In July, in the midst of the deepest crisis, I received 10 days of unauthorized leave from my boss. 10 days for a spiritual revolution to rebalance everything, after a long period of free fall in both work and love.
In my opinion, Con Dao is a destination for spiritual tourism. More than 80% of people come here to “buy gods and sell saints”, to pray for wealth and fame. A place that is not suitable for people who like quietness, or dream of mountains and rivers like me. But then, instead of choosing peaceful things, I came to Con Dao. Completely different from the original purpose of resting, I was here as a volunteer - a volunteer for sea turtle conservation.
During the first days on the island, I often asked myself in frustration why I made such a stupid choice? Why did I have to wander on the sand for many nights to watch for… turtles to lay eggs? Why did I have to go from one fatigue to another? Was this really the energy recovery trip that I needed right now?
I want to go back!
But it was only later, after I had been back on the mainland for a long time, that I realized that the days on the island were the most peaceful and serene days I lived.
My memories of Con Dao are the stormy days of July, with heavy rain. There was a group of volunteers who wandered the beach every night, digging up handfuls of sand, carefully taking each turtle egg to the nest. In Con Dao, there are many people like me, or quieter than me, who are still working day and night to make life better. Being here helps me realize that nature never rejects humans, but is also ready to fight back if we go beyond the limit.
More than any other land I have been to, Con Dao has a wild, almost primitive beauty of an island sea that has not been destroyed by tourism. I can hear the breath of history when I set foot on the sites here. I am fascinated by the flora with more than 370 species of woody plants, more than 100 species of climbing plants, and 30 different types of orchids scattered across the island.
Bay Canh is a small island in Con Dao, where the density of sea turtles laying eggs is the highest in Vietnam. On the afternoon of the first day I arrived here to undertake turtle conservation work, at the moment of standing before the sunset on the big beach, I smiled. A sweet smile because I knew everything would be healed. Covering my hands with the last rays of the sunset, I felt happiness creeping through my fingertips, feeling my heart being revived with each breath.
The sunset in Con Dao is so beautiful. A universal beauty that can transform into strength and distract my heart from stupor to erratic rhythm. So beautiful that it can be imprinted in the deepest part of my soul. I felt as if my soul was hypnotized the moment I reached out to touch the sun that day. It seemed like I could have it, but it was nothing. It seemed like nothing, but it was lying in the palm of my hand that had been carved with many scars by the years.
One stormy night, I hid from the team on turtle watch in the big beach. Sitting alone in the middle of the ranger station without electricity, following the flickering flashlight, I quickly wrote in a small notebook:
This twenty, I stood here
Between heaven and earth, across youth
In the middle of the sacred island, day and night the waves murmur
Pat the soul, to revive again…
Mentioning Con Dao reminds me of the days of anger in the city, coming to the distant islands and leaving my soul behind. I remember the noon at Dam Trau beach, the sunset on Ca Map cape, the morning on the boat to Bay Canh, the starry sky at the ranger station, the swing under the banyan tree - where just turning around will take in the whole ocean in my sight. I remember every person I met on that trip, every bag of trash I picked up, every turtle I cherished... I cherish every moment that makes up the peace of Con Dao. Where all the colors of heaven and earth are mixed. Where the heart returns to its true purity. Where the soul is dried and warmed by the sunset.
For me, every trip or farewell has its own value. Like standing here, successfully using nature to heal my soul and realizing a truth: Making everything around me beautiful is making my life more beautiful.
