With the summer coming to an end, photo editors of NatGeo, a world-famous magazine covering science, geography, history, and world culture, invited photographers to look back at their favorite scenes.

Filipina Hannah Reyes Morales’ photo of Ha Long Bay in Quang Ninh Province, around four hours to the east of Hanoi, taken during her recent trip, featured among their 24 best.

“Summer in Southeast Asia for me is about the sea,” NatGeo quoted Morales as saying.

“Ha Long reminded me of days in my teenage years, coming of age with salt in my hair from sticky, warm summers by the water. So distinct. Everything in the country felt new to me when I took this image. But the blues and greens of the water were comforting in their familiarity.”

Ha Long Bay is an increasingly familiar name on the global tourism map, with its popularity confirmed by routine listings in prestigious magazines.

Around 5.2 million foreigners visited Ha Long Bay last year, up 22 percent from a year ago and accounting for 30 percent of the 15.6 million foreign tourists to come to Vietnam.

Recent events that have heightened the bay’s attraction include the filming there of Hollywood blockbuster Kong: Skull Island in 2017 and the launch of Vietnam’s first private airport, Van Don International Airport, in Quang Ninh late last year to offer foreign tourists easier access.

A new expressway connecting the Hanoi-Hai Phong Expressway with Quang Ninh’s Ha Long Town, which opened to traffic last September, reduces the Hanoi-Ha Long commute by 50 km to 130 km.

Other top summer photos voted by NatGeo’s editors included of the Okavango Delta in Botswana, an offering of June apricots in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, boats gathering on the Meghna River in Bangladesh, and a train trip in China’s Xinjiang.

Their operations were discovered when authorities checked a hotel in Tran Phu District, Mong Cai at the China-Vietnam border on Sunday, local media reported.

516 mobile phones, 21 computers and a card-scanning device for online transactions were seized by authorities.

The Chinese said they used the devices to attract other Chinese to their fake stock exchange floor in order to steal their properties.

They chose to operate in Mong Cai to avoid detection by Chinese authorities.

Vietnamese police said they handed over the 28 suspects and related exhibits to Chinese police for continuing the investigation into the crime.

Located in Quang Ninh Province’s Quang Yen Commune, Amata City Ha Long would cover 1,720 hectares, of which 30 percent will be used for residential buildings, 18 percent for planting trees and the rest for businesses, services and transportation infrastructure, the group’s chairman Vikrom Kromadit said in a recent meeting with provincial authorities.

Quang Ninh Chairman Nguyen Van Thang said the project, about 47 km from UNESCO heritage site Ha Long Bay, was approved in principle and Amata should research it in greater detail.

Amata is investing $155 million in an industrial park (IP) in the province. Covering 714 hectares, the Song Khoai IP is located in Quang Yen Commune. Work on the IP began at the end of last year and is set to finish in the third quarter of next year.

In Vietnam, the group owns the 700-hectare Amata City Bien Hoa Industrial Park, which has been active since 1994 in the southern province of Dong Nai. It has also received permission to construct the 1,265-hectare Amata City Long Thanh in the province, which comprises an IP and a city.

Quang Ninh has received increasing infrastructure investment in recent years. It is home to Vietnam’s first private airport Van Don International Airport and is linked with Hanoi and the port city of Hai Phong via an expressway.

In May, Quang Ninh became the most competitive province in Vietnam for the second time in a row in the Provincial Competitive Index (PCI) 2018 survey released by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

In the “The Rough Guides to the 100 Best Places on Earth,” the magazine described “the scattering of limestone pinnacles jutting out of the smooth waters of Ha Long Bay”, around four hours east of Hanoi, as an “incredible sight.”

It is the only Vietnamese destination in the list, which covers many historical and cultural sites around the world such as the Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the Forbidden City in China, Kamniške-Savinja Alps in Slovenia, the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania, and the Genghis Khan Equestrian Statue in Mongolia.

Dropping anchor in the bay to explore small islands and caves is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, Rough Guides said, adding that “the best junk boats have private cabins and serve gourmet food and in the early morning you can pull back the curtains to watch the sunlight dancing on the emerald green water.”

Since its recognition as a UNESCO natural world heritage in 1994 Ha Long Bay has entrenched itself on the global tourism map, receiving rave reviews from travel bloggers and filmmakers. Around 5.2 million foreigners visited the bay last year, up 22 percent from a year earlier. A total of 15.6 million visited the country.

In its latest conservation move, the Ha Long Bay management said all tourism services in the bay would limit the use of plastic bags and straws from September 1. Fifteen local firms providing tourist boats, kayaks and high-speed boats will embark on a pilot program, banning the use of plastic products on sightseeing boats, starting August 1.

Cruise ships are popular in Ha Long Bay. Photo by Shutterstock/namanh.

The recent improvements in infrastructure have made traveling to and around Ha Long much easier for foreigners. Last December Van Don International Airport, 50 kilometers from Ha Long Bay, opened.

An expressway connecting the Hanoi-Hai Phong Expressway with Ha Long, opened to traffic last September, reducing the Hanoi-Ha Long commute by 50 km to 130 km.

In addition to the popular kayaking and cruise tours, visitors can book Ha Long Heli Tours, a new helicopter tour, through Fastsky, the country’s first helicopter ride-sharing service offered by ride-hailing firm FastGo.

The South China Morning Post recently named Ha Long Bay in its list of 10 most popular Asian attractions. British magazine Woman and Home last May labeled the bay one of the most mentioned global cruise destinations on Instagram.

An aerial vew of Ha Long Bay.

“By this morning (Thursday), the ships had returned to their harbors,” said Vu Manh Long, director of the Quang Ninh Port Authority of Inland Waterway.

Residents have been warned of the storm’s expected course on Wednesday, he said.

The Co To Island District of Quang Ninh, with a population of 5,000 people, could be the first locality to be hit by the storm.

Officials said there are around 300 tourists remaining on the island, including four foreigners.

300 of 350 ships have been recalled from the island, with the rest to follow on Thursday afternoon. Houses on the island have been strengthened.

Wipha, the third storm this year to appear on the East Sea, known internationally as the South China Sea, is expected to bring rough seas and strong winds in the Gulf of Tonkin this afternoon. Satellite images at around 2 p.m. showed thick clouds covering the entire gulf, including islands like Bach Long Vi, Cat Hai, Co To and Van Don.

Satellite image of Wipha on August 1, 2019. Photo courtesy of the National Center for Hydro – Meteorological Forecasting.

Wipha’s eye is expected to be directly above Quang Ninh and the northern city of Hai Phong on Friday night, with a maximum wind speed of 90kph, according to the National Center for Hydro – Meteorological Forecasting.

It is likely to make landfall in coastal provinces from Quang Ninh to the northern province of Nam Dinh before weakening into a tropical depression, weather experts say.

The storm would cause downpours in northern Vietnam until Sunday. Hanoi should expect rainfall of 100mm to 200mm on Thursday. Rainfall of 180 mm a day is considered heavy.

Vietnam is hit by up to 10 tropical storms during the monsoon season, between July and October. This year, the country is expected to be directly affected by four storms and tropical depression.

Vietnam was struck by nine storms last year. Storm Mun hit northern and central provinces last month, killing two in the central province of Thanh Hoa.