One afternoon in February, taking advantage of the little sunlight after cold rainy days, Mr. Dinh Hoang Tien (born 1994, Hanoi) brought newly washed clothes to the shower area of the parking lot of Na Pai village, Thuy Hung commune, district. Cao Loc, Lang Son hung the glass on the front of the car to dry.
After finishing, Mr. Tien walked up to the cabin, yawned and used his phone to “kill time”.
The cabin of less than 10 square meters is the mobile home of driver Tien on long journeys
The afternoon sunlight penetrated through the windshield, revealing his dark face, long hair and beard that had not been shaved for a long time. No one thought this was a 30-year-old man.
In the cabin of Mr. Tien’s car, there are 2 seats (1 driver, 1 passenger), behind is a bed with torn leather. The compartments were filled with packs of cigarettes and soft drinks, things the driver joked were “indispensable”.
Mr. Tien said he has been working as a container truck driver for 5 years, with long trips to both ends of the country to transport machinery components imported from China. Each trip to and from home takes about 14 days, because goods must be received and delivered to many localities.
“The nature of the job is always on a kilometer basis. For me, going to the South or going back to the North is very normal. The most boring thing is parking for many days waiting for paperwork and receiving and returning goods to customers. “Every day I just wander around the parking lot, my feet are sad, my arms are sad, but I don’t know what else to do,” Mr. Tien confided.
In previous years, long-distance drivers had to bring pots, pans, travel gas stoves and spices to cook for themselves, and so did Mr. Tien. Recently, there have been a lot of popular rice restaurants popping up, where people come to eat instead of cooking for themselves. For Mr. Tien, the rice here is only enough for a full meal, not as delicious as the rice his wife cooks.
Having said that, Mr. Tien pulled the curtains to block the sun with one hand and took out his phone with the other to make a video call to his wife at home.
Video calls with his wife are a source of energy that helps Tien have more motivation to work
Through inquiries, he knew that his wife had just had her lunch break, and her two young children were at school for the last afternoon’s shift. The couple kept looking at each other through the phone screen. The air kiss replaced the call’s conclusion, with the hope of finishing work early and going home.
“Every month the company pays me 12 million, 10 million to send to my wife, 2 million for my own daily expenses. As a long-distance driver, I spend more time in the car than at home, so I rely on my wife to take care of some things. Toan. I love my wife and miss my children very much, but I have to accept it, just for the sake of making a living,” Mr. Tien confided.
