Halong (Hạ Long)

Updated: Jul 18, 2023

A vista of a thousand karst formations of beautiful shapes and forms in the sea - Ha Long Bay 672

What and Why

Halong Bay (Vietnamese: Vịnh Hạ Long) is the most popular tourist destination of Vietnam (Việt Nam) which features an extremely scenic ocean of karst formations in the sea. The entire bay occupies more than 1,500 km2 of area, including almost 2,000 islets or various limestone forms. Many of these karsts are hollow with enormous caves within.

While largely natural and rural, a community of around 1,600 people live on Halong Bay in a number of fishing villages, including the city of Halong (Hạ Long). Most of them live on floating houses or boats and earn their living through fishing, especially for different kinds of mollusks. The pearl farming industry is especially prosperous in the region.

Due to the peculiarity and geo-diverity of the environment the area has created its own tropical evergreen oceanic and sea shore biosystem, and established home for a large number of endemic species.

Toponymy

The name 'Halong' means 'descending dragon' in Vietnamese and Chinese (下龍, xialong). The name derived from a local legend when Vietnam had just started to develop into a country in the early 10th century CE, they had to fight against invaders' attack. To assist the Vietnamese in defending their country, the heaven sent a family of dragons as protectors during a massive attack. This family of dragons began spitting jewels and jade as missiles into the sea to form a barrier against these invaders. These jewels turned into the karst islets all around and link together to form a wall against the invaders. Many of these karst islets also abruptly appeared on the sea and the invaders ships were hit and capsized by the emerging rocks. After the victory, the dragons decided to stay in the bay for a peaceful life and then descended into the bay to become eternal protector of the region.

See

Visiting Halong Bay and you can experience very diverse natural landscape, varying from long sandy beach to thousand-year-old karst. There are over 2,000 islets of different sizes and forms scattered around the bay area and any trip promises a fascinating vista. I shall cover those I have visited.

One starts the journey from the pier at Halong, where everyone and every boats gather.

Pen Island (Hòn Bút)

Pen Island (Hòn Bút) is named as its tall, long form looks an upright pen and of course 'bút' means ‘pencil’ in Vietnamese.

Toad Islet (Hòn Con Cóc)

The Toad Islet (Hòn Con Cóc) is a relatively small rock island, jutting roughly 9 m and resembles a huge toad on the surface of the water. Legend has it that Vietnam once suffered from a long drought and in desperation, a valiant toad led a group of animals to meet with the gods to request for rain. The toad's request was granted and has since been honoured with this natural rock in Halong Bay.

Fighting Cocks Islets (Hòn Gà Chọi)

Fighting Cocks Islets (Hòn Gà Chọi) include two small islets in which one looks like a rooster while another has the shape of a hen. Each of these islets has the length of around 10 m only. Due to its very iconic shape, it is regarded as a symbol of Halong Bay.

Swan Islet (Hòn Thiên Nga)

Self-explanatory as picture above. The other pictures witnessed in my cruise.

More karst islets.

Titop Islet (Hòn Titop)

Titop Islet (Hòn Titop) is a popular island in Halong Bay as it has a small recreational beach and attracts sunbathers. The island was named by President Hồ Chí Minh (né Nguyễn Sinh Cung), after the Russian cosmonaut Gherman Titov (Russian: Герман Титов) on his visit to Halong Bay in 1962 CE. Titov was the second human to orbit the Earth.

Cống Đỏ

Cống Đỏ, meaning 'red drainage' in Vietnamese, is a small island with a diverse ecosystem. There is an abundance of sea life in the form of squid, crab, various fishes, and underwater vegetation and hence there is a sizeable fishing population around the island. Moreover the island is home to beautiful reefs and tropical fishes.

Surprise Cave (Sửng Sốt Động)

The Surprise Cave (Sửng Sốt Động) is located in one of the furthest islets from the bay. The cave, named by the French during their occupation, is divided into two chambers: the first chamber, known as the 'waiting room' is a vast chamber, adorned by colour-lit stalagmites and stalactites to complement the chamber’s structural beauty. The second chamber is known as the 'serene castle' and features an extremely high ceiling and has many interesting rock formations that locals identify by likening them to animals due to their shapes.

Most people access to the caves by kayak from Cống Đỏ as we have done. To be honest, there is absolutely no safety precautions or training, and for a non-swimmer like me, I did not understand why I took the risk...

Bayview from the Surprise Cave.

Fairy Lake Cave (Hồ Động Tiên)

Fairy Lake Cave (Hồ Động Tiên) is made up of two main chambers linked by narrow passageways and the caves are only accessible through kayaking. As one can imagine, the cave interiors are very beautiful, but unfortunately this set of caves are not as well illuminated and hence I could not capture anything inside the caves.

Buy and Do

There is a substantial pearling industry in Halong Bay and one will be hard pressed inside the cruise boat or along the cave entrance to buy a few low quality pearls. After all the bay is full of natural minerals for oyster farming.

Stay

Most of the trips include a one-night or two-night stay inside the cruise boat. Many of these motorised cruise boats, including mine, install a fake Chinese fake sail to pretend to 'sail'. Mine was fairly basic, but one can at least see the sunrise from the boat.

Getting There and Around

A typical tour package from Hanoi (Hà Nội) will cost roughly from USD $150, depending on the class of cruise and package. Halong is approximately 45 minute-drive away from Hanoi.