Halong Bay is in the north east of Vietnam,
about 151km from Ha Noi, it is part of Tonkin Gulf which covers the waters of
Halong city, Cam Pha town and Van Don island, Halong Bay borders Cat Ba island
to the south, the coastline is 120km long.
Halong Bay is composed of 1969 large and small islands, most of them are
limestone. The area crowded with strangely shaped islands and mountain caves
famous in the world for magnificent landscape was recognised by Unesco as the
World Heritage.
There are a lot of islands with different heights and sizes, placed in a zigzag
shape, from faraway it looks like a dragon waggling it's tail in the sea. This
is a hidden bay with an area of 1500 sq km including thousands of limestone
mountains rising from the sea, most islands are named after the shapes they bear
such as Toad, Elephant, Fighting cocks, Turtle...this inspires fantasy in
visitors. 2 large islands Cat Ba and Tuan Chau are inhabited all time, many
beautiful beaches surround the islands.
The limestone mountains in Halong Bay contain wonderful caves and grottoes such
as Virgin cave, Amazing cave, Heavenly grotto...each is attached to a legend.
In the process of dissolving the sea, waves and tides have created lakes for Ha
Long Bay with more than 10 thousand years such as Ba Ham Lake, is a combination
of three lakes linked together, The Luon lagoon where the ceiling is 2m above
the sea level. The magnificence of and history Halong Bay give scientists a
passion to discover discover the mysteries of the area.