Location

Vietnam 1
  [ ] Hanoi
  [ ] Sapa
  [ ] Ninh Binh

Travel Dates

2024.12.08 - 2025.01.02

Camera

CONTAX T3

Film Stocks

FUJI SUPERIA XTRA400, KODAK ULTRAMAX 400, ILLFORD XP2

Travel Notes

finally back in vietnam for a good and decent amount of time. outside of a visit to Phu Quoc Island in 2020 i hadn’t visited since my first visit in 2012. while i was gone i had read of the amazing speed at which the economy and country had developed in the last 10+ years. what I found in Hanoi was something different: an old quarter generally untouched by this development, in part because it is their tourism cash cow, and steady development in other parts of the city. unlike Tokyo where the tourists are scattered around the city, most Hanoi visitors stick to the Old City Quarter. I spent 1.5 weeks outside of the area and was hard pressed to find any tourists. I love the Old Quarter: it’s intense, gives absolutely no fucks, and a melting pot of old/new and local/international. albeit has too many tourists.

a highlight of my whole trip was a red dao tribal homestay near Sapa, located in norther Thailand just south of the Chinese border. the weather was absolute shite. according to the travel brochures the mud and low-to-no-visibility trekking i did was surrounded by beautiful rice terraces. only on my last 30 minutes in the area did the clouds move a certain way and i saw a glimpse. my homestay mum May-Lie was tough and caring. i spent the night in her house, making dinner together. the family usually eats chicken once a month and slaughtered one of their own a day before my arrival. how sweet. we talked about the injustices to their people in the area and her desire to build a new house. her small girl Zoom Zoom taught me the Vietnamese alphabet. We visited neighboring villages and dropped in to test the latest sunscreen products. i’ll never forget my time with them.

as i was packing for the trip, like before all of my previous trips, i was humming and hawing over which camera to bring with me. minutes before i had to leave my house i grabbed the T3 because it’s so small. at times i wish i had brought a medium format camera, but overall i’m happy with what i got.

be happy with what you got.