Wednesday 20 November – Ha Long City

We hired the hotel motor bike again. It’s cool today and very overcast. There’s some rain as well. We have a map and head across the river again. East of Ha Long City is Cam Pha. It’s obviously an industrial city and serious sea port. Coal is mined locally and fed through this port for all parts of the world. There’s a power station as well.

We stop at a street eatery for lunch. The owner has had the business for 6 years, moving from Ho Chi Minh City. Typical of these places, he cooks out the front while patrons sit inside in a long narrow shop with low tables and mini stools. He lives out the back with his wife and two children. He pays $300 per month for accommodation and business rental. The business does alright but struggles if the weather is bad. There is something about this guy that I can’t quite explain. He is very friendly and chats to Chi easily. On leaving, he puts his hand on my shoulder and says in English ‘See you again’. I would have thought that would be unlikely but for some strange reason I feel he might be right!

We visit a very old temple above the sea port and coal terminal. It’s currently being renovated. There is a mausoleum here built by the French to a famous Vietnamese General Tran Quoc Tang. He died in the early 1300s but is revered for repelling the Mongols from the north. The French colonialists where having problems getting their Vietnamese workforce to successfully build an international shipping port here at Cam Pha. There were all sorts of construction faults. To motivate the workers to have more pride in their work, the French gave to the people a mausoleum to their hero. It must have worked, things seemed to be working and the port was busy.

There is a Temple here also. We buy some incense and money to pay our respects.

It’s 5.30 and we have about a 70 minute commute home on the bike in the drizzle and dark. Not ideal but all was ok.