Enchanted by the season of gun flowers in the Western region.

At the end of August, photographers called out to each other. Despite knowing that the flood season has not returned for many years, everyone still hopes for a season of overflowing water in the fields. While the water has not returned, the gun flowers continue to bloom.

Exploring the Western region to admire the season of gun flowers.

Many of my friends come from the delta region, somewhere in their eyes lies the endless rain over Long An, Vinh Long, Dong Thap, My Tho, Can Tho, and Bac Lieu. The rainy season is when wild gun flowers compete to bloom along the riverbanks, canals, fields, ponds, and hills...

A flower that in the sunny season patiently buries its seeds, roots, and bulbs deep into the ground, waiting for the rain to come, rising with the water silently, showing off its beauty everywhere to have a season of gun flower harvest. The season of rustic, delicious dishes.

In the childhood of my friends, everyone has seasons of flooded water, rowing boats to pull gun flowers in distant fields. Wet, cold, but in exchange for school fees on their backs, a bit of money in their pockets to go to the city for the new school year.

They are the images of mothers, sisters paddling boats late at night to pull gun flowers in abundance, to be sold at the market, earning money to buy rice and other necessities. It's the joy bursting through a boat full of fresh gun flowers.

While wandering in An Giang, we were fortunate to meet some women sitting by the canal picking gun flowers. According to them, in recent years, the floods have not returned, so people in the riverside areas wait for the rain to cultivate fields and wait for more rain for the gun flowers to grow...

Gun flowers usually don't need planting, they grow naturally when it rains. As the water rises, so do the gun flowers. The more rain, the longer, softer, and fresher the gun flower stems.

We row boats to pull back bunches of fresh green gun flowers, cleaning off the mud. Just pluck the blossomed flowers, take the stems, peel off the thin outer layer, then bundle them up for sale. They are distributed to markets, restaurants. The rest are prepared into various dishes.

For local folks, they stir-fry, make sour soup, pickle... every dish is delicious, especially the gun flower stew with fermented fish. A traditional dish passed down through generations, not everyone knows how to eat and enjoy it.

Following instructions, we rented a boat and ventured into a deep-field of gun flowers. Amidst the deserted field, except for a few shelters for the gun guards, there were hardly any human shadows.

Local residents here also mention that although this species grows naturally, its stems develop along with the water flow, but since the floods no longer come, they have to cultivate to earn income. Because of cultivation, they have to be vigilant and take care.

Some who freely harvest gun flowers row boats to the low-lying fields bordering Cambodia. There are many wild gun flowers here, so they are tall and thick, but getting there is extremely difficult. Cold windy nights, it's easy to capsize the boat... They sigh and leave the sentence hanging.

Our native gun flowers are usually purplish-red, with thick stems due to good care. While wild gun flowers are usually white, with long stems, sometimes reaching 5 - 7 meters. Gun flowers near the Cambodian border have thicker stems and blooms, sometimes a bundle requires two adults to carry.

These past few rainy days, early mornings in the border villages are bustling with people going to pick gun flowers. Along the river, people are washing gun flowers; on the shore, there are motorbikes, bicycles loaded with gun flowers, some bundled up, some straight... By mid-morning, it's all over.

'Those photographers who want to take pictures have to warn them in advance to give them space, and they have to go really early,' a woman laughed.

Parting with the sincere rural people of the waterlogged fields. Suddenly feeling deeply impressed by the rural residents. To have delicious dishes from fresh gun flowers rising from the muddy peat, so many people have to endure hardship, facing wind and dew.

Source: Youth

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Reference: Travel guide from Mytour