Many years ago, a friend invited us to go to an island and camp overnight with the whole family. People from the coastal city, who had gone on tours to this island or that, and looked around at the crowds, were not as interested as jumping into the water to swim and watch the sunrise, but hearing about exploring a deserted island was a different story.
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| Panoramic view of the "dinosaur spine" of My Giang, in the distance are oil tanks. |
It was a self-sufficient, free trip, taking care of everything from food to water, food, and personal items. The motorboat picked us up from the fishing village and took us to the island, but stopped outside because the rocky beach was jagged and stretched out to the water's edge, so we had to drop a basket boat to gradually bring people in. The boat did not stay with us but left, promising to pick us up the next day. There were no homestays, resorts, or other basic services on the island, no electricity, no running water, and not even a single person. There seemed to be a few cassava and banana plantations on the rare flat patches of land on the other side of the island, but in general, no one lived here. It was a rocky island shaped like a rough sleeping dinosaur, with no streams or underground water sources, no forests, and was bare under the sun. The group walked for a kilometer to collect dry firewood, but except for some rocky holes or steep cliffs, there was only a little shade, otherwise it was just sun and heat. Interspersed between caves, bushes, and deep streams, there were only rocks and sharp rocks underfoot, in front of us, behind us. It was more burning than the sand in the desert when the sun was hot. And of course, when night fell, the cold from this rocky desert radiated as compensation. If there was no small fire to keep us warm, we would have to sit huddled all night. Those who liked it would go to the rapids to fish, children would go swimming in the clear streams, some would light fires, others would pick vegetables and wash rice to cook. The most frugal thing was fresh water, even though we had brought along several plastic cans on the motorboat. Just imagine the scene of swimming in the sea to our heart's content and then coming back up only to be given a cup of water that was not enough to rinse our bodies. The friend who took us along in the group often followed the boat here to fish overnight every weekend, and had never met the residents here before.
I had a sleepless night under the sky and rocks on that deserted island among my friends, enough to remember forever. I kept thinking that when I would return to this place, then I would probably be the only one who would change, because the mountains, seas, and islands were so quiet and dry that they would be lonely forever. And that was My Giang Island in 2002, south of Van Phong, in Ninh Phuoc commune, more than 20km from Ninh Hoa, less than 1km from the mainland.
From then until now, in April this year, I have returned to My Giang without any prior appointment. The feeling of nostalgia is real. Of course, I know that My Giang is now part of the Nam Van Phong industrial cluster with Hyundai Vietnam Shipyard, Nam Van Phong General Port, and Van Phong BOT Thermal Power Plant. Since 2012, Van Phong Petroleum Bonded Warehouse has been operating right on this barren island with a total land area of 56.7 hectares and 42 hectares of sea surface. Two concrete bridges connect the mainland and the island, one was built in 2008 passing through a residential area, the new, more impressive bridge was built in 2019 connecting directly to the provincial road. Stepping onto what used to be a desolate hill in the middle of the sea, now a highly secure strategic location with a fuel depot with a total capacity of up to 505,000m3 in 29 tanks, a system of 4 wharves that can receive ships with a tonnage of up to 150,000 tons, I was amazed. This is the largest fuel transit center in the country and the region. From a large wharf, I looked far away, Doc Let in the distance, there was a rocky beach where motorboats used to dock to drop off passengers, and schools of fish swam freely in the water. In the port, there are currently 2 tugboats on duty to bring large ships in. Not everyone has the opportunity to observe this area with their own eyes at the present time. I vaguely heard someone say that the weather on the island is very harsh, with a very high fluctuation during the day. This is truly the My Giang I used to be.
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The current oil depot on My Giang. |
Can My Giang develop tourism in parallel? As far as I know, in recent years, young people tend to prefer discovery tourism, trekking rare and dangerous places. "Dinosaur spine" is a phrase used to refer to a small, empty and precarious trail or path across a mountain top without a cliff. Currently, the whole country has only 5 places that tourists come to conquer: Ta Xua peak (Yen Bai), Binh Lieu (Quang Ninh), Hang Dong (Son La), Mau Son (Lang Son) and My Giang island (Khanh Hoa). All have the common feature of being very difficult to set foot on, but with My Giang "dinosaur spine" it seems easier when you just need to go straight across the bridge in the residential area to the island, run to the rocky mountain area separate from the fuel depot which has been fenced off. From the foot of the mountain to the top is not very high, if you are lucky, you can also admire the blue infinity lake in the middle of the sky surrounded by cliffs. On this "dinosaur spine" My Giang, you can see the whole sky and land of Van Phong Bay.
And probably no one knows, My Giang used to be a peaceful desert island in my heart...
AI DUY
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