The Chessboard Peak on the Son Tra Peninsula resembles a “balcony” that opens straight to the East Sea – a place where just standing still for a few minutes makes your heart slow down. The road to the peak winds through the green forest, with dense patches of trees on both sides, occasionally revealing a sky so vast that it feels like you could reach out and touch the clouds. The higher you go, the clearer the sound of the wind becomes. The wind in Son Tra is not just cool; it carries the scent of leaves, the smell of damp earth, and the salty taste of the distant sea.

People come to the Chessboard Peak because the name sounds both strange and poetic, and because of the story about the “fairy” sitting and playing chess in the sky. The statue of the white fairy, solemn, sits beside the chessboard as if contemplating an unfinished move. There is something very interesting: in the vast space, people naturally want to slow down, to be less hurried, to care less about winning or losing. Looking at the chessboard, many people chuckle lightly – because sometimes our whole life resembles a long chess game, just moving on, and only when we look up do we remember to admire the sky.

From the peak, Da Nang lies below like a sprawling painting: the city, the beach, the small roads, and the sparkling blue water. Early morning is when the Chessboard Peak is most beautiful. The sun rises from the sea, the sunlight filters through the tree canopy into thin golden streaks, falling down the mountainside like silk ribbons. Sometimes you might catch sight of a red flag with a yellow star fluttering in the wind, and suddenly feel a very hard-to-describe emotion in your heart – a mix of pride, peace, and gratitude for still having places that make people “stop” without needing a reason.

If you go on a clear day, you will see the whole sky as if it has been wiped clean: clear blue, deep and wide. There are times...