My first rainy season in Ban Me!

The weather in the Central Highlands in July and August is like a spoiled, capricious and cute girl. It is in the middle of the rainy season, the season of cool days, no strong sunshine, mist lingering on the tops of coffee, rubber, pepper, durian trees... Every morning, clouds creep over the treetops and roofs like kitchen smoke, chilly. Streaks of honey-yellow sunlight sometimes penetrate through the thick canopy of leaves to the road. The cold of the highlands in the early morning sneaks up on the body, like swimming in the sea during the south wind season and feeling cold as soon as you touch the water.

I arrived in Ban Me on a rainy day in July - my backpack was wet when I returned to my hostel from the bus station. My heart was in turmoil.

Phan Dinh Giot Street - one of the tourist attractions in Buon Ma Thuot ward. Photo: Hong Ha

The mid-season rains, the thunderous afternoons in the mountains and forests, gave me more experiences of a new life, in the new land of the sunny and windy Central Highlands, the homeland of the epic poems Dam San, Xinh Nha… In the middle of that rainy season in the highlands, I learned to adapt and love life in the red basalt land.

I miss the sea - where the sky is clear and the rain and clouds only pass by like a song. Every morning or late afternoon, walking on the soft sand makes the sand squeak and squeak under my soft feet. The breeze from the open sea and the cool, clear blue water gently caress me, making me feel relaxed.

Summer at the beach is the rainy season in the Central Highlands. My experienced friend explained: July to August is the middle of the rainy season. At this time, the rain is no longer as heavy as at the beginning of the season, but slower, sometimes as heavy as the rain in Hue . Around the beginning of November, the rain stops completely and the dry season begins with dry winds, lasting until the end of April of the following year.

There are afternoons when I get home late from work, the rain in the Central Highlands is not like the rain in my hometown. Some days it comes pouring down like a waterfall, the sky is white, then suddenly it stops as if it had never been here. But there are also days when the rain is drizzling, persistent from early evening until late at night, stagnating on the gray roof of the suburban boarding house. I quietly listen to the pattering rain, hear the smell of the earth rising up, suddenly my heart calms down - remembering an afternoon in the land of Nau with the salty wind and the smell of the sea!

Night. The sound of rain hitting the road, the corrugated iron roof like a throbbing heartbeat. “Wandering alone on this land, following in the footsteps of my ancestors every day. Alone across rivers, across mountains and hills. Looking for the sun and for the eternal lullaby…” - the lyrics are so sacred as if echoing from the great forest, burning with the desire to live, the desire to love, blending with the sunshine and wind of the highlands… it also fits my heart at this moment.

***

A new homeland, where I see the strength of young men like the heroic Dam San, where there are gentle girls like the silent Ea Sup stream, like the south wind blowing tirelessly on the sea, cool in the middle of summer. A land of many ethnicities and cultures, but harmonious, tolerant, open-hearted, like the forest embracing the sea, like the waves lapping at the sand, like me - a child from the sea - being comforted in the middle of the great forest by the love of the highland people.

One day, my children will call this place their homeland, not because they were born here, but because this place has the sweat, dreams and love of their father, a man from the sea, still loves the sea, loves the forest, loves the land and people of the vast homeland, in the long miles of the brocade country!

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/van-hoa-du-lich-van-hoc-nghe-thuat/202508/mua-mua-dau-tien-cua-toi-o-ban-me-07d0f9a/