Ha Long Bay Vietnamese. Halong drone tour. Travel cruise trip. Islands of Ha Long.
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Halong Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and popular travel destination in Vietnam. The name Hạ Long means “descending dragon”.
The Halong Bay consists of a dense cluster of some 1,600 limestone monolithic islands each topped with thick jungle vegetation, rising spectacularly from the ocean. Several of the islands are hollow, with enormous caves. Wooden Stakes cave is the largest grotto in the Ha Long area. There are two bigger islands, Tuần Châu and Cát Bà, that have permanent inhabitants, as well as tourist facilities including hotels and beaches. There are a number of beautiful beaches on the smaller islands.
A community of around 1,600 people live on HaLong Bay in four fishing villages: Cua Van, Ba Hang, Cong Tau and Vong Vieng in Hung Thang ward, Ha Long city. They live on floating houses and are sustained through fishing and marine aquaculture, plying the shallow waters for 200 species of fish and 450 different kinds of mollusks. Many of the islands have acquired their names as a result of interpretation of their unusual shapes. Such names include Voi Islet (elephant), Ga Choi Islet (fighting cock), Khi Islet (monkey), and Mai Nha Islet (roof). 989 of the islands have been given names. Birds and animals including bantams, antelopes, monkeys, and lizard also live on some of the islands.
Almost all these islands are as individual towers in a classic fenglin landscape with heights from 50–100 metres (160–330 ft), and height/width ratios of up to about six.
Another specific feature of HaLong Bay is the abundance of lakes inside the limestone islands. For example, Dau Be island has six enclosed lakes. All these island lakes occupy drowned dolines within fengcong karst.
The climate of the bay is tropical, wet, sea islands, with two seasons: hot and moist summer, dry and cold winter.
History shows that Hạ Long Bay was the setting for local naval battles against Vietnam’s coastal neighbors. On three occasions, in the labyrinth of channels in Bạch Đằng River near the islands, the Vietnamese army stopped the Chinese from landing. In 1288, General stopped Mongol ships from sailing up the nearby Bach Dang River by placing steel-tipped wooden stakes at high tide, sinking the Mongol Kublai Khan’s fleet.
During the Vietnam War, many of the channels between the islands were heavily mined by the United States Navy, some of which pose a threat to shipping to this day.
In 1962, the Vietnam Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism designated Halong Bay a ‘Renowned National Landscape Monument’.
Halong Bay was first listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994, in recognition of its outstanding, universal aesthetic value. In 2000 the World Heritage Committee additionally recognised Ha Long Bay for its outstanding geological and geomorphological value, and its World Heritage Listing was updated.
See Vietnam – World from Above.
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