INSIDE THE BEST PLACES NOW
Everything has an inside. There is always an inside story, or surface, or joke of some sort. There is an inside perspective. There is an inside realm. No matter how small or insignificant, there is something inside it. And often, on the inside, there is surprising beauty.
Photo: Carsten Peter. Courtesy of Son Doong Cave.
The planet earth has incredibly beautiful insides that we have barely been able to see. Soon, for the first time, we will be able to go deep inside the world’s largest, and perhaps, the most beautiful cave. Son Doong Cave, in Vietnam, is full of superlatives.
Son Doong is not only enormous, measuring 5.5 miles long and taller than a 40 story skyscraper, but it has formed a whole world of its own inside, with its own ecosystem. It is like nothing you’ve ever seen before.
Photo: Courtesy of HD Desktop Wallpapers.
The cave was discovered in 1991 by a local man who came upon its entrance, but it was not until 2009 that scientists first explored its remarkable insides.
Award-winning photographer Carsten Peter, known for his spectacular images of extreme locations, captured Son Doong’s magnificence in a series of extraordinary shots for National Geographic.
Photo: Carson Peter. Courtesy of National Geographic.
We see that part of the cave’s roof collapsed a few hundred years ago, letting sunlight and rain inside its belly. A lush jungle paradise began to fill in. It is now called the Garden of Edam.
There are newly discovered species of plants surrounding breathtaking waterfalls and rivers inside the cave. Algae blooms on the surface of ancient pools.
Photo: Carson Peter. Courtesy of National Geographic. Cave Pearls.
Rare geological formations, known as cave pearls, formed as water dripped down, dried up, and left layers of calcite crystals deposited on grains of sand.
Photo: Carsten Peter. Courtesy of Son Doong Cave.
Oxalis Adventure Tours has been granted exclusive rights to offer tours inside. The tour will begin when you rappel 80 meters down into Son Doong. There’s no other way in.
Photo: Courtesy of Paradise In the World.
You will camp inside. You will spend your first night near Hand of Dog, a giant stalagmite that looks like a massive dog's paw. Each day and night will reveal even more wonders.
Only 220 tourists will be allowed in at first. If you move quickly, you can sign-up now for the inaugural six-day tour to take place in 2014.
Photo: Dave Marcus. Interior of Thrihnukagigur.
You can be among the first ever to travel down inside a spectacular volcano.
The Thrihnukagigur Volcano, in Iceland, was recently opened to tours. You can descend 120 meters into its shaft into one of the world's largest lava caves and spend a half day exploring with Inside the Volcano Tours.
Photo: Robert Nunn. Entrance to Thrihnukagigur.
Thrihnukagigur volcano last erupted more than 4,000 years ago, so have no fear. But get ready to have your mind blown. Above ground, lava is black and dull. But down inside this volcano, it is painted with a gorgeous palette of colors which were created when superheated magma spilled across the rock surfaces.
Photo: Dave Marcus. Inside of Thrihnukagigur.
Intense yellows -- from sulphur, jolting reds -- from iron, brilliant blues, purples, and a whole vibrant rainbow washes across the cave walls.
Travel & Escape journalist Stacy McLeod describes the experience as like “being under the sea and on the moon at the same time.” Wow! “There’s a hollow kind of silence, pierced by thin, echoing voices and squeaks from slipping shoes, drowned out by the loud slap of falling waters.”
Photo: Dave Marcus. Interior of Thrihnukagigur.
Most volcanoes collapse into themselves after they erupt, leaving giant craters vs caves. Another rarity about Thrihnukagigur is that you can explore it without wearing a mask. You can breathe normally thanks to falling groundwater, which drips down into the cave, bringing oxygen and air circulation.
An underground tunnel and bridge is in the works and is planned to be ready by as early as 2015, making it more accessible for tours.
Photo: Courtesy of Forbes. Chateau de Menars interior.
If you prefer a more refined tour of beautiful inside spaces, check out the newly restored, newly accessible Chateau de Menars in France’s Loire Valley. Also known as Palace Pompadour, named by the current owner, Edmond Baysari, after his muse, Madame Pompadour (aka Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson).
Image: Courtesy of Marian Corrales. Portrait of Madame de Pompadour by Francois Boucher.
Poisson was a rather wild, exceptionally beautiful renaissance woman (1721-64), who loved music, painting, literature, botany and ornithology. She hung out with Voltaire and was mistress to King Louis XV.
Photo: Courtesy of Forbes. Chateau de Menars interior.
Chateau de Menars is the only fully privately held royal château. It holds nearly 200,000 square feet of living space, anad is surrounded by 118 acres of sculpted gardens, all on the banks of the Loire River.
Photo: Courtesy of Forbes. Chateau de Menars kitchen.
Baysari spent over $100 million bringing the insides of this estate back to its former glory, using the same techniques as the orginal builders did. He sourced authentic artisans and commissioning up-and-coming artists.
Photo: Courtesy of Forbes. Chateau de Menars interior.
You’ll see more than 50 bedrooms, along with scores of drawing rooms, a majestic dining room and kitchen on the inside, and gorgeous gardens, vineyards, and landscapes punctuated with massive sculptures on the outside. Madame de Pompadour’s face has been carved into two stone sphinxes. There is a domed Temple of Love, designed by Soufflot.
Photo: Courtesy of Jean-Frédéric. Lit Pompadour.
Baysari has purposely left three rooms unrestored: the ground-floor apartments that served as Madame de Pompadour’s bedrooms. “I don’t want to do it. I don’t think I’m qualified,” he explained in an interview with Forbes. “I would rather that when she comes back, she does it herself.”
Baysari uses it as a private summer retreat, but will sometimes open it up to visitors if you call and ask nicely.
Read more about Beautiful Insides, as they relate to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact, including Beautiful Inside Stories, Beauty Inside Ancient Cores, Beautiful Insides to Admire & Taste, and Intimate Surreal Insides.
Get busy and enter the BN Competitions, Our theme this week is Beautiful Insides. Send in your images and ideas. Deadline is 11.17.13.
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Also, check out our special competition: The Most Beautiful Sound in the World! We are thrilled about this effort, together with SoundCloud and The Sound Agency. And we can’t wait to hear what you’ve got!
