I'm writing this email from Hanoi, the bustling capital of vietnam. tomorrow i'm going to travel by hydrofoil to Cat Be Island. from there, i'm going to take a crusie on a junk boat to Ha Long Bay. The bay is one southeast asia's most magnificent natural splendors.
Ha Long Bay lies in the northeastern part of the country and is 100 miles (165 kilometers) from Hanoi. it is one of vietnam's main attractions. the bay has an incredible number of islands: 1969 islands over an area of 600 square miles(1553 square kilometers). more than seven hundred of these islands are included in the list of UNESCO's World Heritage sites because of their cultural, aesthetic, biogeological, and economic.
On the bay's calm waters' thousands of liemstone formations rise from the sea. People say they look mystical and surrealistic-like somthing from another planet. The shapes of these formations are varied and bizarre. Some seem to resemble people or animals. The local people give each of them a name-many of which are based on the shape of the formation, such as Con Voi (the elephant).