To the place where “mosquitoes chirp like flutes…”

From the wilderness

We headed to Miet Thu to find the old Canh Den land. The journey of more than 70km in the sudden heavy rain seemed to make Canh Den farther and more difficult to travel. The late writer Son Nam once described this area in the 1930s - 1940s in the story "Miss Ut returns to the forest" as: "A green forest covered the horizon in all directions". Then: "The strange thing is that that land is strange and dangerous. Even the name Canh Den sounds strange". Or: "In that land, at dusk, everyone has to go under a mosquito net to... eat"... which is not strange.

We went to the house of old farmer Nguyen Van Dau (69 years old), who had been Party Cell Secretary, Head of Can Base Hamlet for nearly 30 years and then separated to Canh Den. In the spacious house built in the typical architectural style of the Southwest region, after a warm greeting, Mr. Dau began the conversation with the name Canh Den containing many anecdotes.

Farmers in Canh Den harvest giant freshwater prawns

According to legend, around the end of the 18th century, Lord Nguyen Anh fled to this land to avoid the Tay Son army. At that time, in the entourage there was Princess Ngoc Hanh, who, because she was not used to the wind, rain and sun, fell ill and passed away. The princess was buried and a temple was built to worship her. Later, when people came here to settle down, they chose to build houses next to the temple, hoping to receive support. Gradually, the place name Canh Den was formed from that. Currently, Canh Den belongs to the territory of 2 provinces An Giang and Ca Mau. In An Giang alone, Canh Den has 5 hamlets: Canh Den 1, Canh Den 2, Canh Den 3, Can Cu and Thi My in Vinh Phong commune.

“And in Canh Den, do we have mosquitoes that chirp like flutes and leeches that float like rice noodles?”, I asked. Mr. Dau laughed: “Yes! There are countless mosquitoes and leeches in Canh Den. But mosquitoes the size of hens are exaggerated. As for tigers and leopards, I have only heard about them but have never seen them with my own eyes. But leeches are not so bad that they float like rice noodles.”

However, Mr. Dau is certain that, even years after liberation, the people's lives here were still so difficult that three people pooled their rice to exchange for a pair of pants. The land was alum and salty, and cultivation yielded only a few bushels per hectare. Houses were very far away; at night, they could even see stars in the sky because the leaves of the houses were rotten and torn and they had no money to re-roof them...

Become rich

“Canh Den used to be like that - difficult and remote, but Canh Den is different now. Now this area is prosperous, with vast rice and shrimp fields; straight, clean, beautiful rural roads; tiled-roof houses built close together...”, Mr. Dau was excited. According to Mr. Dau, the milestone for this area to change was thanks to the policy of sweetening the Ca Mau peninsula directed by the late Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet. During the period of 1990 - 1995, this area began to raise black tiger shrimp with very high efficiency. Later, the Dan Quan canal, Pho Sinh - Canh Den canal, and Bach Nguu canal were cleared. Most people switched to raising black tiger shrimp and made a lot of money, becoming rich. “I remember at that time, one night of selling black tiger shrimp could sell for nearly 25 million VND, 2 nights for more than 40 million VND; while gold at that time was 600 thousand VND/tael. That's why everyone was interested in raising shrimp,” Mr. Dau recalled.

Seeing the economic efficiency, in 2010 the locality converted most of the specialized rice-growing land to shrimp-rice. Along with that, programs on electricity, irrigation, new rural construction... have opened up opportunities for the whole Vinh Phong commune to develop as it is today. "Now most of the houses are solidly built, the roads are flat, and children can go to school. In particular, the "yawning dog field" area used to be only for buffalo herding has now become a "rich neighborhood", with many households earning billions of VND/year", Mr. Dau affirmed.

Saying goodbye to Mr. Dau, we went to the "rich neighborhood" of Thi My next to the "yawning dog field". Stopping by the house of Mr. Nguyen Hoang Luu (68 years old), residing in Thi My hamlet, we were startled by the story of getting rich that sounded "easy". He briefly said: "In 1991, I came to this yawning dog field to start a business when I had less than 10 hectares of land. Thanks to diligence and luck, for many years I hit the jackpot with shrimp and crab, saving up to buy more land. Like that, by 1997 I had bought 200 hectares. In 2000, I hit the jackpot with shrimp and crab worth more than 500 million VND and built a house that was worth hundreds of taels of gold at that time".

Party Cell Secretary, Head of Thi My Hamlet Dang Van Du continued: “Back then, shrimp farming was very profitable! Besides Mr. Luu, Mr. Nam was also a famous shrimp farmer in this “yawning dog field”. Currently, the locality is developing sustainably with the shrimp - rice, crab - shrimp - rice, soft-shell turtle, snake models...; many shrimp farms harvest dozens of tons per crop; rice yields 8 tons/ha... Therefore, households with a lot of land earn billions of dong, which is a common thing”.

Leaving Canh Den village in a hurry because of the sudden afternoon rain. Now, Canh Den village is no longer "strange" but has become a prosperous place in a remote commune.

Article and photos: PHAM HIEU

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/ve-noi-muoi-keu-nhu-sao-thoi--a425238.html