Hanoi - Pearl Farm & Fishing Village [Part 4]

13 February 2012 @ Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

Our next agenda after lunch was to visit the Vung Vieng Fishing Village.

The place looks so calm and serene.

There were limited number of sampans there, so we visited the nearby pearl farm first.

At the pearl farm, they breed their own oysters for pearls. All sorts of jewelries made out of pearls can be found in that mini shop.

Moving to the back of the shop there was a girl (around 16 years old) sitting at the table demonstrating how to implant a little "seed" (mantle tissue) into the oysters to culture the pearls.

On the other side of the table, a man took out a bigger oyster and opened it.

Wua-lah!! A beautiful pearl sits right in the middle of the oyster.

Further into the sea, there were endless rows of oyster farms.

The farmers said that only 10% of the oysters produce good enough quality to make jewelries. And they need many years to culture a pearl. That is why the pearls are expensive.

If you look at the sea water, it's green in colour. That's because there're lots of microorganism in the sea, which serves as food to the oysters. "Yummeh yummeh!" says the oyster.

After visiting the pearl farm, the sampans finally arrived to take us around the fishing village.

 

The sampans were mainly rowed by young girls as the men are out into the deep sea to fish.

The scenery is breathtaking.

That's us! And Christopher from Australia

All sorts of floating houses you can see on the sea. Some nicely built, some are just an old shack.

Spotted quite a number of canines at the village too.

Selling stuffs on a boat is a common scene in the waters of Ha Long Bay.

Young girl rowing the boat as the brother watches

I can see that this fishing village is still very intact with the way they live, bathing in the sea, washing their boats, weaving fishing nets and playing in that tiny area in front of their house.

We returned to Paloma for a drink at the deck after that. A chance to mingle around with the other passengers. Billy, out.

Next post: Hanoi - After Dark on Paloma [Part 5]