Coiled
Cantonese Congregation Pagoda, Can Tho
Posts from the ‘vietnam’ category
Water’s edge
When I come to look back on this trip, some of my best memories will be from Chau Doc. It’s a riverside town, sitting on the banks of the Bassac – also known as the Hau – river, a branch of the Mekong (which gets very complicated round these parts). Many families depend on fishing and river trade for their livelihoods, and whole communities live in stilt houses that hover perilously over the water. These neighbourhoods look ramshackle and fragile from a distance, and life here is certainly far from luxurious, but there’s a tangible sense of community in these narrow alleyways. I guess that you have to get along with your neighbours when you live so close together, and the climate obliges you to spend much of your time outdoors. Hammocks are suspended in porches, a mirror image of their opposite neighbours, just feet away. The exterior walls are made of corrugated metal, but the homes inside are spotless and the people houseproud.
The alleyways themselves are built on stilts and sway slightly underfoot.
Loitering at the dry land end of one of these alleyways, camera in hand, I suddenly found myself with a new friend. The nice man above gestured for me to follow him. He showed me his home, and introduced me to his neighbours. The camera creates wonderful experiences for me sometimes.
Streets of Chau Doc (part 2)
More pictures from the very splendid town of Chau Doc, in the Mekong delta in southern Vietnam.
Streets of Chau Doc
Don’t tell everyone, but Chau Doc is one of the finest places in Vietnam. Near the Cambodian border, it’s a riverside market town with a mix of Vietnamese, Khmer and Cham people. The buzz about the town is recognisably Vietnamese, but is tempered by a distinctly Cambodian laidbackness.
You can taste the blend of cultures in the food. The town’s signature dish, bun ca (a fish noodle broth, sold in Saigon as bun ca Chau Doc) is Vietnamese street food with a Cambodian twist. I ate some every day. Cyclos are a common sight and, unlike in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, where they are now mainly the preserve of newly arrived tour groups, in Chau Doc they are commonly used by local people as a way of getting from A to B.
In some places, you have to work quite hard to get people pictures, but not in Chau Doc, where the people are some of the warmest and most hospitable that I’ve come across. I’ll be posting some more pictures soon; this first post concentrates on the people in the market and on the streets.
Related posts:
- Mekong delta portraits (February 2012)
- Mekong delta portraits II (April 2012)
- More from the Mekong (March 2012)
Pink portraits
I’ve interrupted my Mekong trip to make a quick detour back to Saigon, so that I could say goodbye to some good friends who are leaving Vietnam to go home to Scotland. One of the best things about the expat life is the friends you make. One of the worst things is having to say goodbye to them. Ian and Helen, this one’s for you.
These portraits were taken in Chau Doc, my first stop back in Vietnam on this trip. It’s a market town in the Mekong delta, just over the border from Cambodia, and a fantastic place for people photography. This super-friendly mother and son not only were very happy to be photographed, but also insisted on me joining them for a sit down and a cup of iced tea.
Tracks
Last weekend, while visiting Hanoi for a few days, I took a short walk along the stretch of railway track that leads from Hanoi station, over Long Bien bridge and out to the north. I followed the tracks across the busy city streets near the station, then through a quiet neighbourhood, and above a local market. Space is tight; houses open directly onto the tracks. Trains are fairly infrequent so, as in any other Hanoi neighbourhood, people go about their everyday business in the streets outside their homes.
As the railway heads gently up and towards the bridge, there is little room for the market stalls underneath. Here, dog meat is being sold as a train passes overhead.
Wayne and Frank were out looking for trouble.
Other forms of transport are available.
I stopped for a cup of tea…
… which this nice man insisted on paying for.
Unfortunately, I was too late for lunch; the com binh dan was already closed.
Surrounded
Perhaps it’s just me, but when I see a street food seller from this angle, surrounded by baskets and bowls of food, I think of a 70s rock drummer, Neil Peart perhaps, surrounded by an elaborate collection of drums and cymbals. Anyone else see it? Oh, just me then.
Pith
Near Dong Xuan market, Hanoi, yesterday.
Men at work
I’ve heard it said that women do all the hard work in Vietnam. There may be some truth in that; it certainly seems, sometimes, that men take a more – shall we say – relaxed approach. Here we have a cigarette seller, a repairman and a tailor, all seen hard at work over the last week.
Rest
Vietnamese markets are hot, noisy, crowded, exhausting places. No wonder these three had escaped to the shade of an alleyway for a sit-down and a chat.
Without an H 