Bill Baileys Vietnam - Season 1 Episode 01- Hoi An
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00:00I first came to Vietnam nearly 10 years ago and what strikes me now is what a
00:06place of contrast this is. I'm amazed by the pace and the scale of change but also
00:15some things like the endless green of the rice fields remain the same. This is a
00:22country that's surging ahead to meet the demands of a globalized world and a
00:27country that's still dealing with the legacy of its turbulent past. As Vietnam
00:33carefully navigates the path ahead so am I. As long as this road has no potholes
00:40I'm good to go. From the frenetic pace of urban life to the calm reflection of
00:47rural tranquility and all points in between I'm on a mission to delve deeper
00:54into this fascinating country.
00:59Vietnam. Of course it's a place of tea plantations, traffic, temples but then it's something else entirely.
01:08Come with me on an unusual unfiltered unforgettable adventure.
01:24My mind's off on a whole bunch of other tangents. I'm thinking about a sandwich I had in 1982.
01:30As this nation commemorates 50 years since the end of the war. So as soon as it's safe right?
01:36I'll explore this fertile land, ask the big questions. Am I in the right place?
01:41Embrace new experiences, even my own future. From them you are smart and tested.
01:48Is there any, you know, good news? Navigate tight spaces.
01:54I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to get out.
01:56Make some new friends.
01:58Separated at first.
02:00This is a voyage of discovery, of strange encounters.
02:03This is your whole life in a plant.
02:05house with moisture and spirit spirits.
02:07An enchanted stroll to one of the most fascinating places on Earth.
02:12Welcome to Bill Bailey's Vietnam adventure.
02:26In this great nation, when it comes to exploring how the contrasts of old and new are balanced effortlessly together,
02:33there's no better example than hoi an oh high five
02:42oh oh photo photo yeah okay coming in
02:49oh blimey oh hang on oh wait a minute i'll be sucking into this somehow
02:53bye bye yeah all right okay then bye thanks thanks see ya look at me practically a local
03:08hoi an is a place where equilibrium is second nature between past and present
03:14calm and chaos craft and commerce all carried with the grace of someone who's done it all their life
03:20so i nearly went in then
03:26now as i navigate this country officially called the socialist republic of vietnam
03:32i will explore the big bustling cities of ho chi minh and hanoi and also get to the rural idylls of
03:38dalat and sapa plus coastal harlong bay but this place hoi an offers both and it felt to me like
03:47the perfect place to start my odyssey smack bang in the middle of vietnam's 3 200 kilometers of
03:54coastline hoi an has been linking the nation to the wider world one boatload at a time this whole coast
04:00used to be part of the maritime silk route where ships belonging to the portuguese the french the
04:06chinese and the japanese would come here to trade and head off around the world
04:10in towns like hoi an and nearby danang there's still a thriving fishing community and i want to
04:19find out what is uniquely vietnamese about this ancient port
04:26this is man thai beach where fishing isn't just an industry it's a way of life passed down through
04:32generation every morning before the tourists are up and about you can see fishing families take to the
04:38water as the sun rises i'm very taken by these round fishing boats which look more like giant floating
04:47rice bowls har is a fisher person from a small family business run by her mother and she's kindly
04:56showing me the ropes so this is like a family business going back generations uh she started
05:03to catch fish during the nine years old when you were nine years old what what are the sort of things
05:10that they catch what sort of fish they have a lot of fish and snails right and shrimp yeah yeah but
05:25it's just really right off the beach here so not far not sort of deep fishing you see it's the same
05:31like the bird it's not so far yeah fishermen pull in their catch by casting circular nets off the shoreline
05:38or from one of these basket boats no small undertaking imagine it's you have to be you have to
05:44constantly fish all the time because otherwise you're not making enough money to live yeah you
05:51know so it's pretty relentless you need to do every day to make sure and earn some more money
05:59modern versions of the basket boats are a mix of wood and fiberglass
06:03they remain a floating symbol of vietnamese independence this is bamboo yeah right i mean on
06:14the face of it doesn't look like a particularly seaworthy vessel it being more of a bowl than a boat
06:22so the thing is about these boats they are quite ingenious during the french colonial rule the french
06:28imposed attacks on boats but the vietnamese got around that by putting to sea in what is effectively
06:37a basket so these vessels became hugely popular up the coast because of their ingenuity because of the
