Mid-season is the time to visit the beach near Tĩnh Gia (during April and October) when the tourist trade is gentle and the lack of the intense summer heat makes it possible to be on the beach in the daytime, but also avoiding the cold of the winter
In the lee of the headland, to the south of the hotel area, children play in the sea
Much of the east coast of Vietnam is sandy, and in the south is studied with famous tropical resorts like those of Thailand. Here in the north the seasonal climate limits the period when tourists flock, but the big hotels testify to the fact that, in season, flock they do!
The beach in Tĩnh Gia stretches, from the outcrop of rocks seen in the photograph above, northwards some 25 kilometres to the River Lạch Ghép. Over that whole length, on the firm sand, a motorbike can be ridden at speed.
In the picture (above these three) women can be seen digging at the tide line; they are actually about the same height as the swell
So the swell is such that the boats which are fishing a few hundred metres from the shore often disappear
In these two smaller pictures (enlarging the main picture) the fishermen can just be seen. This swell, with the silt it churns up, make swimming problematic and sometimes dangerous
Fishing boats
are drawn up on the beach near the cafes
The row of cafes at the edge of the sand
Nets drying between the cafes
Coffee and a view of fishermen at work
Boats, nets, cafes and coffee intermingle - many families will be both fishers and hosts to visitors.
Thatching with palm leaves is the norm. Palm leaves are abundant, ready to hand, and most families can call on the skills to make use of them.
A small cafe like the one above can be constructed and roofed in a couple of weeks. Repairs to the thatch are needed after storms, but otherwise the
thatching will last for several years.
Here thatching can be seen in use in a number of ways. The small umbrellas for sun that is overhead, the larger umbrellas that might keep off some rain, the free standing cafe open on all sides, but with a roof of thatch, the cafes in a line with brick walls, and finally to the right cafes on pillars where small parties can keep themselves very much to themselves with the possible delight of being marooned!
A line of some 8 large hotels which stand idle most of the year, waiting for the school holiday rush when 1,000s throng the beach Not everything is dedicated to work and pleasure. As everywhere in Vietnam the ancestors are remembered and more abstract notions acknowledged. This little shrine, in modern concrete, alludes to those who lived here with the cups offering them refreshment; and to Buddhism with the lengthened ears of the statuette.
The setting sun catches the pillar cafes which after dark will be occupied by those who wish to play cards, drink or just dine apart The next page shows more about the sea and the fishing boats to be seen along the coastline of northern Vietnam.
The previous page was about the beach near Tĩnh Gia
Go to the coast of Kirkcudbrightshire, a very different holiday destination
To a different sort of Vietnamese tourism - Hội An
