Hà Nội

Before the trip, I was in no mood to holiday. I haven’t done anything for my research, but was feeling tired all the same. After the trip, I was in no mood for research. What an irony..

Old quarter at Hanoi is a very messy place. The streets do not follow any pattern, and the traffic is chaotic and full of motorists honking one another.. to the extent that some trucks and buses have to use a different tune for their horns to make them distinct. Some even have “auto” horns where you just have to press once and it will horn multiple times.

Vietnamese love to sit by the roadside. During lunch hours don’t be surprised to see huge groups of people sitting and enjoying their meal by the road, despite the dusty and noisy atmosphere.

We spent the afternoon walking around, taking pictures and also watched the water puppet show. Not very impressive, although there is a lot of potential to be better. Just need better packaging and some special effects..

Halong bay

Halong bay – looks like a rather magical place.. especially when you add the misty weather. The blank space you are staring at could turn out to be a cluster of limestone islets as you approach them. Beautiful, but difficult to photograph due to severe lack of contrast.

Like many limestone structures, there are bound to be caves to be explored. We were brought to the Surprise Cave, which is quite large. There were many tourists there though.. it’s a standard item on all itineraries. Not easy to photograph, as the dynamic range was huge due to the spotlight used to illuminate the cave. Had to use my “secret sauce” to blend multiple exposures for a more realistic representation.

Living on a boat was a pretty cool experience. The water was calm, and the trip relaxing.. you get to chat with fellow tourists too, and we had 10 out of 17 people on board who were from Singapore. Long exposure shots were not possible, as the boat is moving.

 

Sa Pa

The next highlight of the trip – 2d1n in Sapa. Had to take an overnight train from Hanoi. 9 hours, but it didn’t felt long, as the level of comfort was well above what KTM offered. The train was punctual too.

The scenery at Sapa was gorgeous. We were greeted by a sea of clouds as we looked out of the restaurant at our hotel. It was so cool to enjoy breakfast with a background that change every few seconds. The best part – I could just set my camera to shoot a timelapse from the balcony while I enjoy my breakfast.

At night it was even cooler (literally). The street lights would go off, and the whole night sky full of stars would be presented to you. Also visible from the balcony of my hotel room! Another few hundred shots sold to a timelapse. It’s really rare to be able to do a timelapse while you carry on sleeping, knowing that your camera won’t be gone in the next morning.

Room with a view from Lee Wangwei on Vimeo.

The people of Sapa live a hard life though.. The mong villagers trek for hours uphill to reach your hotel, just to follow you while you trek downhill to their village. All in the hope that you would buy some of their handicrafts. And mind you.. some are 50+ year old ladies, and some parts of the path are extremely steep. I was told most of the male villagers work as construction workers in the town of Lao Cai. We are indeed blessed to be born in a developed country.

But looking at the carefree life of the children in the village, I do admire the slow-paced, rural life of the villagers. It’s so odd that I’m growing up in a city yearning to live a relaxed life like a villager.. while they are working hard in the hope to live.. a city life? Such irony..

Photographic opportunities are abundant. Everywhere you turn, it looks great. Just wished I had more time (and probably a motobike) to travel around and photograph the best angles of the place. Of course, all these depend on weather, and we were lucky to be there when it was sunny. If it gets misty or rainy, there’s probably nothing much to see..

Took the train ride back to Hanoi on the second night. We wrapped up our trip with a shopping spree and some more photo taking with a very pretty Vietnamese lady =X.

On hindsight, the equipment I brought did have a negative impact on my creativity. The size of the camera makes it difficult to take candid shots, while the hassle of taking it out of the bag has prevented me from capturing many of the little details of the trip. Should I start to take a serious look at the mirrorless interchangeable cameras? Hmm…