Decorate the land fence

Arriving at Sin Phin Chu village in Thuong Phung commune ( Tuyen Quang ), the natural landscape becomes more brilliant because of a wild tree growing abundantly on the mountain slopes of the windy border, that is the hawthorn tree.

Hawthorn is a shrub. Perhaps because of the love for Thuong Phung land with its somewhat harsh but cool climate, the tree is present in all the high mountains of the commune. Hawthorn fruit is not a luxury gift but is very rustic and simple like the personality of the people here. It is a gift of nature for the children of the highlands. It gives the children here a snack when herding buffaloes, cows, chopping firewood... The fruit has a sweet and sour taste and a light fragrance, carrying the flavor of the mountains and forests and the wind and mist of the remote border region.

Hawthorn is not only for eating but also for display and viewing because it is a unique ornamental plant that is loved by many people because of the beauty of its trunk, flowers, fruits and leaves; especially the hawthorn fruit. When it starts to ripen, the fruit is orange-yellow and gradually turns red. It can stay on the tree for 4 to 5 months from ripening, like small torches dotting the gray, gloomy space of the highland winter.

In this land with an altitude of 1,700m above sea level, this wild plant has perhaps the most enduring beauty. In spring, clusters of pure white flowers cover the mountain slopes. In the cold wind and frost of the plateau, the tiny, fragile petals still cling firmly to the tree trunks and then there turn into clusters of tiny green fruit mixed with the dark green of the oval leaves, creating the color of growth and life rising on the harsh plateau land. When winter comes, in the freezing, numbing cold, the small, plump, bright red apples bloom on the gray mountain slopes, along the dry roadsides. Early in the morning, when the morning light dispels the thick fog, before our eyes will be apple branches covered with a thin layer of ice like crystal, transparent and sparkling. The hawthorn fruit becomes more shiny and brilliant when going through the harsh wind and frost, so the closer to the end of winter, the more beautiful the fruit becomes.

Sitting in the house, looking out at the mountains covered in mist, the rustling wind blowing, feeling the cool air of the autumn mountain weather, I feel like I want to sip the sour, sweet taste of the fruit with the scent of the border mountains and forests.

Nature is truly beautiful, even though this harsh land has experienced the pain of the border war more than 40 years ago. Until now, there are still mines hidden in the ground somewhere. But nature still has a quiet and enduring beauty to embellish this borderland to become more brilliant and attractive; making people linger and feel nostalgic every time they visit.