The street evokes the soul of the land and people...

(Baonghean) - Lucky Street after the changes of time and landscape, still retains the old people and old land so that at any time you can hear stories about the past from the motorbike taxi driver, the bicycle repairman or the strong man with silver hair sitting at the chess board waiting for the "players" to pass by, as if they have been sitting there for many winters... They are people who have been attached to the street named Ho Tung Mau (Vinh City) for at least half a century...

Panoramic view of Ho Tung Mau street (Vinh city).

Coming to Vinh City five-way intersection, standing on the Le Mao dual carriageway, Dinh Cong Trang street intersection or Nguyen Thi Minh Khai street intersection, you will see the spaciousness of Ho Tung Mau street combined with the open space on both sides of the sidewalk, creating a rare splendor of Vinh. That is why Ho Tung Mau street is said to be the street with the most beautiful festival lights and flowers in Vinh!

The road was originally a sandy path that had been heavily marked with the footsteps of people from the sea, wanderers and possibly even soldiers traveling from the boat dock at the mouth of the Lam River to Vinh village, Vong village to continue up the mountain-covered West. At that time, Vinh was still a small town with scattered thatched houses among the dense wild gardens and undulating fields. When the name Trot Nai hamlet came into being and why it was called that, no one remembers, who knows? But the people of Vinh for generations have not forgotten that on Ho Tung Mau street there was a Nai bridge from decades ago along with Thong bridge, Nuoc Da bridge, Kenh Bac bridge... which are places that have been associated with the lives of Vinh people in the joys and sorrows of making a living and the settling of human affection. On the new modern street, Nai bridge is only recognizable as two small railings on both sides of the road, a few strides long, but enough for Vinh people to enjoy beer at Song Quynh stilt house in the summer, or to have breakfast with Hanoi pho at Dung Ngau restaurant in the winter morning, and to linger a bit with the bridge-shaped river full of memories still there...

The late Luyen was one of the prominent citizens in Trot Nai hamlet of Vinh village in the early 19th century with his wealth and talent for trading and making profit from his land. Vinh village is the central area of ​​Vinh city today, the ancestral land of the late Luyen family is located in Trot Nai on land block 17, Hung Binh ward, next to a part of the population living on the north side of Ho Tung Mau street. The Giao Te Hotel yard now used to be the late Luyen's cattle farm, fattening and then sending people to take the cattle along Highway 7 to sell to Laos; next to it was the old Luyen's pig slaughterhouse to supply pho shops and markets in Vinh village... The Nai bridge of the late Luyen family during its prosperous time was a bamboo-paved bridge, spanning a river more than thirty meters wide.

The French once considered Vinh an important land for their colonial exploitation policy. The worn-out sandy road connecting the Lam River estuary became a ship wharf, which was expanded and paved, and the Nai Bridge was reinforced with concrete; the road occasionally resounded with the sound of trucks carrying soldiers and equipment for the purpose of pacifying the West. Then the French built hospitals, railway stations, wire houses... and expanded the crossroads and branch roads in Vinh, from which the current Nga Nam-Nga Sau intersection was formed. After the Nai Bridge was destroyed by Japanese bombs, the Viet Minh government took power and ordered the railway tracks and train wheels from the Truong Thi railway factory to be used to rebuild the bridge. The collapsed concrete was still kept, forming caves and hollows, a place for crab catching and fishing, and became a deep memory for the children of the old Vinh town. At that time, on the South side of the street, where Ho Chi Minh Square runs through, the Central Park and the Labor Cultural House are still just wild fields and wilderness.

The entire southern side of the road is having a unique variation from services based on the operational functions of the Provincial Labor Culture House, the Central Park with sports fields, the clean Truong Son coffee house, the new Pho Hoa garden coffee shop but quickly attracts customers because of its airy space and aesthetic design. Further down is the bamboo and grass landscape imbued with the Nghe An countryside on the Chung mountain slope simulating Ho Chi Minh Square.

Until the 1980s, the only highlights of this street were the Provincial Post Office and the Giao Te Hotel (built on the old headquarters of Nghe An Provincial Military Command) on the North side. In the bustling trading of Quan Lau market, the winter fish hotpot food court and the summer ice cream, the street now evokes a quiet, nostalgic feeling thanks to the ancient cajuput trees rising up, casting shadows in the Giao Te Hotel yard. And, unexpectedly, there is an ancient curve of the 300-year-old family temple, which has been located here for more than 200 years, and has a provincial-level historical-cultural relic certificate. That is the Nguyen Huu family temple of the late Mr. Luyen, a descendant of the 5th branch of Cuong Quoc Cong Nguyen Xi. I talked with the motorbike taxi driver and the bicycle repairman, all of whom are retired workers who have spent their whole lives attached to Vinh Street, to Binh Yen Hamlet (Block 17 - Hung Binh) in the old Trot Nai land. They are all filled with memories and a deep love for their homeland, even though moving to the new city has brought many "changes".

Nguyen Huu family church (provincial historical and cultural relic) on Ho Tung Mau street

In that ancient Nguyen Huu family temple, I also met a nephew who called great-grandfather Luyen "grandfather", now nearly 70 years old. He was a veteran, a revolutionary soldier who was captured by the enemy, exiled to the most brutal prisons: Non Nuoc, Phu Quoc, Bien Hoa, Pleiku, Con Dao and was returned after the Paris Agreement. Former revolutionary prisoner Nguyen Trung Dung recalled: "In 1973, after 3 years of being reported dead, the family had held 3 death anniversaries, I returned to the house, only a few steps away from my mother but could not walk to hug her anymore because of the overwhelming emotions that came back... I jumped down and scooped up a handful of dirt and poured it into my mouth, bursting into tears!"...

Please stop and take a moment of Mr. Nguyen Trung Dung's emotional memories, so that I, you and those who love Vinh city today have the opportunity to walk on Ho Tung Mau street, follow the soul of the land and people to return to Trot Nai - Binh Yen, Vinh village - Vinh to reflect on today's existence and live more usefully, worthy of being citizens of the heroic Red City with rich culture!

Sam Temple