|
|
Tuan Chau Island
Ha Long bay one of the
World Heritages, comprises
thousands of big and small
islands. Each one has its
own characteristic with
various caves: Sung Sot
Cave,Thien Cung Cave, Trinh
Nu Cave. Tuan Chau Island is
the only soil island of all.
It is not only a place
having beautiful natural
surroundings: pine trees,
lakes, beautiful beach…but
also where President Ho Chi
Minh chose to be the relax
place of other State
officials' and his when they
came here in 1959.
On the total area of 400 ha,
Tuan Chau has the population
of 1500. As planned, the
total area of Tuan Chau will
be widen to 675 ha. It
enjoys the advantage of
having both road and river
transportations. It is about
18 km away from National
Highway No.1. This route is
an important blood vessel of
the robust Hanoi – Hai Phong
– Quang Ninh economic
triangle. It takes about 3
hours from Mong Cai ( 2
hours by boat) and 1 hour
from Hai Phong.
Tuan Chau island’s name is
the combination between
‘linh tuan’ (the patrolman)
and ‘tri chau’ (district
chief) because in the feudal
time, the royal army set up
a guard station here to
patrol and defend the
borderland. Prior to 1999,
the island's residents
suffered from a very modest
living standard.There was no
power network and no clean
water. Roads were only
trails and there was no
mechanical means of
transportation. Tuan Chau
was a very poor town where
fishing with very
rudimentary tools is the
only means of living.
The first project of great
significance was to link
Tuan Chau and the National
Highway No18 by building a
road. The work was
officially started on
February 28th, 1998. All
company staff had to
overcome numerous hardships
to achieve this difficult
task, which translated
people’s dream into reality.
Tuan Chau has become well-
known to both international
and domestic tourists as an
attractive destination with:
- a dolphin&seal club
- a circus
- a crocodile club
- an (artificial) beach
with 4 km long.
- a Vietnamese culinary
area
- a hotel and resort
area of 5-star standard
(200 rooms)
- a water recreation
park with activities
such as motor racing,
canoeing, parachuting,
water skiing, etc.
- Ha Long Bay sight-
seeing services by
canoe, boat, helicopter.
- a high tech water
fountain with music
playing, laser lighting
and film projecting on
water screens.
|
|
Halong Bay
Beauty of
Nature |
|
 |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
Halong Bay
Userful
Information |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 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 Bay 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 Tu Long Bay and
southwestern part of
Ha 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
Ha 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
Go Island (in the west), Ba Hom Lake
(in the south) and Cong 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,
Ha 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 Ðuu Nguoi (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 Vong; some look like big sails
struggling amidst the wind to set
off for the sea: Hòn Cánh Buom (Sail
Island); then two islands look like
a pair of chicken lovingly playing
with each other above the sea: Hòn
Trong 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 Lo Huong (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, Ðau Go, Sung Sot, Trinh Nu,
Tam Cung and others. These are
really magnificent palaces of the
Creation on earth. Long ago,
Ha 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.
 Ha
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.
Ha Long Bay 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
Ha Long Bay .
|