06:44design but also because you could go fishing tax-free
06:50it's not a bad story i feel game to give one of these precarious floating thimbles a shot
06:59i confess while the locals make them look easy they do defy the principles of stability
07:05oh yeah i definitely got this okay i'm going out with my new friends to throw a fishing net out
07:10here yeah just down here yeah just down here yeah just there yeah all right oh nice
07:17okay let's go
07:30that wasn't supposed to happen whoa i'm soaked
07:43i thought you knew how to drive this
07:46i'm getting out was it a freak wave or did i just unbalance it i'm no sailor but the lack of a keel
07:53seems to be a major oversight either way i'm defeated it's not designed for an englishman maybe a welshman
08:03i thought that's what i might do you see i thought i might channel my welsh roots and be able to
08:08steer a coracle draw on my celtic dna but that didn't work out and uh i was just a bloke in a giant
08:20fruit basket spinning around in the surf much to the hilarity of the local fishing family
08:28at mantai beach the fisher folk employ time-honored techniques passed through generations used to
08:34bringing the fish but there's one technique that has my attention that is a little at odds with well
08:40fishing
08:41local monks are engaging in a practice of release what you might say is the opposite of catching
08:50in the spirit of buddhism and showing loving kindness to all beings including animals
08:55this group are throwing the fish back we released the mouth so release it yeah we bought them the
09:02light instead of go to restaurant if we release them so they have another oh i see everyone everyone
09:08keep in the money in the money and some other we represent people come out here and do the release
09:14so what did the fishermen think about this thing well they uh they just sell they don't mind they just
09:21sell to us all sell to the restaurant they they're making money either way right right
09:27it was a lovely thing it's a lovely sentiment you know
09:29it's a lovely group of buddhist monks they get together they have a whip round everyone chips in
09:39and they come to the market and they buy up a whole bowl of prawns and crabs and
09:46just release them back into the sea to i guess the slightly baffled expressions of the fishermen
09:51you want to do what the idea that you know you just release these living things back into the wild
10:02so that they have a chance in the next life he said if you kill them that's it they're not going to
10:08ascend it's a lovely sentiment two sides of life here and somehow both make perfect sense it's a kind
10:16of balance that's oddly comforting and more inspiring than i expected manti beach is nestled right at the
10:24foot of sondra peninsula in daneng not far from hoi an and it's right opposite a major fishing village
10:31where the cycle of life flows as it has for hundreds of years as the residents hunt for a seafood bargain
10:38after my unique fishing basket experience i'm following the produce from sea to market
10:45and this there's no real refrigeration the food just goes straight here the local people
10:52the local restaurants the mantai markets have been serving generations of people since the 18th
10:59century including this guy a refugee who has returned to his old stomping ground chef duk has
11:05agreed to show me around good morning hello how are you i'm very well bill nice to see you welcome
11:12to see you welcome to the world of ages i'm looking this is a pumpkin flowers i'm gonna i'm gonna stop
11:18them with prawns oh with ginger garlic and onion right i'm gonna panseed them with olive oil and twist
11:25the lime juice sounds delicious love bites bill love bites all right one of my favorites great
11:32a restaurateur and local legend around these parts everyone knows chef duk and he's the perfect
11:40companion to learn about how these markets have changed over time this is a an extraordinary
11:47place hoi an i love it it's my first time here oh yeah yeah it's it's i just love the atmosphere here
11:54it's great yeah for me it's a soulful place amazing the people i think the past also also give me the
12:02the the the the energy to to to to just to live yeah yeah it feels that feels that there's a lot
12:10it's a place where lots of people have come over centuries you know to trade that sort of history to
12:16it that's right hoi an was a the biggest trade port and back in the day so it's imagine all the european
12:25south asian they all conquered great here and i imagine six seven hundred years ago it's the same
12:32thing it's just more italian drinking wine yeah cooking food and the chinese hanging out the japanese
12:37hanging out vietnamese chef duk spent many days as a little boy helping his mother to sell produce at
12:43the markets in a way they are his spiritual home this amazing lady i know all these women oh you
12:48know everybody i know coconut lady i know the flowers one i know the spicy one i know the noodles one i
