Life vests are a requirement for jewelry buying here.

Taken in December of 2015 in Bai Tu Long Bay

Of course, they give you a little mini-class on culturing pearls.

In Bai Tu Long Bay there’s floating Pearl Farm with a built-in jewelry store. It’s a little strange browsing jeweler’s cases with a bunch of people in life-jackets. On the way into the store they show you how pearls are cultured and harvested, presumably in an attempt to engender a sense of gratitude / reciprocity from those who are really psyched about it.