Halong Bay Travel Guide - Halong Bay Travel Guide

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asiaexplorers - 2010/01/01, 06:43 GMT+7 - Total view: 1011

Halong Bay Travel Guide

Halong Bay, or Vinh Ha Long, is a tourist destination in the Gulf of Tonkin in northern Vietnam. It was recognised by Unesco as a World Heritage Site since 1994. I visited it with my wife (then girlfriend) and a small group of AsiaExplorers members, on a tour arranged through our hotel.

We toured the bay in a traditional junk and spent the night on board. Located 170 km east of Hanoi, Halong Bay took me over three hours to reach. The weather in Hanoi was balmy with light rain, so we were pleasantly surprised that upon reaching Halong Bay,we were treated with glorious sunshine. It was one of the sunniest daysI have had on the whole trip, and it allowed me to take many greatphotographs of this scenic bay. Halong Bay was inscribed as one of Vietnam's UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1994.

World Heritage Site Inscription Details

Location: N20 53 60 E107 5 60
Inscription Year: 1994
Type of Site: Natural
Inscription Criteria: VII, VIII

Villages on stilt at Halong Bay.

Translated into English, Vinh Ha Long means Bayof the Descending Dragon. The origin of this name is linked to one ofthe many skirmishes the Vietnamese had with their mighty neighbour upnorth, China. According to legend, during one of the invasions mountedby the Chinese on Vietnam, the Vietnamese called upon the gods forassistance. The gods sent a troop of dragons to help defend the land.The dragons descended in Vietnam atHalong Bay. Out of their mouths came - not fire - but jewels, and these jewelstransformed into the many isles and islets dotting the bay. These tinyislands became a natural shield against sea invasion, and three timesin Vietnamese history, the labyrinthine passages through the islandsprevented the Chinese from landing. Even the Mongols were thwarted intheir 13th century attempt to conquer Vietnam - the Vietnamese led byGeneral Tran Hung Dao planted steel-tipped wooden stakes into the seabed. When the Mongol fleet passed through them, the stakes puncturedtheir ships, sinking them.

Halong Bay covers an area of 1500 square kilometres. Within this areais close to two thousand limestone islands (someone counted and claimedthere're 1969 islands) that jut out in spectacular fashion from thesea. The islands are similar to those at Phangnga Bay in Thailand, andcome in unusual shapes. Some of these have their own names, such asFighting Cock Island, a pair of limestone outcrops that look more likea two chicks about to, not fight, but kiss. There are so many islands,but the ones I can name include Yen Ngua Islet, Ba Trai Dao Islet, ConCoc Islet, Cong Do Island, Soi Sim Islet. We stopped over at Ti TopIsland where we climbed up to the view point right up at the top.

The islands of Halong Bayare pockmarked with caves and grottoes. The largest of these is SungSut Cave. The scenery from the mouth of the cave is simply postcardperfect. The other significant caves inHalong Bay include Ba Ham Cave,Bo Nau Cave, Dau Go Cave, Kim Quy Cave, Luon Cave, Me Cung Cave, TamCung Cave, Thien Cung Cave and Trinh Nu Cave.

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