12:53know yeah all those ladies i bet and they all know you as well yeah for 20 years 21 years i've been
13:00shopping here you know and now they've taught me a lot how they how to cook with a local specialty
13:06duk has invited me to his restaurant in hoi an and i'm already salivating in anticipation
13:13these markets are a sensory ambush with smells coming at you in all directions especially the
13:20fresh aroma of fish but this guy won't be getting thrown back in the sea today it's too late for him
13:27the last one the last mohican bill wow look at this this is the snapper the golden snapper
13:34beautiful oh come on this is how red it is oh right it's super slimy yeah that's why the you need
13:44slime yeah you want slimy fresh fish smell this smells of the sea smell like ocean yeah see the eyes
13:55it's beautiful it's beautiful it's clear we're going to make some signature wow ginger garlic and
14:02onion honey lamb juice chili oh honey sounds amazing yeah it's clear i'm in the presence of a master
14:11having left vietnam as a war refugee chef duk has returned a culinary artist i was out of vietnam for 20
14:18years so i'm learning from all corners of the world for a good 11 years and this is amazing chaos
14:30it strikes me that you're drawing on lots of different elements here
14:34that come from your experiences of traveling around the world i'll get to support the local fresh here yeah
14:40homegrown home catch super super fresh and it sort of increases your kind of enjoyment of it it activates
14:50your taste buds you are very orgasmic in a way that's how i love to cook that's how i to make people happy
14:57and to make people happy and the same time uh turn them on turn them on get them sexually charged charge
15:06them up you smell the scent is important you smell the flavor you hear i'm looking forward to this dinner
15:12with you mate my new friend duk has left a big impression on me there's a calm quiet strength about
15:22him he's sending me off to learn as much as i can about being vietnamese hoi an style to discover the
15:29sights sounds and history that lured him home as i navigate these old streets it's easy to
15:36see why this smaller vietnamese city known for its well preserved ancient town is a unesco world
15:42heritage site and one of the town's most famous attractions from the past is still going strong
15:49this is one of the great places in vietnam for tailoring and in the 1500s hoi an was known as
15:57silk road by the sea lots of people coming here lots of traders lots of merchants
16:02so it's quite a cosmopolitan place even back then people wanted fancy suits made and these days you
16:08can pop out for a banh mi and come back with a bespoke suit in my case i want some new threads for
16:14my dinner with duk my wife told me that most men looked like james bond in a suit when she said most
16:21men i don't think she meant me but it was worth a shot my word
16:29you want to have a lot of something here as well look at that that is proper yeah yeah
16:34i think elton john's been here already yeah i mean now we're talking
16:40it's a little bit too flash for me these days i mean i might have worn that in my younger days
16:45yeah but yeah i mean i think if i was maybe working as a sort of a matador yeah maybe yeah
16:54but handmade tailoring is an art the tailors work so fast you half expect the suit to be done
17:00before they finish measuring you i'm getting fitted up for something fancy this plate how long
17:06has this place been here we are the first tailor in hoiang right wow yeah so how many people how many
17:14people work here then uh it's 100 taylor a hundred taylor yeah we employ them wow yeah it must be really
17:24busy then it's like people working non-stop here yeah we are uh small the local people right we're
17:34supporting a lot for them yeah training them and then have them have a good lead there are around
17:44three million textile workers in vietnam i'm learning while the tools may have modernized
17:50the rhythm of the textile trade is the same as it ever was i've ordered a suit and i'm excited
17:57the tailors of hoiang have rightly become globally renowned
18:01and their industry is helping to turbocharge the vietnamese economy and attract record levels of
18:09foreign investment but what i find so heartening is that something that requires such a degree of
18:15artisanship and craft can still have a place in today's fast-paced globalized world
18:24so
18:28heading out of town from the bustle of hoiang i fancied a breather and i found the perfect place
18:36high on the hill just outside danang is a majestic beauty who i need to have a word with
18:42it's an amazing temple pagoda complex up here beautiful bonsai trees everywhere and
18:54the lady buddha standing here under the shadow of sontra mountain is here to protect the fishermen
19:02to give them calm seas and to be the sort of guardian of the bay so this is the thing where was
19:09lady buddha when i was floundering in my basket boat busy i would suggest or perhaps it was outside
19:16her jurisdiction
19:20the lady buddha isn't just a statue she's a spiritual landmark and an icon and she sits alongside the
