Vietnam Geography

Vietnam is often described as two rice baskets on a carrying pole, and the shape is accurate. The Red River Delta in the north and the far larger Mekong Delta in the south are the population and agricultural centres; the long narrow strip between them is the pole.

The Annamite Range runs down the western border with Laos and Cambodia, pushing the habitable land into a coastal ribbon that narrows to about 50 kilometres at its thinnest.

The limestone that makes Ha Long Bay extends inland to Ninh Bình, where the same towers rise out of rice fields rather than water, and south to Phong Nha, which holds Hang Sơn Đoòng — the largest known cave passage in the world.

The Mekong Delta is barely above sea level and is among the places most exposed to sea-level rise anywhere on earth.