Posts Tagged ‘Halong Bay’

Bai Chay is a resort located along the coast of Halong Bay. This is a windward ocean resort which has a year round average temperature of 20oC (68oF).

Bai Chay is a low gently sloping range of hills that runs along the sea for more than 2 km. Blended in among the pine trees are large hotels and small villas with distinguished architectural styles. Traveling down the asphalt road along the coast, visitors see long white stretches of sand and green rows of Casuarina trees, tucked under which are small family-run restaurants. After swimming at the beach, tourists can enjoy cold drinks and cool off in the breeze that sweeps in from the sea.

General information:

Halong Bay is a natural wonder of the world and one of Vietnam’s five UNESCO World Heritage Sites

Total area: 1,553 sq. km
Heritage site area: 434 sq. km
Total number of islands: 1,969 islands
Number of island in heritage zone: 775 islands
Listed as world natural heritage year: 1994 and 2000
Province: Quang Ninh

Location:

Halong Bay is situated in the Northeast of Vietnam, 160 km to the east of Hanoi and constitutes part of the western bank of Tonkin Gulf, including the sea area of Ha Long City and Cam Pha Town and a part of Van Don Island district.  Halong borders Cat Ba Islands in the southwest, the east sea in the east and the mainland. It is located within 106o58’-107o22’ east longitude and within 20o45’- 20o50’ north latitude.

Halong Bay history and legend:

History shows that Halong Bay has been the setting for local naval battles against Vietnam’s coastal neighbours. On three occasions in the labyrinth of channels in Bach Dang river near the islands the Vietnamese army stopped the Chinese from landing. In 1288 General Tran Hung Dao stopped Mongol ships from sailing up the nearby Bach Dang River by placing steel-tipped wooden stakes at high tide, sinking the Mongol Dubhai Khans fleet. (more…)

Halong Bay has been ranked as one of the 150 most beautiful natural wonders in the world by the French leading e-magazine, L’Internaute. An article portraying Halong Bay – a world natural heritage, was published in September in the Voyager (tourism) column of L’Internaute magazine.

The article noted that apart from its thousands of charming islands and beautiful caves, Halong Bay is also home to a wide biodiversity that includes eco-systems like mangrove forests, coral reefs and tropical forests.

The bay, which was twice recognised by UNESCO for its landscape and geological value, has advanced to the final stage of a campaign to vote for the world’s seven new natural wonders by the NewOpenWorld. It currently ranks 4th out of the 28 successful landscapes in terms of votes. Vietnam is making an effort to promote and preserve the bay in a bid to encourage the community, especially friends across the world to vote for it.