Where the Dragon Descended: Ha Long Bay: UNESCO Culture Sector

"Ha Long" in Vietnamese means "Descending Dragon". The bay was named after a local legend which says that a Dragon descended from the sky and spat out thousands of pearls when Viet Nam was being attacked by foreign ships. The pearls then became a multitude of small islands and prevented the enemy from advancing further.

Ha Long Bay is also known as the "Guilin on the Sea", because the seabed, which is a sunken limestone plateau, connects all the way to Guilin in China.

This is an exceptional example of such a great number of limestone islands spreading out over such a large area. There are some peculiar shaped rocks. Two rocks here are facing each other. The Vietnamese named them "Fighting Cocks’ Islands". Cock-fighting is a national passion in Viet Nam. This is the "Dog Rock".

On another side of Ha Long Bay … there is a … village built on the sea. A village on water. The local people built houses on rafts. A woman cradles a baby … Another does her washing on board. The main source of income is fishing. People live here with the blessing of the sea. Children even row to school.

The Bay is a remarkable example of world heritage.