Pu Sam Cap cave

From Lai Chau center, about 6 km to the west, tourists will reach Pu Sam Cap cave complex. This complex is well-organized with 3 big caves named Thien Mon, Thien Duong and Thuy Tinh. The natural, pristine beauty here surprises many people. Pu Sam Cap’s splendor is considered equal to many other famous caves such as Phong Nha (Quang Binh), Thien Cung (Quang Ninh) or Huong Tich (Ha Noi). Therefore, since being discovered in July 2006, this complex has attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors to come and appreciate.

The bumpy way to the caves attracts the curiosity of the tourists. They can come across the sprawling perennial trees; some of them have fallen horizontally to the road, covered in moss and mistletoe. All show the mysterious pristine charming.

Thien Mon cave appeared with a large arch and deep pure interior. Stepped into that mysterious darkness, we will feel the cool air of stone and the whisper of the wind. Columns of stalactites are on the undulating ground. Visitors can imagine the Northwest hills are just in a light range. Every water drop from small stones falling into hair brings the tourists of feelings under the early summer rain. In the middle of the cave’s ground, there are lots of stalactites marbles crystallized by the distilled water from the rock in millions of years. The standing, lying or overlapping marbles create multitude of both familiar and marvelous shapes and enrich the imagination of tourists. Coming to the center of Thien Mon cave we will be surprised with high wide arches and flat platform. It can be called as the “theater of nature”. We can enjoy from our hearts and listen to wind revving the stalactites which echoed as the piano melody. A little light appears from the end of the cave creates a contrast of ethereal light and dark.

Leaving the Thien Mon cave, it takes us about half an hour passing through the forest; we reach the Thien Duong gate with pristine, natural and attractive beauty. The heaven in view of visitors is as a watercolor painting. The way down to the cave provides visitors the thrilling feelings when they have to use vines along the cliffs to climb down. A quiet space covers the sacred feelings of each step. The cave is seen as a miniature world, crafted by nature and gifted to us. Thanks to them, the visitors’ imagination is inspired with stalactites arranged naturally and mysteriously. The curving road gradually went down looks like the terrace field. The deeper we go into, the more multi-dimension space we reach when stalactites hang down to illustrate the familiar images of life such as flowers or the gardens. The tall white stalactites columns are splendid like the glass columns around the lake. In addition, there are different and strange shapes that take tourists into the world of imagination.

In the near future, along with the development of Lai Chau province, Pu Sam Cap also is a promising place in tourism to be explored with different kinds of travel such as festivals, villages etc...
                                                                                              Author: Hoang Van Trong