For many visitors, Halong Bay in Quang Ninh province is not an unfamiliar name. Every visitor who has occasion to Hanoi, after the trips around the city, wants to come here at least once to admire the beauty of a place which is nature bestowed and dubbed the world’s natural wonders.
Halong Bay looking down from the top is like a giant and extremely vivid picture. That is the beautiful artwork, the talent of the Creator, of nature which has transformed thousands of inanimate islands into the flawless sculpture and painting with various graceful shapes, very familiar but also strange to humans. Thousands of stone islands and islets bobbing in the shimmering waves are powerful, spectacular but also very delicate, charming, and lively. The island is like someone heading to the mainland – Hon Dau Nguoi (Human Head Islet); another island is like a dragon flying above the water – Hon Rong (Dragon Islet); another island is like an old man sitting fishing – Hon La Vong; and these two strong brown sails are turning waves out to sea – Hon Canh Buom (Sail Islet); and two chickens were hugging each other playing on the waves – Hon Trong Mai (Cock and Hen Islet); standing in the immense sea water is a giant incense burner as an offering to heaven and earth – Hon Lu Huong and so on. All of them are really amazing. These wonderful rock islands and islets change unfathomably over time and view. Come here, tourists can realize that all of them are not inanimate quiet islands but those are soulful and lively.
Hidden in the heart rocky islands are the stunning caves. Visiting around Halong with thousands of stone islands, the travelers will doubt as to be got lost in a fairy-tale world here such as Thien Cung (Heavenly Palace Cave), Dau Go (Driftwood Cave), Sung Sot (Surprise Cave), Trinh Nu (Virgin Cave), Tam Cung (Three Palaces Cave) and more. It really is the palace of the Creator among the mundane world. By far, the people here has handed out the mysterious stories about this place from generation to generation. Each cave is attached itself to their different stories made its name.
Thien Cung (Heavenly Palace Cave)
Thien Cung is situated in the north of Dau Go Island, about 4km from the cruise ship port to the south. It is seen as one of the most beautiful caves in Halong. The cave is large and has many levels and compartments with numerous stalactites, stalagmites bringing the strange shapes. Therefore, the people envisioned a legend about the love and the parting of Dragon farther and Dragon mother that took place on the cliff or they thought that this is the image of the labyrinth of the Persian Emperor in the story One Thousand and One Nights.
Dau Go Cave (Driftwood Cave)
According to ancient legend, in the war against the Mongol invaders, Tran Hung Dao prepared many ironwood stakes here to plug into the Bach Dang River creating a well-known aquatic war in history. Then, there were many pieces of wood left, therefore, this place is named Dau Go Cave. There is another name for this cave, Giau Go (Hidden Wood Cave) because according to legend this is where Tran Hung Dao hid ironwood stakes in preparation for Bach Dang battle against Mongolia enemy. If the Heavenly Palace Cave is monumental, refined, modern, Dau Go Cave is quiet, majestic and very bulky. The cave has an ancient architectural complex carrying unspoiled and quiet beauty with a large number of stone columns, stone pillars, petite stalagmites soaring as if rising up to the sky.
Sung Sot Cave (Surprise Cave)
This is the largest and the most beautiful cave of Halong bay and it is also the home to many islands having irregularly shaped stones that nowhere can obtain. The road to Sung Sot Cave is under the foliage with steep stone steps so that tourists can get the pleasure of climbing as well as the eagerly like walking into heaven. The cave was discovered in 1901 by French and put to the cave the name “Grotto des surprises” (cave of surprise).
Hang Trong – Hang Trinh Nu (Drum – Virgin Cave)
Drum Cave and Virgin is considered the couple on Halong Bay. It not only has many stalactites and beautiful scenery but also attracts tourists by the legend of a touching love. Following the legend, there was a beautiful girl living in a fishing village, because of the poor, her family had to work for the landlord governing this area. See her beautiful, he forced her family to make her marry him as his concubine. However, she adamantly refused because she had a boyfriend, that guy was off the land in preparation for their wedding day. The landlord could not make the girl agree, he banished her to an isolated island. In a rainy night, the girl was exhausted and petrified (Virgin Cave). When the guy knew the girl in distress, he looked for the girl in the immense sea. One night, a thunderstorm came that caused the guy’s boat to be shattered, he was washed up on an island. In lightning, he looked out and realized the girl he loved, but his words were carried away by the wind. He used a rock to hit on the cliff to let her know that he has arrived but he could not receive any message from his lover. Desperately, he knocked until exhausted and petrified (Drum Cave – Boy Cave).
Join Halong Bay tour, visitors will be attracted by the occult and magic beauty hidden in the heart of the islands in Halong. Come here to explore, to hear the old stories, the legends about each place will be a great and unforgettable experience for visitors.
