There was a time when Nha Trang beach was known as the white sand poplar land with its wild, gentle and poetic beauty. The sandy beach only ran a short distance from Lau Ong Tu to the intersection of Tue Tinh street, then stopped, giving way to poplar rows and deserted sandbanks. There, there were many sections filled with patches of green sea spinach spreading from the shore to the foot of the waves, along with bright pink morning glory and tigon swaying in the sun and sea breeze... For me, it was a childhood by the sea, full of emotions, lingering until today when I remember the old coastal land of my homeland.
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At that time, the Provincial People's Committee was adjacent to Lau Ong Tu - after liberation, it was the Police Guest House - forming a wild arc of sand. Here, tigons and morning glory grew in abundance, covering the fence of the Provincial People's Committee all the way to Lau Ong Tu; under the sand, sea spinach grew into an immense green carpet. Children from Con hamlet and Dam market often wandered here to play and considered this as their childhood. At that time, we did not know the meaning of the legendary tigon flower in poetry, but this fence full of pink flowers had many "friends" who liked to hide: orange petals, coconut beetles, grasshoppers, mantises... Every time we went out to play, we searched in the leaves and flowers to catch insects to play with or bring home to raise. The girls cut the strings to make flower headbands to wear on their heads like princesses. After walking around the tigon hedge, the children also climbed over the fence to go into the garden to pick up ripe lekima fruits that had fallen all over the garden and picked them up to eat on the beach; or went to the sea spinach field to roll around with great delight. Wild sea spinach grows like a cool green carpet, and when the sun comes up, its flowers bloom purple and sparkling. We play on the leaf carpet, and occasionally we see a moldy lizard emerge from a sand cave, its eyes blinking. When it sees people, it ducks down, leaving only a few grains of sand behind. There was a period when we learned to trap lizards by placing a noose with a bait of grasshoppers or duckweed in front of the cave. We would bring any we caught home for our brothers and sisters to grill with salt and chili. The lizard meat is white and tough like chicken meat. At that time, Nha Trang beach had a lot of lizards, they were everywhere, the most abundant were on the sea spinach carpet because the shoots of the sea spinach were the lizards' food. Along with the lizards were the wind crabs. They ran rustling on the sand and then disappeared under the leaf carpet, making the children chase them, screaming like they were playing duck catching. Stubborn and cunning, but the crabs could not escape us, every time we went to the beach, the children caught a bunch...
The sea in the past was peaceful and wild from the sand to the foot of the waves. Nha Trang people rode mini bikes, cyclos or walked to the beach in the morning and afternoon. In the afternoon or evening, the beach often sold sugarcane juice, along with pre-made fruits, a modern-day snack. Many people still remember the carts containing glass jars of pickled star fruit, guava, mango, peeled green plums and dried squid for people to buy and enjoy while enjoying the sea breeze.
If we didn’t go with our siblings or family, we would go to the beach to play in the deep green natural areas mentioned above. I still remember when we got tired of playing with the trees and leaves on the sand, we would walk along the rocks of Lau Ong Tu to hunt for shrimps, green crabs, or snails and clams hidden in the caves; we would wade along the waves, looking for anything we liked to bring home to play house with our friends. In addition to the calm sea waves, even when the sea was stormy, we would go out to play to watch the fierce waves bite the sand but could not swallow the sea spinach. The tigon trees, although windy and stormy, when calm, they would shine brightly with the sun. When the storm passed, more children went to the beach because the beach was full of trash and countless things that were toys to children: pieces of foam, small bottles, green fishing line or pure white coral branches...
Time has passed, our generation has grown up, the old shore is also different. The tigon and sea hibiscus beds in front of the Provincial People's Committee and Lau Ong Tu have also disappeared to become stone embankments... The sea is cleaner but the sound of nature is no longer there, although every season moss still follows the waves to cover the green rocks where our childhood footsteps used to walk...
We miss our dear insect friends: Orange wings, coconut beetles, grasshoppers, praying mantises... lurking in the tigon forest or the stubborn sand lizards under the sea morning glory carpet... They have accompanied my childhood forever with the waves of time.
DUONG MY ANH
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