Hạ Long Bay

The Ha Long Bay (Vietnamese: Vịnh Hạ Long) is a bay near the city of Hạ Long in the north of Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin, near the border with China. The bay has a coastline of 120 kilometers and the area covers around 1500 square kilometers. Vịnh Hạ Long in Vietnamese Bay means the falling dragon. The bay has been a world heritage site since 2000.

Ha Long Bay is a large bay natural marine water of more than 43 thousand hectares (1500 km, the largest karst marine world) between Ha Long and the National park Cat Ba island Cat Ba in the Tonkin Gulf of South China Sea, from Quảng Ninh province in northern Vietnam, to the Chinese border of Dongnan Qiuling, 170 km east of the capital Hanoi. Its 120 km of coastline coastal, natural seascape preserved spectacular and exceptional 1969 islands karst limestone submerged, and wealth Biological its ecosystem tropical worth it to be on the list of World Heritage of UNESCO since December 17, 1994(with an extension in 2000). This site of the club of the most beautiful bays in the world, elected in 2011 one of the seven new wonders of nature, is one of the most important tourist destinations in Vietnam and tourism world with 2.5 million annual visitors in 2015.

Description

The bay has 1,969 limestone karst islands and rocky outcrops, with numerous coves, beaches, inland lakes, caves, caves (the most famous of which are the "Cave of Surprise" and the one named by the French "Cave of Wonders"). The set is the largest marine karst in the world.

The islands are named according to their forms, including the Voi islet (elephant), the Ga Choi islet (fighting cock), the Khi islet (monkey) and the Mai Nha islet (roof).

History

In the bay of Ha Long, Vietnam has had several sea battles with its neighbors. The Vietnamese army has stopped the Chinese in the labyrinth of waterways three times. In 1228 prevented General Tran Hung Đạo the Mongolian ships nearby river Bạch djang boost by placing sharp wooden obstacles underwater Mongol fleet sank.

During the Vietnam War, sea mines were laid by the US Navy in various waterways between the islands. Remaining mines still represent a risk.

In 1994, Ha Long Bay is included on the World Heritage List of UNESCO. It is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Vietnam.

The caves of the islands have been inhabited since prehistoric times for about 4000 years before our era (history of Vietnam).

Halong Bay has been the scene of several naval battles. This labyrinth allowed the Vietnamese army to stop the neighboring Chinese Empire three times. In 1288, General Trần Hưng Đạo halted the invasion of the Mongol Empire by sinking their fleet at the Battle of Bach Dang (1288). Stakes that were used at the time were found in the "Bois des Bouts de Bois cave" on Île des Merveilles, and have since been exhibited at the Musée de Haïphong.

At the end of the xviii century, the bay served as a refuge piracy, the Chinese and Vietnamese authorities failed to eradicate. From 1810, they leave the site and go up the rivers, chased by the Royal Navy of the British Empire.

During the colonization of French Indochina (1887-1954) the French mapped the bay and named some islets. The large open pit coal deposits have been exploited by the French Coal Company of Tonkin.

During the Vietnam War, many passages were mined by the United States, which is still a threat today. During the war against the Americans, China supported the government of North Vietnam by sending him ships equipped with anti-aircraft guns. Based at Hạ Long, they are used by the Vietnamese Navy to monitor the coast and ward off possible Chinese incursions.

Islands

There are 1969 limestone islands in the bay, each with dense vegetation at the top. The limestone monoliths rise spectacularly from the ocean. Several of the islands are hollow because of the formation of caves. Hang Đầu Gổ (Wooden Stick Cave) is the largest of these caves. French tourists who visited this cave at the end of the 19th century called it Grotte des Merveilles (Cave of the Wonders). The three large rooms contain many large stalactites and stalagmites (and French 19th-century graffiti).

The name of many of the islands is the result of the local interpretation of their strange form. Examples of this are Voi (elephant), Ga Choi (fighting cock) and Mai Nha (roof). 989 of the islands have a name.

In some of the islands there are floating villages of fishermen who catch 200 species of fish and 450 species of molluscs in the shallow waters. Animals live on some islands, such as chickens, monkeys and iguanas.

Geology and tectonics

The bay has been subject to geological changes for at least 500 million years. Various mountain-forming phases (orogense), the rise and fall of the sea level. During the Ordovician and Silurian times, the bay was a deep sea. During the Carboniferous and the Permian, the area was a shallow sea.

