Remember the trips

Anyone who has chosen to dedicate their life to journalism understands that, to be able to write, one must first travel and experience to have some material for past work.

Young reporters of Lam Dong Newspaper give Mid-Autumn gifts to children at Loc Chau Primary School (Bao Loc City)

In the early days of my career, every morning when I woke up, I always asked myself “what will I do today?”. And “going” was the way I found the answer. My first trip was “undefined”. I followed the roads of brilliant yellow flowers. Not born or raised on this land, so after that first trip, I learned and heard about wild sunflowers, the flower that quietly cherishes every drop of dew and ray of sunlight waiting for the day to bloom all over the hillsides. So then, the 22-year-old me or now, still wants to “burn” myself out, especially with words like wild sunflowers offering life the yellow color of flower seasons.

And the first trip with a “product” was the trip to Da Tong commune, Dam Rong district, when the Editor-in-Chief assigned me to write about a young man from an ethnic minority group who had many outstanding achievements that were recognized at that time. He assigned me the task and told me: “Just take the bus and go there, write whatever you can, and if you can’t write, it’s okay, just go and see”. I confidently set off. Dam Rong was poor and far away, but for me at that time, everything about this land was new and strange. That’s why I chose Dam Rong - the most remote and difficult district of Lam Dong province and one of the 62 poor districts in the country at that time - to start my journey of traveling and writing. For someone who had just started his career, with zero experience and skills, the only way was to go there, witness it with my own eyes, and be moved with my own heart, so that what I wrote could hopefully touch the emotions of the readers. And so, time flew by, I had 8 years of persistent trips back and forth between Da Lat and Dam Rong. I had close friends in that difficult land, and the person who told me “go ahead” has also gone to the vast mountains and hills.

During those early years, I also went to Bao Loc, where Lam Dong Newspaper had a representative office, to go with them to the districts in the south of Lam Dong. My colleague took me through the lands, explaining to me about the places I heard for the first time. That is why it is called Madaguoi, why there are names like Da Huoai, Da Teh, why in the Central Highlands there are communes like Quang Ngai , Quang Tri... He told me: "Details, details, details... collect as many details as possible first, like how to pick up broken bricks to build a house, then do a lot and you will know how to choose valuable details". Those meaningful trips in the early days were one of the important provisions for me to be confident and create my own trips later.

The new Lam Dong after the merger will be very large, I am not sure if I can set foot on all the lands or not. But in the current Lam Dong, I have touched all the wards and communes, I have also passed through the sub-areas deep in the protected forests of free migrants. And although not many, there have been trips with unforgettable impressions, most of which were arduous trips through the forest but I am very proud. That is the precious asset that I have in my youth.

"Bread and butter are no joke for poets," Xuan Dieu once lamented. But not only for poets, bread and butter are no joke for anyone, including journalists. That is why journalists also have articles that colleagues often jokingly call "bread and butter". But deep in the hearts of those who choose to hold a pen as a career, I firmly believe that everyone wants to "travel". And once they travel, the words written are "extracted", mobilizing their emotions into language to create an emotional effect that spreads to the community.

Because of the word “go”, being a journalist is synonymous with a lot of hardship. For female journalists, it is even more difficult...

Although the years that have passed are not long, I understand and firmly believe one thing: The previous generation of uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters, the next generation of children and grandchildren, the generations of Lam Dong Newspaper workers have overcome the difficult days with a spirit of dedication and devotion to the profession they have chosen. So that tomorrow, even though things may change, in that place, in those people, the fire of the profession will always burn in hearts full of love and trust.

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/xa-hoi/202506/nho-nhung-chuyen-di-cfa2fdf/