Dalat - meeting and farewell

This March, I returned to Da Lat on days when nature bestowed upon this land golden sunshine and vast winds blowing along the hillsides. The cold season had passed, the rainy season had not yet arrived, Da Lat was silent, listening to the rotation of the earth and sky.

In the middle of spring, there are no more wild sunflowers and cherry blossoms, but instead rows of purple royal poinciana flowers blooming on the city streets.

For 30 years, usually in early summer and late winter, I have been teaching and grading exams in Da Lat. The first time I took a bus, then I switched to a plane, from ATR 72, Fokker 70 to Airbus A321, I can't remember how many trips. This trip was in mid-March, as a farewell, the Faculty of Literature and History of Da Lat University kindly coordinated with the Faculty of Pedagogy to organize for me two exchange sessions with lecturers and students on the topic "Memories and aspirations for schools".

Dalat University Campus

Photo: Ba Duy

First meeting in Dalat

This time the feeling is completely different from previous trips, sitting on the plane, looking down at the distant valley with the misty mountains and a stream flowing leisurely between the forests that are persistently fighting against the speed of urbanization, my memory comes back to the image of my youth when I first met Da Lat.

It was 1972, the year of fierce battles in the "red summer". At the age of 17, I had just passed the first part of the baccalaureate exam, had been deferred from military service for educational reasons, and was enjoying leisurely days waiting to enter 12th grade. My uncle, Le Anh Tuan, who worked at Tri Dang Publishing House, bought me the novel "Recess" by Nguyen Dinh Toan. The book tells the story of Thuc, a female student who had also just passed the baccalaureate exam, whose family allowed her to follow a group of friends to visit Da Lat, infatuated with the beauty of the highland city with unforgettable memories preserved in the short days that passed as quickly as the moments in the playground between classes.

The author first came to Dalat in 1972.

Photo: NVCC

Borrowing the words of the character - the narrator, Nguyen Dinh Toan wrote a very evocative passage: "Standing on the mountain slopes looking down at a plum and mulberry forest with sparse branches, I had the feeling that spring was hiding somewhere, just a day, a passing wind, and it would appear with buds and flowers. The happiest thing in Da Lat is the weather that makes people tireless. The air becomes a nourishing honey, we swam in that honey sea. There were afternoons when the golden sun shone on the distant forests, it looked as if all the leaves had turned into flowers. There were also days when the sky suddenly turned to rain, the rain made the sky low, we hurriedly paddled our boats on the lake to return to shore because we had gone too far, but sometimes we sat bored in the shop, the rain still hadn't fallen. The lake surface was like a mirror reflecting the beauty of Da Lat...".

Hearing me say that Da Lat was so attractive, wishing I could set foot there, my uncle generously rewarded me with a trip that would be memorable for the rest of my life. That year, the road from Saigon to Da Lat was not really peaceful, we bought tickets for the Traction, a small passenger car like a taxi, thinking that if we encountered a road with a mound of earth, it would be safer than taking a bus (!). When the car just passed Bao Loc pass, I was stunned by a magical scene that I had never seen before: on both sides of the road were lotus ponds, rows of royal poinciana, and vegetable gardens; the higher we went towards Prenn pass, the car ran through the pine forest, the cool weather penetrated my skin, permeated my heart with a feeling of excitement that was hard to describe.

During the days in Da Lat, my nephew wandered around the alleys, walked around the deserted Xuan Huong Lake, visited Cam Ly waterfall, Cu hill, stood outside and stared blankly at Da Lat University and Bui Thi Xuan School. I longed to return to Da Lat, secretly wishing that when I grew up, I would have a house with mimosa flowers in the front yard.

Reunion with Dalat

Yet it was not until 23 years later that I had the chance to meet Da Lat again. In 1995, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education and Ho Chi Minh City University of General Sciences (now the University of Social Sciences and Humanities and the University of Natural Sciences - Ho Chi Minh City National University) jointly opened two graduate classes in literature at the College of Education and Da Lat University, thanks to which I got to know the literature teachers here, who later made many contributions to the research and teaching of literature.

