Hoi An, Vietnam: Baguette, Bakers, And An All-Nighter

At around 3 am on either the 6th or 7th of August I found myself wandering around the streets of Hoi An in central Vietnam.  I'd arrived an hour earlier and tried six guesthouses in town-- no one had any rooms.  Resigned to my situation, I decided to walk around town until sun-up.  About ten minutes in and down one of the many dark and empty streets I passed by a first-floor room, lit and bustling with four men and three ovens.  As I passed by one of them yelled something at me and, being bored and wandering, I went over to see what they were up to.

I ended up spending the next 5 hours with the bakers, watching them bake baguette as we engaged in simple conversations built out of their broken English and my non-existent Vietnamese, and in general just enjoying the serenity of spending those twilight hours with kind strangers as they produced hundreds and hundreds of baguettes.

 What follows is a brief series of photos from that late night and early morning.

The bakers baking.

Step 1: Shaping the dough into baguette form.

The formed dough waiting to be placed on the oven sheet.

Transferring the dough to the oven sheet.

Adding the dough to the oven.

Removing the finished baguettes!

Preparing the baguettes for market.  Goodbye, warm bread!