Halong Bay fishing village.

This afternoon the boys elected to rest up in the warm comfort of our cruise ship whilst Trish and Janette took the option to take a bamboo boat ride to a small fishing village in Ha Long Bay - despite the fairly heavy rain.

Ha Long Bay’s outstanding landscape comes from the formation of geological limestone formations which rise from the ocean. It stretches over 1,550km square in area and includes 1,969 islets. It is an area of high biodiversity and holds important cultural and historical value to the people. It was recognised as a New Natural Wonder of the World in 2011.

It was with some trepidation we boarded the small boat which held six passengers and was captained by a local Vietnamese woman who manoeuvred and rowed us to our destination - a journey of around 25 minutes. We passed amazing little homesteads on basic barge type foundations (great recycling for blue plastic olive barrels!). The locals must have such a peaceful existence in this beautiful environment. Their supplies are all shipped in and many work at the community centre.

Once at the Community Centre the boats moored at the end of a pier along which were separate pools containing some quite large fish. They grow the fish here for food and for sale. Once the fish are heavily pregnant they are released to breed in the bay before the process starts again. They also farm oysters, scallops and mussels.

We were guided through what was once a home and which housed relics of years gone by - mainly implements for fishing, building etc plus quite a lot of ceramics. From there we were given a talk/demonstration of pearl harvesting. This was most interesting - particularly the differences in pearl colour, quality and value. We then took a quick glance at the showroom of lovely, expensive jewellery (the sales assistants here are so persistent). They had a gallery of pictures of Ha Long Bay over the years which we viewed and then it was back on our little bamboo boat for the journey back to the cruise ship.

The pictures show how amazing the formations are. The ladies who handled the boats were amazing. It was raining, we were all cold and wet despite our colourful plastic ponchos. However, Loc serenaded us all the way back with happy songs about either boats or rain. Glad we braved the elements - and our fears of negotiating boarding and alighting the small bamboo boats.Read more