Once upon a time, thousands of years ago, Vietnam’s hamlets on its east coast were in grave danger. A fleet of foreign invaders were approaching. Defeat seemed imminent. They called upon Jade Emperor, the supreme deity in Taoism, in desperation.

In answer to their prayers, he sent the Mother Dragon to help them. She and her children plunged into the waters spewing fire, jade, and emeralds to ward off the enemies. These jewels instantly solidified into 1,133 sea mountains spread over 65,650 hectares creating an impregnable barrier on the sea. With the invaders now battered and trapped in the rocky outcrops, the Vietnamese were able to drive them away.

This mythical place came to be known as Ha Long Bay. Meaning ‘Bay of the Descending Dragon.’ It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. No, not because of the dragons, but for its unique geological formations and marine landscape.

What happened to the dragons? They decided to stay on in the mortal world and continue to guard the Vietnamese.

Welcome to Ha Long Bay. My table with a view. 🙂

Surprise Cave, Ha Long Bay’s biggest cave [10,000 sq. metres] and most popular highlight, was ‘discovered’ by the French in 1901 who found it ‘Surprising.’

Ha Long Bay’s sea mountains are the result of tectonic plate movements 500 million years ago accompanied with incessant rainfall and flooding, followed by extreme heat and erosion.

Inland, around 200 kilometres by road from Ha Long Bay on the Red River Delta is Ninh Binh, with its very own grouping of angular karst outcrops: the UNESCO-listed Trang An Landscape Complex [2014]. And yes, it also comes replete with a dragon legend. Here, the rainforest-dappled outcrops are believed to be the scales of a resting dragon. Continuously inhabited for the last 30,000 years, the 6,226-hectare complex is also the site of Vietnam’s first capital founded in the 10th Century.

Whilst Ha Long Bay’s limestone isles rise above silk-like emerald waters, Trang An’s float over glittering rice paddies and winding canals, punctuated with poetic temples and pagodas. Rising to 200 metres, they enclose deep depressions filled by waterways passing through subterranean caves. Fully emergent on land today, this area was submerged under the sea millions of years ago.

Around five hundred rock-cut steps lead up to the temple perched atop Hang Mua, the highest point of Vietnam’s ‘Inland Ha Long Bay.’

Tam Coc, part of the Trang An Landscape Complex, comprises three flooded karst caves in which bamboo boats slide through.

Entrance to the Buddhist Bich Dong pagoda complex. Originally built in 1428, two monks rebuilt it to its current three-level version in 1705.

Just chilling. Ninh Binh’s rowers row their boats with their feet.

So, what is it with all the dragon stories. What if I tell you, they make perfect sense!

As per the origin myths of the Vietnamese people, they are the descendants of a fairy queen from the highlands and a dragon king from the coastal lowlands. Now this dragon father was not the fire-belching western type. Rather, he was a slimmer benevolent snake-like dragon—noble, majestic, and powerful, and brought in the rains. After marrying and having a hundred sons, the couple decided to part ways with fifty children following each parent, explaining the country’s ethnic diversity and unity.

No surprises then that dragons are intrinsic to the country and its culture. The backbone of Vietnamese national identity, they appear everywhere. On man-made architecture, artifacts, and art. On flags, coins, and literature. And particularly in nature’s miracles as well. ❤

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Travel tips:

• I explored Ha Long Bay and Ninh Binh through two full-day small group tours from Hanoi, run by Hanoi Backstreet Tours. Both were fabulous! Their WhatsApp No. is +84 91 404 3296. The Ha Long Bay tour was a combination of a luxury cruise ship and bamboo boats. Ninh Binh was on bamboo boats and a Vietnam People’s Army legend jeep.

[Note: This blog post is part of a series from my travels to Vietnam for three weeks in March 2025. To read more posts in my Vietnam series, click here.]