A journey to Son Doong Cave, Vietnam

Son Doong - the world's biggest cave, is truly awesome.

Just standing at the entrance, looking down into the foreboding emptiness, is an experience in itself. Let climbing down through the mist, while being thrown about by a roaring, subterranean wind.

But what makes this experience profoundly moving, is the scene you will behold, if you cross the underground river. I didn't risk carrying my cameras through the water. But I didn't need to. The vision of layer after layer after layer of impossibly high vertical walls, disappearing into the haze of the far distance, will be with me forever. Likewise the stillness of that moment. And the sheer scale of it all - Cyclopean, like a Lovecraft dream. It was otherworldy, intimidating, and jawdroppingly beautiful.

I didn't have much time in that place - just enough for one short soundtrack over the headphones, as we caught our breath and prepared to head back. So I sat, and listened, and gaped stupidly at the awesome scene. It was only one song, but more than enough to turn that vision into something beyond words.

Son Doong is the subject of pretty fierce debate. Some want it opened up to tourism, others want it preserved and untouched. Like any natural wonder, I think if tourism to Son Doong is run properly and sensibly, there's no reason why people can't appreciate the beauty of it for themselves. The question, as always, is which will get priority - ecology or economy. I hope the Vietnamese govt realises what a rare gem they have in Son Doong, and does things right.

The song: Embracing the Darkness, by Peter Kater and R. Carlos Nakai. From the album 'Migration' on the Silver Wave label.

Cameras: Canon 7D and Sony Nex5.

More pictures like these, along with a bunch of ramblings, at darksideofthesun.deviantart.com

Видео A journey to Son Doong Cave, Vietnam канала DarkSide OfTheSun