The place with the most poisonous snakes in An Giang is on That Son mountain, which used to be full of giant snakes, it sounds scary.

Every year, during the summer break, I receive a message from Chau Naru, a Khmer friend in Bay Nui area, An Hao commune, Tinh Bien town, An Giang province.

The content was only a few words but it evoked a strange feeling in me. I immediately arranged a trip to Cam Mountain with Naru, to be immersed in the endless nature together.

1.

The people of the West have a saying: "Who wants to see the high mountains/ That Son, Cam Mountain, join us on the road". Local legend has it that the name Cam Mountain originally came from Nguyen Anh's order when he fled to That Son.

To avoid revealing his whereabouts while hiding on the sacred mountain top waiting for the opportunity to turn the tide, Nguyen Anh ordered villagers and hunters to be "banned" from coming to this place.

Gradually, that command became the name of the mountain, to distinguish it from dozens of other mountains in the That Son cluster.

In the book "Gia Dinh Thanh Thong Chi", Trinh Hoai Duc called Cam mountain "Doai Ton", some people read it as "Dai Ton". This name is based on the shape of the mountain lying in the direction of "Doai" and "Ton" (according to the calculation of the Eastern eight trigrams).

In the book "Dai Nam Nhat Thong Chi" compiled by the National History Institute of the Nguyen Dynasty in 1865, Cam Mountain was first called "Cam Son". From then on, the name "Cam Son/Thien Cam Son" or "Cam Mountain" appeared commonly in almost all documents written about the mysterious That Son region.

Some people also call Cam Mountain "Cam Son"https://danviet.vn/" Gam Son" (beautiful mountain). Khmer people in the Bay Nui region call Cam Mountain "Phnom Popial", meaning "the colorful mountain".

A corner of That Son mountain area, Tinh Bien town, An Giang province.

After the heavy rains of early summer, the That Son range was covered in a cool green color. It was also the most ideal time to go mountain climbing, Naru said.

We got up very early, prepared some dry food, drinking water, and a few other things and put them in a small bag for Naru to carry. He did not forget to tell me to use elastic bands to tie the two legs of my pants tight around my ankles, in case leeches crawled in and bit me when I went into wet places.

We both wore military boots, both for climbing convenience and to avoid being bitten by snakes. Each of us also carried a two meter stick to lean on when climbing and to ward off snakes.

Speaking of snakes, this area is teeming with them, most of them venomous. In addition to clouded tigers, Bay Nui is also home to dozens of other venomous snakes such as king cobras, cobras, butterfly cobras, tiger cobras, ground cobras, and elephant cobras...

There is a folk saying: "If bitten by a mai mam ram, you will lose your life immediately, but if bitten by a cobra, you may be able to return home for treatment."

Naru showed me two venomous snake bites, one on his left arm and one on his calf. He said the one on his arm was from a viper, and the one on his leg was from a tiger snake.

I asked him if he saw it or not to know so well, he said no, but a snake doctor can look at the wound and guess what species bit him because a good snake doctor can also tell if the bite was from a male or female snake, and how many kilos it weighed.

In this Bay Nui, there are only two snake charmers who can do that, Tu Den in Voi Mountain and Chau Phonl (Khmer) in An Cu. Tu Den treats snake bites by applying secret medicine to the wound, while Chau Phonl uses his mouth to suck out the venom, then applies medicine to the wound.

Seeing that I looked worried, Naru immediately reassured me. Venomous snakes only bite when they see danger, such as when we try to catch them or accidentally step on them. Normally, they rarely actively attack people.

The stick that Naru gave me was also a way to avoid poisonous snakes. Before stepping into places with lots of rotten leaves or covered with grass, I had to wave the stick around, if there were snakes, they would crawl away. Naru had learned these little details from more than twenty years of traveling in the forest and mountains, and now he taught them to me like teaching a student who had just started elementary school.

2.

We stopped for the first stop on a large rock on the eastern side of Cam Mountain. At this time, the sun began to weave its pristine rays of the new day over the forest patches, then slowly sprinkled its light onto Vinh Te fields. We took out some potatoes for breakfast, welcoming a pure and brilliant dawn.

Naru sat quietly, his eyes on the distant fields at the foot of the mountain. Naru was busy all year round. During the harvest season, he went to harvest rice and carry rice for hire all day long. After the harvest season, he climbed palm trees, went to the mountains to collect bamboo shoots, and picked wild fruits to sell.

