The road to the sea

(Baonghean) - There is a road that gives me the feeling that it will never stop, there is only one. That is the road along Lam River... Not just because of its length, my friend. But also because of the space it opens up before our eyes, about the place it leads us to. Following the road, is the vastness of Lam River, of sedge fields, of shrimp ponds, of mangrove forests... And that is the road that leads us back to the sea.

Sunset on Lam River. Photo: Nguyen Book

There is a road that gives me the feeling that it will never stop, there is only one. That is the road along Lam River... Not only because of its length, my friend. But also because of the space it opens before our eyes, to the place it leads us to. Following the road, there is the vastness of Lam River, of sedge fields, of shrimp ponds, of mangrove forests... And that is the road that leads us back to the estuary. We will see the ocean right before our eyes, after the rows of red and green painted boats resting on the sandbanks of Cua Hoi area.

As always, when I walk along the Lam River, I have the feeling that this road will last forever. It is a refuge for sadness, for thoughts, for longing... when I come to it.

Those days, actually not that long ago, in 2006, 2007, the road along Lam River was just a dike full of weeds. The dike with the flickering fireflies every night, only on moonlit nights, the moon spread over the surface of Lam River like silver, would a few people come to see it. They were couples, groups of close friends or very rarely a couple of people jogging. But now, it is a wide road, with a fence, planted with flowering trees, providing shade, and even electric lines to light it up so that from afar it would become a rainbow in the night... Vinh city people have known to choose this road as a place to cool off on summer days. The sidewalks are gradually crowded with shops selling sweet soup, iced tea, sugarcane juice, coconut juice... There is nothing better than enjoying the breeze of Lam River on this wide road, in front of the river, the mountain, behind the city...

Lam River Road, Ben Thuy kilometer markers...km, Cua Hoi...km... But who cares about those kilometer markers? Maybe after looking at them, we forget them, because the river breeze is so cool, because the boat on the river is so poetic, because a ship has just docked to deliver gasoline to a nearby gas station and suddenly appears before our eyes with white paint, because there is a kite that the children are flying and shouting loudly on the alluvial land, because we suddenly come across a mangrove forest with green leaves, the white storks returning every evening, because the Hung Hoa shrimp pond is at the time of the light, because one morning our heart suddenly feels strangely relaxed when we see a group of people from the fitness cycling club passing us with smiles of a new day... or simply, because there is a girl's footsteps leisurely walking on the brick sidewalk with rustling yellow leaves, every time the wind comes, the leaves gently fly up and then leave a long, sad streak on the sidewalk.

Mangrove Forest - Hung Hoa. Photo: Nguyen Book

On the left side of the road are lakes, ponds, newly built factories, rarely visited. On the right side is the Lam River, silently flowing endlessly. The fishermen with their drifting lives, feel as if their lives are like a river, sometimes calm, sometimes fierce but the waves at the bottom are always quiet and calm. The dark brown color of the old boats reflected on the river, reminds me of a life different from the hustle and bustle of the city, of another part of the world, quiet but always steadfast somewhere, reflecting on people's souls.

On the other side of the Lam River is the poetic land of Ha Tinh. I love the golden afternoons watching the alluvial land on that side from the eroded bank of the Lam River, when a herd of dozens of buffaloes grazes on the fertile land. The distance of a river makes the image on the other side become blurry. The herd of buffaloes and the shepherds appear as if under a layer of mist. For a moment, I wonder if this is real or not, the herd of buffaloes, the herdsman, the river and this feeling of sad happiness. And this road, in a moment, also blurs like an illusion. The whole sky of the Lam River suddenly becomes mysterious and light like a cloud.

Isn't it fate that I, a stranger to this land, stopped here to take you to see Vinh on the cloudy Lam River afternoons? Isn't it fate that your eyes, which can no longer see the light, can see Vinh through the eyes of me, a person from another place? You often say that in the wind there is the salty taste of Lam River, and the blue of the sky reflected on the water. That more than ever, you can see the city with all your human senses.

On this riverside path, I not only saw the hard-working fishermen, the green leaves, the smooth grass, the unfinished or about-to-be-operated construction projects, the peaceful river and the herd of buffaloes leisurely grazing in the distance. We not only saw the colors and sounds of the world around us, but also truly saw life overflowing in every moment of it.

Thuy Vinh