The Malaysian Insight

AT 5am, an hour before sunrise, residents and tourists are already out in droves on My Khe beach, Danang, Vietnam, exercising, line dancing, playing volleyball or just walking.

Dotting the horizon, fishermen are out at sea in their basket boat, known locally as ‘thung chai’. These boats are popular among fishermen in the central regions of Vietnam. During the French colonial period, boats were heavily taxed and the fishermen turned to making bamboo boats instead and argued that they were baskets and not boats, and thus should not be taxed.

Their plan worked and since then, these domed vessels have been a feature on the landscape of central Vietnam – lying scattered across beaches and inland waterways. Hemispherical and woven from bamboo, the ‘thung chai’ is a variety of coracle – a small, circular boat traditionally used in parts of the British Isles as well as India, Iraq, and Tibet.

By 7am, the first ‘thung chai’ return to shore. As soon as the fishermen arrive, the locals surround them, looking for early deals.

The wide yellow sand of My Khe beach in Da Nang, Vietnam, stretches on for some 30 km, all the way south to the historical town of Hoi An. The beach, infamously known as “China Beach” during the Vietnam war, was named by Forbes magazine in 2005 as one of the six most attractive beaches on the planet.

Today, Danang is the country’s fifth-largest city, with a population of about one million, and the sandy beach is lined with high-rises and luxury resorts. – January 29, 2019.