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About Halong Bay
Ha Long Bay is located in the
northeastern part of Vietnam and constitutes part of
the western bank of Bac Bo Gulf, including the sea
area of Ha Long City and Cam Pha Town and part of
Vân Don island district. It abuts Cat Ba Island in
the southwest. Toward the west is the shore with a
120 km-long coastline. It is located within
106o58’-107o22’ east longitude and within 20o45’-
20o50’ north latitude. The site is 1553 sq. km with
1969 islands of various sizes, of which 989 have
been named.
The islands in Ha Long Bay are mainly
limestone and schist islands most lying in the two main
areas: the southeastern part of Bái Tử Long Bay and
southwestern part of Hạ Long Bay. These islands
represent the most ancient images of a geographical site
having a tectonic age of from 250 million to 280 million
years. They are the result of many times of rising and
lowering processes of the continent to form a karst. The
process of nearly full erosion and weathering of the
karst created the unique Hạ Long Bay in the world. In a
not very large area, thousands of islands with different
forms look like glittering emeralds attached to the blue
scarf of a virgin. The area where many stone islands
concentrate has spectacular scenes and world-famous
caves and is the center of Ha Long Bay Natural Heritage,
including HaLong Bay and a part of Bái Tu Long Bay.
The area is recognized as the World
Natural Heritage that is the area of 434 sq. km with 775
islands. It looks like a giant triangle with Ðầu Gỗ
Island (in the west), Ba Hầm Lake (in the south) and
Cống Tây Island (in the east) as its three angle points.
The nearby area is the buffer area and areas classified
as national beauty spots in 1962 by the Ministry of
Culture and Information.
Viewed from above, Hạ Long Bay looks
like an extremely vivid huge drawing. This is a
wonderful and skilful masterpiece of the Creation and of
nature that turns thousands of dumb soulless stone
islands into fantastic sculptural and artistic works of
various graceful shapes, both familiar and strange to
human beings. Thousands of islands emerging uneven in
the fanciful waves look strong and magnificent but also
mild and vivid. Amidst these islands we feel as if we
were astray in a petrified legendary world. There are
many names given to islands according to their shapes
and forms. This one looks like somebody heading toward
the shore: Hòn Ðầu Người (Human Head Island); that one
looks like a dragon hovering above the sea surface: Hòn
Rông (Dragon Island); another looks like an old man
sitting fishing: Hòn Lã Vọng; some look like big sails
struggling amidst the wind to set off for the sea: Hòn
Cánh Buồm (Sail Island); then two islands look like a
pair of chicken lovingly playing with each other above
the sea: Hòn Trống Mái (Male and Female Chicken Island);
and amid the vast sea stands an island like a big
incense burner like a ritual offering to Heaven: Hòn Lư
Hương (Incense Burner Island). All are so real that
people are taken aback by them. Those stone islands have
experienced unpredictable changes over time and they
take different shapes from different angles of view.
Here, we come to realize that they are not dumb
inanimate things but are vivid and soulful.
Inside the stone islands are various
breath-taking caves, such as Thiên Cung, Ðầu Gỗ, Sửng
Sốt, Trinh Nữ, Tam Cung and others. These are really
magnificent palaces of the Creation on earth. Long ago,
Hạ Long Bay has been called by the great national poet
Nguyễn Trãi:“a wonder of the earth erected towards the
high sky”. Many men of letters from all over the world
have been taken aback at the grandiose scenery of Hạ
Long. They seem to get puzzled and incompetent as their
treasure of vocabulary is not rich enough to depict the
splendor of this place.
Hạ Long Bay is also attached to
glorious pages of Vietnamese history, with famous sites
such as Vân Ðồn, a bustling trade port in the 12th
century, charming Bài Thơ Mountain, and not very far
away from here is the Bạch Đằng River which witnessed
two famous naval battles of the Viêt’s ancestors against
invaders. Also, Hạ Long is one of the cradles of human
kind with the glorious Hạ Long culture in the late
Neolithic age, discovered at such archeological sites as
Ðộng Mang, Xích Thổ, Soi Nhụ and Thoi Giếng.
Hạ 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 and animals of numerous species, for
example shrimp, fish and squid. Some species are
particularly rare and can be found no where else.
With such special values, at the 18th
Session of UNESCO’s Council of World Heritage held on 17
December 1994 in Thailand, Hạ Long Bay was officially
placed on the list of the World Natural Heritage. In
2000, UNESCO recognized it as the World Heritage for the
second time for its geographical and geomorphologic
values. This confirms the global premier value of Hạ
Long Bay.
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