Tam Quan was mentioned as a town full of endless and countless coconut plantations. To be more specific it was a jungle of coconut trees. They were mixed with very rare trees of other kinds. The sound of the sea waves were specially added to the supreme rein of the songs of coconut leaves. Someone if not Tam Quan resident had a chance to stand by the bank of Cuu Loi river on a nice and sunshine day, watching the clear water current and listening to the wind blowing amid the waving coconut leaves. Only at that time did he have the tickling feeling as being lured to the dreamland.
Due to the fact that Tam Quan was so beautiful and poetic, many poets and writers were born. They took advantage of any opportunity to use their pens to describe the beauty of their beloved native land where part of the national highway went through together with a branch of Long Mountain stretching to the sea and a clear  white sand beach with which no other place could be compared. It was said that the people of Tam Quan were the richest in the region. It was also said that the young girls of tam Quan were beautiful and their skins were mild and white, more attractive and fresher than the coconut milk. Who dared to say that the male of Tam Quan did not know how to flatter the female? Although looked awkward, the male of Tam Quan were the masterful flatterers of the female!

    Talking about Tam Quan without mentioning its system of winding rivers was a deficiency. Also was a deficiency if talking about small rivers with clear water during summer and muddy and full of alluvium in rainy season without mentioning the habit of search for fish, frogs…
All small rivers of Tam Quan were connected with one another and ended up in the sea. The mouth of Tam Quan Sea was not large and the water currents flowed along the edge of the mountain in the North. That was a branch of Long Mountain stretching from the East via First national Highway called Binh Khe pass all the way to the sea like an Angel arms. The Angel arms extended to the blue and fresh ocean and ended up at a wonderful spot which was named with an abstract name: Chicken cliff. Nobody knew the reason! Therefore from the source, the rivers were gently washing along the edges of the green mountains and then created a white beach stretching all the way to the mouth of An Giu of the remote Lai Giang river…Before pouring to the sea, water of all the rivers gathered at the small bay then distended to as large as the distensible pouch of a pelican full of fish. The water in the bay kept moving around and around to enable the dirt banks cut into the shape of the snails as beautiful as the diamonds scattered under the Angel arms showing off the shadows of some rows of salty water slightly curled coconut trees. They were villages of Truong Xuan and Cong Thanh. Further to the South and alongside with another branch of river was a small city like a painting from the Fairyland. The city was decorated by some painted green coconut trees along an asphalted road.

    During its prosperity it was also a standard city with various races. It was a mixture of Chinese and Vietnamese languages like a pack of Chinese herb. It was frequented by different people for sale and purchase of everything in the world then taken with them special products from coconut, fish and sauce. A small city composed of mixed facilities such as Chinese temple worshipping Guan Kung, Buddhist temple and Cao Dai church. From the city back to the East we were dazed by the high towers of the churches constructed the same style as those of the French churches full of legendary stories. The towers stayed high out of the tall tops of the coconut trees of the Gia Huu diocese. Further to the South were interlaced by coconut trees covering the villages of Cuu Loi, Dai Dong, An Thai, Trung Trinh, Dai Hoa…Countless coconut trees crowded together and rivers hidden under their shadows have bathed and fed so many people of Tam Quan.

    That was a natural system of Tam Quan River. The water current had a special feature which was salty and fresh, muddy and clear. Where there was alum the water was sour and acrid…They were like the people born there. All year round they drank water brought from far away. Truong well could feed the whole city. Water from wells drilled at sand bank were very fresh and satisfactory to people. Water from Tam Quan rivers were used to make salt. In summer, with fresh clear water, shallow river bottom and no danger, people who loved swimming fearlessly enjoyed being under mixed water from the source and sea.
Hoai Nhon district was the largest in North Binh Dinh province. Due to its terrain, people and security, Hoai Nhon was split into two districts: Hoai Nhon and Tam Quan. First of all, let’s ask why all villages in Hoai Nhon dictrict started first name as Hoai while Tam Quan and Bong Son were singled out with such weird names.
    Hoai Nhan had as many villages as Hoai An, Hoai Xuan, Hoai Thanh, Hoai Tan, Hoai Huong, Hoai My etc…The word “Hoai” meant to love and expect something
in the future. But Bong Son and Tam Quan did not mean as such. “Carrying together we move to highland”, poem of poet Tran Te Xuong was not in accordance with Bong Son. It might be true if Bong was understood as to carry each other to follow our ancestors on the way to expand our country to the South as it was nowadays. How about Tam Quan? There was no such terrain called Tam Quan from Binh Khe pass to the South. Tam Quan meant three door panels or three streets but no pre or post history vestige could justify that assumption. Anyway we still had the city named Tam Quan with countess coconut plantations from which originated industries of oil, ropes, handicrafts and other famous coconut products well known nationwide. There was once the whole country from North, Central to South consumed ropes from Tam Quan. They ranged from tiny strings to ropes as big as wrist for pier anchors and handicrafts such as rugs, dippers, teapot containers. People of Tam Quan used once to make skillful plates, bowls and spoons out of coconut shells. Let’s see one by one if so famous Tam Quan was worth within the national culture.

