Just imagine drifting south from Vietnam's north coast in a wooden junk, your eyes will be riveted on what at first appears to be a jagged wall of emerald green. After an hour or so the wall swallows you up, and you find yourself in a fairyland of otherworldly limestone peaks, jutting from the water at sheer angles. Welcome to Ha Long Bay, one of the most spectacular places in the whole of Vietnam.
Imagine countless mystical islands rising from the emerald waters of the Gulf of Tonkin and you have a vision of breathtaking beauty. Ha Long translates as 'where the dragon descends into the sea', and legends claims the islands of Ha Long Bay were created by a great dragon from the mountains. As it charged towards the coast, it's flailing tail gouged out valleys and crevasses. When the dragon finally plunged into the sea, the area filled with water, leaving only the pinnacles visible. The celestial dragon and her children, sent by the late Jade Emperior to stop the invasion, which spat out great quantities of pearls to form islands razor-sharp mountains chains in the path of enemy fleet. After the victory the dragons, enchanted by their creation, decided to stay on, and the inevitable claimed sightings of sea monsters.
Ha Long Bay (literally: Bay of Descending Dragons; Vietnamese: Vịnh Hạ Long) is the most well-known touristic destination in Viet Nam, and this is for good reason. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Quảng Ninh province. If you've focused your trip on the extraordinary cities and monuments of urban Vietnam, a visit to Ha Long Bay leaves no doubt that Vietnam also has some of the most beautiful natural sceneries worldwide. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes. The Ha Long bay, dotted with some 2000 limestone islets rising from emerald waters, is the best known natural wonder of Viet Nam.
Gonna be a great day........magical
Thanks for coming along with us....Leslee & Bob
Cherish The Moments, Love Deeply, Dream Big
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