Without an H

Photography from south-east Asia by Jon Sanwell

Posts from the ‘vietnam’ category

Travels with my sister

It’s easy to become jaded and cynical about a place after you’ve lived there for a while. One of the great things about visits from friends and family is that you get to look at familiar sights with some fresh perspective. Things that you might have started to take for granted become interesting again. So nine days in Vietnam with my sister, as well as being an opportunity to spend some time with one of my favourite people, was a chance to remind myself about what drew me to Vietnam in the first place.

These pictures are from the few days that Kate and I spent in Dalat and Hanoi.

Green (potw #41)

I’ve spent the last week and a bit on holiday with my sister, Kate, who came over from the UK to visit her little brother.  We had a great time in Saigon, Dalat and Hanoi before Kate had to head home last night.  I have a few pictures to add, but I thought I’d start with Mr Green here, seen this morning in Hanoi.

Colours and details

Every now and then, I like to publish a post without any people pictures.  Like comedians sometimes make films without any jokes in.  This is one of those.  These pictures are all about the colours, patterns, textures and details that I saw in northern Vietnam last month.

My last post was featured on Freshly Pressed last week, so this site has gained quite a few new readers – hello.  And to all those who have been following, commenting on and liking my posts over the last year – thank you.   Here are some more pictures.

Around Sapa

My trip to Sapa seems like a long time ago now, though I’ve only been back for two and a half weeks.  The cool temperatures, clean air and mist were a world away from Saigon’s humidity and smog.  When the sun came out for the last few days, I was even a bit disappointed.  These pictures were all taken in the countryside and villages around the town over the course of a few long-ish walks.

In the kitchen

I took this picture in Bac Ha, but it didn’t seem to fit in my earlier post, as it was taken on one of the side streets, rather than in the market.  It’s not the sharpest picture I’ve ever taken, but I like it, so I’m posting it on its own here.

She was making rice noodles in a tiny street-side kitchen in the late afternoon.  I liked the way she was lit by the fading sunlight outside, and I liked her style.  Her slightly incongruous black suit jacket made a great contrast to the bright colours worn by the Flower Hmong market traders elsewhere in town.

Red II


I paid a couple of visits to Ta Phin village while I was staying in Sapa. There’s something very compelling about the Red Dao women and their red head scarves.


Market days

Saturday morning in Can Cau market. Mud underfoot, mist above. Women buy and sell, men smoke and drink rice wine.


Sunday morning in Bac Ha market.  Hoped to capture a sense of place, but ended up concentrating mostly on patterns and portraits.


Red (potw #40)

One of the reasons why I went back to colour for my trip north was because of all the greens, yellows and reds I knew I’d come across. If yesterday’s post was all about the green and yellow, today’s is all about the red.  I met this Red Dao (“zow”) mother and daughter in Ta Phin village, north of Sapa.  The family was entertaining a local policeman with rice wine, and they invited me in to join them. The policeman didn’t want his picture taken, and I wasn’t going to argue with him, but the women of the house were happy to humour me.  This shot was taken just inside the side entrance to the house, where they were nicely lit by the sunlight from outside.

Harvest (potw #39)

I’ve just got back from two weeks in northern Vietnam, mostly spent in the hills in and around Sapa and Bac Ha in Lao Cai province, near the Chinese border.  I have a stack of pictures to sort through and I haven’t worked out how I want to present them yet, but I thought I’d start by posting a couple of single pictures of the week.  There’ll be a longer series or two of pictures in the near-ish future.

This shot was taken on a misty, murky afternoon in Cat Cat village, a short walk from Sapa.  The rice harvest was pretty much over by the time I made it up into the hills, but these farmers, for whatever reason, were a little behind everyone else.