Page 82 - The Enchanting Land

THE

ENCHANTING

LAND

It has been a long time since I last experienced the true serene, peaceful feeling as this moment. Amidst the hustle bustle of today’s
life, serenity is indeed a priceless luxury. Retreated into a place, surrounded with only my small family, having very limited contact
with the outside society, I am living such a “luxurious” serene and peaceful time.
Since long ago, I had always aspired to paint the mountainous landscape, but only by now could I materialize such works. In my
early youth, I had ventured to the uplands of Dong Van, Ha Giang before crossing to Cao Bang then ended up in Sapa. Alone on my
bike, I visited the villages of H’mong and Tay ethnic minorities. I even hiked on foot to the steep mountains where the indigenous
H’mong dwelled. Such adventurous journeys now suddenly rushed back to my mind, with full memories of an enchanting misty
land. I started to paint them with a fresh desire and emotion as I have never painted before.
I was carried away to “The Enchanting Land”, feeling like I was able to relive my youthful days, to immerse in the journeys on
the winding jagged roads of the remote mountains, where only love and happiness could exist. And I could envisage the season
when the white plum flowers lavishly bloomed in villages after villages, on such faraway land. That flower season had certainly
blossomed once again on my mind, both in my dreams and my present life. I was obsessed with such scene, feeling enchanted as
on my old days’ trips up the deserted steep pass, when my only companies were cloud, wind and the buffalo bell sounds ringing in
the evening. Then the peach blossom seasons showed forth the vivid rosy hue as the bashful cheeks of the young girls of Tay ethnic
group frequented my mind every now and then. Such images inspired me to take to the easel and these works came into being.

All of the above scenes have now become but nostalgia of a bygone time. Remote memories receded, remote villages changed but
every night, images of “The Enchanting Land” still lucidly manifested in my mind.

Le Thanh Son
Hanoi, October 30, 2020

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