The Legend of Halong Bay

I. Intro

It experienced a long history. Many locations of the nation have actually been connected with a dragon which was the very first of four spiritual animals. Image of the dragon is a familiar image in the cultural life and spiritual of the Vietnamese from countless years earlier. For that reason, many areas of the country have been gotten in touch with them (Dragon, Unicorn, Turtle, Phoenix). The common Dragon Place-name is well-known in Vietnam such as: Thang Long (Ha Noi), Mekong river (the North), Bai Tu Long, Bach Long Vi (Hai Phong), Long Bien Bridge (Ha Noi), Nha Rong wharf (Ho Chi Minh), Ham Rong bridge (Thanh Hoa), Ham Rong mountain (Sapa), Long Hai (Vung Tau), and the finally place is Ha Long Bay (Quang Ninh) - one of the 7 marvels of the world where is understood as the place where the dragon alights, so the majority of the foreign tourists select Ha Long Bay is where they will go to the very first see in Vietnam.

II. The Legend of Ha Long

In by gone days, Ha Long which have actually been formed by geological tectonic is known as an unique natural wonder. Nonetheless, in the minds of the Vietnamese from ancient times to the popular creativity and the idea of Dragon and Fairy roots, this formed numerous fascinating legends about Ha Long Bay. The story that a lot of individuals are spread by word of mouth start from the legend in the establishing a state is Ha Long Bay history.

When Vietnamese threatened by intruders, the Jade Emperor sent out Mom Dragon and her Kid Dragons down to earth to assist combat the enemy. When the boat of intruder came, dragon sprayed pearls, sea became thousands of stone islands to obstruct a strong attack of the enemy's boat.The enemy is beat. Mother Dragon and Kid Dragons saw the ground was peaceful. In addition, trees were so lush, and the person was really diligent, hard-working and unify, so they did not return paradise and remained on earth where the fight had happened. Area that Mother Dragon landed was Ha Long, and Kid Dragons alighted was Bai Tu Long.

III. Several aspects contribute to the beauty of Ha Long

Discussing Ha Long Bay, people often understood to the islands, caverns and stunning beaches, however couple of individuals pay attention to the things that attached to it as well as assisting somewhat to replicate and bring people coming to Ha Long such as: natural conditions, social and human.

The natural conditions are an integral part of creating the beauty of Ha Long Bay. Ha Long locates in northeastern of Vietnam. It is the part of the west coast of North Bay, including the sea area of Ha Long City, Cam Pha town and Van Don island district. Southwest bay borders Cat Ba island to the west by the mainland with a coastline of 120 kms, including 1969 islands, of which 989 islands named and 980 unnamed. There are two types of islands of limestone and schist islands, concentrated in two main areas of the southeast and the southwest. The climate division two seasons: summers and winters. Ha Long Bay is a place with two typical ecosystems is "ecological evergreen tropical moist" and "coastal and marine ecosystems." In the each large system mentioned above, there are several ecosystems.

A long cultural history, aesthetic asset values​​, bio diversity and common conditions favorable, all of them create a fanciful natural landscape. With such special values, on 17/12/1994, in the 18th session of the World Heritage Council of UNESCO held in Thailand, Ha Long Bay was officially recognized as a natural Heritage, On December 2nd, 2000, based on the International Convention on the protection of cultural heritage and the natural world at the 24th Conference of the Council of World Heritage. Ha Long Bay was recognized as world heritage 2nd standard value of geology and geomorphology. In addition, the New7Wonders organization's website. Ha Long Bay in the top 7 was chosen as the new natural wonders in the top 7 of the world on 11/11/2011 (GMT).

Thanks to Ha Long poll be the new natural wonders of the world, the number of tourists who went to the bay are dramatically rising day by day. The statistics show that in 2011, the number of tourists went to Ha Long Bay is 6.6 million people, and there were 2.5 million foreign visitors. In recent years, the number of tourists has visited Ha Long Bay are higher than the previous years. If in 2005, the number of tourists to Ha Long reached nearly 1.8 million people, only three months of the end of 2011, Ha Long has welcomed 2.1 million visitors. This is more than all of 2005 combined.

The first quarter of 2012 was 2.4 million that up to 20% over last year, including 420,000 foreigners. Due formed by limestone terrain Ha Long Bay has many islands and caves. Although it not as good as the Phong Nha (Quang Binh) but a number of caves on the Ha Long Bay is well-known scenic spots, has long become destinations on their journey to visit Ha Long Bay. Therefore, tourists are increasing. This creates a lot of jobs for local workers, promote the socio-economic development, and promote the image of people in Quang Ninh, in particular, and Vietnam in general to the world. It is a tremendous resource that Halong Bay gives smokeless industry. With beauty and the global exceptional value, Ha Long Bay has been attracting more and more tourists from all over the world coming to Vietnam.