Vietnam 2014

jonneymendoza

jonneymendoza

jonneymendoza

Caporegime
Joined
7 Apr 2008
Posts
25,083
Location
Lorville - Hurston
Hi all.

A couple of weeks ago i spent nearly a month in vietnam traveling solo for the first time and really enjoyed.

I took with me my canon 5d3, 16-35L f2.8, 70-200L f2.8, Gizto 2 series tripod and some spare memory cards and batteries.


Untitled by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

All the above gear was stored inside my fstop loka 37L bag plus i bought a smaller bag for extra things:


Untitled by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

This along with 4 days worth of clothes was all i took with me as i wanted to travel as light as possible.

Before i reached vietnam i did a stop over and stayed in singapore for a whole afternoon/night as my flight got delayed and i missed the flight from singapore to hanoi:

So as a result i went up to the marina bay and took some pics :)


Singapore stoppover-293.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr


Singapore stoppover-30.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

full set here: Singapore Stop over - a set on Flickr

After finally arriving in Hanoi i went to my hotel. unloaded everything but my camera gear from my backpack and began exploring this wonderful place.

As i took this particular shot:

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Hanoi-78.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

This local Vietnamese student approached me:

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Hanoi-45.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

He and asked if he can hang out and talk to me to practise his English. i agreed and we sat at a bar overlooking the lake and had a few drinks whilst communicating in English.

He is a Liverpool supporter who Loves Steven Gerrard!

After we chatted, We then grabbed Dinner in a street food place 5mins from the lake. It was my first Street food i tasted in Vietnam and i fell right in love with it!
 
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I took a few other pics that afternoon/evening below:

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Hanoi-30.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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Hanoi-103-Edit.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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Hanoi-88.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

Later on that same night i went to a local store to see if Beer really cost as low as 50p and bought a couple and was just walking around hanoi with my camera in hand drinking beer and soaking up the atmosphere and the sheer joy and excitment of being here.

I came across a group of vietnamese guys sitting outside a massage place who invited me to drink some Tea with them. I hanged out with them and instantly got along with them and never felt threatened or scared.

One of the guys even became my personal Tour guide throughout my stay in Hanoi

On my first full day i did not waste a second, i got up, had breakfest early in the morning and met up with my personal tour guide and we explored the city with his motobike

Here are some shots from the temples i visited

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Hanoi-200.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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Hanoi-200.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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Hanoi-473.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr
 
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By that same lake i took a shot on number 4, history says that there is a sword buried beneath the water that has not been found.

Apparently these very large turtle creatures use to live in this very same lake protecting the sword:

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Hanoi-206.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr
Below are more temple shots:

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Hanoi-424.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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Hanoi-409-Edit.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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Hanoi-433.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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Hanoi-436.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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Hanoi-440.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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Hanoi-471.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr
 
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After visiting a few temples my local tour guide and friend took me to a place where they make potteries and plates just outside of hanoi. The advanatages of having a one on one tour guide is that they tend to take you to places that are less touristy and this was one of them as i was clearly the only tourist in this small village:

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Hanoi-325.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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Hanoi-266.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

i even made one my own but unfortunatly i broke it when i moved from Hanoi to hoi an :(
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Hanoi-292.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

Some of teh tools used to craft it
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Hanoi-259.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr


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Hanoi-307.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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Hanoi-309.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

They put it through this large oven to help seal and dry it
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Hanoi-318-Edit.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr
 
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As you can see, i did a lot in just over 24hours of staying in vietnam so you can imagine how much and how amazing this holiday was for me!

Expect this thread to contain easily over 100 pics and thats me culling and being as strict on my choosing too! i took close to 4000 shots! I hope you enjoy and i will update this thread with new pics and stories as i go along. I am still editing them!

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Hanoi-358.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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Hanoi-141-Edit.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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Hanoi-355.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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Hanoi-329.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr


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Hanoi-128.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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Hanoi-4.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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Hanoi-327.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr
 
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mattyg said:
Grab the bull by the horns.
A: I wouldn't have the guts to go alone
B:If I did have the balls. I would have said No to the student
C: I would have had a carp time because I couldn't embrace the culture

I must miss so many opportunities because I'm a typical up tight brit.
Looks like you had fantastic time
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i understand. at face value i too am the least person in this world to go as i shy away in things like doing a standup or presentation infont of a croud, talking to girls i do not know etc but when it comes to traveling along, people who do the things i dont like doing, dont have the balls to have done what i did lol so am weird. petty things like chatting to girls i am shy but things liek traveling on your own i am not lol

Raymond Lin said:
Some lovely photos :)



Although....I see 3 lenses ? and why is No. 18 completely out of focus ?
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yes 3 lenses. 16-35 24-70 and 70-200. did i miss mentioning one?

