How Many Islands In Halong Bay? A surprising number

July 19, 2019 GoAsiaDayTrip 0 Comments

Sitting on a seaplane or helicopter and seeing the bay from above, you may be overwhelmed by plenty of towering limestone pillars and islets topped by forest rising from the lush emerald waters of Halong Bay which is located in Quang Ninh Province, on the northwest coast of the Gulf of Tonkin. Welcoming millions of visitors every year, Halong becomes a popular stop on Vietnam journeys of visitors helping advertise the beauty of Quang Ninh Province in particular and of Vietnam in general to the world. Because of that, Halong Bay was chosen to film the striking Kong: Skull Island in 2017.

Halong Bay has made it widely well-known as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World, however, not many people know about the mystery under that name. In Vietnamese, Halong literally means descending dragon and it has an origin from a legend on this ancient land. Let us tell you more.

Legend has it that, during the old time when Vietnam was newly formed, locals had to fight against invaders entering the country through the sea. To help the good-hearted people, the Jade Emperor sent the Mother Dragon and her children descending on earth to support them defend the country. The Mother Dragon and her children incinerated the enemies with their divine fire and huge emeralds. These emeralds were scattered around the battlefield on the sea and formed an unbeatable defensive wall that made the enemy battleship sink. Thanks to the great help from the dragons, ancient Vietnamese defeated the northern enemies and brought back the peace to the country.

Thousands of years later, the wall of emeralds turned into island and islets varying in different sizes and shapes. After the battle, the Mother Dragon and her children chose to stay in the area and taught people planting, raising cattle and protecting the country. To honor the Mother Dragon and her children, the locals named the bay where the Mother Dragon landed as Halong and the bay where her children landed as Bai Tu Long meaning thanks to the dragon’s children.

Now that you knew where the islands in Halong Bay come from right (from the legend)? But how many islands in Halong Bay really? Go and unveil with us.

The most outstanding feature of Halong Bay is its great collection of 1,969 islands and islets making it the largest limestone island ecosystem in Asia which covers an area of more than 1,550 square km. Among these 1,969 islands and islets, there are 980 of them having named by locals over the years. According to the culture researchers Khac Hai Tong, the name of the islands in Halong Bay has three characteristics. The name is derived from Vietnamese names, from natural conditions and daily life and from historical significance and culture. Some of the island names sound familiar to you such as Titop island, Man’s head island, Fighting cocks island, wading ox and wallowing buffalo island, lu huong islet, etc.

The majority of these islands have the heights ranging from 50-100 meters and a height-to-width ratio of about 6:1 bringing about the sheer and vertical cliff and magnificent image to the bay which is best seen from above.

The name of Titop aligned with the visit of Ho Chi Minh President and a famous Russian astronaut Titov in 1962. Owning the crescent-shaped long white sandy beach, Titop Island is an ideal place for swimming, kayaking and trekking.

Another charming island in Halong Bay is cock-fighting island. The island looks like 2 giant cocks fighting on the surface of ocean. As you may notice, the Cock-fighting island appears a lot in tourism materials of Halong and Quang Ninh and it was chosen to be the symbol of Halong Bay.

This is one of the most famous and most-visited islands in Halong Bay over years. Thanks to its convenient location, Tuan Chau Island has been developed to become an entertainment complex with theme parks, playgrounds, restaurants, hotels meeting various demand of visitors.

Ngoc Vung Island is a pristine coastal area with plenty of fabulous things to visitors such as the long-white sand beach, nearby-sea jungles and fishing villages where you have the ample chance to see their local life with daily works like raising the pearl or collecting the sea creatures.

Frog Islet: With the unique image of a frog sitting on the surface of spacious ocean, frog islet deserves to enter the list of marvelous islets in Halong Bay. It is not too far from the mainland, thus don’t miss out to admire its unique shape when in the bay.

Are you ready to head to Halong Bay and immerse yourselves into such wonderful nature there? If you depart from Hanoi City, refer to Hanoi to Halong Bay Transfer to move fast and comfortably between these two destinations. Wish you such a great trip then!

Source: How many islands in Halong Bay - from GoAsiaDayTrip's blog