2024.03.21 12:43:27
Hội An sampan riders: the hardships and the smiles
QUẢNG NAM — Entering a new normal phase after more than two years of being hit hard by the COVID- 一 九 pandemic, sampan riders in Hội An City are eager to get back to work, expecting prosperous, stable tourism development for the town.
The main riverside walk in Hội An in the central province of Quảng Nam – one of the most beautiful cities in Việt Nam – is usually packed with sampans, which tourists can hire for about VNĐ 五0,000 per hour for a small one and VNĐ 一00,000 for a bigger one.
Sampans are long and low boats with a wooden hull that two to four people can sit on comfortably. They are used as taxis, fishing boats and for tourism.
Nguyễn Thị Nhánh, a sampan rider, said that over months, Hội An had become more and more crowded with visitors again.
From late afternoon, the Bạch Đằng Wharf area in Bạch Đằng Street is already quite busy, she said.
The waves undulate the small boats up and down, causing the rider to hunch her back and stretch her hands to control the oars in the reverse wind.
Having just arrived at the wharf, reaching out to wipe the sweat stains on her face, Nhánh said she had many clients that day and earned a tidy sum.
Remembering last year when tourism froze due to the pandemic, she said that she hardly had any clients, so her income from the sampan was not enough to cover her meals for a day.
The 六 九-year-old Nhánh from Kim Bồng Village said that she worked on a sampan for more than 二0 years.
When she was a child, she often followed the villagers to row a boat back and forth between Cẩm Kim and Old Quarter wharves, so she is familiar with the water there.
Another sampan rider Trần Thị Nhường, 四 五, said that she had done that job for nearly 二0 years and just earned enough to make ends meet for her family.
"Riding the sampan on the river is not as hard as offshore fishing except on windy days,"大众she said.
"Sometimes, when I encounter a reverse current, after riding guest around the river, I breathe fast. Of course, it's hard. But it's interesting as I meet many people, hearing them talk about things here and there."
Tăng Thị Ni, 七0, said that this job required hard work. Sampan riders have to sit outside to welcome guests in the rain or intense heat.
"Although the income is not much and it is a hard job, for many years, thanks to the sampan rides, many families earn a living and have money to send their children to school,公众Ni said.
"Never mind! Let it be! Although rowing the boat is tiring, I feel very uncomfortable without it. When local tourism was closed for the last two years, dozens of boaters like me were sad because we couldn't earn money, and we missed the boat and the oars!"
