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| On the road to Da Lay village |
On a beautiful sunny day with a clear sky and white clouds, I strolled along the paths leading into the villages of Da Lay. The rural atmosphere of Hue people who have moved far away evokes a sense of closeness and familiarity, as if one could feel the joy and share in the happiness of Hue people who have firmly settled on this Central Highlands area after nearly half a century. No matter where the people of Hue go, they always choose good land and use their intellect and hard work to cultivate gardens full of fruits and flowers. Many houses here don’t have high walls or gates but instead open their spaces freely, with neatly trimmed rows of tea hedges and symmetrical trees. Pairs of yellow apricot trees on either side of gateways, nurtured over many years, have become ancient trees, and even though it’s long after Tet, their bright golden buds still shine.
The yellow apricot flowers, which were brought from Hue, blend beautifully with the yellow of chrysanthemums, creating an elegant and harmonious color palette. In some gardens, I noticed trees of thanh tra pomelo, likely grown from seeds brought from Hue. The architectural style in these garden houses still retains familiar features, and while the style may be modest, there’s still a subtle essence of the ancient Imperial Capital. Even within these homes, the strong family traditions of the Hue countryside are preserved, despite having had several generations of children born and grown up in this vast land of the Central Highlands.
The people of Hue in the highlands whom I often meet, even though they have been away from their homeland for a long time, or are part of the younger generation born in this new land, still retain the distinct manners and character of the people from the ancient Imperial Capital…
Every elderly person I meet in Da Lay today, as we sit and chat over a pot of tea, speaks of the "old days." Their "old days" are stories that I have had the opportunity to recount myself. They talked about the hunger, the hardship, the desolation, and the loneliness of the early days when they received the plots of land for settlement and cultivation, which had just been cleared by the Pioneering Youth team, still filled with the fresh scent of new soil, burnt grass, and bamboo that hadn’t yet soaked into the earth. It was a time of deep homesickness, a time of countless worries, uncertainty, and a feeling of being lost, not knowing where the future would lead.
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Mr. Nguyen Minh Tanh, Chairman of the People's Committee of Da Lay commune, shared the changes in the rural area behind the "Ma Oi" hill today. In each of his words, there is a sense of gratitude for the previous generations, the pioneering groups who opened the way, cleared the land, and the fellow villagers who endured the hardships of early settlement. Mr. Tanh, though part of a later generation, remembers the names of the pioneering members of the Pioneering Youth team. In the conversation, both Mr. Tanh and Mr. Du occasionally express concern and can hardly suppress a sigh as they speak of the old ones, some of whom are still here and some who are no longer with us.
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| Production of loc cakes at Thu Ky establishment - Da Lay commune |
The Chairman of the People's Committee of Da Lay commune provided the information that since the first wave of migration in 1978, after nearly a year of settling in, the Da Lay commune government was officially established on March 14, 1979, according to Decision No. 116/QD-CP on the establishment of Da Huoai district. Since then, the Huong Lam NEZ area became Da Lay commune.
On June 6, 1986, Da Huoai district was split into three districts: Da Huoai, Da Teh, and Cat Tien; Da Lay commune was divided into two communes, Da Lay and Huong Lam. From 1988 to 1993, more people from Thanh Liem district (Ha Nam province) and Nam Xuan commune (Nam Dan district, Nghe An province) settled here, and later, people from the Northern ethnic minorities also moved in to establish their homes in the area.
By the end of 2019, in line with Resolution No. 833/NQ-UBTVQH, dated December 17, 2019, from the National Assembly Standing Committee regarding the rearrangement of administrative units in Lam Dong province, Huong Lam commune was merged into Da Lay commune, keeping the name Da Lay commune.
Mr. Tanh provided detailed data on economic development: Over the course of 47 years, Da Lay commune now has a total natural area of 5,200 hectares, with 9 villages and a population of 6,196 people across 1,541 households. The commune's economy has developed in a multi-sectoral direction. The average income per capita is 55 million VND.
Currently, there are over 200 households involved in production, business, and trade services, including industries such as gasoline, fertilizers, motorcycle repairs, welding, turning, agricultural product purchasing, and various services catering to daily life. Many eateries offering Hue’s rich culinary heritage, such as mussels rice, loc cakes, spring rolls, and beef noodle soup, have attracted visitors from far away. The commune has developed products with recognized brands, such as green skin pomelo, salted roasted cashews, and especially traditional ham and loc cakes...
Da Lay’s loc cakes has initially participated in the OCOP Program and received a 3-star quality rating. Ms. Nguyen Thi Loi, Chairwoman of the Women’s Union of Da Lay commune, who was involved in establishing the cooperative along with other members, is working on improving the documentation to elevate loc cakes to a 4-star OCOP product, aiming to make it available for purchase through electronic trading platforms.
The cooperative includes around 20 Hue-origin families making loc cakes. This simple dish requires skill from the hands of the elderly women, young women, and girls; it is a profession that helps improve family livelihoods, providing additional income for marginalized women and children in the area. Da Lay’s loc cakes has gained fame far and wide thanks to the quality ingredients used. The commune’s cassava fields cover more than 10 hectares. Cassava trees along the Dong Nai river thrive in the fertile alluvial soil, producing high-quality starch ideal for making loc cakes. After harvesting, the cassava roots are washed, finely grated, and filtered multiple times to achieve a smooth, white, and translucent starch.
The banana leaves used to wrap the banh loc are from wild banana trees; homegrown banana leaves are used for tying, contributing to both the delicious taste and aesthetic appeal of the dish. The process of preparing the filling is also carefully taught by the elder women, from selecting shrimp and meat to seasoning them and cooking the filling just right to create a flavorful and mouthwatering result. Though loc cakes is a humble dish, its multiple preparation steps make it irresistible, thanks to the meticulous, careful hands of the makers and the slow, steady pace characteristic of Hue.
Ms. Hong Tam, owner of Thu Ky establishment, said: "In the past, people from our homeland had to carry the goods and travel from market to market to sell them, but now, thanks to social media promotion, customers come to our home to buy. Besides meeting local demand, the loc cakes from the people of Hue in Da Lay has crossed mountains and reached markets in Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Binh Thuan, and Khanh Hoa… and even some orders have been sent abroad…”
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Then came the time to leave Da Lay, the new homeland of the sons and daughters of Hue. As I crossed the top of Ma Oi hill, I stopped the car, rolled down the window, and turned back for one last look. Somewhere amidst the forests, the lush fruit gardens, and the endless green rice fields, I could still hear the voices and laughter, so unmistakably Hue, ringing in the late afternoon sun.
Nearly half a century of carrying Hue far from home, the people of the ancient Imperial Capital have created something extraordinary in this new land. I truly believe it is extraordinary, because I came here and understood their journey of resettlement. And yet, that miracle isn’t anything grand or majestic; it is humble and simple. It is love for two homelands. They poured their sweat and tears into building a fertile, prosperous, and deeply affectionate village amidst this highland land, once a revolutionary base, once a sacred and treacherous forest.
From the top of Ma Oi hill, memories of distant days return to me, those days when the Youth Pioneers of Hue set out from the courtyard of Thai Hoa Palace, heading south to open new land through countless dangers and hardships. I can picture the groups of Hue people leaving behind their beloved homeland, clinging to each other as they journeyed into the unknown. On that passage through mountains and rivers, they carried with them the names of their villages and communes, the weight of longing, of endless separation, and countless worries in the search for a new life, miles from home…