Thanh Nien News
QUANG BINH – Friday, August 28, 2015 10:42
Sunshine through a section of Son Doong at around noon. Photo: Ryan Deboodt Sunshine through a section of Son Doong at around noon. Photo: Ryan Deboodt
US magazine Smithsonian has put Son Doong, the world’s largest cave in central Vietnam, on top of its new list of 25 places to see in the 21st century.
Son Doong, or Mountain River, is around five miles long, five times longer than the world’s second longest cave, Deer in Malaysia, 450 feet at its widest and 600 feet at its highest.
The magazine, which is published by the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s largest museum and research complex, describes the cave as one big enough to accommodate the Washington Monument and fit a pair of Boeing 747s side by side.
Son Doong is not only known for its sheer size. There are shimmering rivers running through it, a dense subterranean jungle that keeps growing thanks to shafts of sunlight through the fallen stretches of the cave ceiling, and fossilized corridors, which prove there was life inside millions of years ago.
ABC’s Zinger Zee called the cave Avatar as she came to make a Good Morning America episode last May. Bored Panda named it a place out of this world.
Local man Ho Khanh discovered the cave in 1991, and in 2009 helped British cave experts explore it.
The British are now working as guides for tours of the cave, which take five days and four nights and cost around US$3,000 each.
The full Smithsonian list includes Cern, the God particle laboratory in Switzerland, a space line in New Mexico, a gorilla national park in East Africa, a perfect place for watching stars in Chile, and ice caves in Alaska.
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Đăng bởi Trần Đình Hoành
I am an attorney in the Washington DC area, with a Doctor of Law in the US, attended the master program at the National School of Administration of Việt Nam, and graduated from Sài Gòn University Law School. I aso studied philosophy at the School of Letters in Sài Gòn.
I have worked as an anti-trust attorney for Federal Trade Commission and a litigator for a fortune-100 telecom company in Washington DC. I have taught law courses for legal professionals in Việt Nam and still counsel VN government agencies on legal matters. I have founded and managed businesses for me and my family, both law and non-law.
I have published many articles on national newspapers and radio stations in Việt Nam.
In 1989 I was one of the founding members of US-VN Trade Council, working to re-establish US-VN relationship.
Since the early 90's, I have established and managed VNFORUM and VNBIZ forum on VN-related matters; these forums are the subject of a PhD thesis by Dr. Caroline Valverde at UC-Berkeley and her book Transnationalizing Viet Nam.
I translate poetry and my translation of "A Request at Đồng Lộc Cemetery" is now engraved on a stone memorial at Đồng Lộc National Shrine in VN.
I study and teach the Bible and Buddhism. In 2009 I founded and still manage dotchuoinon.com on positive thinking and two other blogs on Buddhism. In 2015 a group of friends and I founded website CVD - Conversations on Vietnam Development (cvdvn.net).
I study the art of leadership with many friends who are religious, business and government leaders from many countries.
In October 2011 Phu Nu Publishing House in Hanoi published my book "Positive Thinking to Change Your Life", in Vietnamese (TƯ DUY TÍCH CỰC Thay Đổi Cuộc Sống).
In December 2013 Phu Nu Publishing House published my book "10 Core Values for Success".
I practice Jiu Jitsu and Tai Chi for health, and play guitar as a hobby, usually accompanying my wife Trần Lê Túy Phượng, aka singer Linh Phượng.
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CVD 
This is very good news for VN.
But, Obviously, the author doesn’t understand Vietnamese very well.
Son Doong, the name the discoverer Ho Khanh chose, is Sơn Động in Vietnamese, and it means Mountain Case (Sơn is mountain, and Động is cave). It doesn’t mean Mountain River. Mountain River would be Sơn Giang in Vietnamese.
Can you reporters learn some Vietnamese before working as reporter, for God’s sake?
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