The natural world wonder - Hạ Long

Geographical Location And Climate

Halong Bay is located in the Northeast of Vietnam, belonging to QuangNinh Province. It is in the coastal area stretching from 1060 56’ to 1070 37’ east longitude and 200 43’ to 210 09’ north latitude. To the west and northwest, Halong Bay stretches from Yen Hung District, and includes the large urban areas of Halong City and Cam Pha Town, as well as Van Don Island District. To the south and southeast, it is adjacent to the western Tonkin Gulf and to the west and southwest lies Cat Ba Island in the province of Hai Phong. On the world map, Ha Long Bay borders to China in the north and in the east it is adjacent to the East Sea.

In 1962, the Ministry of Culture and Information classified Halong Bay as a National Landscape Site, covering an area of 1,553 km2 with 1,969 islands. Halong Bay has been recognized twice by UNESCO as a World Heritage Area for its universal values of landscape, geology and geomorphology, respectively in 1994 and 2000, an area of 434 sq. km. including 775 islands.

The area inscribed by UNESCO (the Protected Area I - the Core Zone) is bound by Dau Go Island in the east, Ba Ham Lake in the south and Cong Tay Island in the east. The Protected Area II - the Buffer Zone is identified by the shore of the Bay running along the National Highway No. 18A, from the Gasoline Warehouse B12 in Cai Dam Precinct to the km.11 marker in Quang Hanh Precinct, Cam Pha Town. The Protected Area III - the Hinterland Zone is the sea or mainland area surrounding the buffer zone, including the area adjacent to the Cat Ba National Park of Hai Phong City.

Climate is featured humid tropical charactor, including two distinct seasons: hot, humid with much rainning in summer and cold, dry in winter. The average temperature ranges from 15° - 25°C with annual average rainfall of 2,000 - 2,200mm/year. Halong Bay has a typical tidal time (tidal amplitude ranges from 3.5 - 4.0m. The degree of salt in the sea water ranges from 31 - 34.5% in the dry season and decreases in the rainy season.

History of the name "Ha Long"

"Ha Long" is literally translated as "Bay of Descending Dragons." Prior to the 19th century, this name was not recorded in any document or archive. When mentioning the present-day Quang Ninh Sea or Ha Long Bay, old historical books often referred to them by the names of An Bang, Luc Thuy or Van Don. Not until the late 19th century did the name of Halong Bay appear on a French Marine Map. "The Hai Phong News", a French newspaper of the time, had an article, "Dragon appears on Ha Long Bay", reporting the following story: In 1898 a sub-lieutenant named Lagredin, captaining the 'Avalanse' reported seeing a huge sea snake on Ha Long Bay.

This was also witnessed by many of the crews. Thus emerged the European image of the Asian dragon. Whether this appearance of a strange animal looking like a dragon resulted the name of Ha Long Bay is not known (Reference "Quang Ninh: Art and Culture" published in 2002).

There is also a local legend, which has been handed down, relating to the name Ha Long Bay, which tells the following tale:

"Long ago, in the first founding days, the Viet people were attacked by foreign aggressors. The Jade Emperor sent the Mother Dragon and her band of Child Dragons to help the Viet people fight the invaders. While the enemy vessels were launching massive attacks against the mainland, the dragons descended in flocks from the sky. They spat out innumerable pearls which changed into jade stone islands the moment they touched the water. These islands linked together to form firm citadels that checked the enemy's advance and smashed their vessels to pieces.

After the invaders were driven out, Mother Dragon and her Child Dragons did not return to Heaven but stayed on earth, right at the place where the battle occurred. The spot where the Mother Dragon landed was Ha Long, and where the Child Dragons came down was Bai Tu Long. The place where their tails violently wagged was called Long Vi, the present-day Tra Co Peninsula with its soft sandy beach stretching many kilometers."