PEOPLE

    As a matter of fact, without human brain, we would not have for sure everything we just mentioned. As mentioned above, the people of Tam Quan were a combination of all sources from the people of Vietnam. The city of Tam Quan might have been founded the same time as Hoai Nhon district on the way advancing to the South. As they settled in the coconut plantations and drank local water for a long time they spoke the dialect of Tam Quan. What was Tam Quan dialect? This was a special pronunciation of the people of Binh Dinh in general but also featured a local characteristic. The word “nau” was on the tip of the tongue of the natives. The word starting with “Tr” was pronounces as “Ch”. For example “trang” was pronounces as “chang”, “dau” as “deo”, “tham” as “them”. A particular point telling the difference between Binh Dinh and Tam Quan was the women of Binh Dinh were hairless and those of Tam Quan were hairy.
The human heritage of Tam Quan was scholar Dao Duy Tu whose tomb was at Tam Quan but taken care by nobody. It was covered with winding plants and its lateritic wall was damaged by the time because of no maintenance. Dao Duy Tu’s characters and achievements were written in numerous books. In addition he was high ranking official well known in the Vietnamese history. Tam Quan was only his residence during his young age and also his last resting place of a dignitary of Nguyen dynasty born in North of Hue capital. The people of Tam Quan had characters of advancement and hospitality. That was the main reason the European civilization had been first infiltrated to Vietnam then the people of Tam Quan received and applied it right away. The evidence was the Vietnamese Boy Scouts founded in Tam Quan the earliest. Other evidence was soap industry by means of ashy water and SUTapplied by Tam Quan people to make the economy develop. This was the local soap during Vietnamese fight against the French invaders. One of the Tam Quan residents who helped promote Tam Quan into famous city was an intellectual young man once graduated from France. Here I would like to introduce a person of Tam Quan origin. He was well known as having brought civilization to the city of coconut trees. He had also devoted to organizing, guiding and leading the youth movements of Tam Quan to catch up with the civilization during 1930-1944. He was Mister Huynh Van Tran or Senator Tran. He studied Chinese characters during his young age. When he grew up he went to Saigon to attend at Tabert high school. Following his graduation from Elementary, he went to Hue to enroll at a Pellerin Catholic high school. In 1926 he went overseas and spent four years of schools in France. He later returned to Vietnam to do free jobs such as running a pharmacy, working as a contractor…He escorted bishop Le Huu Tu to attend World Holy Eucharist in the Philippines in 1936. In 1936 he was elected Representative of Central Vietnam. He was also elected Senator of Indochinese Economic Council (from this position he was called Nghi Tran).

    Mr. Huynh Van Tran had successfully founded Boy Scouts in Tam Quan in 1936. This movement was ardently joined by young people in Tam Quan. After 1954 the movement continued to develop. He was also founder of Tam Quan Sport Organization for the city of coconut trees. The soccer team organized and trained by him had many games played everywhere. In addition, he urged the founding of an entertainment team to demonstrate for local resident as well as at Phu My, An Luong…
He also helped organize a Vietnamese language teaching team. In 1943 the New Vietnam Association was founded, encouraging a reform of the society and people to catch up with the civilization of the world. Every year he had some good prizes to urge the good students of local elementary schools. In one word, Senator Tran was a typical resident of Tam Quan, a public figure worth of recognition. He earned the credit of blowing a civilization wind to the city of coconut trees. Thanks to him the following generations were always proud of Tam Quan, the only city although deserted but civilized. He passed away in 1983 at the age of 78 years (based upon documents from his descendants printed in Lai Giang special edition 1999).

