Day 39 - Hoi An - Gone Fishin'

Today we had a 4:50am start! Quy, coming from a fishing family, took us to the Hoi An docks where the fishermen bring in their catches from the night. Honestly, it seemed a bit outrageous to get up so early, but Quy said everything would be "over", (whatever that meant), by 6am so the early start was necessary. It was dark when we arrived and there were loads of people milling around, mostly women who sold fish at the local market. They were there to buy their fish for the day. Several boats had already come in by the time we arrived, so the women were already cleaning and sorting the fish into the various buckets they would use to transfer the fish to the market.

Quy explained the process that would happen when the boats arrived and then we just waited and watched for the boats as the daylight trickled in.

First, a couple of men transfer from the fishing boat into a round "basket boat" made out of bamboo along with whatever fish they hauled that evening which have been placed into red and blue plastic baskets. As the fishermen start to come towards the shore chaos erupts! A mob of women start rushing towards the basket boat screaming and shouting and grabbing at the fish! Their charging and shouting have to do with first, securing the fish for their market supply (charging) and negotiating the best price they can for the fish (shouting). It was a scene to behold!! (see below)

We witnessed arrivals of about five or six boats, and it was fascinating and hilarious all at the same time. Quy explained that although the women appear to be fiercely arguing with one another that they are all really friendly with each other once the bartering is complete. We noticed a couple of elderly women hovering around the others during the chaos and even saw them take a couple of fish out of the baskets when no one was apparently looking. But Quy said that was accepted practice as they are just trying to scavenge enough fish for their own sustenance. The two of them even hopped into an empty basket boat to pick up a few fish that had fallen out of the baskets during the turmoil.

By 6am we started to head back to our hotel via boat (we arrived at the docks by car). The Thu Bon River was extremely calm and quiet, and it was a very peaceful scene. At one point we watched, an older man and his wife row out onto the river from a little bay. We watched them net fishing and it was really cool to see the technique of throwing the net out.

Low and behold they rowed over to us and offered to demonstrate how the casting of the net was done. Steve even got to have a go at throwing the net and we got a photo with the very sweet man.

It turns out the fisherman was a friend of Quy's father!

We were back at the hotel by 7:30am and had the day ahead of us. Lauren was brave and got a haircut at a local salon. The shampoo process unexpectedly lasted for about 20 minutes and included a thorough head massage. There were definitely some language barriers about the cut and unfortunately Google Translate wasn't working. It will grow - right? (Steve thinks it's cute!)

After breakfast and a little rest, we headed to the tailor for the final fitting for Lauren's new custom-made outfit - ooh la la! There will be a few final alterations, and they promised to deliver to the items to the hotel in the evening.

We had the rest of the afternoon to do more wandering and shopping and even sneaking in an hour at the hotel pool. We have had a wonderful time here in Hoi An and once again will be sad to leave. It is truly a gem of a place!

Vietnam Fun Facts;

• The youngest child in a family typically has the responsibility of taking care of the parents when they get older.

• When asking Quy about the amazing 24hr service for made to measure clothes and suits his response was "Why would it take longer than that? Do they hand sew them in the US? Sewing machines work really fast, so what do they do, sew a little then take a break???" Interesting perspective from this hard-working culture!