FISHING BOATS AT SUNRISE

THE QUAINT FISHING VILLAGE OF MUI NE


ROPE


#2444


FRESH YELLOW LINES PAINT DAILY


MORNING PROPELLER


YELLOW STRIPER

MUI NE FISHING VILLAGE
I woke up at 5:45 am this morning to hire a xe om (pronounced 'say ohm' - motorbike) so I could see the Mui Ne fishing village at sunrise. The newspaper forecasted a 6:16 sunrise. The first 30 minutes the sun spent above the horizon it stayed hidden behind clouds making me wish I had done the same beneath my comforter. But the light was soft and coming in from an angle so I started to shoot the workers preparing the fishing boats before the tide came in. Most of the boats had been purposefully stranded on the sand to give the fisherman access to the hull of their boat. The fishing crew scrubbed off the barnacles and various hardshelled sea critters that had affixed themselves to the wooden sides from the night before. One worker splashed water while one scrubbed the sides feverishly while another filled holes with soft clay while a final worker renewed the painted yellow stripe that ran from the bow to stern. The whole routine appeared to be daily since each boat had the same division of labor. The sun eventually woke up showing itself to the entire village.


FISHING BOAT AT DUSK


LOW TIDE 2


ONE ROUND BOAT


THREE FISHING BOYS


"UNTITLED"

FISHING VILLAGE - FIRST VISIT

ROUND FISHING BOATS 1


ROUND FISHING BOATS 2


SON OF A FISHERMAN

MUI NE RED SAND DUNES

LOCAL BOYS OFFER THEIR SLEDS


GACHOO SHOOTING THE SKY


GACHOO TAKES A BREAK FROM ASKING ME IF I AM MARRIED


MAC

SELECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHS

BIRD'S EYE VIEW OF DA CAU , JUGGLING GAME

EVERYTHING BY MOTORBIKE - HANOI

CARRYING GLASS DOORS - HOI'AN

ARTFUL WAY OF KEEPING PEOPLE OUT - HOI'AN

ARTFUL WAY OF STORING YOUR SANDALS - HOI'AN

PRIVATE vs PUBLC

EXPOSED LIVING

When you travel, you can be sure to lose a few things. Beyond the usual list (keys, coins, regularity) there are also a set of intanglibles you might not have. In Vietnam, your sense of personal space is one of the first things to go the moment you step on the plane to Hanoi. When flying in the U.S. and in other overweight countries, passing the flight attendant's snack cart is not only frowned upon by logistically impossible for a large majority of the passengers. This is not the case on Vietnam Airlines where the inches to the side of the cart become an express highway. Most Vietnamese slide by but a few get stuck bumping into you and knocking the six salty peanuts you were holding between the seat cushions. It's not really a big deal since I am comforted by the thought that if the plane goes down in a body of water, imagine all the peanuts you would find when using your seat as a flotation device. And even once you've made it off the plane, claiming your baggage is no different. I deplaned and secured open real estate where I could easily retrieve my bags. I knew that standing at the mouth of the moving belt would be a heavily contested area so I chose space at the first bend. I don't recommend the first bend anymore. Within a minute, I felt like that peanut stuck between the cushion with 20 little peanuts surrounding me. Amazing how the concept of personal space just does not exist here. Funny how I am ready to get back to New York - a place that once drove me insane with its noise, congestion and density. I guess you can get used to almost anything. People here are more accustomed to living, sleeping, eating, sitting, line waiting etc. in tighter situations. The exposure of living here is something most westerners would most likely notice. For example, walking the streets in residential Hanoi, I found that there is no separation between the public street and a family's living room. Living is exposed much like the back of a dollhouse. In my passing observations, I noticed at least one TV set on, a miniature shrine with burning incense, a motorbike parked next to grandma's sleeping head and a color that you have never seen before painted on the wall. Some families double their homes as teahouses or internet cafes. I remember having to walk over a few sleeping kids to get to an open computer.


