About Ha Long Bay

  Overview
  Ha Long Bay  is undoubtedly Asia’s most enchanting destination, defined by a myriad  of limestone island formations rising out of the emerald waters.
  Ha Long Bay 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, Ha 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 Ha 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.
  Name of Halong bay
  Ha Long Bay is literally translated as "Bay of Descending Dragons." Prior to the 19th century,  this name was not recorded in any document or archive. When mentioning  the present-day Quang Ninh Sea or Ha Long Bay, old historical books  often referred to them by the names of An Bang, Luc Thuy or Van Don. Not  until the late 19th century did the name of Ha Long Bay appear on a  French Marine Map. The Hai Phong News, a French newspaper of the time, had an article, Dragon appears on Ha Long Bay, reporting the following story: In 1898 a sub-lieutenant named Lagredin, captaining the Avalanse  reported seeing a huge sea snake on Ha Long Bay. This was also  witnessed by many of the crews. Thus emerged the European image of the  Asian dragon. Whether this appearance of a strange animal looking like a  dragon resulted the name of Ha Long Bay is not known.
  Legend of Halong Bay:
  The legend of Ha Long Bay has it that, “Once upon a time, soon after the Viett people established their country, invaders came. The
  Jade Emperor sent Mother Dragon and her Child Dragons down to earth to  help the Viett 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 Ha Long Bay and where Child  Dragons descended is now Bai Tu Long. The dragons’ tails waving the  water created Long Vĩ (present Trà Cổ peninsula) and formed a fine sand  beach over ten kilometers long”.
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