Fisher(man) of Da-Nong Port: Amlan Satan

A 'stranger' tale of unanticipated 'romanticism' in a fisherman's port, told by a 'foreigner-American' discovering 'Vietnamese' dry-heat!

Signing off with this fisherman's port vignette, inspired by a few films I like. Enjoy, 

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I've been studying the art of being a fisherman since graduating from Dartmouth (New England) and moving to Vietnam to settle down in this foreign place and take up a position at Da-Nong Port to grab the numbered fish for the local store tied to a popular Vietnamese eatery which serves delicious Pho-fish noodle-soup bowls. My name's Amlan Satan, and the people of the good port of Da-Nong call me the 'old man' of the Americas.

Fishing requires attention to detail and the skill of using the hands like craftsman's 'sporting' hands with coordinated finger-motions to grip your rod and attach the bait and float it and 'carry' it underwater just right to catch the swimming goodies' attention and get them to attach themselves to your rod and eventually become your livelihood. I have a small boat which is financed by the fisherman's company in Da-Nong and I live in a small apartment and enjoy watching Hawaii Five-O reruns on YouTube/Internet-TV after work (around midnight).

I care about the 'art/craft' of being a Vietnamese fisherman from the Americas, and the people of the good Da-Nong Port refer to me 'colorfully' as the 'old man' of the Americas, because of my distinctive fun colored t-shirts which I always wear while fishing and my distinctive aroma-gels I put on, Western-cowboy smells of musk/leather, to mask/veil the eventual fishy smell on my hands which I'll have to rinse off with lemon-soap after work. I also boast a subtle humorous sense and good outlook on life and my rods are Western-looking, but because my skin-color/tone is brown, the people of Da-Nong refer to me as a 'Westerner' simply because of the demeanor reflected/cast in my equipment/style. I'm a fisherman!

To be a fisherman, you have to be something of a 'super' hero of the water(s), and you've gotta take good control of the rods and the bait-control mannerisms required to make the fisherman's activity (or 'notebook') reflective of human consciousness, and of the tranquility of good sensory control and body harmony. I like to think of myself as a 'bait-man' because of the nifty pieces of equipment I use to catch the goodies for the Pho-soup popular eatery!

On a given work-week of being a great fisherman at Da-Nong, I catch enough fish to make the Pho-soup Vietnamese eatery quite well-resourced/stocked for their numbered economic activity for modern Eastern hospitality and culinary-arts. My job is one of meditation and self-awareness, and I think of my bucket of trophies as a signpost of my sincere commitment(s) to the 'art' of dance and diaries. I'm a fisherman!

Of course, a fisherman must have some sideshow activity, right? I told you already about my post-work YouTube entertainment fun, but I have another --- Hemingway. In fact, I'm thinking you'd guessed the symbolic write-work I read as my reflection of the work I do in Da-Nong, and maybe it's also why they called me the 'old man' of the Americas!

This isn't a tale of my fisherman's pride/honor as the 'old man' of the Americas. It's a story of my encounter with a lovely port-visiting 'flower-lady' in Da-Nong, Queenie, who'd been visiting the port lately and I noticed her, I took hold of her beauty and presence/demeanor, and she seemed to remind me why a Dartmouth-grad from the Americas would seek a life of watery-fishy strangeness in the East. Queenie became my lover.

I took Queenie to a lovely Vietnamese theater-show, and she loved how it captured both the culture of the nation and how it reflected a 'Westerner's' sincere interest in such a foreign tradition! In fact, she kissed me during the show just to tell me how impressed she was I was intrigued by a foreign way of music. She told me, "Were it not for this exposition on your artistic side-hobby of Vietnamese lyric, I'd wonder if any old Vietnamese woman would've grabbed your port-eye!"

So, I decided to take my new 'queen' (Queenie) to the opening of a new rescreening of an old "Western' classic, a retelling of Shakespeare's ode to Rome, featuring an astounding 'cast' of supporting characters including a rather brisk but brainy Octavian (Caesar). She kissed me again during the show, and I told her this time, "This is my favorite film, queen."

MY DIARY ENTRY: "Getting you to the Pho-soup shop to enjoy the fruits of my port-labors was the dessert of our courtship."

So, I made Queenie, my new 'faerie' of the Da-Nong water(s) a customized Mileena warrior-woman (Mortal Kombat) video-game fanfare ornamented RPG-card for identity-daydream and pretend. I told her this is the kind of activity for 'romance' you'd expect from a 'Vietnamese fisherman' discovering 'daylight' in a 'world' of detention!

That's my tale. Queenie left Vietnam for British Columbia (North America), and ironically enough, became a 'true' Westerner, while I remained in Vietnam (Da-Nong) and continued to be a 'Vietnamese' fisherman. However, what she added to my port-diary was the 'sense' of 'graphic' conversationalism in a 'foreign' place which made me feel more self-reflective of my newfound 'black-and-white' dollar life.

I'm a Christian by faith, but being a fisherman in Da-Nong had taught me, or 'gifted' me a value(s) lesson about the 'quality' of the water, and how, no matter where you are, can take/bring you to a 'state' of divine drum.

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"Money is everything" (Ecclesiastes)