NATIONAL RESOURCES

    Let’see what the people of Tam Quan has done with coconut trees, main resources of Tam Quan. Thousands of coconut plantations were close together and had no ending. Saying many is a little exaggerated. The quantity of coconut trees in Tam Quan can’t be compared to those in Ben Tre, Song Cau…But why was there a proverb:
“Who takes time watering coconut trees in tam Quan?”
The above sentence does not show anything special in Tam Quan. Coconut trees in Tam Quan were less than those in other areas and people of Tam Quan were not well known but that nice piece of sandy land possessed special resources no other places could have. If you are not a native of Tam Quan or particularly Cuu Loi, you never know what happened quietly but filled with attraction and intensity under the shades of Tam Quan coconut trees.
    My recollection comes back around 1958 when I was a seventh grader at tang Bat Ho High School in Bong Son. I had to board near school and did not go home on an old bicycle until weekend. That summer I invited some classmates to go swimming in the sea and enjoy special flavor of a piece of land well known for its beautiful girls with white skins and shining long hair covering their shoulders. My house was located on the river bank by one side of Cong Hoa Bridge at Cuu Loi village. After swimming and riding a tour on the bicycle, we went home to enjoy lobsters we caught from the pool and charcoal grilled in the open air. By the flame we played guitar under the clear sky and attractive summer moon.
That night three of us slept on the divan in front room. At around four o’clock in the morning, Nguyen Dinh Phuoc from Hoai An woke me up. Panic stricken, he whispered to my ears: “Wake up! Wake up, robber!” I asked him where and how he found out. He said: “He heard the noise of the bamboo gongs warning the whole hamlet”. Pham Phu Du from Dai Dong village lying to my left, grumbled: “Too noisy! Let me sleep”. I listened to the familiar sounds spreading all over the village.
Those lovely sounds occurred separately then together from three o’clock in the morning until sunrise. I asked Phuoc: “Are you so deaf that you cannot tell they are the sounds of the bamboo gongs?” Ah! Those continuous sounds of the gongs heard from everywhere had frightened this old fashioned guy. I explained: “Those are not the sounds of the gongs to warn of the robbers. They are the noise from coconut skin pounding of the people who made ropes…” Phuoc looked more confused: “What about them?” I told him: “Go ahead to sleep. I will take you over there and explain tomorrow. You don’t understand if I tell you now”.
The next morning, on the way running to the sea, three of us dropped by a house by the roadside, greeting everybody at work the started my explanation from the beginning to the guy fearful of robbers the night before…
    Tam Quan specialized in coconut. That’s right, not coconut fruits but skins. Coconut fruits had many uses and were applied by anyone anywhere. Take it as an example to make coconut oil and other subsidiary products of coconut milk. City of Ben Tre had a machine to produce coconut oil by chain of work system while Tam Quan was still behind with old fashioned and traditional way. As far as taking full advantage of the coconut skins, Cuu Loi and Tam Quan excelled all. You were invited at your convenience to visit Tam Quan on a beautiful sunny day. An animate life was hidden under the umbrellas of coconut leaves. Everybody from adults to children was employed. The busy and attractive activities were enhanced by a smile of hospitality from a young girl with her ivory white skin also known as skin bathed in coconut milk.
When still fresh, the coconut milk was used as drink. There was a wide variety of coconut fruits: small, big and yellow. Only big coconut fruits were specially used
to make oil. Their skins were used to make ropes and foot rugs. Only old coconut fruits should be picked. Some people were hired to pick them. They were very skilled coconut tree climbers. They were very quick to climb and pick the coconut fruits. Only old and dry coconut skins could be used to make ropes. Workers were hired to peel off the skins very carefully. They should be kept from being cut or broken into small pieces. As a matter of fact, the meat inside the coconut fruits was used to make oil. Dry coconut skins were softly pounded by mallets and dipped into salty water. The skins became soft after a few days. They were then placed on a piece of rock and softened by bludgeons. While doing this the workers shook the skins to get rid of dust and dirt to obtain only nice looking pieces of nylon. This work was usually started from three o’clock in the after noon until early next morning so that these pieces of nylon could be dried under morning sunshine. This job was usually done by healthy people. The girls from thirteen to twenty years old and the elders often took care of the second phase which required skills. These pieces of nylon were spun by small bundles which were then connected together by hands into long strings which were rolled into small or big balls for sale in the market.

    Now came the difficult third phase. Good health was needed for this job. Necessary tools were similar to the looms for weaving cloths. The only difference was this job must be done in the open air. To facilitate your understanding, you pick and well a string then collate it many times. You will have a solid and durable string. To make ropes out of coconut skins was the same. Rolls of small strings of different sizes were bought from the market. Many posts were planted along side the roads in the hamlet. Small strings were hung in groups on the posts depending on the sizes estimated for future use for anchors. Household strings were small. Those for boat anchor were big, sometimes bigger than ordered from cities in Mekong delta. Strong arms of many muscular young men were needed to spin the wooden handles. This action helped small rolls collate together. Three big strings were put together to become the rope as big as a star fruit. The ropes were finally rolled into bundles and waiting for sale.

    The sale of the products was different ways and divided into many periods. Under French domination, the sampans were the only means of transportation along the coast from North to South. The foot prints of the vendors were found every where from Saigon, Phompenh, six Southern provinces, Hai Phong, Hue, Da Nang…
    They were selling special products of Tam Quan such as coconut oil, ropes, rugs…no other towns could have. The sale of these products was more animate after 1954. Tam Quan was full of people on the pier, boats on the sea and many houses were built close together. The life was wealthy thanks to trucks continuously carrying ropes, oil and many other subsidiary products to everywhere in the country and brought about a busy and attractive life…

