The Road to Thành Công Village

Palms and paddy by road. Paddy fields with palm trees border much of the road; egrets, cows and buffalo abound
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The five kilometres of road from the district town of Tĩnh Gia to the village of Thành Công runs through paddy fields and palm trees with a backdrop of hills. Until recently it was more of a potholed track than a road, but a couple of years ago it was finally surfaced making it a straight easy run with plenty of interest for the visitor. Fields with cattle. Cattle grazing near the road, in the distance is a graveyard Larger houses at the edge of Tin Gia. This is where the road leaves the town of Tĩnh Gia Hairdressers shops. The thatched and white huts are in fact hairdressers. Hairdressing everywhere attracts young people who are able to start a business for minimal expense Roadside shop. A shop selling 'miscellaneous goods' and the de rigueur flag Army buildings. These new buildings have been constructed by the army in the last couple of years. Previously their construction would have meant no foreigners in the area. Life gets steadily more relaxed here Billiards and coffee. Every area has its 'Culture Room', the equivalent of a community centre Stall on road junction. Location. Location. These two women with their stall have got it right Irrigation channel. The countryside is laced with a network of concrete channels that feed the paddy field Detail of corner stall. Close-up of the stall in the picture above sells meat, on the right, and vegetables, on the left. They are likely to be selling produce from their own land, and the stall is likely to have been erected without any permissions Stall on road junction. This cafe offers billiards, coffee, ice cream and teas. Another sign of change, five years ago 'cà-phê' (the use of the English 'coffee' itself is very new) was only found in the big towns Road being repaired. The road under repair. At least now there is a surface to be repaired, and it can be done in a few hours. Previously the whole road was such that repairs were meaningless The bad state of the road. One section of the road by village is still in its original state - with rain, and that is much of the year, this is just mud Bad road by railway. Road surface, or lack of it, near the level crossing Level crossing. New road.

Cutting across the village road are two major infrastructures. The old railway line, and a new road being constructed from the new airport to the new chemical-petrol complex. Progress...
Railway track. This is the biggest railway in Vietnam bequeathed when the French occupation ended: single track, narrow gauge, running from Hà Nội to Hồ Chi Minh (Saigon) City Truck raising dust. The new road leaving to the area its dust Train passing. A train passes on the level crossing at 40mph. My bike is just visible to the left Nearly all level crossings are barrier free in Vietnam. Here are a couple of images of trains crossing this otherwise bucolic road. The picture further down the page shows a cohort of children just out of school approaching the line. Train passing crossing. The railway line from the road, note the clear view over - no barriers Road at Thanh Cong village. The road ends at the village of Thành Công Pupils on bicycles. Pupils coming out of school - 10.30am - this is the tropics and schools start at 7. By 10 it is often too hot to work Despite the intrusions, and the increasing frequency of cars, the road is still a peaceful place where the workers in the fields and shops spend time in gossip as well as work, and are happy to enjoy passing visitors Man carrying plough. Rather amusing. A man seems to be in tow to a buffalo, maybe he will put on the harness and plough, and the buffalo will lead him across the fields Tombs by the road. Tombs dot the landscape and are not confined to graveyards. There is more on local cemeteries Buffalo in the road Testimony to the nature of the area; a buffalo lazies into the road with the normal
bovine indifference to cars and bikes
The next page introduces the village at the end of this road
- Thành Công.
Thanh Cong village. line
Saturday 11th February 2017 Murphy on duty
While travelling these pages are produced using a Microsoft system.
Colour consistency and quality is sadly much diminished until my return to my Mac.

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