Gia Lai - The Land is Full of Fresh air and Vitality 🌿🌿🌿

Hi friends,
Another new year has come, Wishing you health and happiness in the year to come.
On the occasion of the end of the year, I would like to share with you my trip to discover Gia Lai - Central Highlands, a land that I have always wanted to visit. One of the cradles of the second-largest Coffee industry in the world.

Gia Lai is known as a place favored by nature with many famous landscapes, immense green tea hills all year round, white waterfalls day and night. Moreover, this is also one of the largest coffee and pepper production places in my country, people's lives are attached to each blade of grass and tree branch.

Today I will share with you a new perspective on the landscape and local people's life here, which makes a very unique quality of a mountain town. People live all year round with the green of the mountains and forests, living freely among the vast nature. No matter where they go and what they do, they still head towards the mountains and forests, towards their homeland like blood still flowing in their veins.

A few months ago, I followed a friend to her hometown in Gia Lai, we went in March in warm weather, this time is her hometown's pepper harvest season.

After an eight-hour drive, we arrived at the city center bus station. Her dad picked us up with the family motorbike. The thing that surprised me the most was the extremely fresh atmosphere, from afar, only the green color of the trees and the color of the Red Basaltic soil could be seen.

The scene is strangely peaceful, the houses of the people sparsely creep in the forests full of coffee, pepper, fruit...
We quickly returned to store our luggage, had breakfast, and began our journey to explore this interesting land. My friend's house is located in a small village. To get to the city center or to scenic spots, we have to ride a motorbike for more than 20km.

Sitting behind my friend's saddle, I quietly watched the simple beauty of the mountain town. She was like a real tour guide, as she walked, she introduced me to each place we went through.
We crossed the winding asphalt roads, surrounded by two rows of immense green willows, the scene was quiet, I could even hear the birdsong, the whisper of the wind. Reminiscent of the poetic streets of Da Lat.

We arrived at Phu Cuong Waterfall, at this time there were not many visitors, the waterfall was still flowing after many years. At the foot of the waterfall is a lake of cool green four seasons.
The season of falling leaves leans down to pour the last leaves back to the motherland, soaking in the gentle sunlight in the last days of spring. Prepare to put on a fresh green color.

Leaving Phu Cuong Waterfall, we came to Pleiku Lake, which is famous because it has the characteristics of this land. In spring, the water surface is clear, the trees are silently reflecting their reflections under the giant mirror. The lake is quiet in its own small corner. Day by day watching the flow of people passing by.

We passed the Glar pink grass hill at sunset. This time of year the grass has begun to wilt because the most beautiful pink grass is in November. The gentle sunlight resting on the branches and leaves deepens the taste of each blade of grass.

Next, we went back to my friend's farm. Here, in addition to trees for export such as coffee and pepper, most of them are fruit trees such as durian, mango, guava, ...

For the first time, I saw coffee flowers blooming, white interwoven with the green of the forest, flowers bloomed with vitality, coffee was harvested around October and November.
I am especially interested in coffee trees. Because Vietnam is the second coffee producer in the world (after Brazil). This industry brings great value to my country. I also really love coffee, so Central Highlands Coffee is always the first choice because of the quality of the product. It is produced from such industrious, simple farmers like people who live here.

At that time, my friend's farm is harvesting pepper. People climb to the tops of trees to pick peppercorns. This work requires strength and perseverance. The people who work outdoors are used to the sun and the heaviness of the work.
The special thing is that pepper is harvested by hand because people only pick ripe seeds. The green seeds, if picked, will become flat. Pepper is divided into 2 or 3 times picking each crop.

Everyone is excited to collect the results after a long time taking care of the tree. After picking, they will dry them until the pepper is completely dry, then go to the stages of selling.
That said, but this job is also very time-consuming, at night, my friend's mother had to enlist the classification of unqualified seeds, they worked until late at night. Harvest Season is a hard time of the year.

My friends always say that she misses the forest, misses her garden, misses the tree stumps she took care of. After that trip, I understood more and more why she missed her hometown so much. A beautiful place, peaceful, close to nature, very worth living.

By the time I left Gia Lai, I also had the feeling that I wanted to come back and stay longer. The scent of the fruits in the garden still lingers in my nose to this day. The trip has many memories of the beautiful Central Highlands. I will definitely be back soon.

Thanks for reading my post, feel free to share with me your interesting trip of the year 🌿🌿🌿
See you next time.