Ha Long Bay

On the weekend of 14/15 November, I visited the UNESCO World Heritage listed Ha Long Bay with a few of my friends. I had heard so much about this place over many years and it was great to finally see it for myself. The visit was particularly relevant for me in my current role as a UNESCO project officer working on an environmental and visitor management strategy for the bay.

Ha Long Bay is the most famous of Vietnam's 5 World Heritage Sites and has been inscribed due it's "outstanding natural heritage value". The other 4 sites are all in the centre of the country and hopefully i'll get to visit these very soon! (click here for more info on all 5 sites)

Ha Long Bay is famous for its Karst formations, 2000 or so limestone islands which rise steeply out of the sea. These features have led the area to be listed under not one but two World Heritage criteria (oustanding universal asthetic and geological value), which is actually quite rare. Ha Long is also currently being considered as one of the 7 wonders of the natural world, which requires a fair bit of campaigning to secure votes, and it's currently distracting the managers of the bay from my project!

The local legend of Ha Long Bay says that long ago when the Vietnamese were fighting Chinese invaders, the gods sent a family of dragons to help defend the land. This family of dragons began spitting out jewels and jade which turned into the islands dotting the bay, linking together to form a great wall against the invaders. The people kept their land safe and formed what later became the country of Vietnam. After that, the dragons decided to stay on earth and the place where Mother Dragon flew down was named Ha Long, or "descending dragon".

The tour we were on included bus transfers between Hanoi and Ha Long City (3 hours each way) and a 2 day/1 night boat tour on the bay. Click here for tour details.

At Ha Long City, we were herded around the other tourist groups and onto one of the hundreds of boats anchored at the wharf - a chaotic scene if ever i saw one! But once we actually set sail, it all become much more serene and we were able to start appreciating the beauty of the bay. It really is impressive and unfortunately the photos probably don't do it justice.

We stopped in on an island with a large cave, Hang Dau Go (Wooden stakes Cave). There were many interesting natural rock formations inside and bright lighting of different colours is projected onto the cave walls. A bit tacky maybe, but charming nevertheless.

We also visited a couple of small floating fishing villages which was probably the highlight of my trip. It's amazing to think that many of these people have lived their entire lives on a little floating platform with underwater fish nets. They live off their fishstocks and trade with neighbouring villages and passing boats.

Other activities included kayaking, jumping into the water from the top of the boat, and dining out on fresh seafood. And when that all became too tiring, we took a nap on the top deck of the boat on our trip back to Ha Long City.

Overall, my impressions of my Ha Long Bay experience are mixed. The natural beauty of the bay is stunning but i was left with the feeling that there are a lot more sites to explore and and I never really knew where we were, where we were going, and what else was out there. Many tourists comment that they are not provided with enough information on the visiting options available to them in Ha Long Bay. There are also environmental issues associated with pollution from tourist activites. Hopefully these issues can be improved following completion of the current UNESCO studies.