mekong trip 2013 | Without an H

Posts from the ‘mekong trip 2013’ category

Mekong views

130524-277-edited Jinghong, Yunnan province, China

Looking through the pictures I’ve posted from my Mekong trip, I noticed something missing: there are hardly any pictures of the river itself. There are a few reasons for this, I think. I naturally incline towards pictures of people – they’re the pictures that I’m best at, and that I most enjoy taking, but I do sometimes feel the need to broaden my repertoire a little. I don’t have many regrets about this trip, but one of the few I do have is not getting more good landscape and river shots. I remember being on a long bus journey in Laos, between Savannakhet and Pakse, speeding past rice paddies in the rain. As the rain stopped and the late afternoon sun emerged, the fields were lit up in the most beautiful, soft, warm light. You’ll have to take my word for it, because I didn’t get a picture. As I said, I was on a bus at the time, and that bus wasn’t stopping for anyone. I spent a few days in Pakse after that bus journey, but never saw that beautiful light again, so that rice paddy image only exists in my memory. This is just one example of a great picture that I didn’t take, along with the countless early morning street scenes that I was too lazy to get up in time for. So I’m a little disappointed with the landscape pictures that I actually did take – they’re just not as good as the ones in my head, or perhaps it’s just that they don’t grab me as immediately as my best people shots. Whatever the reason, I neglected to post many Mekong landscapes (riverscapes?) while I was travelling, so I’ve collected a few together to post now. These pictures were all taken between May and August this year.

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130613-089-edited Luang Prabang, Laos

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130619-045-edited Ferry across the Mekong (1), Luang Prabang, Laos

130627-086-edited View of Laos at dusk from Nakhon Phanom, Thailand

130718-371-edited Storm clouds gathering, Kratie, Cambodia

130807-255-edited Chau Doc, Mekong delta, Vietnam

130821-056-edited Vinh Long, Mekong delta, Vietnam

130821-062-edited Vinh Long, Mekong delta, Vietnam

130821-173-edited Ferry across the Mekong (2), Vinh Long, Mekong delta, Vietnam

Luang Namtha

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Some more pictures from Luang Namtha province in northern Laos, taken in June this year.

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Probably the least used letter box in the world.

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Going slow in Laos (June 2013)
Forest (June 2013)

Playing games

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Jinghong, Yunnan province, China (May this year).

Border country: Xishuangbanna (June 2013)
Xiding market (June 2013)
Checkmate (September 2013)

Yuanyang details

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Now that my Mekong trip is over, I’ve had some time to look through my pictures again, and pick out some that I didn’t post before. Maybe they didn’t fit with what I was posting at the time, or I just over-looked them as I moved on to new places and pictures. In this case, my previous posts from Yuanyang concentrated on landscapes and portraits, so I neglected to post these detail shots.

Meanwhile, on my twitter page, I’m posting my fifty favourite pictures from the trip, one every day (all of which have previously been posted on this blog, so if you’re sensible enough not to be on twitter, you’re not really missing anything).

Yuanyang portraits II

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Some more pictures from my visit to Yuanyang, in Yunnan province, China, in May of this year.

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Yuanyang portraits (June 2013)
The curves of Yuanyang (June 2013)

Vietnambodia

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One of the most interesting things about my Mekong trip was watching one country slowly merge into another. Vietnam’s Mekong delta felt very different to Yunnan province in China, where my journey started, but there were no dramatic changes as I travelled from one country to another, rather a series of gradual adjustments in culture and landscape, a blurring of the lines. The rice terraces in Yuanyang in Yunnan are very similar to those in northern Vietnam; the flat plains of southern Laos are identical to those over the border in eastern Cambodia. I ate Thai food in China, and Vietnamese food in Thailand. I visited an ancient Angkor temple in Laos and Lao looking temples in China. Borders have shifted over the years (and are still disputed in some regions) and people have migrated from one country to another, so there are Vietnamese communities in Laos, Khmer communities in Vietnam, Burmese communities in China. Cham Muslim villages can be found all along the lower Mekong.

So it was quite fitting that Tra Vinh in southern Vietnam, the southernmost point of my Mekong journey, was another example of this movement of cultures. Although located some way from the present day border with Cambodia, the town and surrounding countryside are home to a sizeable Khmer population, and a number of Khmer temples and monasteries. These pictures were taken in a couple of those temples. The monks I spoke to identified themselves as Khmer, but were also fluent in Vietnamese.

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[Follow me on twitter (@jonsanwell). Or don’t. It’s up to you.]

Temple (July 2013)
Eleven monks (June 2013)
Up II (August 2013)

Float

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A few pictures from Phong Dien floating market, near Can Tho in the Mekong delta.

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More from the Mekong (March 2012)
Water’s edge (last month)
Down by the water (April 2013)

Behind the scenes at the market

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I’ve written before that it sometimes seems as if the women in Vietnam do all the hard work while the men just laze about. Like most sweeping generalisations, it’s not entirely true – but there is some truth in it, as I think the picture above illustrates.

These pictures were taken in the Mekong delta town of Vinh Long, mostly in a narrow alleyway in between the market and the river where goods – mostly rice – are traded wholesale.

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BFFs

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Public displays of affection between men and women are quite rare among Vietnamese people – in daylight at least – but it’s not unusual to see friends of the same sex, men or women, holding hands or being otherwise touchy-feely. I’m not sure if these two were laughing at me, at each other, or at something else entirely.

(Taken last month in Vinh Long, in the Mekong delta)

On solid ground

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If I could only take pictures in one kind of location, it would be the streets and markets of Vietnam. Can Tho, the main city of the Mekong delta, is best known for the nearby floating markets, but the dry land city streets are where I found the pictures that I like the most. While I enjoyed the experience of visiting the floating markets by boat, I didn’t come back from those trips with the pictures that I wanted. Maybe I’m just more comfortable with solid ground beneath my feet, being able to move where I want, rather than having to make the best of the boat’s position.

I spent a fair amount of time in Can Tho relaxing on the waterfront, watched over by a giant statue of Uncle Ho, but found time in the early mornings and late afternoons to wander the nearby side-streets and markets. I seem to have been particularly drawn to strong reds, greens and blues during my stay. The original old market building now houses a riverfront restaurant and assorted souvenir stalls, so the market for fresh meat, fish, fruit and vegetables has spilled out onto the adjacent streets.

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