The Gift: in a Vietnamese Fishing Village

I walk on the beach here in Tom Ky Vietnam an hour south of Hoi An. I meet a Vietnamese fisherman with his basket boat on the shore. He waves to me with his hand and gestures toward the boat. I realize that he wants me to help him pull the boat away from the water toward the sand.

I eagerly head toward the woven edge of the round boat and look at the bamboo seating and netting inside. I put my hands against the thick edge where he shows me to place them, and we are side by side holding the boat. We dig our feet into the soft white sand and begin to pull. He has an authority about him and care, as we move the boat up the sandy shore.

I had been walking this beach in this fishing village with murals on the walls, for days. I had been mesmerized by the boats and fisherman.

And here I was up close. I asked to take a photo of his fish and he proudly dug through the netting and pulled out a shrimp and beautiful yellow toned fish. He smiled at me, with a face that knew the seasons and sea.

I wonder about what it’s like to feel the rhythms every day of this sea, glistening at the rising sun above it here on the East, with its abundant source of food.

.”he proudly dug through the netting ……….smiled at me, with a face that knew the seasons and sea.”

“glistening at the rising sun …….with its abundant source of food.”

I have been given a gift and yet he thought he was asking me to help him. Perhaps; or, did he know how meaningful it would be to share this experience and offer it with his own generosity.

That is what the people here are like. Incredibly generous and warm.