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Halong Bay Travel Guides
             
The legend of Hạ Long has it that, “Once upon a time,
soon after the Việt people established their country, invaders came. The
Jade Emperor sent Mother Dragon and her Child Dragons down to earth to
help the Việt people fight against their enemy. Right at the time
invaders’ boats were rushing to the shore, the dragons landed down on
earth. The dragons immediately sent out from their mouths a lot of
pearls, which then turned into thousands of stone islands emerging in
the sea like great walls challenging the invaders’ boats. The fast boats
couldn’t manage to stop and crashed into the islands and into each other
and broke into pieces.
After the victory, Mother Dragon and Child Dragons didn’t return Heaven
but stayed on earth at the place where the battle had occurred. The
location Mother Dragon landed is nowadays Hạ Long Bay and where Child
Dragons descended is now Bái Tử Long. The dragons’ tails waving the
water created Long Vĩ (present Trà Cổ peninsula) and formed a fine sand
beach over ten kilometers long”.
Hạ Long Bay is located in the northeastern part of Vietnam and
constitutes part of the western bank of Bắc Bộ Gulf, including the sea
area of Hạ Long City and Cẩm Phả Town and part of Vân Ðồn island
district. It abuts Cát Bà 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 Hạ 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 Hạ Long Bay Natural Heritage, including Ha Long 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.
Wherever you come from, whosoever you are and however old you are, you
will certainly experience the same emotion and feeling when admiring
this wonder of stone and water. And great experiences will always remain
even when you leave the place. The legend of Mother Dragon and Child
Dragons sending out pearls to form thousands of stone islands to stop
invaders still serve as the soul of this invaluable heritage of the
world.
Have you ever come to Hạ Long, the unique wonder of the world of its
kind, to admire and explore secretes implicit in the place?
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