In the chilly early morning air, the mist moves gently with the wind, enveloping the mountain town in a serene atmosphere.
When sunlight breaks through the haze, familiar landscapes briefly take on an ethereal quality during the transition between seasons.
The scene recalls the lines of poet Vũ Hữu Định: “Mountain town high, mountain town shrouded in mist/ Mountain town with green trees, low sky, so melancholy”.
For Trần Mạnh Thắng, a Pleiku resident who grew up on the red soil of the Central Highlands, the fog that appears toward the end of the year is a defining feature of the mountain town.
“In the last months of the year, the weather becomes drier and the air turns chilly, which is also when thick morning fog often appears”, he said.
“On some days, the mist falls heavily, drifting like rain, especially on steep slopes like Hàm Rồng Mountain, where the fog is so dense you can’t see the road ahead”.
Thắng said the misty season contributes to Pleiku’s distinctive character as a place where people can experience several seasons in a single day.
At dawn, wisps of mist move through gardens and across fields and roads. As the sun rises, the fog gradually lifts, revealing the landscape beneath it.
Nguyễn Thị Hiếu, another longtime highlands resident, said early mornings during the misty season offer an opportunity to appreciate the town’s quiet and pristine beauty.
“The misty season usually lasts until the end of the year,” she said. “Every early morning, when I go out for exercise, I take the opportunity to admire and capture the beautiful moments of the misty season, then send them to my children, relatives and friends far away”.
The lingering mist adds to Pleiku’s tranquility as the seasons change, creating fleeting scenes that can remain vivid memories for people who live in, visit or pass through the highland town.
For visitors, an early-morning walk through Pleiku during the misty season offers a chance to take in the landscape beneath a dreamlike sky, a quiet moment in the mountain town where, as the poem says, “the mountain town is high, the mountain town is full of mist.”
