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Rowing in the Rain
People from Vung Vieng fishing village in Bai Tu Long Bay in North Vietnam supplement their income by rowing tourists around the waters.
It’s mesmerising: sitting in a rustic wooden boat, gliding across pristine emerald waters through a jaw-dropping karst landscape while listening to the gentle splash of the rhythmic rowing. The tops of the mountains are shrouded in cloud as a gentle rain falls.
Bai Tu Long Bay in North Vietnam was designated a National Park in 2001. It adjoins the UNESCO World Heritage-designated Halong Bay to the south, and all the tourism there operates with one eye on a UNESCO-auspiced management plan.
Vung Vieng Village, in the heart of Bai Tu Long Bay, is one of four small fishing villages in the area. Home to more than 60 families, it has become a model for eco-tourism development in the vicinity.
Originally, the families of the illiterate fisher-people in this region lived in the many caves that dot the surrounding limestone karst cliffs. Generations ago, however, the people were moved into small villages of floating homes as part of the establishment of the Ba Mun National Conservation Zone. A floating school was established for the children, but attendance rates were problematic, so children now attend a compulsory boarding school on the mainland, some 24 kilometres away.
Traditionally, the floating villages were extremely poor, with their only income for food, fuel and potable water, coming from fishing. With the help of the management planning organisation, tourism operators, and other external funding, this is gradually changing. Managed fish-farming, pearl cultivation, and eco-tourism has helped these villages generate a sustainable income and has raised local awareness of environmental protection issues.
Not only do tourist operators pay for the almost-daily row boats (like the ones we were in, operated by the Vung Vieng-based Van Chai-Ha Long Rowing Boat Cooperative) to ferry visitors around the sights, but they also pay for collected rubbish, helping to keep the waters cleaner.
It’s a win-win, really.
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Wooden Row Boat
Our tender drops us off on a tourist dock where local rowers collect us for our morning tour of Vung Vieng.
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Our Rower
Fortunately, the rowers are brightly dressed, because the morning is rainy and grey.
Vung Vieng Village
The floating houses of Vung Vieng Village are clean and colourful.
Wooden Row Boat
Tourist are expected to wear their life-jackets, as they are rowed …
Vung Vieng House
… past the simple wooden houses, sitting on their floating pontoons.
Vung Vieng House
The houses may be simple, but they sit against a stunning karst landscape.
Row Boat on Vung Vieng
I think the oars are made from bamboo. I would have thought that a wider design would have made rowing easier, but even the slightly-built Vietnamese women seemed to have no difficulty rowing us around. All the boats have the nets on the back for rubbish: to encourage them to be more mindful of litter, boat operators are paid for all the garbage they collect.
Rock-Bridge Reflections
Each of our boats takes us under the limestone bridge in turns, so that we might admire the workings of eons of erosion.
Rowing in the Rain
We huddle under our conical woven bamboo hats as the horizon fades off into the rain and mist.
Pearl Farm
Soon, the oyster- and pearl-farm comes into view.
Vung Vieng Oyster Farm
The buoys that the oysters are suspended from stretch off into the distance.
Rowing into the Vung Vieng Pearl Farm
Oyster Farm
We are deposited on the floating dock at the pearl farm.
Sales Attendant
The gift shop has attendants ready to sell us luminous cultured pearls. I managed to resist the jewellery, but I couldn’t resist this smile.
Seeding Pearls
Inside the workshop, the visiting tourists watch as oysters are prised open …
Pearl-Seeding Equipment
… and nucleus pearls are embedded for cultivation.
Seeding Oysters
It is fiddly and pains-taking work.
Oysters
Vung Vieng Pearl Farm cultivates three different types of pearls, which take between one and four years to grow to maturity.
Foggy Islands
It was a short row back to our boat, where we packed up our cabin in preparation for lunch and departure. The world around us disappeared into the February fog.
Captain Nguyen
Our captain popped into the crowded dining room to wish us bon voyage…
Into Hon Gai Harbour
… before we cruised back into harbour.
Into Hon Gai Harbour
The weather deteriorated further …
On the Ropes
… as we waited for our tender and headed back to shore.
Bai Tu Long Bay is a unique and wonderful place. I was there with my husband because we had heard negative reports about the overcrowding on Halong Bay itself; I hope the eco-tourism model provided by Vung Vieng allows the traditional people there to determine their own futures, while preserving their past and guarding their precious environment – for all of us.
Until next time,
Happy Sailing!
[…] resort (Naman Retreat) near Danang in Vietnam. It gave me a chance to go back to Halong Bay (see: Vung Vieng Pearl Farm, Karst Mountains and Caves; and Spring Rolls and Winter Weather), and took us into a region of […]