Majestic Beauty of Ha Long Bay

These two happy feet are my siblings and they enjoy traveling together. I've posted some of their escapades here:

• Enchanting Island of Coron
• The Shadow Chasers
• Deeper than Depth

Their recent travel destination was in Vietnam. They stayed at Holiday View Hotel Catba Island from August 22-26, 2014. Behold the captivating beauty of Halong (Ha Long) Bay through the lens of The Travel Buddies.

The bay which literally means "descending dragon bay". It's situated at Quáng Ninh province, Vietnam and is recognized as: -Source

• Renowned National Landscape Monument' by Vietnam Tourism Authority in 1992
• UNESCO World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1994
• New 7 Wonders by New 7 Wonders Foundation in 2012
• Member of Club of the Most Beautiful Bays of the World

The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes. It has a 120 kilometers long coastline and is approximately 1,553 square kilometers in size with 1969 islets. Several of the islands are hollow, with enormous caves, other support floating villages of fishermen, who ply the shallow waters for 200 species of fish and 450 different kinds of mollusks. Another specific feature of Halong Bay is the abundance of lakes inside the limestone islands.

It consists of a dense cluster of some 1,600 limestone monolithic islands each topped with thick jungle vegetation, rising spectacularly from the ocean. Several of the islands are hollow, with enormous caves. Hang Dau Go (Wooden stakes cave) is the largest grotto in the Hạ Long area. French tourists visited in the late 19th century, and named the cave Grotte des Merveilles. Its three large chambers contain large numerous stalactites and stalagmites (as well as 19th century French graffiti). There are two bigger islands, Tuan Chau and Cat Ba, that have permanent inhabitants, as well as tourist facilities including hotels and beaches. There are a number of beautiful beaches on the smaller islands. -Source