A love for Vinh city

I love Vinh city with a silent but persistent love. So much so that when my husband - a foreigner - first set foot on the train station, he exclaimed: "Vinh city is like that, why do you mention it every day?". At that time, I vowed to spend all our time together to nurture his love for this small city. And now, when I have not yet finished my journey of vowing, he has already loved Vinh city very much...

That love will gradually turn a strange man into a real Vinh, just like the way "it" has miraculously carved into the minds, personalities, and demeanors of many other people from other places.

People often ask me, very sarcastically, that now Vinh city has become the anchorage for thousands of people from all over the country, how can we recognize the “original” Vinh people? I don’t know. And I don’t care. The designation of origin is actually just a prejudice rooted in the subconscious. If you have lived in Vinh long enough, understood and loved Vinh with a simple and strong love, you have the right to call yourself a “Vinh person”.

I believe that anyone who calls themselves a “Vinh resident” can play the role of the most proficient tour guide, with unique and unforgettable city tour packages.

In Vinh city, one must go deep into it, never letting the excitement of contemplation and discovery cool down. The diagonal paths, the chessboard squares, the dead ends, the mossy walls… all contain many surprises.

If someone really trusts me and asks me to guide them around Vinh, I will start my own tour with a sleepless night, as a special gift that Vinh people and Vinh city welcome visitors.

White night is another beauty of Vinh city, not splendid, not decorated, not bustling with laughter. But wistful, but bare, but very worldly. Yet still beautiful!

The white night tour will begin with a culinary journey, from the rows of night food stalls along Tran Phu, Le Duan, Le Loi, Le Ninh streets... with egg sticky rice, wet rice cake, duck vermicelli, chicken pho, eel porridge...

The stalls did not have a grand opening day with fireworks, but quietly appeared and stayed faithfully on the sidewalk corner with yellow street lights, still with a shabby roof, plastic tables and chairs from the day they opened, seemingly until more than ten years later, when the female customer who was once a naive young girl became a single mother with two children and returned, still in the same old shape.

I guess that every Vinh citizen, past or present, has his or her own familiar addresses for late-night bars, so that when he or she accidentally steps out of line or is in a hurry to make a deal, they can stop by. Whether this year or next year or ten years from now, the night bars in Vinh are still there, unconsciously preserving and recalling the memories of each person. Oh, this place, this table, where my lover and I used to sit.

The taste of late night food is still the same, hot enough, touching enough... Late night eateries have no history, never "become" fancy restaurants, but without it, what would make up the appearance of Vinh city, what would make up the sediment of Vinh people's memories?

But my city tour is not just a culinary adventure. When dawn breaks, listen to the first bustle of the new day in the city. Not as noisy as Saigon, not as bustling as Hanoi, not as hazy as Hue, Vinh city wakes up with gentle, simple sounds, and if you have a camera in hand, don't hesitate to capture those magical moments.

Fragile moments of transition between day and night, between dark and light, between stillness and movement. Take a picture, and when you open it, what do you see? Busy vegetable trucks from the suburban communes to the city for the first market of the day, old men sweeping the sidewalks, neat shops opening their doors, cheerful greetings to neighbors…

If you are truly moved by those simple, quiet movements, then congratulations, you have the first layer in the sediment of memories about Vinh city.

Then tomorrow, that sediment will still be covered with moss, although the next journey to contemplate Vinh city is all about simple things. Like visiting the Quang Trung multi-storey building - the pride of Vinh city in the past. Today, the multi-storey building is hidden among the modern and majestic high-rise buildings, and its appearance has been forgotten in the historical border layer of Vinh city in the early 21st century. Standing at the football field of building A1, C2 or any common living area in the multi-storey building here, you can feel the very special rhythm of life that, because of it, can forgive all the erosion, clutter, ugliness, narrowness... of the old collective housing area that is less than half a century old.

Only when coming here can we realize that the journey to contemplate Vinh city with its food or restaurants, old or new houses and skyscrapers is just an excuse. It is the stories, the simple and very Vinh lifestyle that create the atmosphere of this city - a spell that is difficult to break even for the residents.

I do not intend to be a professional and rigid tour guide by introducing all the destinations in Vinh city. That is certainly not difficult in the current technology era, just a few clicks and you will have a map to guide you. I only guide with my own private ideas, hoping to charm the love of Vinh into anyone's soul. Even with that, I already see myself as very Vinh, although I myself am not a native of Vinh.

Vinh people have a frankness, a stubbornness, a noise, a stubbornness that makes strangers somewhat reserved in their interactions. But after staying for a long time, Vinh people are also sincere, hospitable, sincere, "telling what you see". These mixed personalities have created a very unique atmosphere of Vinh city, making not only me, but many other residents, cry many times when stepping on a crowded inter-provincial bus to make a living. Keep going, residents of the city, to satisfy your wanderlust. Vinh city is still here, as a witness to the return, as a healer of the wounds of the heart, as the homeland of all. If the city speaks, I believe, the city will say so...