HALONG BAY, Vietnam » After our annual volunteer work in Bangladesh, Craig and I usually take some time for ourselves on the way home.

This year we decided to stop in Vietnam, a country that for people of our generation conjures up images of a devastating war. But friends who travel there love the experience. We didn't know why, but wanted to find out.

“;When you're in Hanoi, do you want to make a side trip to Halong Bay?”; our travel agent asked me as we planned the trip.

“;I don't know. Do we?”;

“;Yes,”; he said. “;You do.”;

And that's how I discovered one of the most exquisite marine parks in the world.

Halong Bay is 900 square miles of limestone pillars jutting tall in a corner of the Gulf of Tonkin. All I knew about this gulf was that the U.S. war with Vietnam began there when the Vietnamese fired on an American ship. Or not. Some people think the underwater radiance taken for a torpedo might have been a glowing marine animal called a pyrosome.

In any case, Halong Bay is celebrated not for war, but for a seascape so striking the Vietnamese call it the eighth wonder of the world. In 1994, UNESCO named Halong Bay a World Natural Heritage Site.

What a thrill it was to see those islands rising from the mist as we approached the bay. Once there, we boarded a boat and headed for a cruise among the jewels.

The islands really are jewels, so the legend goes, delivered by dragons. Long ago when Vietnam and China were fighting, the gods sent a family of dragons to come to the defenders' aid. These dragons spit out jade and other precious stones, making a great wall that helped the Vietnamese secure their land. After the battle the jewels turned to stone.

Naval battles continued to take place in the area throughout history, but since most of the 2,000 islands rise steeply from the water, they have few landing sites and are therefore unspoiled by humans.

Except underwater. The U.S. Navy heavily mined the shallow channels between these islands during the war, and the undiscovered mines continue to pose a threat to shipping.

This danger is real because depths are shallow in Halong Bay, ranging from 3 feet near the shore to about 60 feet in the deepest channels. Several times, our shallow-draft boat stirred up mud from the ocean floor.

This calm, shallow water has a major plus side, though. The area is rich in marine life. About 1,000 species of fish and 500 kinds of invertebrates thrive there.

I didn't see any of these fish and invertebrates in the water, but I sure saw a lot on my dinner plate. Several fishing villages thrive in the bay, one afloat in a charming flotilla of houseboats.

Our boat stopped at one of the larger islands to let us explore two famous Halong caves. I imagined holes in the rocks that a person would have to stoop to enter, but no. The caves were enormous with long, spooky corridors. Some walls held ancient Chinese script, and one wall proclaimed the presence of French pilots in 1933.

I now know why people love Vietnam. Its people are friendly and upbeat, the bustling recovery there is a joy to behold and the country's beauty is breathtaking. I highly recommend a visit there, especially to those who lived through the Vietnam War.

And when you go, yes, you definitely want to spend some time in Halong Bay.