February 8, 2012 Perspective

Hidden in rugged Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park near the border with Laos, is
Hang En, a cave tunneled out by the Rao Thuong River, Vietnam. It is a mile-long portal that tunnels beneath a ring of mountains into the lost world of a network of 150 or so caves in the Annamite Mountains.

From the National Geographic story Conquering an Infinite Cave
Photograph by Carsten Peter


There I go, time travelin' again.

That's really cool. What a huge cave!

But Cali. You don't seem to have the larger font thing down yet.

I see a Sleestak!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete Zicato But Cali. You don't seem to have the larger font thing down yet.

at V.

and ... whooooaaaaaahhhhhhhh.

Mind you ...

It's highly possible he didn't know anything about these caves though. (pardon my need to defend Tolkien, but his stories are just incredible and I'd rather keep my illusions about his imagination in tact.)

Caves under mountains and mines which utilise them have existed as long as mankind has been capable of exploring them.
Tolkien was mining a rich seam there (ouch, sorry).

Although he didn't grow up in a mining community, he was very much aware of it. He used to watch the coal trucks going to and from Wales. It's referenced in Genesis, U A Fanthorpe's poem about him (posted somewhere on the Cellar)