Street Pics

Trip Start Feb 01, 2004
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Trip End May 23, 2004


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Flag of Vietnam  ,
Monday, February 16, 2004

Even after seeing other parts of SE Asia, I still feel Vietnam ranks up there as one of the coolest countries in the region. It's hard to capture the essence of this place in a picture b/c it's so much more than just a snapshot in time. Life is lived in motion. A 35mm camera can't capture the aerobic sequence a 70yr old women does in the park, or the unpredictable weaving of motorbikes, or the process of seeing the backstreet community I live in slowly wake up in the morning, or crossing the sea of motorbikes during rush hour (I still get nervous sometimes), or squatting down for 5 minutes over hole-in-the ground toilets that have flies hovering over them, the list goes on...

Moreover, life doesn't just happen in motion, there's SOUND! These pics can't capture the monotonous sound of women walking down 4meter wide alleyways at 6am in the morning asking "who wants sticky rice," or the traditional village songs that the Russians/Ukrainians/Polish students in my guesthouse sing whenever we get drunk on vodka, or the continuous sound of honking in the sreets, or the haggling you have to do in every market, or the basic conversation I have everytime a local finds out I'm a foreigner: "How old are you? Are you married yet? Why not? Would you like to marry a Vietnamese woman?...."

With that said, here are some pics to try to bring you a little closer to this amazing culture.
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