Cai Beo fishing village is among the famous old villages in the nation’s biggest prehistoric era. Hollywood hero DiCaprio says Vietnam’s Lan Ha Bay is a “paradise”.
Cai Beo fishing village is only about 2 kilometers from Cat Ba town. Visitors can go here by car or motorbike then take a small boat to visit the village. This traditional fishing village in Lan Ha Bay floats atop emerald waters among lush limestone karst formations.
Life in Cai Beo
Lan Ha Bay, in the Cat Ba Archipelago, is covered by nearly 388 limestone mountains and has for centuries been a safe. Coming here, you have the opportunity to discover the fascinating life of Cat Ba people.The scene here’s very beautiful with countless floating houses staying under the islands as a stone backyard. The fishing village of Beo is widespread, around 18.000m2. Villagers depend on the sea for survival and make a living from fishing, aquaculture and tourism.
Although a fisherman’s life is hard and simple, they appear quite content with their lot in life. They have to start very early and finish very late doing lots of physical work. Fishermen live away from the mainland, but they can buy anything from the hawkers who sell supplies to the villagers from their boats. The fishermen do not have a huge variety of food available to them, like on the mainland, but they can catch fish to feed their families and they just need to buy vegetables, salt and fish sauce.
Here, visitors can rent a boat to visit among the households raising fish and learn about the life of the people in the fishing village. In the setting of a paradise, visitors can also enjoy specialties made from fish, geoduck and shrimp on floating restaurants that are caught or farmed by the fishing villagers.
Sedimentation of time
Since when did people come to Cai Beo? According to archeological data, the first indigenous people in Cai Beo originated from the ancient culture of Hoa Binh – Bac Son
In 1938, French archaeologist M. Colani discovered an outdoor site at Lang Chai bay (Cai Beo), on Cat Ba Island. Since then, many archaeological excavations have been conducted at Cai Beo.
In early 2007, a team of specialist scientists undertook extensive excavations and 10 tombs were revealed with 137 stone artifacts and 1,424 pottery shards, all made from granite, ceramic, and twisted rope as well as fish bones, shells and oysters.
Analysis indicated that Cai Beo is a site of archaeological importance and was the home of fishermen around 7,000 years ago, who lived mainly from fishing, scallops and oysters, a way of life that continued until around 4,500 years ago.
Natural heritage, unique life of fishermen, sediments of time have brought Cai Beo becomes one of the most attractive tourist destinations of Cat Ba. Contact Aroma Vietnam Travel for more useful information for your trip.
