AL's Tales: Halong Bay

Here's the final update of my recent trip to Vietnam. It seems like this blog is kinda evolving into a blog of my travels. I guess its the best way for friends and family to keep in tune of the things i see thru my camera lens as well as learn a thing or two about other countries.

So here's some history about Halong Bay...

Ha long Bay is a body of water of approximately 1,500 square kilometres in north Vietnam with a 120 kilometre coastline, in the Gulf of Tonkin near the border with China, and 170 kilometres east of Hanoi.

Halong Bay — means "Bay of the Descending Dragon" in the Vietnamese language. Ha means "descending" and Long means "dragon" in Sino-Vietnamese.

The bay consists of a dense cluster of 1,969 limestone monolithic islands, each topped with thick jungle vegetation, which rise spectacularly from the ocean. Several of the islands are hollow, with enormous caves. There are two bigger islands, Tuan Chau and Cat Ba, that have permanent inhabitants. Both of them have tourist facilities, including hotels and beaches. There are a number of wonderful beaches on the smaller islands.

Some of the islands support floating villages of fishermen, who ply the shallow waters for 200 species of fish and 450 different kinds of mollusks. Birds and animals including bantams, antelopes, monkeys, and iguanas also live on some of the islands.

The bay is also a World Heritage site listed by UNESCO. It is one of Vietnam's most popular tourist destinations.

Local legend says that long ago when the Vietnamese were fighting Chinese invaders, the gods sent a family of dragons to help defend the land. This family of dragons descended upon what is now Ha Long Bay (hence the name "Bay of Descending Dragons") and began spitting out jewels and jade. These jewels turned into the islands and islets dotting the bay, linking together to form barriers against the invaders. The people kept their land safe and formed what later became the country of Vietnam.

Me, Sab & this China girl that we met on the Chinese junk

The Chinese Junk that took us to Halong Bay

(Sab & Me actually stayed 1 night on a junk like this. Top deck is where you chill out and sun bathe, Middle deck is the restaurant and Bottom deck is the air conditioned rooms. Its air conditioned alright you see an aircon and it dont work)