A Little Work
I spent the morning after breakfast getting some writing in. These posts don’t write themselves. Well, at least not physically, there subject matter does seem to just manifest out of life. So I spent much of the morning and even into the early afternoon putting my thoughts down. I always feel so spoiled here as periodically my wonderful wife Diem will appear with a snack, a cold beverage or some lunch.
It’s almost uncomfortably pleasant here. As the guest and as a bit of a novelty as an American, I’m not allowed to do much. There is a hierarchy here. An ancient way of life unchanged for thousands of years. With the exception of a couple of American dishes I may be asked to prepare, I am not allowed to cook, clean, wash my clothes anything that I would otherwise do at home. Even if I were to make a mess, say spill a little bit of ingredients out of a bowl I’m mixing something in, I’m reprimanded for cleaning that up. It’s an interesting social structure, but that I will save for my next post.
Taking a few Pictures
After I was finished working for the day I spent some time walking the property getting some photos in of Ba and the house to finish out the post. Diem was preparing to head to the village market for a few items for tonight’s celebration. Both our daughters Xu and Su, as well as our nephew Duong had birthdays either during Quarantine or in the next week. Tonight would be a celebration for the children. I had been asked to prepare an American feast for the children. Hot Dogs, grilled smoked sausage and fried chicken.
With the explosion of KFC’s in Vietnam over the last decade, fried chicken ha become a very popular treat for children. But fast food here is expensive. To maintain fast food specs back home, a lot of the ingredients like the chicken and hamburger meats had to either be imported or raised and processed in specialty farms here. Chickens from the yard or cows in the field, do not have the plump, or fatty marbling customary to factory farming back home. This made McDonalds, which I still haven’t seen one here, and KFC very expensive compared to the healthy and delicious street foods.
We loaded up at a Costco like western grocery store back in Da Nang and brought the ingredients to An Lao with us. But before the party was set to begin our nephew Duy offered to take me for a walk. The village is more than safe, but people are still a little apprehensive. So it was best I not wander alone just to keep the village at peace. I also wore a mask to keep the locals at ease. No one had been allowed in in quite sometime and it was beyond obvious that I was not from around here.
The Walk
As we walked out of the front gate I looked down the lane. The streets are incredibly narrow. Barely big enough for a car. The lane is beautifully manicured and it is more reminiscent of a lane in rural England than what you would think to find here. Except the massive coconut trees of course.
We crossed back and forth through the squared lanes that made up the tight streets of the village. The houses are relatively close together, though there is usually an empty lot every few houses for banana trees or gardens. If a house doesn’t have a lot beside it it has enough space behind it for edible plants and fruit bearing trees. Everyone seemed to grow something different, though some things everyone grew like bananas and coconuts.
Gardens Everywhere
Every yard had something to discover. In our hour walking the lanes I discovered at least a dozen edible fruits and vegetables. Asian eggplants, Chinese long beans, tomatoes, jackfruit, avocado and a myriad of fruits and vegetables I had never seen before. It was so beautiful and fun to explore.
Everywhere we walked I would hear the random “Hello” from a child on a porch or riding by on a bikes. I often found an entourage of children on bike and foot behind. They would always giggle when I responded hello and waived. Sometimes they would circle around the lanes to come up in front, but as soon as we would turn a corner and come upon the children they would scurry off giggling in the other direction.
At the edge of the village we came across a large mound made of what looked like straw or I’m guessing spent rice plants. I asked Duy what it was and he informed me it was a room. An ancient style dwelling still utilized for an inexpensive indoor space here in the village. I had seen them before dotted in the landscape on the rides in, but I never knew what they were.
The Rice Fields
We reached the edge of the village and stepped out into the vast expanse of rice fields. As far as you could see between the mountains, the fields sprawled out. Endless and ancient. Rice has been cultivated in this valley, almost unchanged, for thousands of years. It truly is amazing to stand in the shadow of the mountains gazing into a world so old and primal. Save for the dirt causeways being paved in recent years, this scene hasn’t changed for millennia. No modern equipment, no commercial industrialization. Just beasts of burden, a few simple tools, bare hands and centuries of trial and error. It doesn’t get any more pure than this.
The fields are alternated some to facilitate consistent harvesting and you could see bags of seed on the sides of some of the paddies getting ready to be harvested. Cows and water buffalo are tied up in fields getting ready to plant. They both consume the weeds and fertilize the fields. The village chickens are also allowed out in the fields to help with pest management and also to fertilize. It’s a very closed system here. A truly sustainable environment. Between the rice, cattle, chickens and bounty of fruits and vegetables, not to mention the An Lao river on the other side of the village, It’s a garden of Eden.
As we walked the causeway into the fields we came across a very out of place scene. A new construction site was being prepared. A new home perhaps or maybe some causeway work. A pile of gravel and dirt laid to one side in a standard field not meant for rice. Across the causeway a modern piece of heavy machinery. Local children were climbing on the piles playing and hanging all over the construction equipment. The children’s parents or maybe older siblings had come with them. No one seemed to care that they were climbing on top of a massive piece of machinery. I guess it was a mobile playground.
Our nephew Duong had joined us and he couldn’t resist himself. As we walked the causeways he would bounce down into the empty rice fields and dig out massive snails in the shallow waters. Snails are a big food source here and I was beginning to see why. In just a matter of minutes Duong had produced a handful and then proceeded to throw them across the fields. He is one busy boy. We continued across the causeway to the other side of the village.
The River
Song An Lao or the An Lao river begins high up in the mountains north of the village. It comprises both the Suoi Bo and Suoi Nuoc Dinh rivers and gives the district and capital their names. It is the lifeblood of the community, providing much needed irrigation for the rice fields and village as well as an abundance of fresh water fish and shellfish. The river is clear most of the time as we are not far down from it’s mountain origin.
Almost the entire length of the river is protected by massive concrete sloping walls. From the mountains it departs down to the coast where it enters the South China Sea. The climate here is relatively stable. The temperature doesn’t fluctuate much throughout the year, making for harvest opportunities almost year round. The only variable here is rain. The seasons are dictated by precipitation in this central highland district. It is either the dry season or the rainy season.
It is now the dry season and the river bed is almost empty. Small sandbars and islands dot the area between the concrete banks and people are busy fishing and hunting for crustaceans in the shallow river bed. When the rains come this scene will quickly change. The river will come down from the mountain in a torrent of destruction. The concrete river bank will channel the rush of power down the mountain valley and on to the sea. The reservoirs will fill up and the rice patties will be saved from erosion.
We continued on the village river walk towards the entrance to our lane. It was a wonderful walk. Lots of beautiful views and many botanical surprises. But evening was drawing near and I had a platter of southern fried chicken to make. So we strolled down the lane towards home and a birthday party that was beginning to build.
Click Here for one of my first ever post in An Lao. It’s interesting to see what I’ve learned since then.
or Click Here for a short video of our walk
