First order of business after our quick nap is a visit to one of the most famous attractions in Halong Bay -- Cua Van Floating Village. There are actually several villages along the bay which include Ba Hang, Vung Vieng and Cong Dam but Cua Van being the largest with 130 floating houses and a population of 600 people is the most visited among the four.
To protect the families living in the floating houses, locals anchor their homes in the sheltered coves at the base of tall limestone islands.
Cua Van is indeed a water world because aside from the food that they need to buy from the mainland, the village has its own clinic and a primary school so kids can learn how to speak English and be able to converse with tourists. Its amazing to see how little children with their sunburned faces can learn to swim before they can even walk.
Aside from fishing, the villagers survive with the influx of visitors in Cua Van. Women earn money by paddling the boats to tour the guests from the junks while some make handicrafts that they sell in the floating souvenir shops.
Even if the people live in stilt houses, they make it a point that proper waste disposal is observed as you can barely see plastics or any garbage floating around. I hope they also do the same with their house's sewage system to avoid water pollution and be able to conserve this UNESCO World Heritage.
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