Just like that, that strong young man always worked hard so that his family of four never went hungry. I met Naru when I led students to Bay Nui to do summer volunteer work. Our group of teachers and students "stationed" at a kindergarten in An Hao commune, also near Naru's house. After that time, he and I kept in touch with each other, every early summer he would text me to go to the mountain, every year for more than ten years.

After breakfast on the rock, Naru began to lead me into the dense forest, where there were almost no paths. He held a spear in his hand and cut down the branches that blocked the way while moving quickly forward.

I groped after Naru, many times not seeing his shadow anywhere, only knowing to lean on the branches he had just cut down to keep going. Every time I caught up, Naru had harvested something from the forest, sometimes a wild bamboo shoot, sometimes a honeybee nest, sometimes a few clusters of bright red longan fruit, or some round persimmons like marbles, or juicy purple wild tram fruits...

All of these things brought to the market became favorites of the locals and specialties for visitors from far away. Just like that, in one morning, Naru's back bag was filled with products of the mountains and forests.

We chose a smooth rock to sit down and have lunch and rest. Next to the rock was a small shrine, Naru said it was a shrine to the tiger, because people who went to the mountain used to see him sitting there.

The terrain of the Southwest region is mainly alluvial plains, only the That Son area in An Giang province is considered "semi-mountainous", the plains are interspersed with overlapping mountain ranges. Therefore, this place is also the "territory" of wild animals, of which tigers are typical.

Many legends tell of clashes between humans and tigers in That Son, always tinged with a mystical spirituality like the land itself. Strangely, folk tales related to That Son tigers often follow a generous motif.

Tigers and humans also confront each other, but they do not fight to the death. Instead, humans often use their sincerity to tame the tigers, and then… go their separate ways. Perhaps this is also the philosophy of life that the migrants here want to convey, that humans and nature can still exist together, and do not necessarily have to destroy each other…

3. Near evening, Naru led me to a hermitage near Ong Buom cliff to stay. This hermitage was built by monk Hue Minh and he practiced here for decades, when Cam mountain was still sparsely visited. Monk Hue Minh was no stranger to people going to the mountain to ask for shelter for the night.

He told us to put our luggage in a corner of the hermitage, then we had a simple vegetarian meal together. After dinner and evening chanting, the monk made a pot of tea and placed it on the stone table in front of the yard. We drank tea and listened to the monk tell the legends of That Son. The later the night, the more dense the cold, the mountains and forests exuded a quiet, primitive look.

Sleep on the mountain is always deep and peaceful like sleeping in the arms of a mother. When the monk chanted the morning sutras, we also woke up and prepared to take the things we had earned yesterday to the market to sell.

We said goodbye to the monk and headed straight to the "cloud market". The market got its name because at an altitude of over 700 meters, in the early morning, this market is always covered in clouds.

When I got to the market, I felt the clouds drifting by, leaving cool mists on my hair and face. In the hazy mist, I saw buyers and sellers walking through the clouds to the market from the trails. The market was crowded but not bustling. People were buying and selling, exchanging goods peacefully.

I suddenly remembered the time I went to the market in Si Ma Cai, Lao Cai province, watching people from the villages go to the market, their colorful dresses like hundreds of butterflies fluttering in the morning mist. The difference is that most of the markets in the North often people carry goods to the market, then sell them and buy something else to carry back. As for the "cloud market" on Cam mountain, people have the habit of carrying goods to sell.

Each shoulder pole is laden with jackfruit, custard apple, wild bamboo shoots, and vegetables from everywhere. They are brought here from dawn, bought and sold until sunrise, about three sao away, then the market closes.

After Naru and I finished selling, we took the opportunity to buy some wild fruits and vegetables to give to Master Hue Minh, then we both went down the mountain. Naru led me down the western slope, not forgetting to harvest a few more things from the forest.

At the end of the day, we reached the foot of the mountain. Naru walked ahead of me, her steps steady and showing no signs of fatigue. I followed behind, looking back at the towering peak, silently admiring myself for having been to that lofty place so many times.

Standing at the foot of the mountain and looking up, perhaps everyone is afraid, but if we are determined to conquer, we can overcome any mountain. Suddenly, I saw the giant Buddha statue on the mountain top suddenly appear among the white clouds, illuminated by the sunset.

Source: https://danviet.vn/noi-la-liet-ran-doc-nhieu-nhat-o-an-giang-la-tren-nui-that-son-xua-toan-ran-khong-lo-ke-nghe-on-20241114113632585.htm