The region consists mainly of coastal sediments and oddly formed mountains due to chemical erosion of limestone. The landscape has recently been lifted, which has accelerated erosion and therefore had a major impact on the relief. The scattered islands that are now present originated around 8000 years ago, during a transgression in the Holocene.

The surrounding area is rich in coal, which is being mined by order of the Vietnamese government.

Karst

The conditions in this area were ideal for creating the karst landscape in 20 million years. There was a thick light gray limestone package, mainly fine-grained material. The humid and warm climate had an important influence. The slow tectonic process whereby the area gradually became submerged in seawater created the current special landscape.

Etymology and legend

Vịnh Hạ Long (H Long) means "descent of the dragon" or "the place where the dragon descends from the sky into the sea" in Sino-Vietnamese vocabulary.

According to a local legend of the Tao, the Jade Emperor (God of the Gods of Chinese Mythology and Vietnamese Mythology) sent a protective mother- dragon (and her babies) wonderful and beneficial beings to Vietnam, come down from heaven to help Vietnamese to defend themselves against their invaders. This family of dragons spit of jewelry and gems (of pearls and jade) in Halong Bay, who suddenly and successfully transformed by magic inislands and islets in front of invaders' ships. The dragon mother came down to Hạ Long, and her babies in Tu Long Bay (little dragons playing in the sea, in Vietnamese). According to another version of this legend, the bay was created by a dragon who lived in the mountain near the sea. He dug and drew deep ruts in the ground with his tail, between the mountain and the sea, they were submerged after he had plunged into the water.

Geological relief

The geologists explain the formation of this relief karst of the Holocene as follows: the Paleozoic (or Primary era, between 541 and 252 million years) the site was in high sea. A thick layer of sediment was formed at this time. The movements of the earth's crust then fractured it and the retreat of the sea exposed it to the action of erosion. The rain and rivers underground then dug many caves. The collapse of some caves completed the formation of the landscape.

Climate

The climate of the bay is a tropical climate of humid tropical and subtropical deciduous forests, with two seasons: hot and humid summer, and dry and cold winter. The average temperature is between 15 and 25° C, and annual precipitation varies between 2 and 2.2 m. The diurnal tide varies with 3.5 to 4 m of amplitude.

Fauna and flora

Halong Bay is lush with about 200 species of fish, and 450 species of molluscs. Its jungle - rainforest - type islands are home to many different species of birds and wildlife such as monkeys, lizards, iguanas, pheasants, and antelopes.

Inhabitants

Hạ Long is the main city of the bay (with about 180,000 inhabitants) and Cat Ba Island with its Cat Ba National Park is the largest island in the bay (354 km for about 12,000 inhabitants). Forty islands are inhabited in 1969, the main ones Tuan Chau and Gep, and about 1 000 to 2 000 inhabitants live in communities fishing villages of floating cabins, two hundred islands in the bay. The population lives mainly from fishing, marine aquaculture, oyster farming and pearl farming (pearl oysters), trade (floating market), and tourism (inns, restaurants, boat trips).

The nacelle shaped fishing boats, made of braided bamboo, are typical of Ha Long Bay. They allow to enter the caves whose passage is closed at low tide while, on the other side, forms an inner lake. Their nets are about 200 species of fish and 450 species of molluscs, the largest of which, carved, macerated in saffron, will be used to prepare the local party dish: the chácá that gave its name to a street of old Hanoi.

In the cinema

• 1974: The Man with the Golden Gun, of Guy Hamilton, the saga James Bond, with Roger Moore. (Confrontation in Halong Bay scenes were actually filmed on the island James Bond Island (Khao Phing Kan) of Phang Nga Bay in Thailand).
• 1992: Indochina, by Régis Wargnier, with Catherine Deneuve (several scenes are shot in Halong Bay).
• 1997: Tomorrow never dies, from Roger Spottiswoode, James Bond saga, with Pierce Brosnan (Elliot Carver's stealth ship is hidden in Halong Bay, although all scenes were actually shot in the Bay from Phang Nga to Thailand).

Bibliography

Collectif, Illustrated Dictionary of the Natural Wonders of the World, Reader's Digest, 1982.