19:27impressive lin-ung pagoda the site is considered a buddhist paradise on earth
19:33but if temples aren't your thing perhaps the zen residents will appeal
19:41a troop of macaques who've decided to up their foraging game have moved in
19:48these monkeys have found a good spot here it's
19:53obviously signs up everywhere saying don't feed the wildlife but people because they do you know
19:57they bring little snacks for them and the monkeys know they're not stupid they're just hanging around
20:03here waiting for a an easy lunch you know why spend all day foraging when tourists will hand you a high
20:13protein snack they're pretty canny these monkeys when you study these monkeys you realize how genetically
20:20similar we are someone say i'm more similar than most
20:28these macaques are very sociable animals you know they they tend to live in troops family troops
20:32about sort of 50 or so and i reckon this is just one big family troop here
20:38they've staked out this territory for themselves
20:41you know no other family troops getting this gig
20:53no hooligans like the monkey mafia you've got this territory sewn up haven't you mate
21:00just don't chuck don't chuck the plastic mate let's put it in the bin
21:03like us a diet high in sugar and fat can lead them to all sorts of health problems like diabetes and
21:11heart issues but you can't tell them look a lovely leaf a tasty leaf no mate he's like forget it
21:21where's the good stuff look at that you want that don't even don't even insult me with that leaf
21:30have you got any cheesy ice cream for the record i did not feed any monkeys and if you come here
21:36neither should you while the danang monkeys are tucking into fast food like seasoned city dwellers
21:45down the coast in hoi an time seems to have stood still this picturesque place is a living piece of
21:53history it's made up of over 1 000 timber framed buildings from the 1600s
21:59that are still in use today in what now seems like a fortunate turn of events an economic
22:05slowdown in the 19th century meant there was no money to update the town and all the old structures
22:11were left standing untouched including this impressive overpass right in the heart here of
22:18hoi an's old town is an architectural marvel this the japanese bridge was built in 1597
22:27to connect the japanese community to the chinese community on the other side of the canal
22:32and it's an iconic landmark of vietnam it's deemed to be historically significant enough to have made it
22:38onto the money it's actually on the 20 000 dong note i mean there's uncle ho on one side as you'd
22:45imagine but on the other side there it is this is a reminder of the fact this place was once one of the
22:52most significant ports in southeast asia i mean they all came here the portuguese came in the 1500s
22:58bringing christianity and firearms a potent combo the dutch the british came here looking to buy silk
23:06and spice and ceramics and then the french came here with designs on the whole country
23:11and there's a huge amount of chinese influence here as well you can see it in the architectures
23:15they came here they built temples and assembly halls shop houses many of which are still here and today
23:22the japanese bridge is not much more than a tourist attraction but it's a reminder that this place was
23:29once an international crossroads of cultures
23:36in the old town this historical legacy is present everywhere you turn
23:42and you're often rewarded by a little off-piste curiosity
23:47oh yes it is this is a sort of cut down version of the boat i was in earlier on
23:52clearly a bit of residual bowl trauma much like chef duk searching for quality produce at the markets
23:59i'm reminded how much care goes into everything handmade here
24:04ah hi will this is your suit here this is it yes wow it's only been 48 hours since i was measured up
24:11but the tailors have worked their magic my suit is ready wonderful thank you so much i'm just going to try
24:16on yes you put it on and then come out all right okay denise is clearly waiting for me to transform
24:26into daniel craig and let's be honest it's going to be a long wait
24:33how look pretty good yeah so how can how you feel about it looks great feels really good yeah i love all
24:40the extra detail the beading and everything it's fantastic uh i want to say my i've tried to learn
24:48the vietnamese beautiful beautiful i'm gonna wear this to all sorts of things events yeah shows
25:00premieres yeah yeah award ceremonies yes the shops just got the shops in it i mean i've never taken it off
25:09hang on i just did my fashion walk hold on i almost look like i know what i'm doing
25:17hey you gotta look and then you gotta look away so you gotta look into the camera
25:21not bad for a bloke who usually dresses like he's lost in a laundry basket
25:28supermodel moves the resemblance is uncanny hoi an i have arrived
25:34right that's enough of that
25:39hoi an's past is steeped in trade a melting pot of merchants from china japan and europe
