"Wherever I go, I always remember my homeland / I remember the salty fields and the love of my hometown / Wherever I am, I always want to return / The spicy ginger, the salty salt, the vows of yesteryear"...

A doctor originally from Bac Lieu province was inspired by the scene and wrote these verses, which he posted on his personal Facebook page. The "scene" here refers to the many images circulating on social media about the Vietnam Salt Festival - Bac Lieu 2025, while the "feeling" is perhaps his affection and longing for his birthplace. Normally, he's engrossed in his work, but whenever something happens in his hometown, he feels a pang of nostalgia. It seems that everyone far from home shares this sentiment.

“When we are here, it is merely a place to live; when we leave, the land suddenly becomes a soul.” The doctor even quoted those two lines of poetry – lines he jokingly said he “only memorized them in school hoping to avoid failing exams.” But now, as someone far from home, older, he cherishes those memories and days spent in his hometown even more. Especially in that hometown, where the salty grains of salt in the spicy ginger symbolize the unwavering loyalty and devotion between husband and wife, now being elevated to a new level, with a festival honoring the heritage craft – the salt-making of Bac Lieu. It fills him with a mixture of pride and emotion about his salt-making homeland of Bac Lieu.