Mong Cai is in the northeast of Vietnam in the province of Quang Ninh. Mong Cai is right next to the Vietnam-China border.
You can get to Dong Hung (Tung Xing, China) by crossing a bridge of 100 metres over a calm shallow river. It is a free trade zone, so there is plenty of activity in the markets until they close around 3 or 4 pm.
Mong Cai got destroyed during the war between Vietnam and China in the late 1970s. The battle only lasted 17 days before the North Vietnamese troops drove back the invading army. The people evacuated from the city and scattered all over Vietnam. After the war ended in the early 1980s, people started to move back and rebuilt the city from scratch. After 20 years of continuous reconstruction, the city has grown to its original size. New buildings rise like the grass on a wild-opened paddock.
The city is becoming a vital port for Vietnam. Traders move goods between Vietnam and China. Mong Cai has easy access to the large markets in southern China, especially Dong Hung town, an open-door economic zone in Guang Xi province of China. The land, water and railway transport systems, together with the seaports, have made Mong Cai an important exit and entry point.
Today the tensions of the past do not seem to hamper cross-border trade. There is little outward evidence of any animosity between the two communities.
Now, you can get to Mong Cai from Hanoi international airport using different routes. You can get Mong Cai via a standard day bus trip in about 9-10 hours. It is very tiring on this trip thought. Or you could take a lie-down overnight bus trip. You hop onto the bus around 10 pm and wake up at 6 am as the bus pull into the terminal. Or you could take a private car or van through the high-speed motorway. You can get to Mong Cai within about 4-5 hours.
You know you arrived in Mong Cai by seeing the rooftop clock above Mong Cai’s central market.
Five stars hotels, clubs, gyms and other recreational facilities have sprung up for visitors.
Tra Co is the most famous place for holidays. Tra Co is 9 km away from Mong Cai to the east and with a population of some 5000 people. It has a long beach of hard sand – wide and practically deserted.
Tra Co Beach is a famous tourist attraction in Vietnam with broad fine sand beaches. Tra Co beach is an ideal place to spend the holidays. If you spend your holiday on the fifth month of the lunar calendar, you can have a chance to take part in the Tra Co Communal House Festival organized. The festival is from the 30th of the fifth lunar month to the 6th of the sixth.
Tropical monsoon climate. It’s hot and has a lot of rain in summer, in winter it’s cold and has a little shower. It is the hot and rainy season from May to September, and from November to March, it is the dry season. So there are enough four seasons in a year: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The average temperature in Tra Co is 22° C, although it tends to fall below 20°C from December to March. The hottest months are June and July, when the temperatures reach 26 and 28°C. In July and August, there are many storms and typhoons. So, these months are not the best time to visit Tra Co.
When you come to Tra Co, please visit Tra Co Communal House, built in the 16th century and Tra Co church, developed in 1880, and since then, it has gone through many restorations.
About 20Km outside the city is a little village called Binh Ngoc. My childhood memory at Binh Ngoc is very vague.
I spent almost a year on the beach of Bich Ngoc when I stayed with my grandparents. After that, I escaped to Hong Kong with my mother.
The beach is long and flat, filled with clean golden sand and white seashells. I’ve spent many summer afternoons on the shore of Binh Ngoc. I climbed onto one of the fishing boats parked on the beach with my cousin and then dived into the cool ocean water.
My grandfather walked to the bakery every morning to get the early morning bread from the oven. I remember him in his brown shift and black pant with legs fold-up below the knee. One hand hold the bread with one hanging free. With weak legs, his hips and long arms swing side-to-side as you walk.
The warm crusty bread with sweet condensed milk spread all over will make your mouth watered.