A Time to Remember: That Day, Phan Thiet…

I have been away from Phan Thiet for a long time, meaning far away in terms of administrative location since the day Ham Tan district of Binh Thuan province was separated to establish a new province called Binh Tuy province (1957), and I am a permanent resident of Binh Tuy, but my citizen identity card is still that of a Binh Thuan citizen.

I was born and raised in the forest of Binh Thuan during the resistance war against the French. And in the past, few people knew about Binh Thuan, but when talking about Phan Thiet, they immediately knew, because Phan Thiet is the capital of fish sauce, distributed throughout the South.

I remember, around 1949-1950, when the war had not ended, my village was a forest (some places called khọt) in Tan Thanh commune, Ham Tan district, Binh Thuan province. This place had famous places for fighting the French, such as: Bau No, Gang hut, Le hut, Co Ke hamlet, Thi tree...

During the years of evacuation from the enemy, my villagers cleared the forest to make fields, planted corn, potatoes, rice, etc. But the daily food was only corn, potatoes, beans, etc. mixed with rice. A pure rice meal was only available on death anniversaries and New Year's Day! During the dry season, we would wait until "there were no ships or Westerners" to go fishing at sea. I remember how the sea at that time was so full of fish! We only needed a wading net, a cast iron net, wading into the water up to our waists and pulling it in a corner to get fish to eat (perhaps because we waded in the water to pull the net, that's why it was called a wading net?).

In 1952, for the first time, I accompanied a group of men and women, cutting through the forest from Tan Thanh to Phan Thiet on foot at the first rooster crow, everyone woke up, carrying things like dried fish, corn, beans, cassava... through the forest in the direction of Phan Thiet. It seemed that at that time, I saw that no one used money to buy and sell, only brought what they had, exchanged for what they needed. I carried a bunch of dried fish (at that time, I was about 8,9 years old, only liked herding buffalo). I was eager to go to Phan Thiet, because I heard that there, water is used to make ice, and ice cream, eating it cools the body!

In 1953, I went to Phan Thiet for the second time. This time I did not bring anything, just went along to keep my mother company. My mother carried a rather heavy load, starting from Cay Gang, Ke Ga, following the sea to Phan Thiet. My mother carried it as if running, I ran after her, my mother said, the load is heavy, must go very fast to make it lighter, try to follow me. We walked until dawn, then Camp Edépic appeared on a sand dune with a promontory jutting out to the sea. At that time, people omitted the word Edépic, and simply read it as Can.

Back to the story of my mother and I following the coast to Phan Thiet. When we passed Tum Lum Pass, Can appeared in front of us. My mother sat down to rest and told me: Let's walk slowly close to the sea, so that the Westerners will think we are going to buy fish and steal it. Especially, you must not look up at Can.

After passing Can, my mother urged me to run, she whispered, we escaped, my child! When we arrived in Phan Thiet, this time what impressed me were the fish sauce containers stacked in a straight line before entering Phan Thiet, which I kept looking at because it was strange and beautiful, I almost lost my mother!

The return trip was more dangerous than the trip. I no longer “went with my mother for company” but instead carried around my waist an elephant intestine (I just found out that my mother brought me along because of this elephant intestine, during the resistance war, elephant intestines were an inseparable item). I estimated that the elephant intestines I was carrying weighed a few kilos. My mother did not tell me what they were (when I got home, I found out that they were lead bars cut and attached to the “ribbons” of fishing nets to be thrown into the sea). At that time, lead was a very important commodity, because lead was used to cast “explosive charges” for bullets, if the French caught them, they would be dead.

Waiting for nightfall, my mother went back to the seashore along the old road. The burden she carried was too heavy for her shoulders, and I had difficulty walking because of my elephant intestines. My mother said, "Try to get past Can, I will open it for you to carry on my shoulders." I asked my mother, "What is that burden that is so heavy?"

Mom was silent… then she said, it was getting harder and harder, I wonder if I can walk anymore? Indeed, from that day until the ceasefire in 1954, my mom did not walk to Phan Thiet anymore.

Writing here, I suddenly remembered a folk song about Phan Thiet boys, no matter how much they loved them, the girls in Tan Thanh commune did not dare to follow them, because they were afraid of Khe Ca pass and Tum Lum pass:

- I love you, I want to follow you too.

Afraid of Khe Ca pass, afraid of Tum Lum pass.

Back then, my mother had passed through Khe Ca pass and Tum Lum pass. Only then did she know:

- The road is difficult, not because of rivers and mountains

But it is difficult because people are afraid of mountains and rivers.

Source: https://baobinhthuan.com.vn/mot-thoi-de-nho-ngay-ay-phan-thiet-129715.html