Cua Lo Town: Farmers do tourism

(Baonghean) - "Miss Ha, please give me some coconuts to the beach!" - a sweet Hanoian female voice echoed from the beach. Recognizing a regular customer, Ms. Dang Thi Ha quickly chose young coconuts according to the customer's preferences, carefully split the coconuts, took a straw, and together with her little daughter, transferred nearly ten fresh, cool, sweet coconuts to the beach. There, close to the waves, the long rows of reclining chairs were the temporary resting place for many young men and women from the capital who came to Cua Lo to swim in the sea...

Electric car service for tourists in Cua Lo Town. Photo: Sy Minh

That group of young guests has been familiar with Ms. Dang Thi Ha's family restaurant for several years now. Not only this group, Ms. Ha said, most of the guests who come to her restaurant are regulars, there are groups that have been coming to her restaurant for nearly ten years, and whenever they have a summer vacation, they come to her place to eat and drink. "With Cua Lo cuisine, to keep customers, there is no need for fancy makeup, just keep it simple and genuine so that customers will remember it for a long time, and come often! Like the group of guests just now, they even teased me, using that thick Nghi Huong accent, we're already familiar with each other!" - Ms. Ha laughed heartily in the noise of the late afternoon in the coastal city. It's not hard to see that, even though she has been standing in the team of pioneering tourism workers at this row of kiosks along the sea in Nghi Huong ward for more than ten years, that smile is still the smile of a true farmer, crisp and spreading that sincere joy to the person opposite.

Just by hearing her voice, you can tell that Ms. Ha could not be from any other land, it must be from here, right in this vast, salty sea. Born and raised in a farming family. In the early 2000s, like many other farmers in Cua Lo, Ms. Ha realized the opportunity to change her life by doing tourism. “They say it’s about doing tourism, but at that time, who knew specifically what tourism was? We also built a temporary restaurant, then cooked according to the needs of customers, the ingredients were fresh and delicious, the people of our coastal region beat them up!” – Ms. Ha shared. In the blink of an eye, more than ten summers have been called by the sea, that much time has helped farmers with muddy hands and feet like her know what it means to do tourism properly. More professional in service and compliance with commitments on price and quality.

Young owner Hoang Khac Anh takes care of the royal chicken breed. Photo: Phuong Chi

Working both in agriculture and tourism, people like Ms. Dang Thi Ha are not rare in this coastal area. Not far from her family's kiosk is the restaurant of Mr. Hoang Khac Anh's family - a famous young farmer who is dynamic, bold and talented with a series of successful experiments in livestock farming. This year, 33 years old, Khac Anh was honored to receive the Luong Dinh Cua Award presented by the Central Youth Union to young farmers with many outstanding achievements. "I lost my father at the age of 13. I tried to finish 9th grade, then quit, worked for hire in the inner and outer villages, then joined the army, learned to repair motorbikes, opened a gas agency... Finally, I stuck with the livestock farming profession. Being a farmer's son, farming is still the most suitable profession!" - Khac Anh thoughtfully recounted about the time he started his career.

If the previous generation of farmers doing tourism like Ms. Dang Thi Ha, left a deep impression on tourists about the rusticity and simplicity of the coastal people, then for young people like Khac Anh, doing tourism means having to aim for modernity, professionalism and civilization. Although he was a famous breeder in the region, when he switched to this new field, he and his relatives voluntarily registered to attend communication and tourism culture classes organized by the Town People's Committee. "The customer is king, of course, saying that does not mean that the customer has the ultimate power, but I always remind myself and the restaurant staff of this saying to treat customers properly." - Khac Anh confided. Although busy with the kitchen, when customers call to change shampoo, call to buy a pack of cigarettes and many other small things, he and his staff still arrange to please them, even the most difficult ones. And now, as many coastal residents jokingly say, if there were an award for a farmer who is good at tourism, Khac Anh would be the most deserving. Having only been on the beach for nearly 4 years, Khac Anh’s restaurant is always bustling with customers coming and going. Fresh food, polite and gentle service are the plus points for his restaurant.

For farmers and fishermen in Cua Lo, their main livelihood is still fishing grounds near and far, still vegetables, fruit fields..., but during the peak of the 3-month summer, most of them arrange their work to spend time on their "side job". Fishermen with salty skin will become souvenir photographers for guests, farmers who work hard in the fields are now proficient with the electric cars typical of the coastal city of Cua Lo, not to mention dynamic experiential services such as rocking the boat with fishermen to catch squid, visiting the seafood processing village... A month of "changing jobs" brings an income 3-5 times higher than their usual work. So it is understandable that during the peak summer months, people in Nghi Huong, Nghi Thu, Nghi Thuy wards... hardly ever stay home, all stick to the beach to do tourism!

In order for these dynamic farmers and fishermen to do tourism professionally and effectively, the coastal town has taken many positive actions such as organizing cultural behavior classes, self-managed teams to protect security and order, and most recently, a model of civilized restaurants. In Nghi Huong ward alone, there are 54 kiosks doing business along the sea, all of which have signed a commitment to the criteria of a civilized restaurant such as publicly posting prices, committing to food hygiene and safety, not soliciting or forcing prices, etc. All of the above efforts aim to build a friendly, hospitable coastal town, imbued with the "quality" of Cua Lo that is unmatched anywhere else. That "quality" is the rusticity, openness, and warmth of the farmers and fishermen who have turned to tourism, but do not forget to absorb civilized and professional things to enrich their luggage.

Phuong Chi