INDUSTRIAL HANDICRAFTS

    Every morning very good smelling flavor of coconut oil came from under the groves of coconut branches and leaves. People would not be surprised by the smoke mixed in the morning dew from the coconut oil facilities hidden in the crowded hamlets. People also enjoyed witnessing with pleasure the robust young men spinning by hand the ropes of coconut nylon along the roadsides. Foot rugs were also weaved by coconut skins. The hammocks made of coconut skins were the result of the combination of small bundles by skillful hands. The tea pot containers made of coconut skins kept hot water longer than any similar ones made of materials mixed with cotton. They were therefore the tea drinking addicts’ favorites. The young girls were seen working on coconut skins and hanging their strings everywhere. Coconut strings were hung the same way the worms spinning their silk from short to long strings like worms spinning cocoons. The coconut milk skins of the young girls were shown with their shiny long hair.
The coconut handicraft industry was very prosperous in Tam Quan. The initiatives and techniques were applied to fully use the nutrition of the coconut trees and their fruits. Let’s see how the people of Tam Quan make coconut oil. Let’s make a tour and notice what interested us under the shades of the coconut leaves. How were the people of Tam Quan able to make oil without equipments and other necessary means? People were inspired by the creative and patient hands of Tam Quan residents.       
    
     Coconut trees had different kinds such as tall, short, curved and others bent their trunk to show their shades over the river…Therefore the monthly quantity of coconut fruits was not easy. The robust and young men became the experts to climb each coconut tree, trim unnecessary leaves then cut off whole stems of old coconut fruits. They were hired all year round by the coconut plantation owners and paid based upon the quantity of coconut fruits they collected. Since they had chosen their careers, the coconut fruits collectors kept themselves busy all the time, finishing this plantation then another one. The accidents sometimes brought about their injuries or even deaths depending whether they fell from high or short trees. They lived on and died of their careers!
There was a wide variety of coconut fruits. Those for oil were big with thick copra. The small ones were just for juices and seldom preferred. If all plantations of coconut trees in Tam Quam were just for juices, they could not be consumed unless exported. All residents from old to young lived on coconut trees.
Tam Quan had grown a lot of coconut trees with big fruits the copra of which were particularly used for making oil. Coconut fruits for oil must be very old ones.
After being picked up they must be given ten days in order to have enough time to make sure the oil was formed. Old coconut fruits from three months or more would show buds and their skins turned dark brown. The good buds were saved for becoming young trees which would be planted next to the old ones. The old coconut trunks were felled down and used as house poles and rafters. Coconut leaves were used for house roofs and skins for ropes which were sold nationwide.
Other miscellaneous items were used for kitchen stoves. Coconut shells were also used as good charcoals in the markets.
    Coconut fruits were peeled off by a special dagger. This tool was a thick and dull knife, pointed on the top and long at the handle. The meat of the coconut fruits were so carefully peeled off that their skins could be saved for making ropes. Coconut shells were broken into half and coconut meat cut into pieces which could fit the hand palm. These pieces were then ground on a piece of stone. The period of time from 1950 to 1960 coconut meat was ground by hands. Later on thanks to the grinders, this job was mechanized. The grinding board was a piece of cobber or brass in the form of rectangular. Steel chisels were used to perforate all the rough holes on the board in such a proper way to turn the coconut meat into expected substance. Thousands of coconut fruits were simultaneously peeled and tons of coconut meat was ground. The coconut residues were put in the tightly knitted bamboo baskets. A strong man was trampling, walking around and pouring buckets of water to help drainage of trouble white liquid. He looked like wading in the mud as high as his knee level. He kept doing until the drained water turned clear. The residues left in the baskets were use to feed the swine. Clear water was kept in the porcelain containers.

