1. The
legend of Halong bay
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| A LAND OF LEGEND |
The legend of Hạ Long
has it that, “Once upon a time, soon after the Việt people established their
country, invaders came. The Jade Emperor sent Mother Dragon and her Child
Dragons down to earth to help the Việt people fight against their enemy. Right
at the time invaders’ boats were rushing to the shore, the dragons landed down
on earth. The dragons immediately sent out from their mouths a lot of pearls,
which then turned into thousands of stone islands emerging in the sea like
great walls challenging the invaders’ boats. The fast boats couldn’t manage to
stop and crashed into the islands and into each other and broke into pieces.
After the victory,
Mother Dragon and Child Dragons didn’t return Heaven but stayed on earth at the
place where the battle had occurred. The location Mother Dragon landed is
nowadays Hạ Long Bay and where Child Dragons descended is now Bái Tử Long. The
dragons’ tails waving the water created Long Vĩ (present Trà Cổ peninsula) and
formed a fine sand beach over ten kilometers long”.
2.
Halong Bay - The magical land of Vietnam
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| A LAND OF LEGEND |
Hạ Long Bay is located
in the northeastern part of Vietnam and constitutes part of the western bank of
Bắc Bộ Gulf, including the sea area of Hạ Long City and Cẩm Phả Town and part
of Vân Ðồn island district. It abuts Cát Bà 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.
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| A LAND OF LEGEND |
The islands in Hạ 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 Hạ Long Bay Natural
Heritage, including Ha Long Bay and a part of Bái Tu Long Bay.
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| A LAND OF LEGEND |
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.
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| A LAND OF LEGEND |
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.
Wherever you come from,
whosoever you are and however old you are, you will certainly experience the
same emotion and feeling when admiring this wonder of stone and water. And
great experiences will always remain even when you leave the place. The legend
of Mother Dragon and Child Dragons sending out pearls to form thousands of
stone islands to stop invaders still serve as the soul of this invaluable
heritage of the world.
Have you ever come to Hạ
Long, the unique wonder of the world of its kind, to admire and explore
secretes implicit in the place?
