The beauty of four seasons in the Long An river region

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Through the lens of photographer Le Hoang Thai, Tan Lap hometown becomes more poetic and colorful.

Photographer Le Hoang Thai (born in 1979), born in Hamlet 3, Tan Lap Commune, Moc Hoa District, Long An Province, is a person who likes to wander the streets to record beautiful scenes and rural rhythms, regardless of the circumstances. tell the rainy and sunny seasons. He is currently the chairman of Moc Hoa District Photography Club.

On the picture is the center of Tan Lap commune in the night light, with a residential cluster interspersed with aquaculture ponds and rice fields stretching along the banks of the Vam Co Tay River. This is a river from Cambodia that flows through Long An territory with a length of more than 150 km and bends into many sections. Thanks to this natural condition, Long An is favored to form an eco-tourism route from Tan Lap floating village to the Floating pagoda and Lang Sen Wetland Reserve.

Tan Tap Melaleuca forest is a famous eco-tourism destination of Long An, with charming river and melaleuca forests stretching as far as the eye can see, especially in the spring, many flocks of storks fly back to perch on the Melaleuca forest.

“The feeling of peace when floating on the forest canal, enjoying the aroma of Melaleuca and watching the birds in the sky,” said Mr. Thai.

A painting of the countryside in the blooming season of umami flowers in Tan Lap. In spring, the umbrella tree sheds its leaves, flowers bloom in dense pink clusters on the branches and bear fruit in late April.

This plant is associated with the childhood memories of the people of the South, and can be seen scattered along country roads, fields and riverbanks. Young children often split the shell and eat the meat inside, which is fragrant with a simple country scent.

The view of watering dragon fruit from above through a photographic perspective becomes a work of art. Long An province has an area of ​​​​11,800 hectares of dragon fruit growing, planting crops all year round, avoiding the situation of concentrated output suddenly increasing.

The main dragon fruit season is from May to August, when the fruit is ripe, the gardens become attractions to attract tourists. However, due to the influence of Covid-19, the price of dragon fruit dropped, traders bought only 3,000 – 5,000 VND/kg at the garden.

The work “On the beds of melons” captures the scene of farmers tending watermelons near Tet in Tan Lap. Photos are displayed at the Vietnam Art Photo Contest and Exhibition 2020.

The work “Meal time” is displayed and exhibited at the 35th Mekong Delta Art Photo Festival 2020, capturing the scene of ducks running in the field being herded to feed at dusk in Tan Lap commune. Duck farming in the fields and for eggs is popular in the countryside, helping many households save significantly on food costs, thereby increasing profits.

The golden ripe rice is harvested directly in the harvest season, and the fast pace of work creates a vivid picture of the countryside.

In addition to eco-tourism, Tan Lap has many potentials and advantages in agricultural production development. Today’s farmers apply mechanization and science and technology to production, such as the scene of harvesting rice with a combine harvester to save time and costs.

The author captures the scene of children herding buffaloes and playing kite flying in the fields, an emotion rushes back when remembering the verses: “My hometown is a blue kite/ My childhood was flying in the fields/ My hometown is a small boat/ Quiet water along the river” in the poem Homeland by poet Do Trung Quan.

“I am passionate about photography, so every corner of the countryside and the rhythm of life in the seasons in my hometown are recorded, the most impressive of which is the daily life of people in the flood season (flood season). The photo above I took of the women who agreed to be a model for the scene of washing water lilies in the Tan Lap floodplain, “said Mr. Thai.

Flooding about September-October, the watershed districts of Long An province such as Moc Hoa, Tan Hung, Vinh Hung flooded to the foot of the field, this is also the time when the field is filled with water lilies. In the fields are mainly wild guns (or ghost guns), with purple and white cotton and 3-6 m long stalks. People call them ghost guns because they often bloom at night, when the sun just rises, the flowers wilt and sink into the water, so people have to go early in the morning to pick them.

Garden and ecological tourism in Tan Lap gives visitors the opportunity to experience using clams to catch field fish. Nom is an item made of smooth, tapered bamboo rods, the point of which is pointed down to the mouth, the upper part is roughly the size of a bowl, and the bottom is as large as the mouth of a small basket. When taking, the mouth is facing down in the water in small puddles to catch fish.

The scene of casting a fishing net on the river at dawn on the flood plains of Tan Lap. The interlaced system of canals creates fish and shrimp resources for the region. In any season, Tan Lap has a full range of products from frogs, snakeheads, perch, yellow catfish to goby, gourami, shrimp, crab, shrimp…

“The aquatic resources in rivers and canals are natural and safe, but production is decreasing day by day due to overfishing. Households in the city go to the market to buy snakehead fish, but rarely see it, often only seeing snakeheads raised in the field,” said Thai.

Each scene taken by author Le Hoang Thai above is a beautiful picture that reflects the daily life and changes of Tan Lap hometown and contributes to promoting Long An to friends inside and outside the province.

These works have helped Mr. Thai achieve many achievements at photo contests. In 2020, he has 2 third prize photos at the 32nd Long An Art Photo Contest with the theme “My hometown Long An”; 3 photos exhibited at the 35th Mekong Delta Art Photo Festival, and 1 photo exhibition at the art competition “Proud of a frontier”. Follow vnexpress/Photo: Le Hoang Thai

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