25:49and just outside the old town they weren't only trading goods they were shaping them out of the
25:55earth into pottery shaping clay dates back over 500 years here and now one enthusiastic englishman is
26:03about to try his hand at it what could possibly go wrong hello
26:07oh my first time at the potter's wheel and nia and toy are guiding me through closer closer yeah
26:17well because yeah because you can touch here oh oh i see right oh okay
26:24now try and try just you can touch here okay yeah right okay this is the smallest stool i've ever sat on
26:30she like this all the time she's quite strict now what
26:42these charming gigglers are part of the tanha pottery village one of the oldest in vietnam the
26:49clay we are using is from the nearby river and people in this region have been turning out bowls
26:54and plates since the 1500s and nothing much has really changed since then everything is still
27:00done by hand and foot oh this is analog not electric then no use uh old old woman power
27:08right it's all hands on deck oh you're moving your finger up inside yeah whoa i'll tell you what
27:14if it was my job to spin that wheel i guarantee my foot would have been encased in a pot by now
27:19i'm just mesmerized by that foot going around right okay now now what we're doing i'll put the
27:24patterning oh right okay like this pottery here has mostly been a role exclusive to women as the
27:36men were tasked with seemingly more labor intensive jobs with no motors just good old-fashioned leg power
27:42i reckon i'd take the field labor over this i don't mind spinning the can you tell her i don't mind
27:47spinning the wheel she can have a sit down and a break you want to try yeah no no i'm just saying
27:53i'll spin the wheel you don't have to do that have a cup of tea or something i'm told my instructor
28:00can make a hundred items a day and has been plying a trade for 40 years they should have wired that wheel
28:06up to the national grid that's sustainable energy right there but around here 40 years on the job is
28:12nothing this chap new is a fourth generation potter how long has this chap here been working on these
28:20pots yeah probably when he was 18 years old when he was 18 and now she are 88 he's 88 yeah you look
28:41good for 88. 70 years 70 years in the career this is feeling like an important lesson in the secret to
28:52longevity he's still working at 88 that's a good age does he not feel he wants to maybe you know
28:58retire slow down a little bit or he likes working
29:02oh you see he says he feels tired he feels tired when he has nothing to do but he
29:17do these things you feel better yeah i get that yeah i get that
29:22what's that he asked you how are you how old am i yeah i don't know you can see if we can guess
29:33hang on right absolutely exactly shake my hand don't let me hang in
29:52you got it absolutely bang on
29:54oh really that's good yeah aside from the flattery what i love about this community
30:02is that age is no barrier to feeling useful okay come on
30:08i hope that when i'm his age i'll still be contributing to life like he is
30:12or at least be able to sit on a tiny stool pots lovely pots
30:17get your pots fresh off the uh potter's wheel all of these bowls and crockery were used by local
30:25people was for functional use but then with the advent of plastic and aluminium of course the demand
30:32dropped way off so now really they're making pottery for souvenirs for tourists but that doesn't
30:39mean to say there's any less worth in them they're all made by hand and they're all made with love
30:51whether you're a 16th century dutch merchant or a 21st century comedian the clay is the same
30:57just molded for a slightly different crowd proving vietnamese resilience yet again
31:02long before vietnam as we know it there was the champa civilization tucked away in the hills are
31:13the remnants of a kingdom of temple towers and mysterious ruins that whisper of a time before
31:19modern vietnam i've come to stand among them and feel the weight of centuries in the quiet this is one of
31:26the most significant archaeological sites in the whole of southeast asia this is the mison temple complex
31:36there's a political center of the champa kingdom and it was built between the 4th and the 13th century
31:42hindu gods were worshipped in krishna vishnu shiva it was a symbol of the power and the influence
31:51that the champa civilization had and its connections with the world especially india and indonesia
32:02i mean that they're actually quite small you know they would have been quite dark in here but
32:11they're talking you know a thousand years ago they would have been prayer rooms meditation rooms
32:26but these amazingly well preserved
32:32it's amazing that it's
32:35survived largely unscathed over the centuries i mean it took a bit of a battering by
32:40american bombers during the war but i guess it's a testament to the skill of the builders that
32:48what remains is still quite stunningly beautiful
32:56now it's a unesco world heritage site but actually there's still around 200 000
