Foreign tourists visiting Vietnam have been extremely interested in the boating style of ‘tour guides’ in Trang An, Ninh Binh.
The limestone mountains and caves in Trang An, in Ninh Binh province, in the north of Vietnam have long been an extremely popular tourist attraction. Not only the scenery, but the people living in the middle of the rocky mountains here doing the work of rowing passenger boats to admire the scenery are also an impressive point for visitors, especially foreign guests.
Canadian writer Matthew Pike of Culture Trip site had an article about the interesting boating skills of tour guides in Trang An. At the beginning of the article, he commented, the people here have developed a very unique method of rowing over the years.
Forced to change
Matthew Pike had a talk with Mrs. Gam, one of the boatmen who took in the sights. Matthew said that Gam has been rowing boats in Trang An caves for more than 20 years. During that time, Vietnam’s tourism industry has gone from its infancy to being known and recognized by global tourists.
The number of foreign visitors to Vietnam has grown from 1.5 million in 1998 to over 18 million in 2019. And Trang An, one of Vietnam’s tourist attractions, is certainly felt. This change is obvious.
As the number of tourists increases, the amount of money spent on tourism also increases, but this also means that people like Gam have to work for long hours. And now, the boaters in Trang An have come up with an excellent solution. They rowed with their feet instead of with their hands as before. Ms. Gam shared: “Riding the boat with feet is much faster and less tiring than rowing by hand.”
Photo: Vu Pham Van/ Culture Trip
Photo: Vu Pham Van/ Culture Trip
Special “Technology” has been developed over the years Photo: Vu Pham Van/ Culture Trip
Outstanding technique
The Canadian author said, of course, Mrs. Gam is not the only one. All those who rowed along the river have mastered this “skill” of rowing. Instead of strenuously rowing with their hands and needing to mobilize the whole spine and discs to work at full capacity, people use strong legs to handle their work.
For those who spend thousands of hours rowing a year, foot rowing helps prevent chronic back pain.
Photo: Vu Pham Van/ Culture Trip
The boatman looks very relaxed.Photo: Vu Pham Van/ Culture Trip
Relaxed but focused
Author Matthew Pike observed and found that the boaters in Trang An look relaxed, but in fact they always and still need to observe very carefully the path ahead to handle situations with objects. prevent or avoid collisions with neighboring boats.
Rowers need to pay attention.Photo: Vu Pham Van/ Culture Trip
Photo: Vu Pham Van/ Culture Trip
During the peak tourist seasons, there are many passenger boats operating on the river at the same time.Photo: Vu Pham Van/ Culture Trip
The technique is amazing
“And when the boat stops, all they have to do is lean over to grab the oars. They may not become Olympic-sized athletes, but this clever technique makes it possible for them to work in the water. years without getting hurt,” Matthew expressed his interest and admiration for the creative solutions of the Vietnamese people.
Insider’s YouTube account has also posted videos of people rowing on foot in Vietnam. The video received more than 45,000 views and a lot of comments.
Under the video, many foreign Youtube accounts expressed their interest and admiration. Xes Zki account commented: “I have been to this country and witnessed the scene of rowing with my own eyes. The way they rowed is really admirable.”
Another user said: “I love scenic boat trips like this. I’ve been by boat 3 times and still enjoy it.”
“This is the first time I’ve seen people rowing with their feet. People’s relaxation makes me feel both delighted and amazed. How can you think of a way to do that and how can you operate the boat? with their feet like that. They are really amazing,” another user commented.