A seaside afternoon
The road to Lach Van is filled with the scent of the sea - the scent of dried fish, fish sauce and even the fish grills. The footsteps of women and mothers are bustling towards the boat dock. The boats have just returned and are preparing to set sail. The fishermen of the fishing village are making plans to "go out" together, making the creek buzz.
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To have a pair of boats like Chau's, it is necessary to invest about 300 million VND, and most of it is borrowed from relatives. People here want to build big boats, but the canals are not navigable. The canals are small and shallow, and there are many boats, so it is not easy to go in and out. People said that this year, they are lucky to have the State support fishermen with fuel money, to cover the costs, so all boats are actively going out to sea. No one wants to rest when Tet is coming, there are so many things to buy, but everything depends on the fish. When the boats are about to set sail, the shore is also bustling with trucks carrying oil, rocks, charcoal, white rice, and green vegetables to the boats. There are everything, socks, clothes, pickles, fish sauce, salt... The cold at sea is probably only felt by couples who go to sea...
...1 pm at Nam Lach Van wharf. Ships returned in droves like swallows flying over the sea. Group after group eagerly arrived at the shore. This was a fleet of ships that went out in the morning, returning in the afternoon. There were probably two or three hundred ships, all urgently looking for a way to enter the wharf. Fish were hurriedly carried ashore. Squid, shrimp, fresh mackerel, anchovies, and anchovies were dumped onto the cement floor. Thousands of people were waiting to buy and select fish. Everyone wanted to do it quickly, move quickly so that the fish would be the freshest, and be sold at the market for the best price. Mrs. Sau, a woman in Chien Thang - Dien Bich hamlet, excitedly said: "I select squid for the owner to send to China, and I earn 60,000 VND a day. There are a lot of toothfish this year!". On the wharf, on the boats, there was excitement and bustle. The squid were steamed and dried right next to them and then sent to the markets. Fresh shrimp and fish were wriggling in the joy of a good fishing season. All of this was here! Now I understand why the boat dock holds the people of my hometown so tightly. I understand why the seafaring profession has attracted so many generations of people, deeply attached to the bustling sounds and the strong fishy smell of the sea.
The ship left, and the worries were deep in the hearts of those who stayed behind. I realized that when I sat on a bicycle following Ms. Thuy - Mr. Chau's wife back home. The newly built 2-storey house was quite spacious. Ms. Thuy said that they had saved up for nearly ten years to build it. For a young couple like Chau - Thuy, having such a house in the center of Dien Bich commune is a dream. The husband is diligent and hardworking, the wife is resourceful and thrifty, the three children are healthy and well-behaved. She invited me to have dinner with her and her children, a neat meal with fresh fish, meat and vegetables. She boasted: "I caught the fish. Bring the best ones back for you and your children." She recalled that they had been in love since they were young, with so many memories, but one time she almost lost him. That was when they were at sea in a strong wind, he went out to lower the sail and was knocked down into the sea by the mast. It was dark, and no one on the ship knew. So he kept swimming, swimming until he was exhausted... Luckily, a Thanh Hoa ship saw him and rescued him and brought him to the shore of Quynh Lap. But he was not afraid of the sea, and could not stay far from the sea. Then, thanks to God, he became more and more prosperous...
Despite the hardship, talented people who dare to think and dare to do all have food and property. Now, walking through the seafood processing village of Ngoc Van - located in the center of Dien Bich commune, with many two- and three-story houses with new blue and red tiled roofs, we can clearly see that the lives of coastal people are getting better and better. From the fish caught, households on the shore have collected and processed the famous Van Phan fish sauce. Ms. Luan Thu - a household specializing in processing fish sauce that buys hundreds of tons of fish for fishermen each year said: the fish in Lach Van is the freshest, so the delicious fish sauce is sold throughout the North. Many households have become rich quickly. The two hamlets of Hai Dong and Hai
The rich sea has given the people of the coastal villages a more and more prosperous life. Dien Bich - Kim - Thanh - Ngoc... the hamlets of Hai Dong, Ngoc Bich... the names read like the eternal wishes of the coastal people, so precious, so beautiful. Generations of fishing villages are all imbued with gratitude from the sea. Men of fishing villages like Mr. Chau, Mr. Hung, Mr. Hoan... have followed their ancestors' careers, preserving for the village a traditional profession - a profession that brings life to many other professions.
One afternoon by the sea, I felt my heart warm again in the bitter cold of the changing seasons and the end of the year; because, I had a moment to live and feel the hardships of making a living, the gratitude of the fishing village people to the sea.
Late Winter 2008
Notes of Chau Lan