33:03cham people in vietnam so it's it's a kind of a link to a lost empire and i guess
33:15a reminder of the shifting power of kingdoms and dynasties that characterize vietnam's history
33:23oh this is beautiful butterfly it's just waiting for it to land
33:28in my travels i'm often drawn to documenting little moments like this a red spot jezebel
33:40a way to pull me into a time and a place i'm just trying to photograph
33:45these butterflies there's so many butterflies feeding on these flowers around here what i love doing is is
33:52if you can just get a snap of them with the phone then i can use that to draw them later on
34:02when you get really close to it i'll be able to get a good shot
34:09there we go that's it
34:14brilliant got it
34:15from ancient carvings and sacred towers to a tranquil moment with a pencil and paper
34:30i was writing a book about british birds and uh i just in fact my wife encouraged me to
34:38do a couple of sketches and they came out okay and so i've just been i've been doing it ever since
34:47i know so i find it i love it i mean this is beautiful
34:54apart from
34:58apart from this relentless chit chat
35:01that bikes but of course that's part of being here you're always going to hear a motorbike or
35:10something even in a lovely spot like this but this is a beautiful spot
35:15sitting on the edge of the rice fields you know it's very relaxing this is probably just a little
35:23i don't know you know a little dwelling on the rice fields and now it's a destination
35:30place people will make the effort to come here because it's just so lovely a little pause before
35:36trading pencils for chopsticks in my reunion with chef duk which promises to be anything but ordinary
35:44by day hoi an is all heritage and hustle but by early evening there's a buzz in the air
35:50an anticipation of the night ahead the hoi river is one of the main attractions for tourists
35:57where they come to be swept up in the romance for the famous lantern ritual
36:05my aim here is to get a boat and set off into the night with a paper lantern or two that will
36:10light up on the dark water in unison with the hundreds of others creating this dreamy spectacle
36:17but this iconic tradition has been supersized into something a little overwhelming i mean it's just
36:25crowds of people taking mass selfies there's people haggling to get on boats buying lanterns to float
36:34on the water street sellers tour groups waving their flags absolute mayhem
36:44well it's great though it's kind of sort of real buzz about the place
36:50the release of lanterns is supposed to symbolize the sending of prayers for good fortune
36:55it's also a way to honor ancestors and connect with the spiritual realm oh it's pretty cut
37:01throat this boat business isn't it blimey but all that's a bit lost all right
37:10in trading terms the supply and demand is a bit out of whack here too much demand and the magic sadly
37:16is cut adrift we're haggling to get a boat and the thing is by the time we got a boat sorted one of
37:23these guys who just sold it to someone else there's a massive queue of people they've been waiting
37:28for ages to get on the boat and then of course you know i show up and they're like oh how come you're
37:36getting a queue oh i'm getting grief from the boat the owners the bloke selling the boats and all the
37:44people have been queuing this this is quite stressful uh perhaps i might just attach myself to a korean
37:55bridal party i just yeah i'm with them i'm just with the korean trade delegation
38:05or just if i just sat on a boat with a honeymoon couple that'd be awkward wouldn't it
38:08they're just like taking selfies and i'm just sitting there like a sort of spanner at the other
38:15end of the boat like don't mind me you know you carry on your lovely romantic moment right okay let's
38:23go excuse me sorry sorry pardon me oh let's get through there thank you thank you very much we're not
38:30actually going to get a boat which kind of suits me really it's a bit touristy it's not my thing it's
38:36definitely a thing for some getting swept up in this glittering display but it's not for me the
38:43lanterns didn't quite light up the night as i'd hoped but thankfully there's still one shining promise
38:48ahead my friend chef duk is preparing something special and i've been pondering many questions
38:54about his remarkable refugee story and return to vietnam as the sun goes down around me i'm feeling
39:03the need to sharpen up my look to step things up a notch prepare for the evening's proceedings
39:09as the lanterns flicker to life the river seems to sparkle almost as much as my suit
39:15and the smell of sizzling seafood fills the air i must admit i feel quite dapper and uh there's a lot
39:22of people just looking a little scruffy a little bit like i looked at early today
39:29so now i know how i did look and now i'm quite chuffed with this i've already had many many
39:34compliments about the suit which is very uh gratifying it's very true isn't it you put a
