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Halong Bay looks like a dreamscape. The endless emerald waters are punctured by hundreds of limestone towers that rise up like fingers from the deep. In a place this mysterious and enchanting, it isn't hard to understand why locals believe a giant sea creature might be lurking here.
Our boat, a live-aboard on its maiden voyage, steams steadily between the monolithic karsts, led on (rather appropriately) by a dragon's head that is carved into the prow of the ship. We set up cameras and equipment, manage diving gear, and scan the horizon for signs of Vietnam's version of Nessie. I glance back over the stern and squint at the sun, which is dropping like a marble in the western sky.
Sometimes, extracting the zoology from the mythology is one of the most challenging aspects of Destination Truth, and this outing is about as tough as it gets. Vietnam's history is laden with rich and imaginative folklore, part of which is the elegant notion that a dragon descended from the heavens, his tail splitting the earth to form the jagged towers in the waters of Halong Bay. ("Halong" means "Where the dragon meets the sea.") An alternative version of the story says the dragon spat out jewels that formed the many islands here. Either way, these people have serpents on the brain, and with eyewitnesses predisposed to seeing creatures out of a Tolkein epic, reliable accounts will be hard to come by. To make matters worse, we're losing the afternoon light.
(continued)
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