Situated in the centre of the
UNESCO-declared World Heritage area,
the Sung Sot or Surprise Grotto is
on Bo Hon Island, and is one of the
finest and widest grottoes of Ha
Long Bay. Ascending to the grotto,
the way is covered by trees and
foliage, and consists of great paved
stone blocks.
Sung Sot Cave is on the same island
with Trinh Nu cave. The path to Sung
Sot is quite steep and is lined with
shady trees. The cave has 2
chambers. The outer chamber is
square and is often referred to as
the waiting room. The cave's ceiling
is approximately 30 m high. The
walls are almost perfectly smooth as
if it was built by man. The walls
generate a variety of colors that
blend with the setting of the area.
The path to the inner chamber is
approximately 3m wide. The inner
chamber is known as the serene
castle. The formations in the
chamber take the form of sentries
conversing with one another, animals
in varying poses etc. In the middle
of the chamber stands a formation
which resembles a general surveying
his troops.
There is a side entrance which is
approximately 6m in height. The
light reflected from the moving
water outside causes the formations
inside the chamber to seemingly come
alive. According to the locals, this
was the reason the cave was named
Sung Sot, from the awe-stricken
reaction of the visitors to the
cave.
Inside, it is partitioned into two
chambers; the first one being
similar to a wide theatre hall. Many
stalactites hang from the high
ceiling, with numerous possible
forms and shapes.
A narrow passage leads to the second
rooms, where a flow of light meets
visitors. The chamber is so immense
it could contain thousands of people
at one time.
At the deepest point of the grotto,
a "royal garden" appears with a
clear pond and a seemingly
fascinating landscape of mountains.
Many birds and plants (benjamin
figs, cycads and centenary banyan
trees) live here. On nice days
groups of monkeys might arrive in
search of fruit.
It is situated in the central
tourism centre of the bay, as well
as Ti Tup Beach, Bo Nau Grotto, Me
Cung Grotto and Luun Grotto. French
named it "grotte des surprises"
(grotto of surprise).
From the wharf, you climb 50 steep
stone stairs to the mouth of the
grotto, which lies 25 m above the
sea level. Going down some 10 stone
stairs, you reach the mouth of a
grotto. The grotto covers some
10,000 m2. Inside the grotto there
have thousands of stalactites and
stalagmites along the 500-meter
paved passage. Light posts line the
passage and serve as signposts and
ornaments. The lighting system with
elegant styles adds more charm to
the beauty of the grotto.
Up in the 30-meter roof of the
grotto, one can figure out small,
soft and even concave spots, which
look like patterns in the ceiling of
a theater. A huge piece of stone
stands up to the ceiling by the
grotto's mouth. This evidences one
of the typical karst-style grottoes
with high scientific values.
At the side of the entrance, the
rock seems to form the shape of a
horse with a long sword. Legend has
it, that after having defeated the
An aggressors, Thanh Giong (the
Saint Giong) helped the population
to chase away evil spirits and
demons. After this feat, Saint Giong
flew to heaven, leaving a stone
horse and sword to continue to keep
the demons away.
Ha Long Bay is located in the
northeastern part of Vietnam and
constitutes part of the western bank
of Bac Bo Gulf, including the sea
area of Ha Long City and Cam Pha
Town and part of Vân Don island
district. It abuts Cat Ba Island in
the southwest. Toward the west is
the shore with a 120 km-long
coastline. It is located within
106o58’-107o22’ east longitude and
within 20o45’- 20o50’ north
latitude. The site is 1553 sq. km
with 1969 islands of various sizes,
of which 989 have been named.
