On the narrow path leading down to the stream, we saw ethnic minority girls holding hands together and stepping cheerfully on the red soil.
One girl was wearing an ivory white dress, holding a box of biscuits, her eyes shining brightly. The other girl was wearing an oversized red shirt, with a pink headband in her hair, and her bare feet were speckled with road dust.
The two children, as innocent as the clouds in the sky, held hands tightly, giggling amidst the vast mountains and forests.
In this place, children don't have many toys or electronic devices, but in return, they have the vastness of nature to play with. The stream is their companion, the pebbles are their toys. Every day, they enjoy themselves freely in the borderland sun and wind.
Visiting the Cha Lo border post, where soldiers work day and night to safeguard national sovereignty, everyone feels emotional seeing the red flag with a yellow star fluttering in the clear sky. A profound sense of pride suddenly surged among us.
Behind the simple gate is a garden full of roses, neatly trimmed potted plants, and green roofs quietly nestled among the hills. In this place, the border guards who shoulder the sacred duty of protecting the Fatherland have become children of the villages.
The border guards teach children to read, help people plant trees, repair leaky roofs, and sometimes even act as unexpected midwives in childbirths in remote mountainous areas.
We met a young soldier sitting by the fire, cutting pieces of local pork in preparation for dinner. In the flickering firelight, we heard him tell stories about the days of trekking through the forest on patrol, and the nights sleeping at the border checkpoints amidst the sound of rain.
“The army and the people, we live together like brothers," he said, his sincere words touching our hearts.
Over the years, these soldiers have lived in the mountains and forests, considering the border their home, placing their hearts into every stone, every tree root. In the cold of the border region, they warm each other with comradeship.
 |
Blooming roses at Cha Lo border post |
Dinner at the border guard station was simple but heartfelt. Wild chicken, local pork, indigenous vegetables, and corn wine — these dishes were not luxurious but contained the breath of the mountains and forests. We made a toast, looked at each other, and smiled, like brothers who have known each other for a long time.
During the meal, a soldier stood up and sang: “Whoever goes to the border, please tell them that the mountains and forests of the border are so beautiful.”
The melodies echoed in the vast forest, mingling with the wind, with the breath of the mountains and forests. We then understood that our Fatherland not only has endless green mountains and streams that have flowed for hundreds of years, but also loyal hearts willing to protect the land, forest, and people.
At night, the Cha Lo sky was clear, the stars twinkling above as if witnessing generations of soldiers who have been attached to the borderland. We sit there, with new friends, with the border guards, feeling the breath of our homeland merging into every gust of mountain wind.
There are some lands that, when we pass through, we only visit and leave. But there are also places that, once we have arrived, a part of our heart will always stay there. Cha Lo is such a place. And we believe that this land always leaves a profound impression on those who have set foot here.
