Landscape photography in the home of the Descending Dragon (12 phot...

It's already some years ago I was in Vietnam for the first time. During one of my visits I went up to the city of Halong to do a three day cruise in the bay of the same name – Halong Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site and a popular destination for travellers. There are lots of boats with tourists, but a good thing is, I didn't see any large cruiseships.

The name Ha Long Bay means "Bay of the Descending Dragon". There is a legend that says that during the Chinese invasion a long time ago, dragons came to help defend the country. They did this by spitting out thousands of pearls. Each one of the pearls were transformed into an island when they hit the water. The islands then formed a defense which caused the invaders' ships to collide and sink. Quite a story.

This UNESCO World Heritage site has amazing landscape. The bay is dotted with islands of llimestone karts. I read somewhere that here are more than 2000 islands. They all have different sizes and shapes. Some are quite large. We could the walk to the top of the larger islands to enjoy the view.