Anyways teh reason why its out of focus is because my personal tour guide and friend took the shot.

O and before you go "OMG how could you let a stranger handle your camera" i trust him and if he tried to run, i would have easily catched him lol. Plus my gear is insured so **** it.

On my trip i wasnt overprotective with all that gear. sometimes i would leave my bag beside a bloke i just met an hour ago in a bar whilst taking a leak lol. Foolish i know but witha bit of common sense and confidentce, you should be fine with your gear out there.

Usually when you are overprotective with gear, thats when someone steals it :rolleyes:

Amp34 said:
Snap! It's a shame but I'm not a very talkative person, which is why I end up with loads of landscapes. Would love to come back with people ones though...



I thought the same.

Out of interest do you take the Loka on as hand luggage? I've been humming and arring over the bag for ages, just not sure it's too heavy and big for what I want...
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Yes i took it has hand luggage as it is the ABSOLUTE max size you can get away with but on the way home i put it in the luggage hold and bought a small daypack midwway through my trip as it was a tiny bit tedius lugging around that bag even when it was half empty in busy streets and places like bars/clubs.

i put it in the holding because when i was traveling domestic flights they make em put my tripod on the hold :( . i also had my hair gel confiscated because it was over 100ml when i was on my way to singapore/hanoi. I couldnt find a suitable identical hair gel so made do with some crappy ones. Still i wasnt there to pick up girls(although i still managed to a bit and made good friends with some) my purpose of this trip was ot just explore this wonderful country through my fashion for photography and just interacting and doing acitivities there.

There are times i would just put my camera down and enjoy what i was doing or seeing. It was just an amazing experience. So great i am going to plan my next solo trip soon.

I may do whole of SE asia ie cambodia, Lao, thailand and a bit of vietnam just to visit friends over there or i may do the whole of India.

How i planned this trip? i diddnt. i winged most of it. That is the best way to do it. more flexibile instead of pre booking everything. i wished i did not pre book my return flight as i wanted to stay longer...

What i would do next time is bring that same bag along with my fstop guru daypack. perfect combo as i would not recommend you bring just one medium/large backpack. You really should bring some sort of day bag with you for carrying just your camera.
 
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Cheers thanks. i will begin to cull and edit the next batch of pics from two places i went to that is around Hanoi :)

I am also constructing a full blog with more details into my story around vietnam. That will be on my own personal blog site not in here though.

Thank you all for taking your free time to visit my thread and see my pictures and of course read some of my back story.

Really appreciate it and i plan to do another solo trip later on this year :)

Thanks again
 
Sure of course mate. me i am not afraid to meet new people, be in online in a forum like OCUK(i have already met a few photographers here) or some random person in a street in a foreign country.

Over on another forum someone recommend me to visit his friend from vietnam and i did ;) more of that story to come probably end of next week when i go through those pictures :)

Lots to tell and share and i am in the process of making a blog of it.

Anyways PM me your email or something and lets keep in touch.

To everyone else, If you wish keep in touch with me or hang out and do some photo walks around london, feel free to PM me also. :) Dont be shy i wont bite
 
On my last full day in Hanoi i briefly visited a famous busy market called the Dong Xuan Market. i visited it in the perfect time which was just after closing time.

This was the perfect time to visit this place as it was less crowded and i got to take some amazing pictures of the people there packing away their belongings and cleaning up their stalls.

Lots of photo opportunity at this time! My personal driver parked at the front and waited for me. i only wanted to stay briefly inside here but i must have spent an hour or two wondering around taking pictures and chatting to some of the locals there.

Here are some of the images i took of this place.