System of Isles and caves

Most of the islands on Ha Long Bay are limestone and were formed over 500 million years ago, and are massed in the southeast and southwest. The schist islands scattered in the southeast have an average height of between 50-200m, and have a rich covering of flora.

Within the islands of the Bay there are hundreds of beautiful caves of different shapes and sizes, including many famous names such as Thien Cung, Dau Go, Sung Sot, Tam Cung and Bo Nau. Some of them are archaeological sites retaining tangible archaeological evidence, such as Dau Go, Bo Nau, Sung Sot, Soi Nhu, Tien Long, Me Cung, and Trinh Nu caves.

Feature

From the wharf of Ha Long city, the brown and red boat which stands for bay, takes the visitors to the blue water line to begin the journey. The islands of the bay have two kinds, limestone and schist which are concentrated in two main zones:the southeast (belonging to Bai Tu Long Bay) and southwest ( belonging to Ha Long Bay ). This is the oldest image and average geological age of the islands is between 250 and 280 million years old.

The thousands of stone islands with different shapes resemble a light blue handkerchief dotted with emerald gems.

The densely concentrated zone of stone islands and caves famous for its spectacular scenery is the central zone of Ha Long Bay, including Ha Long Bay and a part of Bai Tu Long Bay The Heritage Site has an area of 434 square kilometers, including 775 islands and forms a triangle with the Dau Go island to the west, the Ba Ham to the south and Cong Tay island to the east and the regions surrounding the area were classified as a national site by the Ministry of Culture and Information in 1962.

Viewed from above, Ha Long Bay looks like a very vivid huge picture. The island looks like somebody looking toward the mainland- Human Head Island, that one looks like a dragon hovering above the sea surface- Dragon Island, another looks like an old man sitting fishing- Hon La Vong, some look like big sails struggling a midst the wind to set off for the sea- Sail Island, and then two islands look like a pair of chicken lovingly playing with each other above the sea ( Male and Female Chicken Island) and between the vast sea stands an island like a big incense burner like a ritual offering to Heaven ( Incense Burner Island). Those stone islands have changed unpredictably overtime and they take different shapes from different angles of view.

The visitors seem to be lost into the majestic grottos which contain a lot of historical vestiges. Van Canh Island( or called Canh Đoc) is about 8 kilometers from Ha Long city. In the book of Đai Nam Nhat Thong Chi said: "Canh Doc island has the large grottos with the contain of thousands of people”. Getting in, the visitors are amazed by the very splendid beauty of Thien Cung caves. The wall of grottos where has a lot of strange and attractive images, is tall, straight and covered with the stalactites. That is the image about Nam Tao, Bac Dau. The fairies, people and many species of animals seem to be attending a very wonderful party and this can be only a masterpiece made by God.

The way to Thien Cung is a perious one, covered on both sides by the thick forest. After entering a narrow gate, the grotto’ s 30 meter long girth opens up. Next, the visitors will see Dau Go cave after finishing coming into Thien Cung caves. The name of Dau Go came from a popular story of the resistance against the Yuan- Mongolian aggressors. In a battle, Tran Hung Dao was given an order to prepare many ironwood stakes here, to be planted on the riverbed of Bach Dang river. The remaining wood pieces were found in the grotto and as a result, the grotto was given its present name.

Beside two above caves, the visitors also witness a lot of charming and beautiful caves such as Sung Sot cave, Trinh Nu cave, Tam Cung cave and so on.

Ha Long Bay is also attached to glorious pages of Vietnamese history with famous sites such as Van Don- a bustling trade port in the 12th century, charming Bai Tho Moutain and not very far away from here is the Bach Dang river which witnessed two famous naval battles of the ancestors against invaders. Ha Long is also one of the cradles of the human kind with the glorious Ha Long culture in the late Neolithic Age, discovered at such archeological sites such as Dong Mang, Xich Tho, Soi Nhu, Thoi Gieng…

Ha 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 of numerous species, for example: shrimp, fish and squid. Some species are specially rare and can be only seen here.