      After twenty four hours, all clear water formed a thick layer which was put in the large pan. This pan was then placed on the stove. The flame came from subsidiaries of coconut trees. After being boiled the white substance turned yellow. Oil then appeared in whitish color. This was just the preliminary phase of oil production. After being cooled down, some substance floating in the pan was removed. The top layer was oil and its residues. The second layer was dirty water which was used as pig’s food.
    Yellow oil mixed with other substances were removed and put in a big pan. It would be boiled to the maximum heat. A piece of good wood was used to stir the oil while it was boiling until water evaporated.
At this moment, there remained in the pan only yellow coconut oil and its residues. It first looked like boiling oil containers in Hell waiting for people sentenced to death. Oil reached final phase. Everything was wrapped in a thick cloth and placed under the pressure of squeezing. The tool used to squeeze oil was very special and hard to explain so that everybody could understand and imagine. It consisted of two wooden logs with two square openings. A lever went through those two openings. The two poles were about three meters high. They were buried one meter underground. There remained a large and thick piece of wood on the ground. A round ditch was chiseled on the wooden board. The round ditch was designed to drain oil to the specific direction while being squeezed. The oil bag and miscellaneous substances were put on the board. The bag was then wrapped by many layers of coconut coats to protect it during the process. The coconut coats were parts of the coconut trees. The resembled the coats made up of coarse and hard materials hurriedly weaved. They covered all around the upper part of the coconut trees to protect the leaves and fruits.
    After the bags were protected by the coconut coats, they were covered by a round piece of wood. Next was the long lever going through the two openings of the logs on both sides. Two wedges were placed inside the openings above the lever.  A wooden mallet was used to hit the wedges. The mallet holders must be very physically strong. The oil pressing system was properly functioning. The shiny yellow oil was flowing around the ditch then ending up inside a jar underneath. Oil was usually kept in the containers tightly sealed for transportation. In the past years, the containers with the pictures of a mussel or a rooster
were used as a standard for keeping and weighing oil. About one thousand coconut fruits could give two containers of oil. After being pressed, there remained in the bag a round substance around two inches thick.
This was called oil paste and tasted delicious. It was the best if it were eaten together with a piece of raw sugar and some fresh tea. This kind of paste was also used for swine food. The people of Tam Quan raised their swine the same way as at other places where they raised small swine. Nobody liked to eat pork of swine weighing one hundred kilograms or more. We seldom saw big sized swine originated from overseas but favored by other places as pork.
     They were small swine and as smart as household dogs. They were free to go either in the gardens or anywhere no limit within their territories. Their piggeries were where they had meals and rested at night. Every morning they were grunting to remind their owners to feed them. They then left their piggeries and running wild. They loved to eat coconut residues. They also drank sour water which was left during the process of oil. All owners set their swine free but none of them complained that their swine returned to wrong piggeries. Swine could recognize their owners and their piggeries. They produced naturally. That meant they had sex in the fields and gave birth either in their piggeries or in the bush in the village. After delivery, they stayed the same place to feed their piglets. Their owners were looking for and found them with grunting noise. After a week they went home in good health. Swine fell into a category of gobbling. They therefore eat whatever within their sight including human stools. The people of Tam Quan felt easy and not busy to raise their swine because they did not cost much money. A job originated from swine running wild. That was to collect swine poops. People with baskets picked up poops and dried them in the cemeteries. They were then packed in the bags and sold to the farmers for use as fertilizer.
    But from the day disasters fell onto our nation, People as well as coconut plantations of Tam Quan suffered a great loss. The old coconut trees were ripped of their tops and the young coconut plantations after 1975 began with their fates. Tam Quan residents scattered all over the world. Their hands and brains carried many worries and did many different jobs throughout the world. It was unknown whether the oil handicraft industry was going on. It was also unknown whether the equipment was modernized or still skinny hands peeling off every coconut fruit and the bodies lacking nutrition bent their backs to grind coconut meat….It was also unknown the swine were still running wild or people did not need toilets like before.

LIMEWASH SOAP

    I also would like to give you a picture of the once well known soap industry by coconut oil. As a result of the Autumn Revolution, the residents of Tam Quan suffered a shortage of everything. They depended their lives on coconut trees and moved forward. Advised by Mr. Huynh Van Tran, people of Tam Quan knew how to make soap out of their own resources. Ashes from coconut trees, shells and skins were the main sources. Ashes were kept in the large earthenware jars with faucets underneath. The ashy liquid was gradually dripping and looked like dark tea. There after, ashy liquid was boiled in a big pan until it became condensed. In the process of condensing, a tube was used to measure the degree and add the coconut oil in accordance with preset percentage. A percentage of SÚTwas added to this solution. This substance was ordered from Vietnamese communist controlled areas. A less than medium flame was good until the solution reached the expected degree. It was then poured into the big moulds and cut into square pastes with brand name, place of production and percentage of oil. This kind of soap was for sale everywhere in Binh Dinh, Quang Ngai, Phu Yen …My parents were one of the producers with brand name as “Butterfly”.
“Butterfly” soap was so well known that one of my father’s best friends borrowed his moulds to make false soap resulting in a lawsuit lasting a rather long time…In one word, Tam Quan was a piece of land well known for so many things that everybody born and raised in Tam Quan was very proud of it.

