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Story: Cao Ky Nhan
Photos: Cao Ky Nhan, Hoa NT
When the rubber trees lose their leaves, Southerners welcome the serenity of fall.
Amid the red basalt soil of Vietnam’s sunlit Southeast, there comes a brief moment when the weather turns unexpectedly gentle. Just before the rubber trees shed their leaves, the sky seems washed in warm tones of gold, orange, and russet, evoking a distant autumn in faraway regions. There is no frost, no cold breeze, yet the South still manages to stir the heart with the quiet, contemplative beauty as the rubber trees’ leaves begin to fall.
From late December to March each year, rubber plantations across Ho Chi Minh City, Lam Dong, Dong Nai, and Tay Ninh take turns changing into new coats. Leaves shift from deep green to radiant yellow, then to soft red, before drifting gently to the ground. In the early morning sunlight, a thick carpet of fallen leaves stretches along the pathways like an endless autumn tapestry. The whole forest becomes a symphony of color and light, mingling with the morning mist in an almost dreamlike way.
Vast swathes of rubber trees have long been intertwined with the rhythms of life in Vietnam’s rural South, a legacy of old plantation towns. Along familiar red dirt roads, only the soft rustle of dry leaves and the footsteps of farmers can be heard in the early mornings. Occasionally, a bicycle carrying schoolchildren appears through the haze, or a rubber tapper strolls home with the morning’s harvest. Through my camera’s lens, these simple scenes bring me back to sweet memories of the countryside, where time seems to slow down.
Once the old leaves fall, the trees stop producing sap for a time. Only a short while later, tender pinkish-red buds begin to unfurl – signs of a new cycle of life. In this quiet moment of seasonal transition, one can feel the breath of nature: a steady, forgiving rhythm in which the old fades so the new may begin. And within the silence of the forest, there seems to be a faint whisper of hope.
From above, the rubber plantations resemble a vast mosaic with patches of yellow, red, brown, and green blending with the light. Straight rows of trees stretch toward the horizon, creating a natural tempo that is mesmerizing in its stillness – calm, unhurried, and profoundly harmonious.
While the North has its golden autumn, the South has this season of falling rubber leaves. It may not have a formal name, yet anyone who has stood among rubber trees at dawn recognizes this distinctly Southern autumn – brief, quiet, yet deeply stirring. In this season, nature and people alike seem to slow down, listening to the gentle rhythm that slips through the trees, reminding us that even in a modern world, nature still guards a rare tranquility and a beauty uniquely its own.
