Many families feel lucky when their children return home after a period of working hard outside and express their desire to follow parents' footsteps.

Following parents' footsteps

Nearly 20 years ago, when her husband passed away, Mrs. Dinh Thi Mua and her 6 young children left Duy Hoa Commune, Duy Xuyen District, Quang Nam Province for her hometown of Da Nang to rely on her relatives. The only things she carried with her at that time was a recipe for ‘My Quang’ (Quang noodles) learned from her mother-in-law.

Mrs. Dinh Thi Mua supports her son to open a Quang noodle eatery in Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City. (Photo courtesy of the character)

In order to have money to take care of her children, she decided to open an eatery ‘My Quang Ba Mua’ at 58 Ong Ich Duong, Cam Le District. In addition to such popular ingredients as beef, pork, shrimps, quail eggs, frog, chicken and snakehead fish, she also offers Quang noodles with mussels - a traditional dish that her family often uses to treat guests from far away.

Apart from the strange broth, the noodles have a very unique flavour when adding cornstarch to create a good smell. Thanks to this kind of Quang noodles, Mrs. Mua's eatery has become a frequent destination for many diners inside and outside the city.

Over time, Mrs. Mua has opened 18 new eateries but still kept the traditional recipe. She remarked that in order to create a delicious bowl of Quang noodles, in addition to native rice without pesticides, the order of using seasonings also creates a pot of quality broth.

After learning to cook Quang noodles from his mother, Nguyen Dinh The expanded the brandname of ‘My Quang Ba Mua’ to Ho Chi Minh City by consecutively opening 2 eateries in Tan Binh District.

According to Mr. The, the childhood of the 6 siblings was associated with from their mother's Quang noodle eateries, so they were familiar with how to choose noodles, ingredients and seasonings.

Therefore, Mr. The still keeps all the ingredients and the recipe that his mother has passed down. Many ingredients could not be found here, so he asked his relatives to transport them from Quang Nam.

Even sets of table and chairs for his new restaurants were ordered by Mr. The from his hometown in order to give diners a unique Quang cuisine space.

Going through many ups and downs, Thai Thi Hien, 35, the daughter of late doctor Thai Don, has been active in giving medical checkups and medicine to save patients’ lives.

Hien said when her father was still alive, he spent a lot of time teaching, hoping that his daughter would follow in his father's footsteps. Therefore, every time he went to pick medicine, he often took her with him, instructing how to distinguish each branch and blade of grass in the list of Oriental medicine.

“Knowing that my father had high expectations, I personally tried to reassure him. Especially in the last years of his life, he called me every day to share his career experience. I am happy when I can replace my father to maintain his job, because the medicine cabinet and the knowledge that my father left behind are the biggest assets of my family at the moment" Hien shared.

Perhaps, thanks to the youngest daughter's career in oriential medicine, the house of Thai Don located deep in a small alley on Dien Bien Phu Street always smells of oriental medicine. And books written about the profession of oriental medicine such as Nghiem Phuong Tan Bien, Hoang Han Y Hoc, Bien Chung Ky Van, Trung Quoc Y Hoc Dai Tu Dien, and Y Hoc Nhap Mon he left her are preserved as heirloom treasures.

The joy of children following in father’s footsteps

At the age of nearly 70, old fisherman Cao Van Minh, residing in Nai Hien Dong Ward, Son Tra District, often shows his happiness at he has two sons following his father's footsteps, day by day conducting fishing activities in the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa fishing grounds.

Born and raised in a fishing village, Minh's two children have learned a lot of seafaring experience. In particular, they know how to look at clouds, mountains, and water to predict upcoming weather phenomena. Besides, there are countless experiences gathered by fishermen, passed down from generation to generation.

Mr. Minh said, for seafarers, if they do not know how to anticipate possible situations, it will be very difficult to maintain and succeed.

Therefore, the fact that his two sons Cao Minh Tam and Cao Minh Tan followed their father's footsteps, becoming the captain of two large fishing ships exploiting the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa fishing grounds, was a great joy to him.

As the captain of the fishing ship DNa 90684 TS, Mr. Cao Minh Tam said that he is grateful for the seafaring career, because it is a strong connection between father and sons.

Every day, whether on land or at sea, he and his father still connect, and share information relating to weather conditions.

"Father is a great teacher and a solid spiritual support for me because he has a lot of experience in going to the sea, and understands the weather and rituals," Mr. Tam shared.

Also following in his father's footsteps, Cao Minh Tan, captain of the ship DNa 91060 TS - with about 10 crew members - regularly exploits the fishing grounds of the Gulf of Tonkin, about 200 nautical miles from Da Nang (equivalent to about 370km). He said, after many years at sea, the experience handed down by his father has helped him overcome many problems in the process of sailing.

In Nai Hien Dong Ward, it is not uncommon for children to follow their father's footsteps to reach out to sea and cling to the sea.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hoang, captain of ship DNa 91047 TS also shared the pride in having two sons to follow in the family business.

To easily support each other, each trip to the sea, the three ships of the father and sons depart at the same time and return together when the fish is full.

Asked about the joy of a father whose son following his footsteps, Mr. Hoang laughed loudly and proudly "In the past, I was a captain and my children were crew members. Now that they become captains of alarge-capacity fishing ship is nothing more fun and happy".

Reporting by TIEU YEN - Translating by M.DUNG