SEA PRODUCTS

    Tam Quan was located along the coast from An Giu to Sa Huynh. Its beach was quite clear with little foreign substances. This beach could be compared to that of Cam Ranh Bay in the crystal industry. The salty water of the sea in Tam Quan was very clear and not muddy. As a result, shrimps and fish in the sea of Tam Quan did not have the smell of mud and seaweed like those at areas with alluvium. The sea products in Tam Quan also had various kinds like at other areas. The fishermen had boats for fishing far away and near the shore. Fishing was a hard career because the fishermen’s lives depended on sea tide and God of Water. Sea products were consumed by the fishermen’s relatives bringing them to the markets. Ice was not available in the old days, the sea products must be hurriedly carried to the markets. If not fish would be spoiled. Later on ice boxes were available on the boats. The fishing businesses were prosperous. The fish sauce industry in Tam Quan was also prosperous. The anchovy fish was usually used to make fish sauce.
Other kinds of fish were also used. Its purpose was to turn them into fish sauce for the consumers.
    Now let’s take a vacation on Tam Quan River and enjoy what Tam Quan residents often praised as paradise of young age. Rivers bathing under coconut trees’ shades were the main sources to feed so many residents of Tam Quan. Let’s observe the river system. This was a natural system of Tam Quan Rivers which had specialties as half salty half sweet, half muddy half clear. It was acrid where it had alum. It resembled people born in Tam Quan. They consumed water brought from far away all year round. Truong well fed people in the whole town. Whatever wells drilled on the beach must sweetly satisfied people. Water of Tam Quan was used only to make salt. In the summer, it was clear. The bottom of the river was not deep and dangerous to scare the swimmers. Therefore they could dive in the nice water from sweet sources.
    There was a habit that you tensely desired: search for fish. You needed only a small oil lamp protected from wind by some pieces of bamboo tightly knitted. With a bamboo basket and container you then wade into the river. All living things in the water were drowsy. Both fish and shrimps were slow and easily caught. You need only to point the light of the oil lamp into clear water as deep up to the knees. You would see very clearly what was going on from the surface to the bottom of the river. What would you do if you saw a coby fish as big as your wrist was motionlessly close to the bamboo basket on your hand? What would you act against a dark green lobster with white stripes and as big as a police baton and fearlessly crawling in front of your search light?  What would you do to catch a crab as big as two hands waiting for you? And what would you do with schools of different sized mullets fearlessly swimming around your legs? The water was clear and the sky was blue and clear will countless stars and moon. You might fall into
a dream of young age.

    Only a piece of coconut leave and a broken nylon string of mandolin were needed to make a tool to catch shrimps with relax and pleasure. When a hook made up of nylon string stuck to the eye of a shrimp, it was flipping and struggling. Your hand moved along with the direction of the lobster and removed it from water. The lobster was flipping inside the bamboo container then you saw another one at stony wall.
    You might be a fisherman sitting under a bridge at night full of stars. You put a piece of bait to the fish hook then dropped it into the water current slowly moving. You sipped some heavy black coffee and listened to the wind murmuring through the coconut leaves under the moon. In a moment, a bass fish as large as a hand required you to bend your arm and spread your legs to pull it to the bank. The most excited moment was when the fishing rod was moving and curving. You must be flexible to move along with the direction of the fish so that the line would not be broken. If not, sometimes you would be saddened by broken line. And you would feel humiliated!

