Autumn at Muong Long, the "gateway to heaven".

(Baonghean) - Situated on a mountain peak 1,485 meters above sea level, amidst the majestic Truong Son mountain range, Muong Long (Ky Son district) was once considered a hotspot for drug trafficking. However, in recent years, through support programs and projects from the Party and State, Muong Long has undergone many changes. The people no longer cultivate opium poppies or engage in drug trafficking; instead, they have consciously stayed on their land and in their villages to develop the economy. Many families have escaped poverty. This autumn, we climbed the slopes to reach Muong Long – considered the "gateway to heaven" – to witness these transformations.

After several days of continuous rain, National Highway 7A in Ky Son district experienced numerous landslides. At one point, near Khe Tang village in Chieu Luu commune, mud and soil from the mountain slid down, creating a muddy puddle. In some sections, half the road surface was buried under earth and rocks. While we were struggling through the mud, a young woman on a scooter sped past us, giggling. I was no stranger to highlander girls effortlessly navigating winding, slippery, muddy roads on their scooters.

As we began our ascent from Muong Xen Town to Muong Long, it started to rain. An old man from Keo Lac village (Pha Danh commune) chuckled and said, "Just wear your raincoats and keep going. Waiting for the rain to stop this season can take a whole day." So we continued. The motorbike, carrying us, sped up. Luckily, the sun came out when we reached Huoi Tu commune. The sun bobbed gently on the clouds. The sunlight was weak and soft. The Muong Long basin appeared serene in the hazy mist. Since the end of 2012, the paved road has reached the center of the commune, and Trung Tam village has gradually become a town. The once deserted market has become bustling. Every day, there's a bus going up and down; at noon, passengers and goods from Vinh City, Muong Xen Town, and other outlying communes arrive at Trung Tam village, and in the afternoon they return to the lowlands. With the road, the face of the Muong Long commune center is changing day by day.

This is a gathering to prepare for the new school year for students in Muong Long commune.

The new school year hasn't officially started yet, but students have already begun attending classes. The sound of the school bell echoes in the mountain wind, stirring excitement in everyone's hearts. For the past few days, students from the villages of Huồi Khun, Loong Kèo, Thằm Hốc, Thằm Han, and Thà Lạ have been carrying books, rice, salt, blankets, and mats to school. Every school year, these remote village students prepare for their new learning season in such an elaborate and arduous way. This afternoon, groups of students, carrying "lù cở" (a type of basket) instead of schoolbags, still entered the school. The girls were shy in front of the camera, while the boys laughed and joked confidently. Hmong boys are usually bold; in the past, by the age of 14 or 15, they already knew how to play pao (a traditional game) and "catch wives." However, things are different now. In recent years, with the construction of roads and new schools, and government support for educational expenses, the boys and girls in the Hmong villages of Mường Lống can confidently attend school.

As we arrived at the commune's People's Committee headquarters, a sudden downpour began. Despite the rain and wind, the key officials still packed their bags and headed to the district for a meeting, leaving only the Deputy Secretary of the Commune Party Committee, Va No Vu, behind. Deputy Secretary Vu said, "At this time, the commune officials are busy preparing for the new school year and the study session on Central Resolution No. 7 with the teachers. We Hmong people here are never short of work. As soon as we finish harvesting peaches and pineapples, we immediately go to the fields to weed the rice paddies. After weeding, we wait for the rice in the fields to ripen before harvesting corn and green squash."

Through a conversation with Deputy Secretary Vu, I learned that Muong Long has 13 villages with nearly 4,300 inhabitants, all of whom are Mong people. For generations, they have been accustomed to planting rice and corn. In the last two decades, Muong Long has added peach and plum trees to their crops, providing additional income for the people. The Muong Long valley experiences bone-chilling winters, while even in summer, the highest daily temperature is only around 30 degrees Celsius. The peach and plum trees are planted and simply wait for the harvest, rarely requiring the care of the villagers. However, these crops have not been able to lift the people out of poverty, for a simple reason that is also the root cause of countless difficulties: the lack of transportation routes. The harvested peaches must be carried on people's backs or transported by horse to the market. How can people and horses possibly carry them all when every household grows peaches and plums? As a result, the ripe fruit falls off the trees when it's time to ripen. The Hmong people are inherently hardworking, and they feel a pang of sadness when they see ripe peaches and plums falling from the trees in the fields.

By this summer, with the completion of the paved road, Muong Long peaches were available at markets in the center of Huoi Tu commune, Bac Ly intersection, and Muong Xen market. Buyers praised the sweet peaches and juicy plums. Muong Long's specialties are truly exceptional! The peach and plum growers were overjoyed. This land has not let down those who worked hard. But we must also thank the road. With the road, the burden on people and horses is lessened. The sadness will lessen on the faces of the Mong women of Muong Long.