EXPOSED LIVING #2

CLAY POTS of HOI'AN

I left Hanoi and made my way down to Hoi'An which lies in Central Vietnam. Hoi'An is a charming mercantile harbor town with excellent seafood restaurants, tailor shops and little boutiques. I arrived in the evening and began searching for The Mango Rooms Restaurant, which had been suggested to me by a friend. As I explored the streets, I heard cheering down a poorly-lit street. Street performance? Communist rally? Chicken fighting to raise money for avian bird flu awareness? I decided to walk towards the noise since the other direction offered complete rural darkness. I discovered a small stage illuminated by a string of colored lanterns. A rambunctious crowd huddled under the lights and cheered on a rendition of the pinata game - only instead of bashing decorated paper animals full of candy, there were two small hanging clay pots. An MC riled the crowd as masked contestants armed with wooden mallets made their way from a line to the swinging clay pots 10 feet away. I observed for a while taking photographs and listened to the excitement of the crowd wax and wane as homerun swings were waged against the helpless pots. Of the 30 attempts I saw, only 4 had success in exploding the pot into little pieces - some of which landed on the crowd. Success was rewarded with cheering, a brief interview with the MC and your selection of a prize.



I handed over 2000 dong (about $0.13) to the MC and it was then that I became very aware of the beating drum. I paced the distance to the hanging pots to gauge how far I would walk before having a blind swing. This was a common technique of the previous winners. When I approached the pots, my head was nearly level with the swinging pots. This elicited a grand cheer from the crowd. Did they want me to forget the wooden mallet and shatter the pot with a jumping header? The thought did cross my mind. What if I completely shanked it? I returned to my line, donned the masked which covered my eyes, paced out the distance with the drum, raised my mallet and paused. Was I even close to the pot? Some of the previous contestants had been literally 4 ft off target. The crowd started yelling, "Trai trai" and "Phai phai" as I made minor adjustments. What the hell is, "Phai phai"? It probably means, "stand still while we empty your backpack." Clearly, it was "right, right" and "left, left." With my right hand gripping the mallet in striking position, I raised my left hand to my ear hoping to get the crowd going a bit more. I made my swing and no joke, made serious wood on the clay pot which quickly lost its form to a hundred little pieces. I removed my masked and viewed the smiles and cheering among the crowd. The MC shook my hand and asked where I was from. New York I said, but the crowd did not react like you might expect from an American game show. I threw the crowd a wave thanking them for their useless navigation and encouraging support and made my prize selection. The MC ran up to me again and asked if I was going to give my prize to my wife. I shook my head, showed him my bare hand and said, "No, girlfriend." Besides learning that my spatial sense while blindfolded is fairly decent, I found that putting on the mask of the locals and giving something a try has been an attitude that will always bring travel success.

CHANGDEUKGUNG PALACE

I did have 12 hours today to spend in Seoul, South Korea today. Not sure what you would expect the weather to be here, but it is freezing. I visited Changdeukgung Palace for a few hours. I was too impatient to wait for the English guided tour so I went on the Japanese tour with 60 others Japanese tourists which was interesting. I think the only time I had a slight clue what they were talking about was when they all were looking at me and the guide said something with 'American' in it. The good side to not being able to absorb a single ounce of history from our, or rather, 'their 'guide was that I could concentrate more on photography.






Original Post

BRING YOUR OWN LIGHT

PHOTOGRAPHS
TOM & JERRY

WAITING TO CROSS

RED FLAGS

DONG EXCHANGE

LOW RIDER - working with what's available is an important skill

DOWN THE TRACKS


BRING YOUR OWN LIGHT
In my travels yesterday, I purchased a lantern for a post-bargain price of 140,000 vnd (about $9.00) for a friend here. The bargaining process with the Vietnamese shop owner consisted of passing a calculator back and forth along with exchanges of subtle eyebrow acrobatics and air-blowing techniques. Curling your bottom lip to exhale a funneled stream of air into my hair seemed to be effective. To be honest, I really needed to use the bathroom so continuing to bargain was not an option. I made my way with my new lantern in hand to what turned out to be the darkest coffee shop in Hanoi. I had to walk through their personal kitchen up stairs that could have passed for a ladder into a room that wouldn't' take my full height. I ordered a thimble-sized cup of coffee and when the waiter exited down the steep stairs, I found a spare outlet and illuminated the room with a red light from the lantern so I could see what I was drinking. Before long, I was joined by a Vietnamese couple who seemed surprised that a westerner had selected this particular shop for a break. I shot my coffee-not-grande, tipped a few extra thousand dong for the electricity I used and proceeded to unplug my lantern leaving the newly arrived couple in darkness and concern for why I was stealing a lantern from this shop. I could not explain and slowly made my way down the ladder steps, smiled as I walked back through the kitchen and continued down the street.