The islands in Ha Long Bay are
mainly limestone and schist islands
most lying in the two main areas:
the southeastern part of Bái Tử Long
Bay and southwestern part of Hạ Long
Bay. These islands represent the
most ancient images of a
geographical site having a tectonic
age of from 250 million to 280
million years. They are the result
of many times of rising and lowering
processes of the continent to form a
karst. The process of nearly full
erosion and weathering of the karst
created the unique Hạ Long Bay in
the world. In a not very large area,
thousands of islands with different
forms look like glittering emeralds
attached to the blue scarf of a
virgin. The area where many stone
islands concentrate has spectacular
scenes and world-famous caves and is
the center of Ha Long Bay Natural
Heritage, including HaLong Bay and a
part of Bái Tu Long Bay.
The area is recognized as the World
Natural Heritage that is the area of
434 sq. km with 775 islands. It
looks like a giant triangle with Ðầu
Gỗ Island (in the west), Ba Hầm Lake
(in the south) and Cống Tây Island
(in the east) as its three angle
points. The nearby area is the
buffer area and areas classified as
national beauty spots in 1962 by the
Ministry of Culture and Information.
Viewed from above, Hạ Long Bay looks
like an extremely vivid huge
drawing. This is a wonderful and
skilful masterpiece of the Creation
and of nature that turns thousands
of dumb soulless stone islands into
fantastic sculptural and artistic
works of various graceful shapes,
both familiar and strange to human
beings. Thousands of islands
emerging uneven in the fanciful
waves look strong and magnificent
but also mild and vivid. Amidst
these islands we feel as if we were
astray in a petrified legendary
world. There are many names given to
islands according to their shapes
and forms. This one looks like
somebody heading toward the shore:
Hòn Ðầu Người (Human Head Island);
that one looks like a dragon
hovering above the sea surface: Hòn
Rông (Dragon Island); another looks
like an old man sitting fishing: Hòn
Lã Vọng; some look like big sails
struggling amidst the wind to set
off for the sea: Hòn Cánh Buồm (Sail
Island); then two islands look like
a pair of chicken lovingly playing
with each other above the sea: Hòn
Trống Mái (Male and Female Chicken
Island); and amid the vast sea
stands an island like a big incense
burner like a ritual offering to
Heaven: Hòn Lư Hương (Incense Burner
Island). All are so real that people
are taken aback by them. Those stone
islands have experienced
unpredictable changes over time and
they take different shapes from
different angles of view. Here, we
come to realize that they are not
dumb inanimate things but are vivid
and soulful.
Inside the stone islands are various
breath-taking caves, such as Thiên
Cung, Ðầu Gỗ, Sửng Sốt, Trinh Nữ,
Tam Cung and others. These are
really magnificent palaces of the
Creation on earth. Long ago, Hạ Long
Bay has been called by the great
national poet Nguyễn Trãi:“a wonder
of the earth erected towards the
high sky”. Many men of letters from
all over the world have been taken
aback at the grandiose scenery of Hạ
Long. They seem to get puzzled and
incompetent as their treasure of
vocabulary is not rich enough to
depict the splendor of this place.
Hạ Long Bay is also attached to
glorious pages of Vietnamese
history, with famous sites such as
Vân Ðồn, a bustling trade port in
the 12th century, charming Bài Thơ
Mountain, and not very far away from
here is the Bạch Đằng River which
witnessed two famous naval battles
of the Viêt’s ancestors against
invaders. Also, Hạ Long is one of
the cradles of human kind with the
glorious Hạ Long culture in the late
Neolithic age, discovered at such
archeological sites as Ðộng Mang,
Xích Thổ, Soi Nhụ and Thoi Giếng.
Hạ Long is also home to great
biodiversity with typical
eco-systems like mangrove forest,
coral and tropical forest. It is
also home to thousands of plants and
animals of numerous species, for
example shrimp, fish and squid. Some
species are particularly rare and
can be found no where else.
With such special values, at the
18th Session of UNESCO’s Council of
World Heritage held on 17 December
1994 in Thailand, Hạ Long Bay was
officially placed on the list of the
World Natural Heritage. In 2000,
UNESCO recognized it as the World
Heritage for the second time for its
geographical and geomorphologic
values. This confirms the global
premier value of Hạ Long Bay.
