Bai Chay beach, Halong, Vietnam


Bai Chay Bridge (a cable-stayed bridge) connecting from Bai Chay town to Hon Gai.


These images were taken by pilot Pham Duy Long, one of the three pilots who drive the first two Vietnamese commercial seaplanes.



Ha Long Bay is located in northeastern Vietnam,  It is a part of the western Gulf of Tonkin, includes Ha Long City, Cam Pha and a part of Van Don district. Southwestern borders of Cat Ba Island, westward to the mainland with a coastline of 120 km.


Hạ Long Bay has an area of around 1,553 km2, including 1,960–2,000 islets, most of which are limestone. The core of the bay has an area of 334 km2 with a high density of 775 islets. The limestone in this bay has gone through 500 million years of formation in different conditions and environments. 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. Hạ Long Bay is home to 14 endemic floral species and 60 endemic faunal species.


Historical research surveys have shown the presence of prehistorical human beings in this area tens of thousands years ago. The successive ancient cultures are the Soi Nhụ culture around 18,000–7000 BC, the Cái Bèo culture 7000–5000 BC and the Hạ Long culture 5,000–3,500 years ago. Hạ Long Bay also marked important events in the history of Vietnam with many artifacts found in Bài Thơ Mount, Đầu Gỗ Cave, Bãi Cháy.