Today in Postal History

Tonkin to United States
November 17, 1904

This picture postcard was sent from Laokay in Tonkin (now Viet Nam).
Laokay (now Lao-cai) is on the northern border of Viet Nam and the Chinese province of Yunnan.
It was about midway on the railroad between Hanoi and
Kunming, China, completed by the French in 1898.

There is one clear and one faint Laokay CDS.
The postcard next received a transit mark for Victoria, Hong Kong, on November 27.
I have no idea why this transit took so long.

The next postmark is a San Francisco machine receiver dated December 30.

The next mark is a Minneapolis machine receiver dated on what appears to be January 2, 1905.

The postcard is illustrated by a harbor scene from Haiphong.
Haiphong was the harbor near the North Vietnamese capital of Hanoi.

The postcard is franked with a 1904 Navigation and Commerce issue for Indo-China.
I'm not sure of the color or denomination.
Help, anyone?

There is a note from the sender on the illustration.
Je desirais des timbres Etats-Unis, et en général tous timbres
américains. En échange j'offre cartes illustrées d'Indochine.
This translates as, "I would like stamps from the United States, and, in general,
all American stamps.  In exchange, I can offer you illustrated cards of Indo-China."*
The sender signed it L. L. Rives | Postmaster | Laokay / Tonkin.

*Thanks to both Jim W.-S. and Guilllame van T. for the transcription of the text and its translation.

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