Mai Bang traditional craft village

(Baonghean) - Dreamy sunny afternoon. Standing on the western tip of Lan Chau island to have a panoramic view of Cua Lo town; on the other side of the green carpet of grass and trees surrounding the beach, the yellow color of sea daisies has appeared; among the hotels and the tourist urban residential area, is the sacred, inviting flag of Mai Bang temple - the soul of a fishing village that is hundreds of years old...

I said goodbye to the group of young tourists who were "exploring" Lan Chau island, temporarily leaving behind the ironic feeling of being a man of letters with the same passion as King Bao Dai, happily standing on the ancient watchtower, admiring the mountains and rivers of Cua Lo like a red mark on the Vietnamese coast; to leave the mountain and blend into the charming space with a unique feature of Cua Lo town - Mai Bang village of Nghi Thuy ward.

From Lan Chau beach, cross Binh Minh Avenue, continue to Hom market selling famous seafood specialties of this area, after a few walks through the concrete roads with colorful flags and flower lanterns lingering in the Spring festival on Tet holiday often seen in the fishing village spaces still imbued with ancient customs, you will reach Mai Bang village temple located on a large campus with a quiet and majestic look. The land boundary, the ancient village consciousness, now embraces the space and the joys and sorrows of the residents of 7/11 blocks of Nghi Thuy ward. At the beginning of the 20th century, the French discovered this wonderful beach, one of the best in Northern Vietnam, to establish a main resort in Nghi Thuy ward today, then Mr. Nguyen Quang Vinh, 77 years old, the keeper of Mai Bang temple (Provincial Historical - Cultural Relic) was not yet born. But he is still as knowledgeable about the land and people of Mai Bang as a tour guide.

The story of the sacred temple worshiping Chieu Trung Vuong Le Khoi - the founding hero of the Later Le Dynasty who made great contributions to the country and the people of the ancient Hoan Dien region - today's Nghe An, is already fascinating. The sacredness of the festival's vigil, in the incense smoke praying for peace and tranquility of the fishing village, the drum beats of the Mai Bang village drum team are like the war drums of the past when the Great King raised the flag and led his troops across the sea to defeat the Champa. That is the village drum team that is preparing to "march" down to Nghi Hai ward tonight to serve the fishing ceremony there. Mr. Vinh respectfully lit incense at the main hall, praying for the reporter's health and "abundant writing power", then told us about the time when the people of Mai Phu village, where Chieu Truong Vuong Le Khoi is buried in the inner region, came to live here, built a temple and named the new village Mai Bang, many generations spent hundreds of years cultivating a fishing village soul... Like this afternoon, the fishermen had just finished their fishing trip, their feet still wet from the sea, but they hurried to the temple to light incense on the full moon day; Some people who are going on a new sea trip tomorrow, or who are carrying seafood specialties to the local markets, all come to this sacred space to pray for peace and luck… Surely, in the end, it is also a spiritual practice of goodwill, preserving the soul of the coastal village.

Leaving Mai Bang temple, following the clean, winding concrete road in the fishing village that was filled with the alluring aroma of seafood processing, we went to the fishing wharf area. Small boats were bustling, transferring fish and shrimp from large ships to weave in the sunlight, spreading silk at the mouth of the creek. Fisherman Truong Thanh Thuy, owner of the 400 CV ship, who had just directed the workers to load fish from the boat onto the truck, clicked his tongue excitedly: “What a pity, what a pity! If only I had come here around dawn, the night fishing boats would have returned, the wharf market would be bustling with buying and selling, and delicious fish would be grilled right there. Many tourists visit the fish market, buying fresh grilled seafood as gifts, some people buy seven or eight million VND at a time!”

The afternoon boats only carry fish and shrimp, and the morning market has changed to the bustling Hom market, but on the fishing wharf, the smell of the sea is strong following the fishing boats returning, tourists can still eagerly join the buying and selling atmosphere of the fishermen of Mai Bang fishing village. Those sea products are quickly transferred to processing facilities in the village, and then become specialty products that attract tourists to come here. Ms. Nguyen Thi Luu, has been drying shrimp for 15 years, producing dozens of tons of products a year, every day during the tourist season she employs hundreds of workers, the drying kiln is as bustling as a craft village, tourists come to see and buy, ask and chat, she has become passionate about this profession partly because of that.

She said, making products to serve tourists is a laborious task, dried shrimp looks simple but just talking about the process of boiling shrimp, it also has to be mixed in a special way to make the shrimp fragrant and delicious. When boiling, you have to calculate the time and heat of the fire so that the shrimp is not too soft, not too hard, but peels easily, the shrimp does not lose meat and nutrients; to keep the shrimp delicious and sweet after boiling, you have to use firewood to boil... Nguyen Van Thang - a student of Hanoi Trade Union University, from Tuyen Quang, followed a friend from Nghe An to swim in Cua Lo beach, held up a bag of shrimp, and showed off: "I just bought it! I thought that going to Cua Lo would only be swimming in the sea and eating specialties at the restaurant. I didn't expect to visit such a nice coastal village. I also went to Mai Bang temple and the craft village to see people making fish sauce and drying shrimp. It was very interesting!"