The author in 2024, drinking coffee at Thuy Ta house when returning to Da Lat

Photo: NVCC

That year, having just been elected as Head of the Faculty of Literature and Journalism, I thought I had to contribute to the successful organization of a graduate class whose students were mainly lecturers of the Faculty of Literature, Dalat University. I invited famous senior teachers who did not mind the long distance, sometimes having to take a bus to teach and guide theses: those were Professors Hoang Nhu Mai, Le Tri Vien, Le Dinh Ky, Nguyen Van Hanh, Nguyen Dang Manh, Tran Thanh Dam, Luong Duy Thu, Mai Cao Chuong, Tran Huu Ta, Hoang Huu Yen, Nguyen Loc, Chu Xuan Dien, Le Ngoc Tra... At the end of the course, the whole class defended their theses with distinction, many went on to study for a doctorate and took on the responsibility of training new generations of students. Dr. Le Hong Phong, former Vice Principal of Dalat University, wrote an article recounting the touching memories of those first days.

During the exchange at the new lecture hall of the school in March this year, before showing the old photos that I took in Da Lat 53 years ago, I turned on the speakers for the teachers and students to listen to the song "Memories" by Pham Duy sung by Thai Thanh. I said, Da Lat is not just a memory of a stopover, Da Lat is a quiet place where we can listen to the voice of memories on the hurried road of life.

30 years of love

Every time I go to this city, I sit alone at Thuy Ta drinking coffee to write a few pages of literature, go to listen to music in the cozy Can Nha Xua tea room, and at night return to the quiet guest house of the school where there is always the scent of fragrant grass, the smell of pine resin and the sound of dry leaves falling in the silence. Feeling how lucky I am compared to the teachers and brothers who have been attached to this city but have not had the opportunity to return, I often send postcards of Da Lat to Nguyen Xuan Hoang, Hoang Ngoc Bien, and Dang Tien who live far away.

The exchange was attended by many young friends in their twenties full of aspirations. Gone are the previous years’ students from Nha Trang, Phan Rang, Tuy Hoa, Buon Don, Bao Loc, Di Linh, Don Duong, Lam Ha, Duc Trong… who overcame many difficulties to come here with presentations, final exams, and newly-bound theses. Busy with school, new programs, new textbooks, and a hard life, suddenly one day remembering the old class, did they ever smile at a sentence in a lecture, or frown in annoyance at a comment, a strict score?

Exchange with lecturers and students of the Faculty of Literature and History, Faculty of Pedagogy, Dalat University in mid-March 2025

Photo: NVCC

You - those who are coming and will come. We - those who are gradually passing in the endless march of time. And what has passed is completely gone. This time I will no longer meet my beloved colleagues who once worked together here, who talked and shared concerns about literature and current events: Le Chi Dung, Pham Quoc Ca, Nguyen Khac Huan, Cao The Trinh, Le Dinh Ba, Nguyen Tuan Tai... How much affection has been left after 30 years of collaboration with 5 generations of principals and 6 generations of deans.

Before saying goodbye to Da Lat, two of my former students took me back along the train tracks from Da Lat station to Trai Mat station on a late sunny afternoon, then visited the Dream Pine Forest on a blue morning, where the gentle beauty of the old Da Lat has not yet disappeared. I think that even if tomorrow Da Lat is still the name of a city or just a ward, this land, the land of Dat Aliis Laetitiam Aliis Temperiem (Give joy to one person, freshness to another) that A. Yersin had the merit of discovering, is still an eternal image deeply ingrained in the minds of those who have carried memories on their footsteps when passing through here.

Saying goodbye to Da Lat on a sunny day, I did not throw any coins into Xuan Huong Lake, but I knew I would return one day.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/da-lat-gap-go-va-chia-tay-185250326104057242.htm