Journeyed out to Hoi An to see our old pal Captain Dan, the Buddhist Boatman, without a doubt one of the most upbeat people I’ve ever met . As with a lot of our contemporaries here in Vietnam, he has an interesting backstory with a variety of incarnations. As a soldier in The South Vietnamese Army, he served as a typist and interpreter in General Westmoreland’s secretarial pool, survived the re-education camps after the war, became a monk for many years, married late in life and settled here as a boatman running tourists around the estuary and marshland of this ancient trading port dating back over a thousand years. He lives with his wife and Downs’ Syndrome daughter on “Mat” Island, famous for its finely woven floor mats made from local marsh reeds. The typhoon that recently savaged the Philippines later made landfall here in Central Vietnam where low lying delta islands like Mat Island were slammed by high winds, tidal surges and flooding. Dans’ boat had the roof torn off before it was swamped and sunk damaging the 13 horse diesel engine beyond repair. He lost the roof on one of his buildings also and suffered the loss of one of his aged jackfruit trees. Dan is philosophical about these calamities and has bounced back with donations from his many friends. “If we have our health, then poverty is not such a problem”, he quips. A gregarious and cheerful man, he is excellent company for the afternoon and insists on running us out to the delta in his boat to view the new mega- construction project the government has cooked up for the area. Engineers have been imported from all corners of the planet to build a modern highway running the length of the country. Mammoth concrete pilings have been poured high in the sky spanning the delta to receive one of many bridges that will link the country with a solid ribbon of commerce changing the face of Hoi An, this once quiet backwater steeped in history. The scale of this undertaking is absolutely enormous casting a long shadow of modernization across the length of the country and helping to knit the age old estrangements that have plagued the north and south of this long fractured country. There will be no photos to accompany these musings as I gave my camera to Dan who had asked me to help him acquire one years ago. He and his daughter were thrilled beyond belief with this and frenzied out with a lengthy photo shoot aboard his boat. Later we ventured to one of our favorite restaurants of yesteryear in Hoi An, The Cargo Club, for their excellent sesame encrusted wasabi tuna steaks. The town is absolutely inundated with tourism now reminiscent of Waikiki with its’ busloads of gawkers imported for the day. We will probably never return. Tomorrow we take wing for Bangkok. Home in a few days.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Mar 2014 04:01:26 +0000
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