In Sai Gon, there are not only two seasons (raining season and dry season) but also the autumn. When the flame trees are at the end of flowering season, the sound of cicada are off in the streets, the sky in Sai Gon looks clearly blue with the light sunshine gleaming under the rows of trees with falling leaves. Saigon, gently “steps” into the autumn.
In autumn, Sai Gon has no passionate fragrance of blackboard trees’ flowers, no smell of young green rice, no yellow leaves as autumn in Hanoi but the color of sunlight on the trees, the coffee aroma in early morning and the feel of cold at the beginning of night. In the summer, the city has only a few corners of the street “dyed” red by flame trees. In the autumn, the whole city is likely to be changing the new coat. The old leaves are falling as the winds go through. Some leaves fall right down to the ground, but some move back and forth that seems like “hesitant” to fall down. Some are gone with the wind to get to a far away place…
Autumn in Saigon, rainy and then suddenly sunny that Sai Gon lovers usually see it as a young girl that nobody can please her. After an early morning rain, you can enjoy the fresh air in Sai Gon by walking out the wet road and wandering to some corners. Like “playing” on the trees, the wind and the early sunshine make how beautiful autumn is... And so, people just want to go to a familiar street corner to sip the cups of coffee while watching the life on the streets and the people flow...
Autumn is also when students go back to school, when we can see “ao dai” fluttering in the wind. When children in white shirts with red scarves lazily hand in hand with mother to go to schools, when teens together join in the high schools, when the students begin to step into the universities... As writer Nguyen Dinh Anh observed, “The urgently drumbeat at the beginning of school year always has a deep echo in the soul of the students. It infuses into the whole space of autumn and into every class. That is unforgettable...” So, the whole city awakens after being “sunstroke” in the long summer.
Well, if anyone loves Sai Gon, living fully with every “breath” of the city, they will see that the autumn comes quietly in a subtle way. It is when we wake up in a morning, we suddenly feel comfortably cool, see the clear sky and the jasmine flowers swaying in the wind outside the balcony.
That is Sai Gon. For visitors, who come here for the first time, it is bustle and hustle. But, somewhere in Sai Gon, visitors can see the other life of this city by relaxing their mind, peacefully sipping a cup of hot tea, looking at the streets and thinking about the life. Is it a peaceful autumn in Sai Gon?
Quote: Like “playing” on the trees, the wind and the early sunshine make how beautiful autumn is...