Da Lat People

I was born and raised in Da Lat, but my family origins are from the Bình Định land of martial arts. My mother is the daughter of a family that migrated from the North in 1954. She said that when she was brought to Ho Nai, she was only 5 years old, very little. My mother speaks with the original Northern accent from Hà Nam Ninh, while my father speaks with a Central accent but has gradually shifted to speak more like my mother. The older siblings in the family played with friends in the village, so they speak with the Northern accent, but the youngest went to preschool before speaking and thus speaks with the Da Lat accent. So, it turns out that the youngest child in the family is the most Da Lat-like, the rest of us are second, and my mother is probably the third most Da Lat.

People say that Da Lat people are very lovely — fair-skinned, rosy-cheeked, gentle in personality, and drive slowly…

“Da Lat people…” — I’m recalling in my memory which of my friends is from Da Lat.

I have a friend; she has a beautiful smile, is quite smart, tall and slender, and charming in conversation. We share similar family backgrounds and often waited for each other to bike to school together during the last two years of high school; so much fun, so many memories! She is quick-witted, respectful, and caring, and being the eldest of three sisters, she is quite mature for her age. If anyone asks me about the personality of Da Lat people, I would remember to tell the story, in my way. I would talk about those afternoons when we rode slowly down the railway slope after school, about the windy days when white ao dai fluttered, and the cold winter days biking to school with warm gloves… I like to tell stories about Da Lat people through the life I lived with my school friends, rather than recount old stories about Da Lat… However, I must admit the cool climate all year round, the wildflowers growing by the roadside, the French stone villas on the hillsides as if they had always been there, the familiar green hills, the fragrant flower fences… So, those who live there for a long time are rarely in a hurry; that lifestyle has become a personality trait. Whether this is good or not, I dare not judge — I only know it is a way of life, the lifestyle culture of Da Lat people.