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Ha Long Bay is in northern Vietnam, 170 km east of Hanoi. The bay is famous for its scenic
ocean karst topography and is often included in lists of natural wonders of the world.
Ha Long Bay is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a popular travel destination.
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 Bai Tu Long bay to the northeast,
and Cat Ba islands to the southwest. These larger zones share similar geological, geographical,
geomorphological, climate, and cultural characters.
The evolution of the karst in this bay has
taken 20 million years under the impact of the tropical wet climate. The geo-diversity
of the environment in the area has created biodiversity, including a tropical evergreen
biosystem, oceanic and sea shore biosystem. Ha Long Bay is home to 14 endemic floral species
and 60 endemic faunal species.
According to local legend, when Vietnamese had just started to develop into a country,
they had to fight against invaders. To assist Vietnamese in defending their country, the
gods sent a family of dragons as protectors. 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. Under magics, numerous rock mountains
abruptly appeared on the sea, ahead of invaders' ships; the forward ships struck the rocks
and each other. After winning the battle, the dragons were interested in peaceful sightseeing
of the Earth, and then decided to live in this bay.