Life on the sea

Encircled within Ha Long bay – a World Natural Heritage recognized twice by the UNESCO, Cua Van Fishing Village (Hung Thang ward) has become a tourist attraction for both domestic and international visitors. Cua Van Fishing Village is 30km off the city harbor and includes floating houses on the sea. There are here around 700 fishermen settling on anchored vessels while their children go to school rafted offshore.

Travelling to this fishing village, visitors will be drenched in atmospheric tranquility and absolute peaceful, admire the picturesque landscape here and break into the ordinary life of fishermen. Maidens in the village are your own tour guides and instruct visitors to ride boats, pull nets and trap shrimps and fish… As the dark falls, visitors can ride around the village and join fishermen in pulling nets, fishing squids and sharing the salty sweetness of a floating lifestyle.

Visitors are also treated to various novel travelling pleasure, such as visits to the Fairy cave, Ba Ham lagoon, hiking, squid fishing or reaching fish marshes by wooden boats or wooden coracles…

In addition, visitors can pay a visit to the Cua Van Floating Culture Center. It is also the first floating cultural village model for coastal inhabitants in Viet Nam. The center puts on display fishing tools and equipment of ancient Vietnamese settlers as well as imageries, documentaries and publications of the folk culture and life of fishermen on Ha Long now and then… All are presented by the center’s instructors (as children of fishermen in Cua Van Fishing Village) in 6 key themes: nature and humans, livelihoods of fishermen, material life of fishermen, aquatic settlement and human life and beliefs and spiritual life… In particular, on occasion of festivals or weddings, visitors can even listen to the locals sing the ghẹo or chèo đường (a performing genre that involves peculiar folk chants in Ha Long Bay Area). All will strike deep impressions on travelers.

Phuong Lan