Hello everybody! How are you today?
In previous posts, you have followed me to explore the Northwest and Northeast of Viet Nam with the majestic beauty that nature has brought to us. So today I will invite you to return to the South of Viet Nam, with me to conquer the southern pole of the country, Dat Mui Ca Mau.
With a hobby of conquering the East, West, South, and North landmarks of the country, the Southernmost point of Dat Mui Ca Mau is the last milestone I conquered in my journey to discover the Southwest region of Vietnam in April 2021, after the East pole (2016), the North pole (2018), and the West pole (2019). In my 10-day journey to discover the Southwest region, along with 3 other friends, this is the 4th and 5th day of that journey.
After leaving Nam Du archipelago, we arrived at Rach Gia pier (Kien Giang province) around 12:00 AM. After having lunch and resting for about 1 hour, we started to depart for Ca Mau province according to the instructions of Google Map. We passed through Ca Mau city and stopped to rest in Nam Can district, the distance was about 180km, and it took more than 6 hours to ride a motorbike with a comfortable mentality of just driving and sightseeing. Around 7 PM, we reached Nam Can district, Ca Mau province, to shorten the distance for the next morning to Dat Mui to more than 60km, where the southernmost landmark is located. In Nam Can, I met my friend whom we have known each for 10 years through the social network Facebook, but until today we have not had the opportunity to meet each other because of the geographical distance of more than 1200km, and this is also the first time I have the opportunity to come to the South for travel. Our first meeting felt very familiar, with our fun stories, and her friends too. And the special thing that I am very impressed with the people in this land, is the voice is very sweet, extremely cute. In Viet Nam, people live from the North to the South, and each region has a different voice, and voice the people in the South is what I like the most because the tenderness and sweetness come from the Vietnamese people, words, intonation, it's very smooth, but when I listen to those voices, I want to learn too much, but I can't. We were invited by her to have dinner, with the specialties of this place, such as vegetables, edible flowers, or seafood... that we do not have in our place. Very strange dishes, which we know for the first time, it made us know more new things about this trip.
Farewell to my friend, we promised to meet again one day, maybe in Da Nang where I live, or on the occasion when I have the opportunity to return to this place to travel again. The next morning, around 8 AM, after having breakfast, we departed from Nam Can district to the Cape land of Ca Mau with roads on both sides covered entirely by mangroves. Mangrove is a tree that grows without planting, even if it is cut down, it will still grow back, and this is a "specialty" tree of this Riverland. It helps keep the soil from being washed away every high tide season, grows very quickly and its vitality is very strong, has a high effect on the restoration of coastal forests in our country. Its wood is used as firewood or burned into charcoal for sale, and its coal is a valuable export. Here, there are mangrove trees everywhere. Its trunk is very tall and large, with long roots like a perennial tree, and it is planted on the coast to keep the soil from being washed out into the sea.
The asphalt road to this place is straight, but there are no people, so you don't need to worry too much, just turn the throttle to reach the destination. But sometimes we have to slow down to see the scenery here because it is so beautiful. With two sides of green mangrove forest, clouds drifting like swooping down right in front of your eyes, it feels very close to being able to raise your hand to catch them. There is a small bridge on every section of the road because there are many canals here, and water from rivers and canals will flow to the sea, and because this is an estuary, motorcyclists on the road can see see the sea on your left hand.
After about 3 hours, we also reached the southernmost point of the country, in Dat Mui commune, Ngoc Hien district, Ca Mau province. This place is Mui Ca Mau Cultural and Tourism Park, located right in the world biosphere reserve of Ca Mau Cape, which was recognized by UNESCO in May 2009. Here is located the National coordinate marker at GPS0001 (Km0). In addition to the North pole is Lung Cu - Ha Giang flagpole, the West pole is Apa Chai - Muong Nhe - Dien Bien, the East pole is Mui Doi - Van Ninh - Khanh Hoa, then this is the South pole - Dat Mui - Ca Mau, one of the four poles marking the sacred sovereignty of Vietnam's territory on the mainland and the endpoint of the Ho Chi Minh road. This landmark was built in January 1995. This is a sacred place and has great significance for the people of Vietnam, which all backpackers like us want to visit once to check in on this milestone.
We bought tickets for 30,000 VND/person to enter the park. Here, the management will not allow you to ride a motorbike inside, you can walk to visit this park, or you can go by the tram service of the management. We chose to walk so we could explore the surroundings on our own, and ended the tour by taking the tram back to the park gate. We walked along the coastal embankment path to get inside. The first place we went was the monument of Ho Chi Minh Road, Ca Mau endpoint Km 2436. Ho Chi Minh Road is the axis which is the axis running along the Vietnamese mainland with a total length of 3,183km, of which the main route is about 2,436km in length from Pac Bo - Cao Bang as the starting point (I visited it in the previous post), to Dat Mui - Ca Mau, through 28 provinces and cities, invested by the state on the basis of the legendary Ho Chi Minh trail during the two wars of resistance against the US and against the French.
Since we arrived here at around 11 AM, it was quite sunny, so we took advantage of taking a few photos and then moved deep inside. Next is the landmark GPS0001 National Coordinates, which is the last coordinate landmark of the S-shaped country of Viet Nam. Then came the mangrove forest, with its tall mangrove trees and very long roots. In this is built a concrete road going in the middle of the mangrove forest, you can go deep inside to explore the ecology of this place. You will be walking under the tall, shady mangrove trees, feeling like being lost in the mysterious forest in the movies. Next is the Ha Noi flagpole is located at Dat Mui Ca Mau, on the top of which is hung the Vietnamese flag. When I see my country's flag fluttering in the wind, I feel very proud. And the last point is the image of a boat engraved with the arrow of Ca Mau Cape. So I finally fulfilled my dream of conquering 4 milestones East, West, South, and North of my country after many years of striving.
According to the tour guide's words, every year the alluvial soil is accreted here, so every year the position of the last point of the country is moved a little more, but it is a muddy alluvial land, so you can't go there. But that doesn't matter to us, coming to this place has been the biggest pride for us during this journey. We toured around the area and moved along the beach road back to the parking lot. At the end of the visit to Dat Mui Park, this place leaves everyone with different emotions, but what I'm sure of, being at the Southernmost point - point of the country is a sacred thing prouder than ever. With friendly, gentle people, with sweet and cute voices, this is really a trip that leaves a lot of emotions and values for us.
Farewell to the bDat Mui Ca Mau, goodbye to the green mangrove forest with a faint alluvial scent on the coast, we continue to move to the next place for this journey to discover the Southwest region.
See you in the next posts!
