How did you get to Nha Trang?

“It is rare to find a place where one can “touch” the sea as close and easily as in Nha Trang. A coastal city with a crescent-shaped shape has a strange charm, both gentle and simple, yet brilliant and proud” - I still remember what my group of friends said in 1978, when I took my classmates in Saigon to Nha Trang to play. That year, going to Nha Trang was not as easy and convenient as it is now. But the youth did not mind queuing at the bus station at the end of Ngo Gia Tu street to buy tickets when the group of friends returned from Nha Trang to Saigon. Sometimes, when it was almost our turn, the loudspeaker inside would ring out: “Sold out”. So we returned home and waited until early the next morning to continue queuing. The crowded and noisy bus station limited from Nguyen Huu Huan Street to Truong Dinh Street was an unforgettable time for traders, students studying far away, people going to the South, going to the North... The city was small, the Nam - Bac bus station at that time was also small with old dusty buses!

Nha Trang Station. Photo: AN NGUYEN

I remember 1986, the first time I went to Hanoi by train. It took me 2 nights on the train to reach Hang Co station, shivering with the cold of January. On the train back to Nha Trang, I met T., the same age. T., after graduating from Hanoi University of Science and Technology, joined the army and was stationed in Cam Ranh. I remember what T. said: "The first time I went to Nha Trang by train from the north, I was very surprised because there was only one way in and out." I told T. about Nha Trang station with affection and love: "Nha Trang station is a special station that no other station has, it is where relatives can wave goodbye to each other twice, also known as the light bulb station." In their youth, the stories on the train of two young people were rambling, the long road became short.

I remember, when Nha Trang airport was still in the city, the unforgettable scene for many people in Nha Trang in the past was seeing a plane from the sea quickly landing on the runway. I am sure some people still remember the feeling when the plane swooped low above their heads as it passed by. I experienced this feeling again at Dam Trau beach, Con Dao when Co Ong airport was nearby. Almost everyone who came here tried to take a picture of the plane swooping very quickly above their heads and laughed heartily. Or the time in Kedonganan - a fishing village located next to Ngurah Rai International Airport - Bali, seeing the plane take off and land close to the sea made me miss the old Nha Trang airport so much.

In the book: “Three years in Annam or Nha Trang 100 years ago”, in 1904, Mrs. Gabrielle-Maude Candler Vassal, an Englishwoman, was amazed when she arrived in Nha Trang by ship at 5am: “The scenery was wonderful! I will never forget the feeling of ecstasy that morning. This was the beautiful land where we would live in the future!... The sun had just risen. The dark patches stretched across the mountain slopes while the parts that received the light stood out clearly with strange colors... I felt like I was standing on a tropical forest road, on both sides of the road were beautiful flowers and green lawns as green as in Europe. The ship gradually entered the bay, the water was as blue as the Mediterranean...”.

Cu Hin Pass - Road connecting Cam Ranh airport - Nha Trang.

The 20th century passed, the old Nha Trang gradually faded away, remaining only in the memories of the people of the old Nha Trang. Coming to Nha Trang today is very convenient when there are many means of transportation: cars, planes, trains to choose from. The 2 South - North bus stations are located separately at the 2 ends of the city. The scene of jostling and queuing every day is almost gone when now there are apps on the phone to buy tickets, just a few clicks on the phone; even going abroad or returning to Nha Trang from abroad can be purchased via phone apps when Cam Ranh airport now has many international flights.

The road to Nha Trang city from Cam Ranh airport is so wonderful when passing through the spectacular Cu Hin pass, seeing the blue sea makes me eager to go home or eager to get to the place where I will stay for a few days, even a month like some of my friends from Nha Trang who are currently living in Saigon and abroad who bought houses in Nha Trang as a resort. Coming back to Nha Trang to swim in the sea, eat familiar dishes that my mother used to cook is really the best after years away from home, working hard in a foreign land. I am no exception to that feeling every time I sit on the bus from Cam Ranh airport to Nha Trang, not only excited to see the blue sea again, the memories spread out but also the feeling of coming home.

The road to Nha Trang city is beautiful in every way, when going on Vo Nguyen Giap street or 23/10 street to go through Ngoc Hoi overpass to see another side of Nha Trang that did not exist in the past, no one thought of. I like to see Nha Trang city surrounded by mountains, when going on this overpass in the early morning or late afternoon, there are very beautiful colors of dawn or sunset, so I can't help but exclaim: "Why is Nha Trang so beautiful!".

And most recently, I returned to Nha Trang on a train departing from Saigon station. Stepping down from the platform, I could not avoid the emotions of “train arriving, train departing”. I remember my youth, chatting endlessly with T. on the train from Hanoi to Nha Trang. The feeling of joy and sadness when welcoming my child home, seeing my child off when he went to school far away, taking my mother to Saigon, picking her up, or picking up my siblings and friends to Nha Trang and seeing them off… I dragged my suitcase very slowly, enjoying the leisurely moments on the platform in the mood of a person returning… The station was still awake, the streets were not yet asleep, the shops still had people eating late at night, walking around… So familiar, as if I had never been away from Nha Trang.

DAO THI THANH TUYEN

Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/nha-trang-ky-uc-va-khat-vong/202410/ban-da-den-nha-trang-bang-duong-nao-443452b/