Mist clearing on the River Đà, to the west of Hà Nội, as a morning ferry gets ready to leave
By Vietnamese standards Scotland is rather a dry place, so inevitably in Vietnam boats play a major part in the lives of many people. As the water, both descending on, and bearing up, those people, is always reasonably warm, the vessels used are often rudimentary by our standards. A whole way of life exists in the south of the country based on water, with markets, housing and work-places all water borne, however the photographs on this page are confined to northern areas. For boats on the sea go to the page on
Fishing Boats
in Northern Vietnam
Ferries this size are the norm, just big enough to take a motor-bike and a few standing passengers.
Fishing boat on the Red River
Here bamboos bound together form a bridge; they often equally form a boat
Little boats on a big river. Fine on tranquil days, but typhoons blow here
Sunset with cargo boats on the Red River north of Hà Nội
Beyond; their temporary lodgings
We think of rowing as something involving arms, but this sight is not uncommon in Vietnam - arms left free to do other work
Beating the water with bamboo canes (above) the fishermen drive the fish into their nets (right)
A family involved in various tasks while on their apparently precarious boat
Man sculling with a fixed paddle on dugout canoe near Ba Bể Lake in north-east Vietnam
A woman in Tuyên Quang appears to be delivering some sort of cylinders from a flat bottomed boat
Here, on the Lake in Đà Lạt, the contenders have dressed up for a ceremonial boat race
The oarswoman is being given a rest by one of her customers - having a shot at rowing a metal boat
In the UK we often think of
Coracles
as Welsh in origin, but they are also found in India and Vietnam, and instructions for construction date back 4,000 in Mesopotamia. This one is in use and moored in Hội An
The River Quây Sơn marks the border between Vietnam and China and on it, in Cao Bằng, are the
Bản Giốc cascades,
these attract tourist boats from both sides of the border. Each country offering a tour round the base of the falls, intertwining pathways, just as though there was no border.
The next page has another waterfall - in Scotland.
Man rowing a coracle on the river through Hội An
A beached coracle on an estuary in Quảng Xương district of Thanh Hoá Province
A working boat...
...and a small tourist boat at Hội An, even this modest craft has eyes painted on the bow - more below
Larger pleasure craft waiting by the Quay in Hội An, all with eyes...
...and here a newly painted boat
Fishermen's boats moored in the Red River by Hà Nội.
A man walks to the shore...
...and under the Chương Dương Bridge in Hà Nội (as always packed with vehicles) a man gets to the boats by a more direct method
People live on rivers for various reasons, but the commonest is that they are engaged in fishing. Here are three sets of these houseboats, all have the bright blue tarpaulins used throughout Vietnam. Above on the River Mã, near Cẩm Thủy, in Thanh Hóa; to the left on the Red River near Hà Nội; and below on the River Lô near Tuyên Quàng, north of Hà Nội.
River Mã near Cẩm Thủy in Thanh Hóa, with a
karst landscape
as background
The next page
takes you away from these pictures of warm placid waterways, able to accommodate homes, to the cold vertical waters of the Grey Mare's Tail waterfall in Southern Scotland
The last page was about Tháp Rùa monument in Hà Nội
A page about fishing boats by the coast of northern Vietnam
To the karst landscapes of the northern tip of Vietnam
