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Ha Long Bay has an
area of 1500km2, consists of 1600 islands of which 1000 have been
named. It has highly cultural value and been considered as the
eighth world heritage of wonder. Placed in the North-East region of
Vietnam, Ha Long Bay is a part of the Gulf of Tonkin comprised of
regions of Ha Long city, the township of Cam Pha and a part of the
island in the southwest, the East Sea in the east, and the mainland,
creating a 120km coastline, range from 106058'' - 107022''E and
20045'' - 20055''N. It was divided into different parts such as
Halong bay in the southwest and Bai Tu Long bay in the southeast in
which Halong bay is the most attractive place for tourist.
Viewed from above,
Ha long bay looks like a geographic work of art. While exploring the
bay, you will feel lost in a legendary world of stone island. There
is Man's Head Island, which resembles a man standing and looking
towards the mainland. Dragon Island looks like a dragon hovering
above the turquoise water. La Vong Island resembles an old man
fishing. There are also the islands of the Sail, the Pair of
Roosters, and the Incense Burner, which all astonishingly resemble
their namesakes. The forms of the islands change depending on the
angle of the light and from where the islands are viewed. At the
core of the islands, there are wonderful caves and grottoes, such as
Thien Cung (Heavenly Residence Grotto), Dau Go (Driftwood Grotto),
Sung Sot (Surprise Grotto), and Tam Cung (Three Palace Grotto). "Ha
long" means "descending dragon". It appeared from an old tale when
our country was invaded by foreign forces. The God from heaven sent
mother dragon with her children help defend their land. When the
boat of invaders came, it was fired by dragon family. Dragon family
fell so much in love with this area for its beauty that they decided
not to come back. It turned into many stone peninsula.
Mother dragon lies
on what is now Ha Long and where her children lie is Bai Tu Long.
The dragon tails formed the area of Bach Long Vi known for the miles
of white sandy beaches of Tra Co peninsula. Moreover, Ha Long bay
has many links to the history of Viet Nam. For example, there are
such famous geographical sites as Van Don - site of an famous
ancient commercial port, Poem Mountain - with engraving of many poem
of emperors and other famous historical figures, and Bach Dang - the
location of two fierce naval battles fought against foreign
aggressors. Especially, it has been proven by scientists that Ha
Long was one of the first cradles of human existence in the area at
such archeological sites as Xich Tho, Dong Mang, Soi Nhu, and Thoi
Gieng. It is also a region of highly - concentrated biological
diversity with many ecosystems of salt water - flooded forests,
coral reefs. And tropical forests featuring thousands of species of
animal and plant life.
With all these above
mentioned values, the 18th meeting of the Committee of the World
Heritages of UNESCO ( in Thailand on December 17th,1994 ) officially
recognized Ha long Bay as a heritage site of worldwide importance. |
