The Trinh Nu Grotto or Virgin Grotto
is situated on the island range of
Bo Hon in the system comprising the
Sung Sot Grotto, Dong Tien Lake and
Luon Grotto. It is 15 km south of
Bai Chay Beach. For fishermen, the
Virgin Grotto is their house, but
for young lovers, it is considered
as the symbol of truly love, and is
the romantic place for taking oath
of love.
Entering Trinh Nu Grotto, one finds
in the middle of the grotto a stone
statue of a lying-girl with her long
hair hanging down who is looking to
the sea in a vain hope.
Situated opposite to Trinh Nu
Grotto, Trong (or Male) Grotto has a
stone statue of a boy who turns his
face to Trinh Nu Grotto. One still
hears his vain scream in tune with
the wind blowing into the cliff
somewhere.
Legend has it, there once was a
beautiful fisherman's daughter,
whose family was so poor that it was
in the service of the rich
administrator of the fishing zone.
He forced the family to give him the
girl as a concubine. She already had
a lover who at that time was on the
high seas catching fish to prepare
for their wedding. The
administrator, angered by her
refusal, exiled her to a wild island
where she suffered from hunger and
exhaustion. On one frightening
night, amidst terrible rain and
winds, she turned to stone.
It was also the night that her lover
knew of her danger, and he rowed his
boat in search of her. On the
terrible night, the tempest
destroyed his boat and he floated to
one of the islands. In a lighting
flash he saw his mate in the
distance, but his calls were driven
away by the wind. He used a stone
block to hammer down on the mountain
cliffs to announce to her he was
nearby. He struck until blood flowed
from his hands, and in his final
exhaustion, turned to stone (today's
Trong Grotto).
Tourists also find Trinh Nu Grotto
attractive partly because of its
association with a fanciful love
legend: "Once upon a time, there
lived a boy and a girl who deeply
loved each other. However, they were
so poor that they could not be able
to get married. The boy decided to
go offshore fishing with a hope that
he could get enough money for his
marriage. And the girl painfully
waited in vain for her fiance. She
finally took a small boat and rowed
to the sea to look for him. So
immense is the sea, and so many are
the islands, the boy, therefore
could not hear her doleful call,
though he was just several canals
away. Exhausted, the girl lied in a
grotto, looking to the sea and got
petrified after the last call. The
boy got lost in a grotto nearby,
shouting to call the girl in vain.
The echo of their call through the
cliff was so moving. At last, the
boy became exhausted and petrified
in the grotto - present-day Trong
Grotto".
Today, whenever passing this place,
tourists can still hear his faint
call.
Halong Bay Vietnam
Ha Long Bay is located in the
northeastern part of Vietnam and
constitutes part of the western bank
of Bac Bo Gulf, including the sea
area of Ha Long City and Cam Pha
Town and part of Vân Don island
district. It abuts Cat Ba Island in
the southwest. Toward the west is
the shore with a 120 km-long
coastline. It is located within
106o58’-107o22’ east longitude and
within 20o45’- 20o50’ north
latitude. The site is 1553 sq. km
with 1969 islands of various sizes,
of which 989 have been named.
The islands in Ha Long Bay are
mainly limestone and schist islands
most lying in the two main areas:
the southeastern part of Bái Tử Long
Bay and southwestern part of Hạ Long
Bay. These islands represent the
most ancient images of a
geographical site having a tectonic
age of from 250 million to 280
million years. They are the result
of many times of rising and lowering
processes of the continent to form a
karst. The process of nearly full
erosion and weathering of the karst
created the unique Hạ Long Bay in
the world. In a not very large area,
thousands of islands with different
forms look like glittering emeralds
attached to the blue scarf of a
virgin. The area where many stone
islands concentrate has spectacular
scenes and world-famous caves and is
the center of Ha Long Bay Natural
Heritage, including HaLong Bay and a
part of Bái Tu Long Bay.
The area is recognized as the World
Natural Heritage that is the area of
434 sq. km with 775 islands. It
looks like a giant triangle with Ðầu
Gỗ Island (in the west), Ba Hầm Lake
(in the south) and Cống Tây Island
(in the east) as its three angle
points. The nearby area is the
buffer area and areas classified as
national beauty spots in 1962 by the
Ministry of Culture and Information.
Viewed from above, Hạ Long Bay looks
like an extremely vivid huge
drawing. This is a wonderful and
skilful masterpiece of the Creation
and of nature that turns thousands
of dumb soulless stone islands into
fantastic sculptural and artistic
works of various graceful shapes,
both familiar and strange to human
beings. Thousands of islands
emerging uneven in the fanciful
waves look strong and magnificent
but also mild and vivid. Amidst
these islands we feel as if we were
astray in a petrified legendary
world. There are many names given to
islands according to their shapes
and forms. This one looks like
somebody heading toward the shore:
Hòn Ðầu Người (Human Head Island);
that one looks like a dragon
hovering above the sea surface: Hòn
Rông (Dragon Island); another looks
like an old man sitting fishing: Hòn
Lã Vọng; some look like big sails
struggling amidst the wind to set
off for the sea: Hòn Cánh Buồm (Sail
Island); then two islands look like
a pair of chicken lovingly playing
with each other above the sea: Hòn
Trống Mái (Male and Female Chicken
Island); and amid the vast sea
stands an island like a big incense
burner like a ritual offering to
Heaven: Hòn Lư Hương (Incense Burner
Island). All are so real that people
are taken aback by them. Those stone
islands have experienced
unpredictable changes over time and
they take different shapes from
different angles of view. Here, we
come to realize that they are not
dumb inanimate things but are vivid
and soulful.
Inside the stone islands are various
breath-taking caves, such as Thiên
Cung, Ðầu Gỗ, Sửng Sốt, Trinh Nữ,
Tam Cung and others. These are
really magnificent palaces of the
Creation on earth. Long ago, Hạ Long
Bay has been called by the great
national poet Nguyễn Trãi:“a wonder
of the earth erected towards the
high sky”. Many men of letters from
all over the world have been taken
aback at the grandiose scenery of Hạ
Long. They seem to get puzzled and
incompetent as their treasure of
vocabulary is not rich enough to
depict the splendor of this place.
Hạ Long Bay is also attached to
glorious pages of Vietnamese
history, with famous sites such as
Vân Ðồn, a bustling trade port in
the 12th century, charming Bài Thơ
Mountain, and not very far away from
here is the Bạch Đằng River which
witnessed two famous naval battles
of the Viêt’s ancestors against
invaders. Also, Hạ Long is one of
the cradles of human kind with the
glorious Hạ Long culture in the late
Neolithic age, discovered at such
archeological sites as Ðộng Mang,
Xích Thổ, Soi Nhụ and Thoi Giếng.
Hạ Long is also home to great
biodiversity with typical
eco-systems like mangrove forest,
coral and tropical forest. It is
also home to thousands of plants and
animals of numerous species, for
example shrimp, fish and squid. Some
species are particularly rare and
can be found no where else.
With such special values, at the
18th Session of UNESCO’s Council of
World Heritage held on 17 December
1994 in Thailand, Hạ Long Bay was
officially placed on the list of the
World Natural Heritage. In 2000,
UNESCO recognized it as the World
Heritage for the second time for its
geographical and geomorphologic
values. This confirms the global
premier value of Hạ Long Bay.