39:39suit on you sort of carry yourself in a slightly slightly better way
39:46this is extraordinary it's amazing bustle my throng of people taking selfies i've never seen so many people
39:55take selfies i think there's people taking selfies of people with other cameras it's like a sort of
40:00meta selfie just the right color lanterns people and boats on the canal fantastic i'm in good spirits
40:09and feeling peckish good timing for my date with chef duke aha shift up mr bill how are you well i thought
40:19i'd uh make a bit of an effort well you're looking dapper yourself thanks man nice to see you again
40:24yeah good to see you yeah come on in all right this impressive establishment is mango mango one of three
40:31restaurants owned by chef duke in hoi an oh here we go welcome to the hot kitchen
40:42i'm going to show you the what we talked about earlier about the the sort of vietnamese food yeah yes so
40:47i'm going to show you how to make a quickly mango ceviche my way okay a bit of mango this is the snapper
40:55from earlier on that's right oh nowadays big name celebrities come for dinner here but getting here
41:01hasn't been an easy road for chef duke where did you learn how to do this yeah i mean you had you've
41:06had quite an amazing life really i left vietnam as about refugee when i was 16 years old it's hard to avoid
41:12the war it's still impacting people's lives and it's such a big part of duke's story in the refugee
41:18camp i learned how to cook right you know refugee food six months later i was fostered to texas and i was
41:28brought in by a mexican american family right yeah and then and then actually studied engineering
41:34and then after engineering for a while i came back to vietnam to see my family and uh i was my own
41:42little shock i couldn't speak to vietnamese with my family so why was that because for nine and a half
41:49years in america i didn't speak vietnamese hearing my family hugging my family i couldn't tell them my
41:54story i said i want to hang out with you i want to speak vietnamese i want to eat vietnamese i want to be
42:01vietnamese again and tara i have mango ceviche for you oh would you like to taste it yes yeah yes
42:13salute salute ceviche whipped up in minutes it doesn't get fresher than this
42:20a signature mango mango dish oh that's really good remember that um that um pumpkin flowers that we
42:27picked up earlier yeah would you like to try it all right we're stubborn with the beautiful
42:33chocolate prawn ginger garlic and onion cilantro yeah there we go we're going to quickly put on the
42:39pan since returning to hoi an chef duc is embracing the fresh flavors and giving back to the community
42:46with his cooking but he's here today because of his strength of character and adaptability having
42:51survived a near-death experience as a child a lot of vietnamese who live in the south was disagreeing
42:58with the policies back then so they decide to exit us out of vietnam by boat right and by foot and the
43:06life was pretty hard for a lot of people in the south my parents said there's no future for me so
43:10they put me on the boats say good luck and goodbye oh and then luckily i was inside that um ice box
43:21about yay big yay long yeah lower all packed in there like a sardine in the ice box for the first
43:2912 hours frozen oh my god and we i luckily i made it out yeah luckily i made it out in after
43:3912 hours later i came out and you know the elbow was frozen my knee was frozen all my joint was
43:46frozen i was crawling around on the top of the boat like golem you know that is it it's amazing
43:51amazing story but you know what it it it's a testament isn't it to determination working his
43:59way up from dishwashing to running his restaurant empire his appreciation for life is irresistible
44:06we are the big mango family build i might say i take care of them they in terms of take care of me yeah
44:13that's the nature of human together yeah amazing yeah i couldn't you know that song that david burns
44:20how did they get here how did they get here yeah once in a lifetime that's my favorite song that's
44:26i'm telling you it's incredible how i get here okay shall we dig in yeah let's do it hang on let's
44:34make get the uh it might be warm in there that's all right it's all right we're brave enough i think so
44:39cheers cheers oh that is terrific
44:59behind the razzle dazzle of hoi an there's a strength that reveals itself in the smiles the cooking and the
45:05sewing an entrepreneurial zeal which is the real star of this place i mean never mind his terrific
45:11food chef duke has had an extraordinary life despite all of that hardship that turmoil he's come through
45:21he's emerged with something great and in many ways he's like an embodiment of the new vietnam
45:29next time on bill bailey's vietnam visitors who are afraid of narrow places don't even bother coming
45:37down here do you have this in a large big leg won't go you can't hang about traffic wait for no man
45:43it's bloody green you
45:59you
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