The
first time I visited a beach in Vietnam tours, I was confounded by the sight of
numerous large baskets dotting the shoreline. Certainly, I thought, these were
too large for carrying produce and yet they also appeared too small to fare the
waters – although it turned out they are designed exactly for that; in fact for
many years they were the most common of Vietnamese fishing boats. Since I
rarely wake early enough to see these light crafts embark, the purpose of them
eluded me for ages. When I finally forced myself out of bed before
sunrise and headed to the beach to watch these big baskets – or Thung
Chai in Vietnamese – launch into the sea loaded with nets, I
was still baffled as to why anyone would choose such an awkward-shaped boat to
paddle around in search of a day's catch. I was intrigued and seduced by
the challenge of navigation in open water in this miniature, dinghy-sized
fishing boat and determined to prove myself as a pilot of one.
Vietnam Tours, During my
search for some answers about these giant floating baskets, I was introduced to
Tran Tu, a lifelong resident of the island village Cam Thanh who recently
retired from the basket boat making business. Tran Tu's life as a
boat maker spans over half a century and while it hasn’t made him a wealthy man,
it certainly is a profession he is proud to have been a part of. Unfortunately
the skills stop with him within the family. Tran Tu was taught by his uncle,
another long-time boat maker, but none of his four children will carry on the
trade. As both his sons sat with us in the small shack next to the house where
their mother sells vegetables, drinks and cigarettes, they scoffed at the idea
of continuing their father's work. "Now," Tu says with some
dismay, "basket boats are being made for tourists on Cam Thanh, not for
real fisherman." The majority of basket boat fishermen live in the beach
village of An Bang where tourism has yet to wipe out the traditional life of
the village fisherman. As an obviously strong advocate of the use of
basket boats, I had to ask Tu: "What's with the circular shape?" He
says it is because they are light and convenient to move from the water to your
house, plus, being such a simple shape and structure, one can be made cheaply
and easily and bought for a mere 2.5 to 3 million VND.
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