We stared our day in Hoi An at a cafe run by Reiko Usada, a lovely Japanese lady. The cafe is a non profit that raises money for a number of projects including an orphanage in Danang that they provide school books and money for the students. She designed the building to run as a sustainable cafe with no aircon and with the reuse of all grey water. She came to Vietnam 12 years ago from Japan after travelling between the two countries working for an NGO. She decided to move to Vietnam to be able to contribute to humanitarian causes because in Japan she said she would have to just sit as an old person and not work.
The cafe rasies money to provide vocational training for students and women. They also have a project that helps to bring abandoned bicycles from Japan to Vietnam to give to the community. They have rehomes over 10000 bicycles to date. Her contribution to society as well as the way she lives her life are inspiring.
After visiting the cafe there was time for a quick stop to get one last Bahn Mi before heading north to Hue.
The trip north was scenic following the coast and we got our first glimpse of the pretty beaches before heading up through the Haivan Or Cloudy Mountain in English.
As we came close to the base of the mountain we stopped at Lang Co a village famous for fishing. The gorgeous lagoon with crystal-clear water overlooks the Annamite Cordillera. Here we joined a fishing family to learn traditional fishing techniques. In a small open long boat we headed out through the oyster fields to where the family had their fishing net.
There is a timber structure that is used for winding in the net. Luke and Sierra climbed up onto the net structure to wind in the fishing net. Sierra then bravely went with the fisherman in the small basket boat to collect the fish.
We then went back in the boat to look at the oyster farm before going to a small building on stilts over the water for lunch where we had lunch with a local Vietnamese family. Lunch was cooked over a small burner in the room on stilts. We had fresh fish and prawns from the river along with some delicious egg plant with green onion sauce.
After a delicious seafood lunch we headed back to land and then to our hotel in Hue to rest up ready for the next day’s adventures.