Rowing Shop
Hello out there,
Besides the incredible landscape, a visit to Halong Bay in northern Vietnam also pays off in another aspect. To experience how the local people live their daily life within the bay was just fascinating. During the cruise I did from the city of Ha Long, we had the chance, to interacted with them on various occasions.
For example, did we visit one of their floating villages, which are just a couple of wooden houses on top of empty plastic containers, with planks in between them, to get around. Alongside the house, there were several boats, to leave their little community. Surprisingly, quite a lot of the boats we saw in action, were still operated by muscle power.
One afternoon for example, after we just returned from a cave exploration on one of the islands, as a boat with a woman was waiting for us next to our cruise ship. Of course, have the locals adapted to the tourists and the woman was selling some snacks and drinks from her floatable shop. A quite unusual experience. Therefore, I wanted to capture some photos of her, but until I got my camera out and set up, she was already done with her business and leaving. A bit upset, I looked at her rowing away and suddenly realized, that this scene much better represents the relatively relaxed attitude, I had perceived of the local people in the bay. Therefore I once more pulled out my camera and pressed the shutter.