Ha Long Bay, Vietnam (Part 2):: A Tour of the Floating Market

The locals in Ha Long Bay still live on the water, and small boats are their most common means of transportation. Visiting the floating market lets you see up close their living spaces and daily scenes, and sometimes you might even witness fishermen casting their nets. These water-dwelling residents make a living by selling fresh seafood, biscuits, and imported cigarettes.
Most of the men seem to be absent—those paddling forward to sell goods are all women. Some even come out as whole families, with mothers bringing their children along. The mothers steer the boats while the kids flash you bright smiles and eagerly reach out to hawk their wares.

 

This sight stirs mixed emotions. Some of the kids are very young, and it's unclear whether it’s purely coincidental or a calculated bid for sympathy? It reminds me of walking down the streets in India, Myanmar, or other similar countries, where groups of kids follow you trying to sell a bunch of bananas or directly asking for a dollar. It’s just a dollar—a trivial amount—but whether to give or not actually tests the humanity of both sides.

Most foreigners tend to buy a pack of cigarettes or some biscuits out of courtesy, or they might directly purchase seafood from the fishermen to add to their evening meal. However, the prices here aren’t particularly cheaper than those on land.


 

Canoeing on the seemingly waveless sea of Ha Long Bay offers yet another magical feeling.
When you’re sitting in a canoe, watching the sky gradually darken into a deep indigo, and for the first time gaze up at the towering rocky outcrops from the perspective of sea level—not from a boat—you realize these “little mountains” are actually quite tall. Some are covered with what looks like subtropical shrubs, while others bear the etched marks of millennia of seawater erosion. Sitting in the canoe, we seem to become more fully immersed in this UNESCO World Heritage site.