Ha Long Bay is a bay of ± 1,500 sq km in north Vietnam with a coastline of 120 km. The bay is located in the Gulf of Tonkin near the border with the People's Republic of China, is as far as 170 km from Hanoi. "Vinh Ha Long" means "descending dragon bay" in Vietnamese.
Since 1994, Halong Bay designated as a world heritage by UNESCO. Then in 2012, the bay has become one of the world's 7 wonders version of the New 7 Wonders Foundation.
The bay is made up of 1,969 islands of limestone that rose spectacularly from the ocean. Some islands have a large number of caves. Hang đâu Go (Wooden Stake Cave) is the largest cave in the area of Ha Long. French tourists who visited in the late 19th century named Grotte des Merveilles. Three room cave contains a large number of stalactites and stalagmites.
Vietnamese residents have confidence that their nation originated from the dragon. In ancient times when the newly established country, the Vietnamese people have to face the invaders from the north who attacked across oceans. To protect Vietnam, Jade Emperor mengurum Mother Dragon and her son to earth to help the nation to protect the country. Mother Dragon and her son set fire to the enemy with fire and pulled out a large emerald stone as a defensive wall. At the invaders eventually sank and told a thousand years after the event, emeralds are transformed into islands of various sizes and shapes.
Narrated in the legend that the Mother Dragon and her son did not return to heaven, but live in the world as a human being and help people grow crops, livestock, and expand the country. To commemorate the service of Mother Dragon and her son, people living in the bay where hostilities occurred named the Halong bay, while the bay where the dragon down the child known as Bai Tu Long (that is to say thank you to baby dragon).
