Vietnam 2008 - Dalat - Cu Chi - Mekong Delta
Chrissiebeez_NL
Registered Users Posts: 1,295 Major grins
Hi all!
Here the final part of my trip to Vietnam. Previous entries can be found here:
Part 1 Hanoi: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=103813
Part 2 Sa Pa: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=103726
part 3 Saigon: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=105997
part 4 Ha long - Cuc phuong: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=124298
part 5: Whale island - Hoi An - Mui Ne: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=124820
part 6: Dalat - Cu Chi - Mekong delta: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=126400
Vietnam 2008: Dalat - Cu Chi - Mekong Delta
Part 2 Sa Pa: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=103726
part 3 Saigon: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=105997
part 4 Ha long - Cuc phuong: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=124298
part 5: Whale island - Hoi An - Mui Ne: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=124820
part 6: Dalat - Cu Chi - Mekong delta: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=126400
Vietnam 2008: Dalat - Cu Chi - Mekong Delta
Leaving the sanddunes of Mui Ne behind us we headed up to the hills to the town of Dalat. This town used to be the favorite location for kolonialist french to escape the ever present heat. Due to its location in the higher mountains of Vietnam, the temperature is much more modest, european like, then in the rest of Vietnam. Not surprisingly but still very strange to witness is the european character of the town. The lush green hills with white alp style houses and churches give you the impression you gone back to europe for a moment 
Unfortunately i dont have any photos of the town itself because i was busy lying in the hottub on the roof of our hotel but i do want to share some photos of the surroundings. We took an 'easy riders' tour around the countryside on the back of a big american like bike and it was a nice way to see some of the country.
My girlfriend Hilde on the back of the motor.
A lot of pine trees grew in the countryside
local 'activity'
The abundance of pine trees also added to the effect of feeling a bit back home. Our (judgemental and racist) biker tour guide explained us that the hills were covered with pine trees since that was the only type of tree that could grown on napalm/agent orange treated earth. I dont know if that is really the case but it was strange to drive around the country seeing a pine tree hill on one side and thick jungle on the other. He also pointed out several bomb craters and other leftovers from the American-Vietnam war.
next up we visited a silk farm. i knew silk came from silk worms but i never knew how they made the silk from it. It was really interesting to see the process.
placing silk worms in a frame
Silk worm and cocoons with the silk.
The silky cocoons are then boiled (poor silk worms :cry ) and the silk collected from them. Then they do some strange things to it with a big furnace and it becomes soft.
Spinning the silk
We visited a number of other places like a buddhis temple were we ate a free vegetarian lunch with local buddhists (a buddhist tradition to support the poor). While sitting there two guys were having a dispute over a girl (
isnt it the same all over the world ) and it ended in a climax when one of the guys tried to smash the others' skull in with a giant boulder. Luckily the first boy wasnt really quick with his giant rock so the couldnt hit his target. Wouldnt have wanted to see what the result was if he did manage to hit him.. :huh These buddhists needed to work on their karma! :rofl
Giant Buddha with neon halo's.
Shiva. Kitsch and religion go hand in hand in Vietnam.
After some more relaxing in dalat we headed to Saigon (see part 3) and took a trip to the Cu Chi tunnels, used by the Viet Cong in the war.
Our guide showing the tunnel complex. An American base was unknowingly build right on top of the tunnel complex, proving the effectiveness of the tunnels in hiding the Viet Cong.
Feeling adventurous we decided to go down the tunnels ourselves. The tunnels go down three stories into the ground and are extremely claustrofobic. The first part is widened for tourists but later on the tunnel becomes so narrow and low you can only fit in on hands and knees (and only just!) A lamp is fitted only every few meters and i occasionally
had to use the flash of my camera to see anything at all. Oh did i mention there were also spiders and other creepy crawlers down there? :rolleyes
Down in the tourist part of the tunnel. This was relatively big.
The ingenouity of the Vietnamese in tunnelbuilding was demonstrated when our guide told us of the tank you see below. The American tank was abandoned after being damaged in a fight and the Vietnamese literally dug below the tank to eventually make it disappear into the ground. They used it as fortified bunker for high ranking officials. :rofl They dug it back up after the war for display.