Fishermen in Mai Bang village dry fish. Photo: Xuan Nhuong

I talked with the young student about the beginning of Cua Lo tourism in the early last century. The village was originally a poor coastal area where the sea and shore let the waves crash into the soft sand at the river mouth; following the rhythm of the ebb and flow of the tide, the salty taste of the sea intertwined with the seafood that fed the fishermen who went to sea, which was the aspiration! The hardships of time and the fierce winds and waves at the estuary further increased in each fishing villager a love for the land and the waves, so that the fishermen of Mai Bang have been, are and will be attached to the sea, but always dynamically keeping up with what the sea has given them in each period.

According to a descriptive document: “The area where the French built hotels from Lan Chau beach (Lan Chau island) moved 1 km north (in Mai Bang village - Nghi Thuy ward now), there were 10 hotels owned by French owners... These hotels were usually arranged with 4 rooms and 2 wings, roofs covered with Marseille tiles, ironwood windows, glass inside and shutters outside, and tiled floors. The floor was raised, surrounded by gardens, rows of green casuarinas, the hotel corridors were quite wide for walking and cooling. Normally, the French hired local people to look after, clean, and cook; each local person looked after a hotel like that...”.

I wonder if any of the Mai Bang villagers are descendants of one of the locals who were assigned by the French to look after the hotel they built a hundred years ago? The traces of the ancient architecture are no longer there, leaving behind a wild and poetic arc of sea. But along the place where the French once built those 10 hotels, there are now rows of stalls selling famous seafood specialties processed by the Mai Bang villagers themselves, always attracting tourists to come here to buy and sell. Mr. Hoang Van Yen - head of block 7, also head of Nghi Thuy seafood processing village, with a muscular build, a voice as loud as the ocean waves, and the only one of 8 siblings who has continued the traditional shrimp paste processing profession of several generations of Mai Bang villagers, enthusiastically told us about the flavor of the product and the story of building a brand to serve tourists that the villagers here are nurturing.

Hoang Van Yen took us to see the finished fish sauce barrels with a capacity of hundreds of liters each, neatly arranged in the clean yard. Try it! Yen said as she gently opened a barrel lid. The smooth, cockroach-colored sanh of the refined fish sauce and the whole sanh vinh exuded the indescribable rich and fragrant flavor of the fish sauce that was not boiled "pressed" heat in a "technological chain" style for a few months, but was left to dry in the sun for years; the Mai Bang women who do the job all have a wasp waist because they stand there stirring every day, pouring all their heart and soul into it, making the Mai Bang fish sauce taste better the longer it is kept...

And more, the specialty is shrimp paste with an attractive red color, and the unique flavor is certainly unique here, although the price is a little higher than other places. Fish sauce or shrimp paste of Nghi Thuy seafood processing village is made under the traditional secret skills of the people of Mai Bang fishing village, it is delicious with anything, and according to gourmets, it can "stimulate all senses". But when swimming in Cua Lo beach, visiting Mai Bang village, the villagers will definitely "reveal" and willingly serve tourists: The shrimp paste here is best eaten raw with sour star fruit and vermicelli, you will enjoy the original flavor of the sauce. Add fresh chili slices to make the dish both sour and spicy, bringing a very strange feeling, but also unforgettable, to add curiosity to visit, visit the temple, learn about the urban life of the tourist but still keep the charming fishing village.

That is, not to mention when you have just strolled and stretched your steps in that village space, before going out to relax in the cool, blue sea waves, you should visit Hom market, go to the stall that grills mackerel on a charcoal stove, put up a small chair to sit and enjoy the fresh grilled mackerel head and tail, and listen to the story about the mackerel grilling profession here, whose products have been air-shipped to America. Mai Bang village girls are famous for grilling delicious mackerel, often winning prizes in fish grilling competitions held between fishing villages. Hom market mackerel is grilled on skewers with bamboo sticks from Tay Bac Quy Chau district, the charcoal is also carefully selected from the types of coal from the highlands of Nghe An. That is the Cua Lo seafood specialty that knows how to combine the "accompaniment" of products from different regions to enhance the flavor to serve tourists everywhere. That was when a colleague and I, while enjoying a set of grilled mackerel heads and tails on the spot at Hom Nghi Thuy market, heard from 68-year-old Mrs. Thai Thi Thanh, a daughter of Mai Bang village, who has followed her mother to all the country markets to grill fish since she was 10 years old until now...

Sam Temple