One of the most interesting things about the bay was the floating fishing villages. There are in total five of these villages in Halong Bay, all of them home to professional fisherman. A village is basically made up of about 7-10 floating homes made of bamboo and various woods, all separate from each other. Each home had a series of boats used for fishing and transportation. We also spotted fish stores, electric generators, and disco centers within the villages. Many of the homes were just sail boats that people lived on, but must of them looked like small cottages. They all had televisions, dogs, and hammocks along with other household necessities. The children that live in these villages take the school boat to their floating school each day and learn to fish like their parents.

The fishermen of the families use huge nets to fish and have long days from 5 am to 4:30 pm! They then sell their fish at home to the cooks aboard the big tourist boats that pass by. We had a fun time looking at some of the fish the fishermen caught at one of the homes and even visited a family at night. I enjoyed learning about their life style and imagining what its like to live out there.

Another fun thing we did on the boat was fish for squid. Even though we didnt catch anything, I still had a great time dangling my lure off the boat with a bamboo pole. We eventually gave up on squid and trying to hook the scurrying minnows without any luck.

We had a great time exploring this extraordinary bay and learning about another foreign lifestyle. The only thing that could have been better was catching our own fresh calamari, but it leaves a reason to come back.