The Ha-long Bay is one of the most spectacular landscapes of Southeast Asia. Mysterious and evocative, with its more than 3,000 islands form a natural place shrouded in fog that seems to have stopped in time, forming his own universe.

Photography by David McKelvey

Travel to Vietnam and not to admire the Bay of Ha-long is to make our trip to middle and miss a very special place. And that is also known by the agents involved in tourism in China, so there are a tourist architecture organized in Vietnam that offers this and other tours in Vietnam at affordable prices.

Ha Long Bay:

The bay was declared a World Heritage Site in 1994. As always we tend to compare when we visit a place for the first time, having previously been in the karst landscape of Krabi in Thailand or in Guilin (China), are sure to find some similarities.

The best way to visit this web of islands, sea and fog on a cruise. It is difficult and expensive venture into the bay on our own, first because we would have to go to Halong City, a town with little charm, which does justice to the landscape that surrounds it. From here you can hire a boat or find other tourists to share in both cases, we may experience more freedom but it is much more expensive than hiring a full circuit of several days and we’ll have to invest more time.

Photography by David McKelvey

Due to competition from the tours of operators offer cruises around the bay of Ha-long, prices are also very competitive and although it is advisable to ensure the reliability of the company you hire the service, you can get a cruise two days, with little movement from Hanoi by more than 20-30 €. Of course, sometimes worth paying a little more if we want to enjoy more amenities or quality meals and excursions offered.

The best views of Ha Long Bay can be enjoyed at dusk and dawn, hence the success of these cruises of several days, allowing overnight on the boat and enjoy all the fullness of the show: a sunset between islands with a sail of a boat out in the horizon rushes.

The legend of the dragon:

As its name suggests, has «long, the» dragon descending «and their offspring were the creators of this magical landscape. Some tell of how to follow orders of the Jade Emperor to protect their land from an invasion coming from the sea, spit rocks that now dot the coast turned into thousands of islands. Others claim it was to dive into the sea when the dragon with its tail hit the ground sinking and the sea and getting the flooding and only let you see their beaks. In any case, there are many who still think that dragon or a similar monster still lives in the waters of the bay.

Photography by yarra64

Pray that you have the stories and legends, there are some really curious, related to the islands and caves. The tourism industry has even been appropriated this inhabitant of the depths to shape and exploit this economic distant relative of Nessy.

Good trip to Ha Long Bay!