Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a popular travel destination, located in Quang Ninh province, Vietnam. Administratively, the bay belongs to Ha Long City, Cam Pha town, and part of Van Don district. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes. Ha Long Bay is a center of a larger zone which includes Bai Tu Long bay to the northeast, and Cat Ba islands to the southwest. These larger zones share similar geological, geographical, geomorphological, climate and cultural characters.
Ha Long Bay has an area of around 1,553km², including 1,960 islets, most of which are limestone. The core of the bay has an area of 334km² with a high density of 775 islets. The limestone in this bay has gone through 500 million years of formation in different conditions and environments. The evolution of the karst in this bay has taken 20 million years under the impact of the tropical wet climate. Historical research surveys have shown the presence of prehistorical human beings in this area tens of thousands years ago. The successive ancient cultures are the Soi Nhụ culture around 18,000-7,000 BC, the Cai Beo culture 7,000-5,000 BC and the Hạ Long culture 3,500-5,000 years ago. Ha Long Bay also marked important events in the history of Vietnam with many artifacts found in Bai Tho Moet, Dau Go Cave, Bai Chay.
Nguyen Trai praised the beauty of Ha Long Bay in his verse Lo nhap Van Don, in which he called it "rock wonder in the sky". In 1962, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam listed Ha Long Bay in the National Relics and Landscapes publication. In 1994, the core zone of Ha Long Bay was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site according to criteria vii, and listed for a second time according to criteria viii. Together with Nha Trang Bay and Lang Co of Vietnam, Hạ Long Bay is recognized as one of the 33 most beautiful bays in the world.
Ha Long Bay is located in northeastern Vietnam. The bay stretches from Yen Hung district, past Hạ Long city, Cam Pha town to Van Don district, bordered on the south and southeast by the Gulf of Tonkin, on the north by China, and on the west and southwest by Cat Ba island. The climate of the bay is tropical, wet, sea islands, with two seasons: hot and moist summer, and, dry and cold winter. The average temperature is from 15°C- 25°C, and annual rainfall is between 2000mm and 2200mm. Ha Long Bay has the typical diurnal tide system and the tide amplitude ranges from 3.5-4m.
The bay consists of a dense cluster of over 3,000 limestone monolithic islands, each topped with thick jungle vegetation, rising spectacularly from the ocean. Several of the islands are hollow, with enormous caves. Hang Dau Go is the largest grotto in the Ha Long area. French tourists visited in the late 19th century, and named the cave Grotte des Merveilles. Its three large chambers contain large numerous stalactites and stalagmites. There are two bigger islands, Tuan Chau and Cat Ba, that have permanent inhabitants. Both of them have tourist facilities including hotels and beaches. There are a number of beautiful beaches on the smaller islands.
Some of the islands support floating villages of fishermen, who ply the shallow waters for 200 species of fish and 450 different kinds of mollusks. Many of the islands have acquired their names as a result of interpretation of their unusual shapes. Such names include Voi Islet or elephant, Ga Choi Islet or fighting cock, and Mai Nha Islet or roof. 989 of the islands have been given names. Birds and animals including bantams, antelopes, monkeys, and lizards also live on some of the islands.
Almost all these islands are as individual towers in a classic fenglin landscape with heights from 50m to 100m, and height/width ratios of up to about six. Another specific feature of Halong Bay is the abundance of lakes inside the limestone islands. A community of around 1,600 people live on Ha Long Bay in four fishing villages. They are Cua Vạn, Ba Hang, Cong Tau and Vong Vieng in Hung Thang commune, Hạ Long city. They live on floating houses and are sustained through fishing and marine aquaculture.
In 1962, the Vietnam Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism designated Ha Long Bay a 'Renowned National Landscape Monument'. Ha Long Bay was first listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994, in recognition of its outstanding, universal aesthetic value. In 2000 the World Heritage Committee additionally recognised Ha Long Bay for its outstanding geological and geomorphological value, and its World Heritage Listing was updated. In 2009, the New 7 Wonders Foundation, which runs the New Seven Wonders of the World program, included Halong Bay on its list of nominations as one the World's 7 Natural Wonders.
According to scientists, Ha Long Bay has experienced at least 500 million years in various geological states of orogeny, marine transgression and marine regression. During the Ordovician and Silurian periods 500-410 million years ago, Ha Long Bay was deep sea. During the Carboniferous and Permian periods 340-250 million years ago, Ha Long Bay was at shallow sea level. Some of the most remarkable geological events in Hạ Long Bays history in the last 1,000 years, include the advance of the sea, the raising of the bay area, strong erosion that has formed coral, and, pure blue and heavily salted water. Due to all these factors, tourists visiting Hạ Long Bay are not only treated to one of the natural wonders of the world, but also to a precious geological museum that has been naturally preserved in the open air for the last 300 million years.
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