Vietnam 2014

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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This friendly chap asked me to take his portrait :)
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messy:
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View outside:
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You don’t need to go to the Gym if you carry this every day:
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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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More packing:
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Time to sit down for a minute after a hard day at work:
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Hurry up and lock it up so we can go home!
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Another hard worker who looks in good shape and tired
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Aerial view:
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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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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
 
Jonney, I like all of it, both photographically and as a bit of insight into another culture. Above all, it makes me want to do more street photography- it's one of the types I enjoy the most, but tend to be somewhat inhibited about pointing the camera at the most interesting subjects- people.
 
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
Click to expand...

That's what I used to do but unless I have a very good reason to say no, I'll give most things a go these days. You only live once, and it starts hitting home as you get older. No point in living with regret, even if you end up having a stressful time, you'll know what's what for the next trip which will make it easier, plus there will guaranteed be at least one story you get to tell from the trip that makes it worth it :D
 
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

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Fresh fish

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Even the locals need to make a phone call

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Hair cut time:

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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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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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Result of the sunset


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More Landscape pics.

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I am off to Vietnam in November 2014 and looking forwarded it.

The holiday is a tour from the south to the north with a stop over in Cambodia.
 
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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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!
 
The same really 2 months from boxing day. Were you in Hoi an on the 14th? When they have the Light festival thing.

I really wanted to visit the largest cave in the world, which is near Phong Nha but apparently there is a waiting list and it costs a lot to get on a tour (like $2000 i heard). Paradise cave was pretty huge and completely empty when we went. Was an awesome experience, we met a geologist from NZ who made a great tour guide while exploring the caves.
 
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?
 
Looks great, can't wait to see more.

Currently deciding where to go backpacking in the summer for 6 weeks with the wife. We've not done it before but have visited Bali & Thailand on holiday in the past.

Currently got two options :

1) Indonesia - sumatra/gili islands/lombok
2) Vietnam & Cambodia

Hopefully this thread will help me make my mind up!
 
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
 
Thanks.

forgot to update this thread with new pics hehe:

I went to a place called Hoi an in the middle of vietnam. i was only meant to stay here for 4 days but i stayed for a whole week. This was because i met a vietnamese family who a guy i met in a forum told me to come by there shop and say hi to them.

I spent various times at there shop just talking and socialising and after the tete new year, they invited me to there place for lunch.

Here is a pic of the younger sister who i spoke to many times

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Hoi An-134.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

Before meeting with this family i accidently stumbled on this place which looked as if it was bombed during the war.

You can see a bunker here!

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Northern Vietnam-165.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

Yup i came across these group of kids playing around the war torn area. I was happy inside of me to see local kids al happy and smiling and playing around such a historic site. Almost made me weep inside as we all know what the Vietnamese went through against the Americans. Touching image above and a contender for my personal best pic of this year..

More pics of the area:

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Hoi An-3.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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Hoi An-9.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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Hoi An-18.jpg by jonneymendoza, on Flickr

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Went last year and imo the best trip I've ever had. I don't know how you can stand being there for such a short trip. We went for 3 weeks and were gutted to come home. So glad we focused on Vietnam and didn't try to get through Cambodia and Thailand as well in 3 weeks as a lot of people do.

I took around 4500 photos, but won't clutter your thread with more :)
 
mr tommo said:
Looks great, can't wait to see more.

Currently deciding where to go backpacking in the summer for 6 weeks with the wife. We've not done it before but have visited Bali & Thailand on holiday in the past.

Currently got two options :

1) Indonesia - sumatra/gili islands/lombok
2) Vietnam & Cambodia

Hopefully this thread will help me make my mind up!
Click to expand...

Vietnam (3 weeks), Laos (1 week), Cambodia (2 weeks) IMO.

But make sure you plan Laos very carefully, it's not as travelled and isn't as "safe" an option as Vietnam/Cambodia is nowadays.
 
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