Money Paid to Become a Farmer

By Thinh Nguyen Phuc

You have to pay 25 US dollars to become a farmer at Tra Que vegetable village - Hoi An - Vietnam. This is an interesting discovery of Hoi An traditional values with a tour called "one day of becoming an old town resident".

8 a.m, Lee Stamm, student at New South Wales - Australia and his girlfriend Annalies Bayles visited Tra Que, a 500 years old vegetable village. Mr. Sau and Mrs. Ca gave them some detailed introduction of kinds of vegetable in 30 minutes.

It is known to Lee and Annalies that some kinds of vegetable can not be found anywhere but Tra Que, mixture of vegetables may result in 5 spices: Hot, sour, sweet, bitter and acrid. Each kind of vegetable contains typical features and can be used as medicine for some diseases like: Flu, indisposition or break out in the rash.

Tra Que is also well-known for shallot which can be used with sugar to treat sore throat, Tia To can be used with Chinese herbs to nourish foetus etc...It is also known to Lee and Annalies that each kind of vegetable is used with a dish only including some famous dishes in Hoi An.

After the introduction, hosts an guests started hoeing, spreading fertilizer and algae collected from Co Co river to grow young cabbages. Lee and Annalies were shown how to make soil ready for final cultivation. It is done slowly but with comfortable laugh of both learners and teachers. After finishing the work Lee, Annalies and Mr. Sau's family prepared lunch with traditional dishes.

Lee said: " I can not imagine how meticulous a method of hoeing and cultivation is! I am proud of my role as a Hoi An resident, sharing tea with local farmers but the day is too short as compared to hard time of local people here!"

By Thinh Nguyen Van

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Images By Adam Hurley