It is an interesting tour attracting foreign tourists in Hoi An ancient town, whose author is a young man, 29, originating from a fisherman. He ever worked as a receptionist for the Victoria Hotel in Hoi An.

Welcoming tourists at Cua Hoi ferry, the boat ran towards the Cua Dai (Big Gate) sea. The sun was rising over top of sea waves. At the sea gate, fishermen were collecting the first catch of fish of the day.

Tourists becoming fishermen

Boom! A coracle from the boat was released to the sea. The fishermen were skillful to perform by rowing the coracle. The little Ally, aged 5, daughter of the Chris from Singapore, felt very joyful.

Khoa said that this was the coracle fisherman used to catch cuttlefish in the middle of the sea. All the six tourists wanted to try rowing the coracle. Mr Chris, despite being big and strong, rowed the coracle but it turning round instead of going far. Two children of his laughed joyfully when they took the dar.

When the boat came near a fishing boat of Mr Mai Van Truc who was throwing a casting-net. Khoa explained to Ms Elliott that it was a kind of casting-nets local fishermen used to catch shrimps and fish.

She seemed to be moved and wanted to try with the casting-net. After Truc and Khoa showed her the way, Ms Elliott threw her fist casting-net. When she pulled the casting-net up but caught only seaweed, she was still happy and said: “I have learnt how to catch fish with a casting-net.”

When saying goodbye to Cua Dai fishing village, the boat ran toward the Bay Mau coconut forest, a special zone No 80 of people and soldiers of Quang Nam during the anti-US resistance war. The coracle glided past narrow canals amid green lines of coconut trees. Khoa told the tourists about heroic guerrillas of the Bay Mau forest.

After half an hour of taking part in collecting rubbish in the forest, the tourists enjoyed special seafood dished cooked by Mr Viet – Khoa’s dad.

Father rowing the boat, son guiding tourists

Khoa’s family lives on fishing craft but Khoa is determined to pursue tourism craft. Khoa cycled to Hoi An town to study at a junior secondary school. He used to practise speaking English with foreigners after the school.

There was one day; fishermen in the Cua Dai fishing village were surprised when seeing Khoa taking several foreigners to the village. Khoa used his small bamboo boat to take these foreigners to view the village at the sunset or to the Cua Dai to catch fish, viewing storks in the coconut forest.

After that time, these foreigners said to Khoa that why he did not organise a tour like this. The idea started to attract Khoa. When Khoa learnt at Da Nang Foreign Language University, he asked photographers to photograph fishermen catching fish and the Bay Mau coconut forest with flocks of storks.

He promoted these images to tourists when he worked part-time as a tourist guide for travel companies. At weekends, Khoa took a group of foreigners to the village and joined his own tour. After these times, foreigners told others about this and more and more tourists came with him.

Having graduated from the university, Khoa worked for the Victoria Hotel to earn a living, getting experience and practising English. After two years, Khoa decided to work on his own, from June 2005.

Khoa asked his parents to borrow VND 100 million to buy boats to organise his own tours. “Hoi An Eco Tour” was given birth from that time. Khoa’s father rows the boat and cooks dishes; and Khoa works as a tourist guide.

“What I would like to do is to combine making tourism with protecting the environment, promoting unique values of the sea,” Khoa said.

V.A – Mai Hoa