as well. It irks me a bit to find so many people in this small chamber already taking posterity shots at an elephant stalagmite formation on the lit wall.
Sung Sôt Neon Lighted Ceiling
We moved on to the second chamber after going through a short narrow passage. The second chamber is a little bigger and has more light in. It highlights the impressive ceiling texture of the cave. Pretty impressive since it’s the first time I’ve seen such formation. I noticed Vietnamese are like Chinese when it comes to cave attractions. They like to lit them up with varying colors. So this this ceiling looked more like an alien goo falling or a melting chocolate mint ice cream dripping.
Sung Sôt Spreading Light Big Chamber
Going through another smaller passage, we reached the last chamber. It was the biggest and most spacious chamber of the cave. A light was leaking through the cave mouth, offering a dramatic illumination of the rock formations.
Sung Sôt Big Chamber Trail
The cave had been clearly developed to make it more manageable for tourist visitors. Cemented paths and side lights are installed. It’s also good that they cordoned off areas where where sophisticated formations are found.
Sung Sôt Big Chamer Exit Trails
Towards the exit, I thought the large towering stalagmite near the exit area was very scenic with the natural light flooding in. I really like the cave and thought that the stalactite and stalagmite formations were really impressive. I just didn’t like it that there were already a lot of people in the area.
Sung Sôt Wharf
We exited through another cave opening which has another set of stairs leading down to the wharf where our boat was docked. It was a fun exploration, pretty easy to walk through, a bit commercialized though.
Tags: Caves, Ha Long Bay, Halong Bay, Northern Vietnam, UNESCO, Vietnam
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Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 at 11:10 am 
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July 15th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
alien goo or dripping ice cream - galing ng descriptions mo bro wulf. i was thinking of apt ways to describe
the way the cave formations were lit. sayang din ‘no? minsan din talaga, we ought to leave things in their natural state
kasi they can end up pretty artificial looking and alien-ating, hehehe but nice shots bro. wala akong masiyadong keepers
from this cave ;-P
July 15th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
astig kaya lang hindi na masyadong natural ang dating kasi maayos na sya. yung labas parang nasa coron hindi nga lang ganun kalinis ang tubig.
July 15th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
hmm, the lighting and cemented paths may have made the cave very tourist friendly pero nabawasan, kundi man nawala, yung natural charm nya. imagine if sagada locals will do the same to sumaguing cave, ganun pa rin kaya sya ka-exciting?
iba pa rin kapag untouched yung cave no? pero syempre, ang gaganda ng kuha ni master!
July 15th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Are the lighting necessary because the chambers are too small and do not receive enough natural light? Or were those solely for effects? ’cause if they are, who knows if they’ll come up with a sound show to go with the alien goo-flavored dripping ice cream.
By the way, 1st, 3rd, and 5th photos reminded me of Callao. Except that the same effects could be had thanks to the pretty skylight overhead the chambers.
July 15th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
This is something else huh! They paved the trail. I agree with Zherwin, untouched or at least the less touched by human development a cave the better for the experience.
July 16th, 2008 at 8:32 am
wow, those are amazing cave formations! kakaatuwa naman yung description mo dun sa green cave ceiling.
yung 6th pic naman mukhang sponge or swiss cheese 
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July 18th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Bro Og, I guess the tourism here have other ideas. Although I would prefer roughing through the natural state of the cave, ginawa nila na mas madali for tourist.
Onga Dom, first na nakita namin yung scenery, it reminded us a lot of kayangan.
Naku Zherwin, pag ginawan nila ng ganyang pathways yung Sumaguing, ang boring na nun. Part of the thrill in that cave is exploration and squeezing through crevices. Maraming salamat!
They did Photocache, I guess to accommodate more people, especially those elders and physically challenged. Pero mas exciting nga if it’s a natural traverse.
Nakakagutom ba Carlotta? hehe
July 19th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
your photos are amazing! breathtaking shots! thanks for bringing us there… salamat for sharing the visuals..
July 26th, 2008 at 2:48 am
I’d love to be in a cavern that looks like mint-chocolate chip ice cream melting overhead. Maybe one day I can hire Handspan. Thanks so much for your travelogues.
October 7th, 2008 at 12:29 am
Hi,
All your blog’s topic were all informative. Thanks for sharing….
In this post, I thank you too for sharing cave’s pix! Its very cool. Where exactly located all of those?