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Digging for Crabs at Night, Da Nang Locals Serve Visitors a Beachside Crab Feast
🇻🇳 Vietnam /Culture & Society

Digging for Crabs at Night, Da Nang Locals Serve Visitors a Beachside Crab Feast

From Thanh Niên · () Vietnamese

Translated from Vietnamese and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • Residents of coastal Da Nang invite visitors to dig for crabs at night and enjoy the experience for free on weekends and holidays.
  • Local official Vĩnh Sơn uses a shovel, bucket and flashlight to track crabs through winding underground burrows, sometimes catching nearly 50 in an hour.
  • Visitors, especially children, can catch the crabs themselves with guidance and protective gloves.

After 6 p.m., Vĩnh Sơn and his wife, Nho Liêm, head to the beach near their home in Hà Lộc village, Tam Xuân commune, Da Nang. They do not dig for crabs as a job. They do it to give visiting relatives and tourists a memorable evening by the sea.

“It's just a self-appointed favor to make visitors from far away happy,” Sơn said. Their equipment is simple: a shovel, a bucket and a flashlight. When he spots fresh crab tracks near a burrow, he follows the tunnel through the sand, sometimes reaching in by hand to find the crab’s hiding place.

It's just a self-appointed favor to make visitors from far away happy.

— Vĩnh SơnSơn explained that he digs for crabs to entertain relatives and tourists rather than earn money.

The crabs make the search difficult. Their burrows twist in several directions, and they tightly pack the entrance near where they sleep. The hiding spot is usually about half a meter from the opening, but inexperienced diggers quickly lose the trail. Visitors, particularly children, hold the flashlights while Sơn works. Once he reaches a crab, he lets guests take turns catching it, providing gloves to protect them from bites.

Sơn caught nearly 50 crabs in about an hour. The children cheered each time he brought one up. Even Tuấn Kiệt, a visitor from Ho Chi Minh City who repeatedly lost the trail, eventually caught a crab with Sơn’s help. Minh Châu, a 10-year-old visitor, said, “I have never experienced anything like this before. It may be the most special experience of this trip.”

I have never experienced anything like this before. It may be the most special experience of this trip.

— Minh ChâuThe 10-year-old visitor described her reaction to the nighttime crab-digging activity.
About this summary

Originally published by Thanh Niên in Vietnamese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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