Bãi Cháy
Bãi Cháy is a beach resort in Vietnam. The ward of Bãi Cháy, along with Hong Gai, together are officially referred to as Hạ Long City, though few locals use this term for Bãi Cháy. The centre of tourism in Hạ Long Bay is Bãi Cháy beach.[1] The Bãi Cháy Bridge now links Bai Chay and Hong Gai, making the old Bãi Cháy ferry redundant.
Bãi Cháy | |
|---|---|
| Country |  |
| Province | Quảng Ninh |
| City | Hạ Long |
| Time zone | UTC+07:00 (Indochina Time) |
Geography
Bãi Cháy is an artificial sandy beach located along the Ha Long Bay with a length of more than 500 metres (550 yd) and a width of 500 metres (550 yd). Topographic feature is a low elevation range of hills sloping gently toward the sea.
Etymology
According to legend, Bãi Cháy is the place where Trần Dynasty's forces led by Tran Khanh Du burned Mongols' vessels. Northeast wind then blew fire toward the west side of Cửa Lục Bay and set fire to the dried forest nearby. This explains the origin of the name "Bãi Cháy" which literally means "burned/burning beach".
Another folk-story says that in the past, boats used to anchor at the west side of Cửa Lục. Fishermen gathered and burned Casuarinaceae's leaves around those vessels in order to deal with shipworm that bored into them. Since people from Hong Gai and elsewhere saw fire blazing up from this place all the time, they coined the name "Bãi Cháy". Under the French, this became Vatchay.
References
- Rough Guide to Vietnam: Volume 4 - Page 429 Jan Dodd, Mark Lewis, Ron Emmons - 2003 "The neighbouring towns of Bai Chay and Hong Gai are officially referred to as Ha Long City, though few locals use this term. The epicentre of tourism in Ha Long Bay is Bai Chay, a beach resort on the north shore, which offers an enormous choice"