    It would be a deficiency if you did not look for big and aggressive frogs with a search light during thunder rain season in March. It was usually complete dark after thunder rain. Taking advantage of this condition, all different kinds of frogs, bull-frogs, tree frogs etc…got out of their shelters to make sexual intercourse. They stayed still with your search light flashing by because their love reached the peak of their lust. You just took time to pick what ever big couples of your choice. You were assured that when they were in love they did not care whatever happened. It was unknown whether human being was like the frogs when they reached climax!
     It would be the best if you were sailing a sampan as described in the poems of Nguyen Khuyen to trap crabs! How was it to trap crabs?  The crab trap also called crab catcher by local residents was a small piece of net about two centimeters and stretched by two pieces of bamboo diagonally crossed each other. This crab catcher was then dropped to the bottom of the river. At the center of the diagonal bamboo was a long piece of rope. At the end of this rope was a float made out of coconut skins. A piece of bait that was most liked by crab was fastened to the center of the crab catcher. The bait could be intestines of swine or cow with stinking smell. If you had between twenty to thirty crab catchers on your boat, you could start your journey on the mysterious river. You sailed the boat to the middle of the river and dropped a crab catcher at every average distance. After dropping all crab catchers you could find a shaded area to compose poems or read a book. About an hour later you could return to the floats over the water. You shortened the rope and you would see for sure a greedy crab inside crab catcher…
    The river water was half clear half muddy and half salty half sweet after the rain. Mullets lived in salty water but liked to be close to mixed water near river mouths, ponds and gulfs. Mixed water brought about different kinds of food for seaweed loving fish. Mullet was one of fish preferring seaweeds. They liked the section with sliced dirt and bubbles. Taking advantage of those characteristics, fishermen found the best way to catch mullets. The tools to catch mullets were very simple. A small piece of salvaged screen about one and one half meters long which was stretched with two diagonally bent bamboos. The handle was made of a small piece about three meters long. The stretched screen was able to stop water. Therefore whenever it was smashed to the water bubbles appeared and gave the sound like broken dirt…!
    It was dark at night after rain. You and some friends went to catch mullets. It was hard for you to go alone because you were afraid of ghosts. Furthermore you must slowly move and keep fish from seeing the light. You or your friend was carrying a fish container. The other was carrying the fish catcher. And another one was holding the flashlight to collect fish. Flashlight should not give light outside. Among
sea plants were some openings about one square yard where you should quickly drop the fish catcher. Noise would come from the screen and sounded like broken dirt giving bubbles. The mullets nearby would come in. You counted from one to ten then quickly jerked the screen. Whether the mullets were thrown to the bank or still stayed in the screen depended how fast and strong you were. Your two companions’ job was to collect the mullets on the bank.
    The residents of Cuu Loi village had a special technique to catch mullets. This way of catching fish was believed to be available at Tam Quan. Besides the above mentioned characteristics, mullets had another crazy one. If any obstacle was found on their way, the mullets could jump over it and continued their planned journey. The rivers of Tam Quan were the territory of thousands of mullets. They were swimming all over and enjoyed having sex under the clear water. The villagers living near the river banks took advantage of the tide going down to catch scores of big mullets.
    When the tide went down, the rivers were shallow. You could swim back and forth in the river without wetting your pants. You did not have to take your pants off. One of the techniques to catch mullets was to block the river at one kilometer interval with screens made of ropes. The entire villagers waded inside using all available means like fish catchers to catch the mullets stuck between the screens.
Behind the bamboo hedge were the boats screen containers waiting for thousands of mullets. The most interesting thing was to watch jump onto the boats or screen containers. You could not imagine the feeling to watch the whole white fish voluntarily jump to the boats to become food for people. People took time to finish catching all mullets in that section of the river.
    It remained the same for all different periods of time. During resistance of nine years, the village authority had this section of river bidden for fund raising. After 1954 the same way was applied. The division of the river into many sections for bidding including search for fish at night could avoid lawsuits.
However it could not prevent people from accidentally search for fish at somebody else’s section or someone infiltrated other ponds to steal young fish. Annual bids for different section of the river were organized. The prospective river products were on sale even they had not been caught yet.
     During my young age, when HOAPHƯỢNG were in blossom in the school yard, I would like to return o Tam Quan to enjoy the grilled fish, lobsters or crabs caught by myself. The pleasure to hold the
flash light in search for fish or stand by the bamboo hedge with relatives was memorable one. In the future, if still healthy, I might return to my country with the help of a cane. I would take a seat on the river bank and watch my descendents do their businesses. Would they manually handle them like us many years ago, or apply mechanized equipment in their daily lives?
    I might not be recognized by that time. My country has changed like when Luu Nguyen returned to Earth. One thing for sure would remain the same was that the water still had different smells like half salty half sweet and half sour half acrid. And fish and shrimps were the same kinds like before. The coconut leaves would wave to greet me as they did when I was a young blackish boy wearing ripped short day and night and looking for small fish along the river. I still missed the long period of nine years of resistance.    
I also missed the nights without moon and stars when my son and I took off our shorts and put them on our shoulders. We then swam across the river to catch mullets to feed so many people in the family.
    Here in Southern California, the long beach and rivers had no water. You might have driven though many huge cities. You might sit on a long pier for fishing then you would have the feeling of living the souvenirs about young age in the village. As for me, I promised I would one day to come back to the old river in order to watch the up and down of the tide and enjoy some grilled mullets dipped into fish sauce from first phase process full of country flavor.