Packing stuff away as the day is over:
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North Vietnam-129.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr


Do not take your children to this stall!
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North Vietnam-130.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

This friendly chap asked me to take his portrait :)
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North Vietnam-122.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

messy:
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North Vietnam-116.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

View outside:
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North Vietnam-106.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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North Vietnam-75-Edit.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr
 
You don’t need to go to the Gym if you carry this every day:
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North Vietnam-63.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

It is hard work, She deserves a good nights rest. Some of these people work monday to sunday. Us people in the western world should not really complain about doing some overtime as it is nothing compared to the amount of hours some people here work!
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North Vietnam-57.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

More packing:
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North Vietnam-58.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

Time to sit down for a minute after a hard day at work:
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North Vietnam-66.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

Hurry up and lock it up so we can go home!
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North Vietnam-67.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

Another hard worker who looks in good shape and tired
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North Vietnam-103.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr
 
Aerial view:
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North Vietnam-113.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

A shop selling silk clothes. Teaser for the next batch of images i took earlier that same day related to these types of items:
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North Vietnam-126.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

I’ll post one more as i think i posted too many photo’s already!
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North Vietnam-132.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

As you can see, i was only in this market for an hour or two and took many many images. You could have a field day as a street photographer in this place. i recommend you go to places like this when they are setting up shop or closing. It is the best time to take photos in a market because you get to see and capture interesting expressions and story’s to your images.

What i should have done and would do next time is that i will do a mini series where i will go to a market area similar to this, be it here in the UK or another country and go in the morning before they open and then back in the evening when they are closing and try to take a picture of the same stalls on a “before and after” series.

Hope you enjoy the pics. It is just a mini update. I have one more little series to edit and post before i reveal the next area i visited.

Thank you all
 
I took a Overnight Train from Hanoi to a place called Sapa. It took around 8 hours to arrive and I managed to get some sleep in the train as there was 2 pairs of bunk beds per cabin
Once I reached Sapa the first thing that caught me was the temperature. The temperature when we arrived was around 0-2c!!
I was freezing myself and as soon as I got to the hotel I went and bought a proper winter coat in a shop close by.
The Hotel was freezing cold too as there was no central heating system! All they had in my room was a tiny portable heater that doesn't heat up the room! You need to sit 5cm's away from the heater to feel anything! At least they had electric blankets but the room and whole hotel was really cold!


Lets start off with my usual traditional Street shoots/portraits:


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Kids playing around :)



North Vietnam-58.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr



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Security guard armed with a machete!

North Vietnam-55.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr





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Morning snack

North Vietnam-50.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr



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Fresh fish

North Vietnam-21.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr


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Even the locals need to make a phone call

North Vietnam-228.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr


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North Vietnam-363.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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North Vietnam-371.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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Hair cut time:

North Vietnam-377.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr


He was my tour guide for first day in saps and then after the group tour, just me and him went off to higher ground on his bike to take some sunset pictures. On the way up we fell off the bike but i wasn’t hurt thank god but one of knobs on my tripod head snapped off. Still works fine but i can’t tighten the friction


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North Vietnam-139.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

Before we i did take the sunset shot we stopped over this local guy on the way up as we was an hour early and he kindly cooked us some BBQ pork(i think it was pork? hehe)

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North Vietnam-138.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

Result of the sunset


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North Vietnam-185.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

More Landscape pics.

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North Vietnam-269-Edit.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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North Vietnam-296.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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North Vietnam-321.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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North Vietnam-121-Edit.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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North Vietnam-90.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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North Vietnam-65.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr
 
Hi all.

Here are some pics as part of a continuation of my vietnam series. These are taken in a place called halong bay. i spent two days there with a tour group so i did not manage to take many pics here as i could not go wondering around on my own private boat on my own!

enjoy

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Northern Vietnam-4.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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Northern Vietnam-1.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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North Vietnam-415.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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North Vietnam-397.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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North Vietnam-396.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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North Vietnam-387.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr
 
i was in vietnam between Jan and February :).

i did go to Hoi an and also Ho Chi Minh city.

i did not go to Phong Nha caves but i just googled it and it looks awsome. How long was you traveling for? Looks like you travelled with friends. i did it all on my own!
 
i was there for the tete(chinese new year) between 23rd-1st feb. it was quite an amazing experience!

Those photos are incoming!!!

do you need visa for cambodia?
 
Have you been to Laos? That is within striking distance between cambodia and vietnam so it may be worth visiting there too. I would do camdoia first, Lao and then cross over to Sapa vietnam(you can see my sapa pics here) and then make your way down vietnam visiting places like hanoi, hoi an, saigon etc.

Below was taken on the last night in Hanoi vietnam before i took a domestic flight to another town in vietnam

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Northern Vietnam-54.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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Northern Vietnam-48.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

which one do you like best because i want to print a canvas of one of them
 
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