7 reasons why you lose "control" when coming to Nam Can

(Baonghean.vn) - Nam Can, in Thai, means sharing the same stream, with a beautiful meaning that Vietnam and Laos share the same stream. On the other side is Dia Dam and Pa Ca peaks of Noong Het district, Laos, on this side is Nam Can (Vietnam).

However, is Nam Can really a great destination? Please refer to the following reasons to control yourself if you intend to visit this border commune of Nghe An.

1. Encountering “strange” natives

You will have a "culture shock" when you move between where you live and here. They are too opposite to be able to adapt quickly.

Honesty, gentleness, simplicity, that is still the main feature when mentioning Nam Can people. Because of that, you will be "disturbed" because you are forced to believe the "unusual" things you witness.

You can leave your belongings on the road all day without worrying about losing them, and no one will care what is in them, whether they are valuable assets or not? And don't be too surprised if you see a "crazy" hunter who hunts all day without catching anything. But when he sees a fat prey caught in a trap and doesn't know who set it, he quickly runs back to the village to find it and informs the owner to come and claim the "spoils of war".

Be prepared to encounter locals who are "strangely" honest...

2. Having to live a life too peaceful

Do you think you can live in a place that makes you feel like you are being embraced by the vast arms of Mother Nature - a green forest, all covered in green? A place where, a weak old leaf that cannot cling to the branch, is forced to fall to the ground, also creates a musical note. One leaf, two leaves, three leaves, ... will then become a piece of music, and you are the musician.

The place where the old Hmong man sat on a wooden chair had almost no furniture, only dry firewood piled up inside the house and also piled up outside the alley. But the strong vitality of the people in the highlands behind that simple and honest appearance was like the mustard sprouts and corn plants growing up in the fields to reach high...

If you have ever watched the famous movie Journey to the West, then when you come here, you will surely think you are Vuong Linh Quan or Hang Nga Tien Tu. Where are there so many clouds, rolling together to form a sea of ​​pristine clouds in the morning; sometimes they are tinged with the beautiful sunset, clouds flying above the head, clouds touching the ground, isn't it like being lost in a fairyland? So it is not difficult to understand why you think you are a fairy in the sky.

Don't "delusion" that you are a fairy in heaven when holding the "sunset" in your hands like this.

3. Easily "addictive" and delusional

The road to Nam Can is deafening because of the altitude. The winding roads, arranged in the shape of terraced fields, make even the most experienced drivers wary, but after driving once, you will feel addicted.

Addicted to the feeling of freedom behind the wheel, hugging the curves down the hill until breathless; or just leisurely and slowly enjoying the scenery on the way; or the warm feeling when catching a glimpse of peach blossoms blooming along the road, precariously like tiny bright spots in the mist at an altitude of over 1,400m of Phuxailaileng mountain range. The more difficult the road, the more it makes those who love to travel seek to conquer it.

From above, Highway 7A is as soft as a strip of peach silk across the valley, rows of cypress trees proudly stretch out under the sunlight, and gray wooden roofs waft a wisp of smoke behind stone fences.

In that far West, Nam Can is like a young mountain girl, both full of youthful energy and shy and clumsy.

These roads will make any backpacker "addicted".

4. Risk of “lung rupture”

Don’t come here, you will “burst your lungs”, because the fresh, cool air will make you greedily inhale deeply. Nam Can is like a shower in the middle of a dry day when you leave the heat of the city.

Nam Can is likened to a Da Lat or a Sa Pa in the windy Central region because although it is located in the sweeping range of Lao winds, due to its high altitude and the surrounding high mountains, the climate in the summer is very cool.

The mountain tops here are covered with clouds all year round, and one day has all four types of weather: Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.

The year-round sea of ​​clouds will "shield" you from the hot Lao wind.

5. Life expectancy is extended by a few years.

Why come here, to disrupt the “living and going” of human life. You will “have to” live a few more years, because your health will be very good here.

Why? Because here, after picking vegetables, you only need to lightly shake them and they can be cooked right away, without having to soak them in salt water for hours or soak them in an ozone machine. Pigs, chickens, or fish here do not know how to eat "magic bran" to grow quickly, so their lifespans are also "extended" because of that.

Don't be surprised to see an old man with white hair and almost no teeth, still enthusiastically showing the way to a lost visitor, sometimes even enthusiastically leading them to their destination.

The Nam Can old people will make you suddenly feel "insecure" about your health.

6. Have to “walk across the country” to find the market

Do you have the energy to walk across Laos just to visit a market? Just imagining it makes you feel sick, right?

Yet, every time there is a market, the people of Nam Can still walk 1,000m to Laos. Local residents “go abroad” without showing their passports, is it too far to cross the country with a distance of 1,000m?

As a market, it only meets twice a month on the 14th and 29th of the solar calendar. When the early morning mist still covers the mountains and forests, people from the border areas of Vietnam and Laos carry their goods to the market. The goods are so diverse that it is impossible to remember the names of each item. The market is called Nam Can, or also known by the intimate name Doan Ket market, the solidarity between the two peoples of Vietnam and Laos.

But the market is not only a trading activity but also a place to exchange and strengthen the friendship between the Vietnamese and Lao peoples. Some people travel dozens of kilometers of forest roads to the market not to buy or sell but simply to meet and exchange with friends, drink a cup of wine together, and eat a grilled chicken with sticky rice.

Do "international" fairs like this excite you?

7. Don't go, because if you go you won't want to come back.

How can we hide our sadness at the moment of farewell? How can we dispel the lingering, lingering feelings in our hearts? How can we avoid the innocent, sad eyes of the children in the border areas, as if begging us to stay?

Whether you have never been here or have been here many times, it is never enough. The reasons that make us fall in love with Nam Can, we can never tell them all, because sometimes it is just because we love the peace and simplicity of the people, the vast space of mountains and hills, the vastness of clouds here.

Thy Hue