SPECIAL PRODUCTS

Now I would like to invite the readers to enjoy some special dishes of Tam Quan. You would take home an unforgettable souvenir about a town in the big family of Binh Dinh province located way up north of a big city full of vital force.
    Residents of Imperial Palace were patriotic. They described the Royal Capital in different ways to make a complete introduction about the beauty, the poetic features, the delicious dishes and other characteristics of the city of Hue. You could notice from the boat of Vy Da, a bowl of mussel, a bowl of noodle pork soup to the Royal palace. You also saw from majestic royal tombs to the sex characteristics of once capital. They had achieved a complete success. Nobody could blame them. That was the reason why it was an obligation to write about our poor native town. The motherhood at any place despite its poverty was praised forever by her lullaby, the murmur from the green bamboo, the top of coconut trees with their shades and sea waves. There was always something special in need of introduction to the next generation.
We should write for all the readers about our thought from a bare footed country boy.
    Let’s come back to my native and nice town covered by countless green coconut trees. It seemed that I would never finish writing about my thought of it. I just opened a small door to some aspects of my knowledge. Tam Quan was not so simple and single as I wrote. You just take a look at residents of Tam Quan as refugees all over the world then you should agree with me that: Don’t count out Tam Quan residents…!
    My wife and I would like to invite you to take a meal of Tam Quan with cod sauce, lettuce, sliced pork and manioc rice papers. First let see what my wife was doing in the kitchen. We saw already stirred rice on the table. On the stove was a cooking pan with water about to boil. Remember that it was not regular water but water plus fresh coconut fruit. Coconut fruits were broken for juice and young milk. Everything was put in the pan. Young coconut fruit was the one with newly formed milk inside tits shell. When the mixed water was boiled, my wife put rice in the pan and thoroughly stirred so that young milk would be mixed together and to keep rice from sticking to the bottom. Put the lid over the pan and let the mixed water boil for a while. She must check to see if water was enough not to make rice wet. A little salt should be added to neutralize the flavor. Up to this moment, how do you feel about the rice pan of Tam Quan you were going to enjoy?
    Someone wandered why rice was not put inside the coconut fruit to make it better. The answer was this way was complicated when we had big firewood or camp fire. The young coconut shell was soft and therefore could not become a cooking pan. It would take longer time to include the shell for cooking. Therefore the extra heat was required to obtain special dishes for the guests.  It was okay if you wanted. Just watch the way my wife was doing. After being cooked, the rice was put into the coconut shells so that each of us got one to have fun…!
    Next dish you saw on the table was cod sauce. By the way, let’s see how this special dish was made
in order to deserve the special product of Tam Quan. Just imagine a cod was in front of you. The whole cod was salted and after a period of time it gave sauce. The cod retained its body as salted not regular one.
This cod was cut into small pieces. A scoop was used to scrape its meat and keep it in a bowl. The cod meat was very salty. It was placed close to a piece of boiled pork with the same weight as cod meat. On the table was a big piece of white pork fat also as big as cod meat. It’s not over yet! A large tray of sliced ripe pineapple was being barely dried. Add more garlic and red hot peppers.
    It was now time to watch how to make cod sauce. Did you see a robust man holding a pestle and waiting near a large stony mortar? He was the one to prepare our favorite food in lieu of machine. First, leave sliced and medium dried pineapples in the mortar. The young man began to tenderly pound the pineapple. Add garlic and hot pepper. The sliced boiled pork was also tenderly pounded then removed.
Put boiled fat in the mortar then pound it. Next was cod meat. Remember to get black pepper for better flavor. It would be best if mortar was replaced by a mixer!
    Everything above was tenderly made then left in the stony mortar. Use a pestle to make it tender and condensed. Fat oil mixed with pork, sliced pineapples and salted cod meat. This special dish of Tam Quan was served by a little piece for every mouthful of rice. It could be stored in a jar or pot for consumption without contamination because it was preserved by pork fat. You might wonder why sugar and sodium were not added. Don’t worry! The sweet pineapple could replace those spices. Pineapple not only added the special flavor but also attracted
more professional customers. In the market, the cod sauce producer who often sold cod meat loved the benefits so much that they added pineapples and reduced meat and fat. As a result the quality and flavor could not be compared to the cod sauce made by our family.
    We had two dishes on the table. One was rice with coconut milk juice. Another was cod sauce. Next was something anyone born in Binh Dinh province must know. It was rice papers. But why was it called special? Because whatever family you visit as guests in a party or death anniversary or  just regular meals in Tam Quan, the first thing you were offered was rice paper. It served as a gesture of welcome. Rice papers were baked until they got crispy and the entire rice paper was used as a cover of food. To start the meal, the owner broke rice papers to create some noise. The noise also came from hands and lips of the guests to make their conversation more enjoyable.
    Rice papers were available everywhere but Binh Dinh was well known thanks to its rice papers made of manioc. That was the reason Binh Dinh was amusingly called “city of manioc” when it was mentioned
in the conversations. But manioc rice papers in Tam Quan were not so simple. They were called manioc juice and coconut milk rice papers. What a city of coconut trees! They were made by fresh manioc juice plus its residues. Manioc residues were mixed with manioc powder with the percentage decided by the producers. Meat of old coconut fruits tenderly ground and mixed with manioc powder and residues.
Little onions and salt were added for better flavor. Coconut juice rice paper was different from regular manioc one because the latter was thicker and needed to be dried.
    In order to have this kind of rice paper, a good charcoal stove was needed. It was an art, not a normal
way, to bake manioc coconut juice rice paper. The rice paper must turn yellow and show numerous bubbles. Without bubbles the baked rice paper got tough. If served with this kind of rice paper, guests had the feeling of biting a tough dried beef skin. With manioc coconut juice baked rice paper ready, there were
three special products on the table. You needed something more like a place of vegetable and a plate of boiled pork, didn’t you? Don’t worry! The residents of Tam Quan liked to eat only young swine not big one. Either purchased from market or raised in the house, young swine meat tasted as flavorful as the smell of Tam Quan…
    One, two, three and let’s take your seat. Instead of me and my wife asking you to pick up your chopsticks and start eating, I myself would like to invite you to begin with manioc coconut juice baked rice paper for appetizers. Instead of wine for warmer residential friendship, I would like to invite you to hobnob
with fresh coconut fruit which was just picked up at the garden corner.
    Oh! That was our native country. Remember and believe that one day we would return in order to review all the souvenirs still living in our minds. Special dishes of our country might not satisfy the appetite of some hard natured guests. For us, they were main food of our young ages. We always wished from the bottom of our hearts to entirely embrace our poor country in order to live and die there. But this little wish would not ever become a reality…May I appeal to all residents of Tam Quan now in exile overseas.
Be proud of being born and raised in a secluded and poor city to which our love and patriotism always looked forward.

 leanhdung

  2006

                                                                THE END!