Two kilometers south-west of Ti Top
Beach is the Me Cung Grotto or
Bewitching Grotto. It formed on Lom
Bo Island, and seen from afar, the
entrance is like the roof of a house
denting the island's side.
After a narrow crack only allowing
one person through at a time, many
partitions appear. These chambers
are somewhat small and narrow, but
very refined, and with many
stalagmites and stalactites bearing
beautiful forms.
Threading your way through narrow
passages, you find a dim light from
afar, which signals the exit of the
grotto. On getting out of the
grotto, climb up several rugged
stone stairs and look down, you see
a large round lake surrounded by the
mountain. Its waters is blue all
year round. The lake is home to many
kinds of fish, shrimps, octopuses,
algae, see weed, and coral. Lying
adjacent to the lake there is an
area of old trees popularly known as
an alluring "royal garden".
It is dry and well-ventilated, and
features a thick layer of shells
forming the foundation of the
entrance. Formerly, this layer was
1.2-meter-thick and semi-fossilized.
In the course of research, there was
also a fossilized animal's skeleton
discovered in the interior. The Me
Cung Grotto has been recognized by
archaeologists as one of the
vestiges of the pre-Ha Long new
Stone Age culture, that existed
between 7,000 and 10,000 years ago.
Pushing into the grotto, tourists
feel like walking in a palace of a
Persian king. Hearing the murmur
from out of nowhere, you think that
Scheherazade is telling the stories
of the Thousand and One Nights for
her king.
On the island, there are many
ancient trees casting long
reflections on the water of the bay.
They are home to many species of
birds and animals (monkeys, chamois
and varans).
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.
