If anyone asks me about a place I can visit in all four seasons of the year, I will answer that place is Ha Giang. For me, Ha Giang is not only a place to go but also a place to return, not only an expectation but also a memory and nostalgia.
In my memory, Ha Giang is the feeling of being overwhelmed by the overlapping mountain ranges the first time I met them; the lush green corn on clear summer days; the Ma Le buckwheat hills glowing pink in the early autumn sun; the misty lake surface on cold mornings of 5 degrees Celsius; the Meo Vac hills with mist lingering in the early winter mornings or a fragile flower bud shivering in the frost. At each time of the year, Ha Giang is an unmistakable color in my mind. The land is both familiar and strange, so that every time I set foot there, I am filled with excitement and surprise.
I returned to Ha Giang on a spring day in 2023.
Ha Giang in spring is like a mountain girl who has just woken up from a long winter sleep. She gently embroiders her rough, gray dress with bright pink peach blossoms, pure white pear blossoms, red cotton flowers and a few swaying yellow mustard flowers. The touches are just bright enough to be elegant but do not lose the simplicity that is her personality. Perhaps, only the real things can gently touch every level of emotion.
Ha Giang is a place for those who want to find the wild.
I rushed into spring. I crossed the streets of Pho Cao, Sung La, Pho Bang, Lao Xa, full of new life. The fresh air of the highlands filled my chest. On such roads, I did not need to walk in a hurry, but tried to walk slowly, leisurely so that the picture that was being drawn before my eyes would be deeply engraved in my mind.
For me, dawn and dusk are still two emotional moments. Dawn is the beginning with excitement, dusk is the end with thoughts.
Lao Xa 5 degrees Celsius, we woke up when it was still dawn. The humid and cold air clung to our scarves. Even though we wore three layers of clothes, we still couldn’t stop the cold wind from seeping through the gaps to cut into our skin. Looking down from above, Sung La valley was covered in a hazy morning mist, each layer of mountains hidden and intertwined in the mist like a soft watercolor stain. I stood there, silent, until the first rays of sunlight appeared from the distant forest. When the sunlight began to penetrate through the gaps between the leaves, we turned into a small road in Lan Xi. On both sides, plum trees were blooming white as snow. The shadows of the flowers were printed on the golden walls of the houses. Petals fluttered down on the rustic yin-yang tiled roof. I immersed myself in the peaceful atmosphere as if I could hear the breath of the trees and grass. There were moments when nothing more than what was happening around me was needed to make me happy and at ease.
In the spring, under the plum and peach trees, birds are chirping, trees are budding, and people are hurrying to start working in the fields for the new corn crop. On the rocky fields, mothers carry their red-cheeked babies on their backs while harvesting radishes. Red, green, and yellow skirts bob up and down among the blooming mustard fields. Oxen pull heavy steps along each spring plow.
There are still many hardships and difficulties, but spring makes people's hearts excited and strangely joyful.
Many colors of flowers decorate the spring picture of Ha Giang. Flowers bloom the most in Sung La, Pho Cao, Pho Bang, and Lao Xa.
Small road in Lan Xi, Pho Cao.
Earthen wall house - typical house architecture of Mong people in Ha Giang.
The shy flower branches and petals falling on the tiled roofs are a familiar image in the spring villages of Ha Giang.
Peach blossoms in Ha Giang have large, thick petals and usually bloom after Tet. But this year, flowers do not bloom at the same time everywhere, so the peach season lasts until early March. Peach blossoms in Ha Giang have 5 large, thick petals and are bright pink. The tree trunk is strong and sturdy.
Lao Xa villagers harvest cabbage.
Besides peach and plum blossoms, the spring picture of Ha Giang is also adorned by the pure white color of pear blossoms. Normally, pear blossoms in Ha Giang will bloom a lot in mid-March.
Pear flowers are pure white, with 5 petals, blooming in clusters from the tree trunk. From a distance, it is difficult to distinguish pear flowers from plum flowers because they have similar colors.
Red cotton flowers in Khau Vai. Photo: Vuong Cuc.
Simple life on the doorstep of people in Lao Xa, Sung La.
After Tet, when the weather warms up, people start weeding, harvesting cabbage, and going to the fields to plow the land for the new corn crop.
