Wild sunflower season in the border region

Classified as a wildflower, wild sunflowers become a phenomenon every time winter knocks on the door. After days of heavy rain and storms at the end of the year, the cold and golden sunshine of Huong Phung finally awaken the first buds, and then suddenly burst into a brilliant area.

The roads cut through the low hills, both sides of the road were crowded with bright yellow flowers, swaying in the wind. In the gentle sunlight, mountain girls went down to the market carrying garden fruits and vegetables. Shy smiles flashed when meeting the eyes of distant travelers who stopped to admire the flowers on the roadside. Both people and flowers carried the breath of the mountains and forests, still a bit gentle and rustic amidst the "market wind" of the early morning market.

The deeper we go into the hills, the more brilliant the yellow color of the wild sunflowers becomes, as if dispelling the thin layer of mist lingering on the foliage. Wild sunflowers not only beautify the land and sky, but also seem to warm people's hearts. Each flower is small, fragile, and as resilient as the people of this remote border region: simple, hard-working, enduring through many rainy and sunny seasons, still steadfast in the mountain winds. People here still say that when they see wild sunflowers blooming, they know that autumn has passed and winter has come. The season of heavy coffee trucks, the season of dreams of farming is coming to fruition.

Wild sunflower road in Huong Phung commune - Photo: YMS

In the morning, in the chilly weather, groups of students on their way to school pass by the small slope, their coats still unbuttoned, still smiling when they see a few flower bushes along the roadside. Then, when the sunset is red on the distant mountain range, the wild sunflowers once again glow under the last rays of the day. The light is both yellow and warm, like the fire of the earth and sky. Visitors from afar stop, holding out their cameras to capture that moment, but perhaps no picture can capture the emotion of standing among the vast array of flowers, listening to the wind blowing through each blade of grass, listening to one's heart tremble slightly because of the beauty of the mountain and forest flowers.

Amidst the vastness of yellow, I suddenly realized that I was not looking for anything great, just looking for a bit of the warmth I once had. Every time the wild sunflower season comes, it is as if time wants to remind me of the old days, the days when I was a child following my mother to the fields, my tiny hands tightly holding the edge of her brown shirt, inhaling the scent of wildflowers mixed with the morning sun. Now, standing in the middle of the flower season, my heart suddenly arouses a feeling of nostalgia. I miss my childhood, I miss my distant relatives, I miss the peaceful days of the past that now only exist in my memories...

Sometimes I wonder, does everyone in life have their own “wild sunflower season” – a season of nostalgia, of golden memories that just a light touch brings back so many emotions? Amidst the vast hills and mountains, the sound of the wind passing through the leaves sounds like a message from the past. And I, the one lost among the yellow flowers, find myself returning. Returning to things I thought I had forgotten, returning to memories that never grow old in my soul.

The season of wild sunflowers in Huong Phung comes and goes, gently but lingeringly. When the flowers fade, people still carry in their hearts the golden aftertaste of the border winter. An aftertaste not only of the flowers, but also of the land, of the people, of the simple yet profound things in the mountain town.

Yen Ma Mountain

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/van-hoa/tap-but/202512/mua-da-quy-noi-mien-bien-ai-0a541e1/