Tourism

Monday, January 11, 2010

1 What is this place?
Ha Long bay (Descending Dragon bay) is the natural bay which features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes. Ha Long Bay is a center of a larger zone which includes Bái Tử Long bay to the northeast, and Cát Bà islands to the southwest.

2. Where is this place?
Ha Long bay is located in Quảng Ninh province, Vietnam. Administratively, the bay belongs to Ha Long City, Cam Pha Town and part of Van Don District.

3. Why do tourists visit this place?
*Ha Long bay is a UNESCO World Heritage.
*History: 500 million years in the various geological states of orogeny, marine transgression and marine regression
Ohters: - Soi Nhụ culture (16000- 5000 BC)
- Cái Bèo culture (5000- 3000BC)
- Feudal period: During the Vietnam War, many of the channels between the islands were heavily mined by the navy of the United States, some of which pose a threat to shipping to this day.

*Culture: interesting legend, human beings in this area ten of thousands years ago, Ha Long Bay also marked important events in the history of Vietnam with many artifacts found in Bài Thơ Mouth, Đầu Gỗ Cave, Bãi Cháy.

*Interesting and beautiful sightseeing: Hạ Long Bay is recognized as one of the 33 most beautiful bays of the world.
Ha Long Bay has an area of around 1,553 km², including 1,960 islets, most of which are limestone. The core of the bay has an area of 334 km² 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.
Ha Long Bay is home to 14 endemic floral species and 60 endemic faunal species. Ha long Bay is host to two ecosystems: a tropical, moist, evergreen rainforest ecosystem and a marine and coastal ecosystem.
Others: Floating village.

4. What are the sources of information for this place?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halong_Bay : free encylopedia

5. What is the climate like in Ha Long bay?
The bay is one of sea islands in tropical wet with 2 seasons: hot and moist summer, dry and cold winter. Average temperature is from 15°C- 25°C. Annual rainfall is between 2000mm and 2200mm. Ha Long Bay has the typical diurnal tide system (tide amplitude ranges from 3.5-4m).

6. What is its legend ?
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. These jewels turned into the islands and islets 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, dragons were interested in peaceful sightseeing of the Earth and then decided to live here. The place where Mother Dragon flew down was named Hạ Long, the place where the dragon children attended upon their mother was called Bái Tử Long island (Bái: attend upon, Tử: children, Long: dragon), and the place where the dragon children wriggled their tails violently was called Bạch Long Vỹ island (Bạch: white- colour of the foam made when Children Dragon wriggle, Long: dragon, Vỹ: tail).

Done by : Pham Thi Hong, Nguyen Thu Anh

HA LONG BAY

http://travelswithmycamera.wordpress.com/2009/04/29/progress-report-on-travel-plans/

http://www.bimvietnam.com/Home.aspx?f=About&Parent=0&intID=1

1. What is this place?

2. Where is this place?

3. Why do tourists visit this place?

4. How to get there?

5. What are the sources of information for this place?

6. Impact towards the environment?

Ha Long Bay (literally: Descending Dragon bay; Vietnamese: Vịnh Hạ Long) is a UNESCO World Heritage site located in Quảng 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 Bái Tử Long bay to the northeast, and Cát Bà islands to the southwest. These larger zones share similar geological, geographical, geomorphological, climate and cultural characters. Beyond the breathtaking vistas on a boat cruise through the bay, visitors to Halong come to explore the caves – some of which are beautifully illuminated for the benefit of tourists – and to hike in Cat Ba National Park. There are few real beaches in Halong Bay, but Lan Ha Bay (off the coast of Cat Ba Island) has more than 100 sandy strips.

There are two ways in which a tourist can get to Halong Bay ; by car or bus. The best, most expensive, way to get to Ha Long Bay is to rent a car from Hanoi. It costs approximately US$100 return.

• From Hanoi: 165km or 3 hrs 30 minutes drive.

• From Hai Phong: 75km or 1 hr 30 minutes drive.

There is a tourist open bus service offered by travel agencies around the Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi. Cost: US$8 net/person/way. Some hotels & cruise operators also offer the transfer service for passengers even not staying in their hotels. Public buses leave from Long Bien or Gia Lam Station (other side of Red River, 2km from Hoan Kiem Lake) or from Luong Yen station to Bai Chay (Halong City) every 30 minutes from 6AM to 6PM and cost 50,000 dong/person each way. With an increasing tourist trade, mangroves and seagrass beds have had to be cleared and jetties and wharves have been built for tourist boats. Fuel and oil, along with tourist litter, have created pollution problems, which impact on both the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystem of the islands. Human waste from portable toilets erected for tourists, finds its way into the soil and water surrounding the islands, once more altering the ecosystem functioning through increased nutrient flow. Game fishing, often near coral reefs are threatening many endangered species of fish. Often the fish is not consumed locally but exported to other markets around the region. The delicate limestone cave ecosystems are diminishing as tourists visiting the caves break off stalagmites and stalactites. Litter, including wine bottles, is dropped into cave streams and visitors exhale carbon dioxide, which has a deleterious effect on the caves. The mouths of some caves have been widened to allow tourist access. This increase in light has led to an imbalance in the delicate links between the flora and fauna, and a decrease in the humidity of the caves.

For more information about Halong Bay, check out some of these websites:

http://wikitravel.org/en/Ha_Long_Bay/

http://www.halongbay-vietnam.com/

http://www.vietnamonline.com/travel/halong.html

Done by: Moi Hui Huang, Ho Anh Thu

Labels: Moi Hui Huang and Ho Anh Thu, Pham Thi Hong and Nguyen Tu Anh

20:42

8 Comments:

it is a natural attraction with beautiful view:)love ha long bay

hien and cynthia

By Tourism With Ms Tham, at January 15, 2010 at 1:19 PM

I think it can also be categorised as education attraction as students can learn more about physical geography such as the bay itself and the mountain range.

By Yee Jen, at January 18, 2010 at 11:03 AM

could it be historical attraction too since there is a legend behind it? :)
Cynthia

By Anonymous, at January 18, 2010 at 11:17 AM

We agree that Ha Long Bay is nature based tourism because it allures tourists with its beauty.

Its so sad that fishes have to die for portable toilets to be erected for tourist. TSK TSK.

By Mai Seto + Teri Ang, at January 18, 2010 at 11:31 AM

2 Cynthia: Almost all attractions in Viet Nam has a legend behind which is created by the folks so I don't think Ha Long Bay is a historical attraction.
Anh Thu

By Anonymous, at January 18, 2010 at 11:32 AM

for thu:i agree with cynthia .just because everything in vietnam has its own story doesn't mean it is less historical nor historical.

eleanor

By Anonymous, at January 18, 2010 at 11:37 AM

Hmm.. I also agree that it might be cultural-historical, because it marked important events in the history of Vietnam. And of course, it is also natural attraction.

Angeline

By Anonymous, at January 18, 2010 at 11:42 AM

Conclusion : nature-based

By Teri, at January 20, 2010 at 10:50 AM