-Ha Long Bay has an area of around 1,553 km2, including 1,960–2,000 islets, most of which are limestone. The core of the bay which is has an area of 334 km2 with a high density of 775 islets.
-it was recognised as the UNESCO World Heritage Site for 2 times. First is in recognition of its outstanding, universal aesthetic value, second is for its outstanding geological and geomorphological value.
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I arrived Ha Long on a foggy day (the end of February) and visited this one of the UNESCO World’s Heritage Sites and also one of the world’s new 7 wonders of Nature for 3 days. On the first day I was there, the climate here seemed not want to support me as I couldn’t see anything clearly. All the islets were covered by the fog rolling across the bay. However, the surrounding landscape sunk in the fog also expressed another beauty of Halong Bay which still made me excited.
1.Ha Long Bay - The bay of the sky, the moutains and the water
There is a story explaining the origin of the word: "Ha Long". I took it from Wikipedia.
The name Hạ Long means "descending dragon".
According to local legend, when Vietnamese had just started to develop into a country, they had to fight against invaders. To assist Vietnamese in defending their country, the gods sent a family of dragons as protectors. This family of dragons began spitting out jewels and jade. These jewels turned into the islands and islets dotting the bay, linking together to form a great wall against the invaders. Under magics, numerous rock mountains abruptly appeared on the sea, ahead of invaders' ships; the forward ships struck the rocks and each other. After winning the battle, the dragons were interested in peaceful sightseeing of the Earth, and then decided to live in this bay. The place where the mother dragon descended was named Hạ Long, the place where the dragon's children attended upon their mother was called Bái Tử Long island (Bái: attend upon, Tử: children, Long: dragon), and the place where the dragon's children wriggled their tails violently was called Bạch Long Vỹ island (Bạch: white-color of the foam made when Dragon's children wriggled, Long: dragon, Vỹ: tail), present day Trà Cổ peninsula, Mong Cai.
I like this story very much. Very creative, logical and typical of Vietnam.
The further I went from the land, the more beautiful and clearer the surrounding sightseeing was. Hundreds of islets and islands appeared before my eyes. Mr. Quang, the French speaking tour guide that I got acquainted on the cruise said proudly: “You should remember that I’ve been to Ha Long for hundreds of times but I never feel bored. My French clients, you can see, they went to Halong for 2 times already but now they still want to go.”
2.Cua Van fishing village: one of the world’s 16 most beautiful villages voted by Journeyetc.com
First of all, I want to share a good video clip that is made by Giang Kenji
Visiting Cua Van fishing village, I was attracted by the imposing limestone moutains surrounding the village and the peaceful primitive scene of the fishing village. That’s the reason why this place is voted as one of the world’s 16 most beautiful villages. This place is also appeared in one of the many video clips about Chef Luke Nguyen, the Vietnamese Australian chef who took us to the culinary journey around Vietnam.
This fishing village to me is quite poor compared to other fishing villages in Halong as this place is far and still untouched. There is just primary school here and children just can go to the 5th grade. After that they will stop studying and work. Consequently, their marriage age is very early, around 18 – 20 years old.
When I asked the local people about their desired things that they want us to support, they said they wanted the foam floats and the fishing net. They’re poor and don’t have enough money to buy a good fishing net. And their plastic foams that almost of them are using is harmful to the environment. Their effort of trying to keep the traditional career, keep the traditonal way to fish and keep the environment clean is commendable. I hope this fishing village can “maintain its century old cultural traits in front of the wave of urbanization”.
3.Kayaking, an interesting activity in Halong
Going to Halong Bay, kayaking is an activity that you cannot miss out. Kayaking through the caves gives you the nearer view of the karst topography (dia hinh karst). Kayaking around the floating village to further understand the daily life of the locals.
I rarely kayak before, that’s the reason why I was so excited at taking a kayak trip to go nearer to the limestone islets here. Great experience. I kayaked around the Cat Ba area and inhaled the pure air here. I thought I was lost into a certain fairyland and I didn’t want to come back at all.
Luon Cave, we can kayak through this cave and watch the surrounding sightseeing
After visiting Halong, I just have one thought, I want to spend my honey moon time here, on a 5 star cruise, experience the most romantic moment in this Halong bay. This is the gift from the nature giving to us and I felt so so lucky to have 3 days in Halong, not long time but enough time for me to feel the beauty here. The last word, I just have one advise for those who want to visit this wonder: if you've have already arrived Halong Bay, you'd better take your time and enjoy and discover the new things in Halong.Good luck!
Lana loves traveling!!!
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