In June 1985, Khanh Son district was established on the basis of 4 mountainous communes of Cam Ranh district including: Ba Cluster, Son Hiep, Thanh Son and Trung Hap. On the first day of establishment, officials of Khanh Son district were mainly separated from departments and divisions of Cam Ranh district, so the brothers waited until Saturday afternoon to have a collective meal to visit home, everyone jokingly called each other “… “hidden from the mountains”. Memories of the first days in that new land full of difficulties and deprivation do not easily fade from my mind.
| Khanh Son Pass Road in the early 1990s. |
At the end of 1985, I had my first business trip to Khanh Son. At that time, the province was implementing Decision No. 230 dated September 13, 1985 of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers on dividing Khanh Son communes into 1 town and 7 communes like now. They are: Three Clusters divided into Three Clusters North and Three Clusters South, Trung Hap divided into Son Trung commune and To Hap town, Son Hiep divided into Son Hiep and Son Binh, Thanh Son divided into Thanh Son and Son Lam.
That day, going to Khanh Son for work was extremely difficult. I took a bus from Nha Trang to Ba Ngoi. The road from Ba Ngoi to To Hap feels far away, with thousands of obstacles. The road to Khanh Son Pass was small, at that time it was a dirt road, in the dry season it was dusty, in the rainy season it was as slippery as grease. On the first day of the district’s establishment, the bus on this route was a three-wheeled Zin because only this vehicle could crawl up. Customers sit on the trunk of a vehicle crowded with goods. The trip down was crowded with coal and bananas, the trip up was crowded with rice and fish sauce… The officers that day still followed the bus back to Cam Ranh on Saturday afternoon, and on Monday morning they followed this bus and threw I had to endure it because back then motorbikes were a luxury, not many people could ride them on their own.
On the first day of establishing the district, the agencies took advantage of the commune’s temporary houses, mud-walled cottages, and 4-level houses. When I arrived, the town had just been bulldozed, and a road ran through the center to shape it, which is now Le Duan Street. Agencies such as the District Party Committee, District People’s Committee… are still leveling the ground, making the land red. Officials eat right in the office, with a table in front, a personal bed in the back, and meals in the collective cafeteria. When I went to work, my brothers gave me that only bed and went to sleep somewhere else. I still remember Mr. Lam, Head of the Finance Department at that time, showing me where to build the headquarters, the conference hall, the place to make the town’s air conditioning pond… I looked at the vast, dusty land, my mouth kept wondering. I can’t imagine what the town will be like in the future.
It’s strange to think, in life I go to many places for work, but for some reason, the business trips to Khanh Son are always anchored in my mind. The first days of establishing the district were difficult, but later when the town took shape, that feeling still did not fade. Remembering those days, Khanh Hoa Newspaper had a policy of asking brothers from district stations to send news and collaborative articles, especially giving priority to the mountainous areas of Khanh Son. Khanh Son Radio and Television Station at that time had Mr. Ngo My and his wife, the wife used the pen name A Sao and wrote very diligently. Every time I have the opportunity to go to Khanh Son, I always remember to go to the readers’ room the day before to receive royalties for my brothers and sisters, and carefully write down each issue of the newspaper. When we met, they treated me like family. Receiving a few royalties, he was very touched, speaking thoughtfully like this, he had to try harder. Remembering a business trip with her KTV colleagues to report on women’s work in the commune, Ms. Chau Thinh finished her work, and before returning home, her eyes were red, she searched her backpack and took out all the clothes she had brought with her for…
| Khanh Son Radio and Television Station was built in 1993. |
The trip of a lifetime was going to Khanh Son with Mr. Thanh Son from KTV after the storm in 1993 had just passed. At that time, we had to hitchhike on the Provincial People’s Committee’s UAZ to get to the pass. The pass road after the storm was slippery and slippery, so in many parts the car kept roaring, the rear of the car moved horizontally close to the edge of the cliff, making everyone’s heart stop. The next afternoon when returning, the pass was blocked. Due to a curve near the top of the pass, a truck carrying a bulldozer skidded on the edge of the cliff. The driver was impatient and ran to the top of the pass to borrow a bulldozer from the maintenance team to pull it down. How did the truck collapse, causing the excavator to roll like a stone down a cliff… When I got home, KTV reported the accident, and readers called in to ask if the station had staged the scene of the bulldozer rolling loudly. downhill like that.
That was almost 40 years ago. Khanh Son today is changing day by day. To Hap town is now a lovely mountain city. Purple sugarcane and durian have become Khanh Son’s trademarks… These are the achievements of the whole province over the years implementing socio-economic programs in mountainous areas, with so many resources devoted to the district. That is the dynamism of many layers of officials, including children of the first generation to stay in Khanh Son. A generation attached to the new hometown of Khanh Son has been formed and settled down. The story of going on a collective newspaper business trip and the cadres waiting for the weekend to “hide in the mountains” forever is just a beautiful memory of a not-so-distant time.
MERCURY
