Photo: Istock
After the night bus from Ho Chi Minh City, I looked for the Dai Ngan Plateau. More than 500 km from Ho Chi Minh City, Gia Lai is a large province of the Central Highlands. To return to Gia Lai is to return to the fragrant basalt red soil roads, to the sun and wind, to the "eyes of Pleiku" – the lake sea has entered poetry, to the majesty and wildness of the mountains and forests and the picturesque rubber roads. Gia Lai is a large rubber growing area of the country, the whole province currently has about 88,000 hectares of rubber.
The climatic characteristics of the Central Highlands in general and Gia Lai in particular are two distinct seasons: the rainy season and the dry season. While the rainy season lasts from May to October, the time to turn to November is when Gia Lai enters the dry season, humidity and low temperatures. In the last days of winter and early spring, when the forest is busy changing clothes, leaves begin to pour down endlessly throughout a large sky.
Photo: Istock
I went to Chu Pah, a district of Gia Lai 30km from the center of Pleiku. As the house becomes sparse and the roads through the rubber forest begin to appear in front of you. I was surprised that the forests here were larger than I had imagined.
Along both sides of the road are rows of rubber trees planted straight, although the trunk is firm and bare leaves, but extremely stable and full of pride like the rustic and hard-working character of the people here. On the rubber stem, there are cuts that are traces left after farmers harvest latex.
Rows of rubber trees continue to do so without an end. I went forever, but I didn't see a single roof. I suddenly thought, or am I lost? The roads were so deserted that the mere sound of rustling under the leaves could startle me. Occasionally, a few motorbikes pass by. The desolation and sucking pigs in the first minutes made me confused, even wanting to cry. As he got behind the wheel, his heart pounded, and his eyes dared to see if there was anyone behind him. For a moment, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to suppress my fear.
Photo: Shutterstock
After a few minutes of resting, the wind blew into my jacket, looking at the red and yellow leaves printed in the sky, I felt hypnotized. I stopped, first feeling strange and small in front of nature, then bewildered by the impressive, vivid and charming picture of the basalt red plateau.
The forest changes leaves irregularly. There are patches of forest and fallen rubber leaves lined up under the tree like carpets stretching on the ground. There are sections of leaves that have just turned yellow and red. In the midst of the blue sky and white clouds, the yellow and red colors of the leaves dotted all over the road immediately caught my eye, my eyes were always thirsty for the beauty of nature. In many situations, getting lost is also the best way to find beauty? Looking at the rubber rows standing upright, I wonder how much effort people have put in to have "works" of such a scale.
Suddenly, I felt like I belonged to the atmosphere where I was stopping - not noisy, crowded with tourists from all over the world coming to check-in. The space is large enough for me to drop my soul into the clouds and wind, breathe slowly to feel the scent of the mountain forest, quiet enough to listen to the breath of the thousands.
Photo: Shutterstock
Perhaps the creator and the human hand have inadvertently created a harmonious picture when arranging rubber forests on a strip of red basalt soil, and then favorably weaving the glittering sun and brittle dry grass banks into that picture.
In the neighboring districts of Pleiku city (the capital of Gia Lai) such as Chu Pah, Chu Se, Chu Prong..., there will be many such rubber roads. I believe that if you come here, you will be surprised and "stolen your heart" by the wildness, dreaminess, mystery and charm of the forests.
Synthetic Migo