Peaceful afternoon

In the afternoons in Nha Trang, I often cycle around within a 3km radius from home. There are a few places that, to me, are truly peaceful afternoons. Following 23-10 Street, I cross Cau Ke Street, turn into Cau Ke Church, at the end of the road there is a rice field, next to it is a small river branch, above it is a railway track blocking the way. Leaving my bike under the dirt road, I walk up to the railway track and watch the afternoon on the pedestrian bridge. There are also people fishing, some casting their lines from the bridge, others sitting on the riverbank. On the other side of the railway track there is a sandbar rising in the middle of the river; in the past, on summer days, I saw fathers bringing their children here to fly kites, but now there is someone's flock of ducks bustling up and down in the green net.

Báo Khánh Hòa•25/03/2025

Standing on the bridge, listening to the wind rustling in my ears, I looked at the winding river, far away was the Chicken Island on the Cai River. Life is like a river, all rivers flow into the sea. The winding, curving flow creates beautiful, lyrical scenes. I opened the map. Where I was standing was the Quang Truong River - a small branch starting from Dien An to Cau Ke, a branch flowing into the Tac River, a branch running all the way to the Cau Be River junction leading to the Quan Truong River. I turned to look in the distance at Vo Nguyen Giap Street with cars running one after another to feel the peaceful afternoon here.

Another afternoon I cycled to Phu Kieng wooden bridge through Vinh Ngoc. Riding on the road along Cai river, I felt another sense of peace because the Cai river on this side was more lively with boats coming in and out, the sound of motorbikes running on the wooden bridge was loud. Riding, I gradually got further away from the noise and then was surprised when in front of a coffee shop there was a large mango tree blooming brightly, how beautiful.

One afternoon, I went to Luong Dinh Cua street, went up to Binh Cang and circled behind Binh Cang Church to reach Dien Phu wooden bridge. The small hamlet, the houses were full of flowers, the alleys were also bustling with flowers and leaves. I took my bike across the wooden bridge and looked back to the other side of the river, the city. I felt another peaceful afternoon, both near and far, next to the quiet, gentle countryside with vegetable fields, squash, beans, squash, melons...

One day I went further, also following Luong Dinh Cua street and turning onto the road leading to Vinh Ngoc iron bridge. I cycled across the iron bridge and stood there looking at the train tunnel and waiting for the train to pass by to take a picture. In the afternoon, the place was so quiet that I could clearly hear my footsteps crunching on the rocks.

There were also afternoons when I cycled back up to Dien An and turned into Chin Khuc Mountain. Mountains, fields, fields of melons, vegetables, and squash vines created a green color that was both soothing and peaceful. A patch of yellow sugarcane stood out against the green fields, the shadow of a coconut tree was printed on the green rice field. A conical hat was still working hard in the field. Two rows of red banana flowers leading to a house shone brilliantly in the afternoon sun. Against the pink-yellow sky of the setting sun, the sharp edges of the clouds, the green of the coconut trees standing out against the misty mountains created a beautiful picture of the countryside afternoon!

One afternoon in a far away place, I opened an album of photos of peaceful afternoons and missed my hometown so much!

DAO THI THANH TUYEN

Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/van-hoa/sang-tac/202503/chieu-binh-yen-16103fa/