It’s 6:30 am in the morning. 30 minutes late. I quickly changed and got out of the hotel. 
Ha Long in the early morning isn’t what I expect it to be. It’s actually a disappointment.
I start my running session right at the gate of Sun World Park - a huge complex serving thousands of visitors. I run along a block of restaurants. In front of them, garbage cans are overloaded. Under the heat, they stink like hell.
I remember how crowded this place was last night. It was chaotic. Perhaps every night. Streets were full of people. The air was polluted with emissions from cars and noise of vehicle horns.
Several workers are cleaning up the street. They pour garbage into trucks. Many of them come and go but there is still a mountain of the waste left.
I had imagined today’s running session would be so good. The fresh air, the beach view, the nice weather, etc. But it is ruined.
I can’t stop thinking about what we are trading for economic growth. Are we doing it right? I can’t be sure. But I know one thing for sure: we are destroying this place.