Hoi An Eco Tour, a new and attractive tour has been designed by a 29-year-old man of a fishing village in Hoi An ancient town.

Receiving travellers at Cua Hoi pier, Khoa’s family’s boat heads for Cua Dai harbour where tourists can see fishermen fishing and harvesting fish.

Tourists practice fishing

This time Khoa took 6 special guests on his boat out to the sea. He then put some coracles on the water and showed his guests how fishermen catch squid at high tide with these tiny coracles. Chris, a Singaporean tried first but failed to succeed in rowing the circular shaped coracle in a straight line while his two daughters delightedly laughed in another coracle.

Reaching the harbour, tourists saw Mai Van Truc a fishman casting a net. After Khoa explained that this kind of net is used to catch prawns, Mrs Elliott, Chris’s wife wanted to have a go. Being instructed carefully, Mrs Elliott finally succeeded in casting her first net but caught nothing but seaweed. This still entertained her as she learnt how to net prawns.

Leaving Cua Dai fishing village, Khoa’s boat took the guests to Bay Mau (Seven Hectares) coconut forest. During the war against the American imperialists, the area was known as Quang Nam province’s special zone 80. While the coracle easily and smoothily sneaked through small canals, Khoa told tourists stories about heroic guerillas who had bravely fought enemies to protect the forest. The tourists then helped clean up the forest before enjoying the fresh sea food prepared by Khoa’s father.

The father sails, the son guides

Born into a fishing family, Khoa, always nurtured a dream to run a tourism business. As a teenager, Khoa used to practice English by communicating with foreigners who he met in the ancient town’s streets. Once, as he took some delighted foreigners around his village on his family’s boat, he was encouraged to open such a tour. Since then the idea was burnt into Khoa’s mind.

While studying at the Da Nang University of Foreign Languages, Khoa on numerous occassions acted as tourist guide for some travel agencies. At weekends, he tailored his own tours with coracles for foreigners. The tours have soon been known among foreign tourists.

In June 2005, he started his own business-Hoi An Eco Tours. Khoa borrowed nearly 100 million VND to buy boats and coracles. From that point on, Khoa’s father has acted as sailor-cum-cook while Khoa acts as guide. “I want to provide a combination of tourism and environmental protection as well as bringing the culture of fishing villages into play”, Khoa said about his successful special tour.

Source: TTO

Translated by Mai Huong