Trees by the sea

Almost all the roads in Nha Trang city lead to the sea. If someone stands at the beginning of the southern road and asks for directions to the sea, just tell them to go straight and they will reach the sea. The road parallel to the sea is a place that any Nha Trang person will miss even though they don’t have to go far. It is a place that holds the memories of those who were born and raised in this small, peaceful, and quiet city.

Coconut trees and tea trees by the sea.

Talking about the sea in my hometown, I often think of the rows of poplar trees along Tran Phu Street, the poplar trees are neatly cut into many different shapes but all look similar to the roofs of houses. Those poplar rows have been there for a long time, when Tran Phu Street was still called Duy Tan, a small road with no sidewalks, and the sea sand still drifted along both sides of the road. When we were only fifteen or sixteen and students at Nha Trang High School for Girls, those poplar rows were a place to gather and date when there were free classes in the middle of the day. A group of girls wearing white ao dai playfully climbed up the poplar trees and posed for pictures. Until now, when someone posts on Facebook the old photos that are still preserved, many people are overwhelmed with emotion, everyone mentions their beautiful youth and misses them. Many years have passed, those poplar rows have also grown up, becoming sturdy green roofs to reduce the force of the wind on days when the sea is angry with big waves and strong winds. At the end of the coastal road, there is also a poplar field that has been planted for a long time. Before, the poplar trees were allowed to grow freely, forming a dense poplar forest. Every time the sea breeze blew, the poplar tops swayed and rustled as if they were talking to each other. Although the poplar forest was beautiful because it looked poetic, it was dark, so people converted it into a garden. The poplar rows were cut to reduce their height and shaped into different square and round shapes. This poplar forest area next to the Youth soccer field has become a very beautiful, clean park with many exercise equipment for people going to the beach in the early morning or late afternoon. Later, people planted more poplar trees on the median strip, which were also groomed into circles, squares, and sometimes crescent moons, making the road less monotonous and pedestrians always felt excited when passing by.

Inside the poplar trees were rows of coconut trees. No one remembers when the coconut trees were planted. When I was young, the coconut trees were still low with branches and leaves spreading out just enough to look like umbrellas with small shade from the afternoon sun for a few people to sit and chat. Those coconut trees were as natural as the waves and the wind. Not many people noticed, so when looking back, the coconut trees on the Nha Trang beach were very tall. The coconut roots are hidden deep in the sand, so the coconut trees catch the wind, do not fall but only sway with the wind. If you pay attention, you will see that the coconut trees standing close together have straight, strong and resilient trunks, but the coconut trees standing alone have very soft, curving trunks. Now those coconut trees are very tall, like adults, but the branches and leaves, although faded in color, still gracefully stand by the sea with the sun and wind every day.

When I was a child, I saw the sea very far from the shore, the light yellow sand was colored in some places by clumps of sea spinach. The branches of sea spinach with smooth green leaves and purple flowers that spread over the sand became poetry, music, and Nha Trang people remember them for a long time. Now, the shore is closer, more beautiful than before, but the pure white sand sometimes makes some people miss the sea spinach fields of those days. Human love is very strange, sometimes just an image, a place, a branch of a tree or a blade of grass can make people miss their whole hometown. Nha Trang people who go far away will miss the sea, miss everything about the sea, and the water tank on the beach, the place adjacent to the beginning of Le Thanh Ton street is a place that everyone remembers. The water tank at Nha Trang beach has been there for a long time, a friend who lives far away from home asked if the water tank is still in the same place, took a picture for me to look at so I can ease my nostalgia. The water tank is simply a lake with a multi-level shower, when the water sprays up, it will create beautiful and interesting whirlpools. That is where the schoolgirls used to meet each other whenever they wanted to go to the beach. Just cycle to the end of Le Thanh Ton street and you will see the water tank standing there, waiting firmly. That old water tank is no longer lonely because people have planted many colorful flowers around it. But if someone chooses the water tank as a meeting place like us in the past, it will probably be difficult to find because the flowers and leaves seem to obscure it a bit.

On the Nha Trang coast, there is also a species of tree that has been there for a long time, without flowers but still very beautiful depending on each season of the year. Those are the banyan trees along the coast, old banyan trees with large trunks, rough and barren skin, and wide-spreading leaves that provide shade for the elderly to sit and play chess every afternoon. The ancient banyan trees on the sea change their leaves according to the seasons, seeing the leaves turn yellow to red and then fall to the ground means winter has come. When looking at the soft green buds like a child's hand waving in the wind, you know spring is coming. Every season, when passing by the sea, you will see very beautiful banyan trees, not only to look at but also to remember, someone will tell that in the past they used to pick up banyan fruits, crack the shell to get the seeds to eat. They will always smack their lips while telling the story as if they had just finished chewing some fragrant, fatty banyan seeds. There will also be someone who tells the story of climbing a banyan tree to pick leaves for their mother to wrap sticky rice, telling the story with a faraway look in their eyes as if they can still see themselves in those old days.

There is another tree species that is perhaps the oldest and most ancient, a tree that refuses to grow after many years have passed, that is the Tra tree. The Tra trees are short, the years pass without growing taller, the signs of time are only imprinted on the branches and leaves with many angles because they have bent to withstand each sea wind. There is a proverb: "The Tra tree bears fruit, the daughter has a husband", the Tra fruit grows in clusters like a bunch of grapes, so it is also called sea grapes. The Tra fruit is edible, has a sour and astringent taste, this is also the nostalgia in the hearts of many people when mentioning this tree species.

Now there are many more kinds of trees planted on the Nha Trang coast, with colorful flowers and leaves and even smooth green lawns. The Nha Trang coast is now called a marine park and is carefully taken care of. Not only tourists but also Nha Trang people are proud of their hometown's coast, so wherever they go and whom they meet, they brag about it. Those brags only express the love in the hearts of Nha Trang people for their hometown.

LUU CAM VAN

Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/nha-trang-ky-uc-va-khat-vong/202409/nhung-hang-cay-ben-bien-8b849fc/