At dusk, the rain suddenly stopped, and we visited the boarding house for Hmong children from remote villages who come to study. From afar, we could see smoke billowing from the wooden kitchen. This building, originally a classroom, became a communal kitchen for dozens of students from the remote villages of Huồi Khun, Thằm Han, Thằm Pốc, etc., when a new, more spacious and safer school building was constructed. The new school has been equipped with ceiling fans and neon lights. However, these amenities are still awaiting the national power grid. Currently, the power line has only reached Huồi Tụ commune, 16 kilometers from the central village of Mường Lống commune.

The kitchen suddenly became more lively with the arrival of the reporters. The children were both curious and unfamiliar with the camera lenses. After a while, everyone went back to their tasks. Some lit the fire and cooked rice, others picked vegetables and chopped firewood. They were rushing to finish cooking before 7 o'clock so they could go to class for their evening study session. The electricity from the turbines along the streams was enough to power the compact fluorescent lamps so the children didn't have to use oil lamps to study. When asked, "Are you all full? What did you eat?", the teacher and students of Va Y Gio, while chopping firewood, mumbled in reply, "We mainly ate rice to fill our stomachs; there wasn't much other food." In the corner of the kitchen, in various pots of different sizes, there was only white rice, and the other food consisted of vegetables, bamboo shoots, and a little salted fish.

This year, Y Dở is in 8th grade, and for the past two years, her daily meals at the boarding school have been the same. Meanwhile, Và Bà Ca, a student from Huồi Khun village, said: After school on Saturday mornings, students in the village have to rush home to get rice and food for the following week. Their homes are about 15 km from the school, a four-hour walk. If they're slow, they won't get home until late at night. I asked, "Have you ever thought about dropping out of school?", and Bá Ca immediately replied, "I have to go to high school and then university."

Night fell, the Muong Long basin was enveloped in silence, and the highland chill swept in with each gust of wind. Tonight, we were in the wooden office of the commune chairman, Lau Giong Cai. Sleep came gently. The singing of the commune police officer woke me up. Dawn had broken over the valley. On the mountain roads, children called out to each other on their way to school, adding to the lively atmosphere of the Hmong village. Meanwhile, we made our way to Sa Lay village. We had heard that this was one of the villages that had previously resolutely eradicated opium cultivation.

The road to the village was only about 3 km long, but it was muddy, so we had to leave our motorbikes at the commune center and walk. This small village, with 95 households and over 400 inhabitants, has achieved something that other Hmong villages, both near and far, admire. For the past two years, there has been no cigarette smoke in the village. According to the Hmong custom in Muong Long, during gatherings, festivals, and funerals, younger people or descendants would offer a cigarette to their elders. Currently, only a few young people in the village maintain this custom; the older people only hold the cigarette out of politeness before putting it down on a tray, not lighting it to smoke as they used to.

Village head Lầu Xông Giở said: "Now the Hmong people in Sà Lày village only focus on farming, raising cattle, growing pineapples, and growing green pumpkins. Knowing the harmful effects of cigarettes that can cause lung cancer, they don't allow smoking anymore. Anyone who wants to smoke has to go outside the village." Then the village head added: "In the village, there's Mr. Lầu Giống Cải, who is both a villager and the commune chairman, and he's a pioneer in developing livestock farming. Mr. Cải's herd of cattle has over 20 cows, the most in the village. There's also Mr. Cử Giống Xênh, who has nearly twenty cows. They're all left to graze on the fields. Mr. Xênh is a hardworking man, so he spends his days working in the fields with his wife and children."

In Sa Lay village, it was the rice weeding season, so there were more people working in the fields than in the village. The children had already gone to school early. The houses were closed and silent, facing the small stream. Village head Lau Xong Gio pointed out the houses near the stream, adding: "The village's land is steep, so some houses are facing the risk of landslides. The government has planned to relocate them, but these families don't want to leave because they're afraid of being separated from their relatives, their fields, and their crops."

Around noon, we crossed the "Heaven's Gate" again and returned to the district center. The road to Heaven's Gate is now paved, no longer as difficult as before. As we parted, we vividly remember the words of Vice Chairman Vu Ba Lenh, one of the 600 young commune chairmen born in Muong Long who aspired to return and serve their homeland. He said: "After five years, whether we get hired as civil servants or not, we still feel happy. The important thing is that young people have been given the opportunity to prove themselves, and we are trying our best to contribute to the development of this still challenging region."

Forestry engineer Vu Ba Lenh knows that nature has bestowed upon the Mong people of Muong Long a precious land, but they haven't yet learned how to develop it. Fortunately, the day has come when knowledgeable young people have been given the opportunity to awaken this land full of potential.

Vu Ba Lenh believes that the day when Muong Long will transform and overcome its difficulties is very near.

Huu Vi