Although it felt kind of wrong and disrespectful we decided to head to the attached firing range to complete the 'Vietnam war experience'. We traded 5 dollars for 5 bullets (if only all bullets were this pricey, we wouldnt have this many shootings; and yes this is a refence to eddy murphy's standup comedy in the 80's )
Since this forum is occupied mostly by Americans, you may find it interesting to know this was the first time i fired a rifle. The shock and sound was undescribable..
firing an AK47. Although im a big ol' pacifist, my boyish side thinks this doesnt look all that wrong.. :scratch
my girlfriend didnt want to go at first, a bit afraid of the bang and force but i confinced here to fire one bullet since it (hopefully!) would be a while till she got another chance. Concentration..
And *BANG* .. I managed to get a shot of her reaction after she fired the bullet. its a mix of relief and shock and the combination of the two shots are just too funny. long live DSLR's to be able to get these kinds of shots :bow
Although i dint want to miss this part of the journey for the world, we had enough of war for a moment and we went on to the mekong delta.
Taking a boat ride over a small river.
The majority of the trip was done with a bigger boat but we had to change to small boats for some parts. It was really nice to be rowed along the river but the boats were very unstable and i kept thinking we would go over and all my gear would end up with the fishes :uhoh.
The river banks were a photographers bonanza with lots of locals going about there rural lives.
Washing on the riverside
Selling your goods on the docks **warning, may be considered graphic**
Vietnamese man riding his bycicle.
man rowing his boat
Local kids waving. Almost all kids in Vietnam were really interested, enthousiastic, friendly and full of live. I honestly believe that if they are given the chance to develop themselves properly they will grow out to be a generation capable of great things.
The riverbanks were also full of live, like with these mudskippers (one of the oldest creatures around, a look into history when fish began to walk on land. :thumb
This concludes this series of photos. I hope you enjoyed it. I really think Vietnam will do great in the future (the recent discontinuation of the boycot of Vietnam by the american government and their entrance to the WTO are examplary of that) if they work on their problems (corruption, racism and some leftover communist artifacts). I encourage enyone to visit this beautifull place and especially Americans. It is amazing to see how the Vietnamese are looking towards their future instead of their past and trying to make people see there is more to Vietnam than the Vietnam war.
C&C is always welcome as well as (non political) discussions :thumb
Peace! :sweet
Unfortunately i dont have any photos of the town itself because i was busy lying in the hottub on the roof of our hotel but i do want to share some photos of the surroundings. We took an 'easy riders' tour around the countryside on the back of a big american like bike and it was a nice way to see some of the country.My girlfriend Hilde on the back of the motor.
A lot of pine trees grew in the countryside
local 'activity'
The abundance of pine trees also added to the effect of feeling a bit back home. Our (judgemental and racist) biker tour guide explained us that the hills were covered with pine trees since that was the only type of tree that could grown on napalm/agent orange treated earth. I dont know if that is really the case but it was strange to drive around the country seeing a pine tree hill on one side and thick jungle on the other. He also pointed out several bomb craters and other leftovers from the American-Vietnam war.
next up we visited a silk farm. i knew silk came from silk worms but i never knew how they made the silk from it. It was really interesting to see the process.
placing silk worms in a frame
Silk worm and cocoons with the silk.
The silky cocoons are then boiled (poor silk worms :cry ) and the silk collected from them. Then they do some strange things to it with a big furnace and it becomes soft.
Spinning the silk
We visited a number of other places like a buddhis temple were we ate a free vegetarian lunch with local buddhists (a buddhist tradition to support the poor). While sitting there two guys were having a dispute over a girl (
isnt it the same all over the world
) and it ended in a climax when one of the guys tried to smash the others' skull in with a giant boulder. Luckily the first boy wasnt really quick with his giant rock so the couldnt hit his target. Wouldnt have wanted to see what the result was if he did manage to hit him.. :huh These buddhists needed to work on their karma! :roflGiant Buddha with neon halo's.
Shiva. Kitsch and religion go hand in hand in Vietnam.
After some more relaxing in dalat we headed to Saigon (see part 3) and took a trip to the Cu Chi tunnels, used by the Viet Cong in the war.
Our guide showing the tunnel complex. An American base was unknowingly build right on top of the tunnel complex, proving the effectiveness of the tunnels in hiding the Viet Cong.
Feeling adventurous we decided to go down the tunnels ourselves. The tunnels go down three stories into the ground and are extremely claustrofobic. The first part is widened for tourists but later on the tunnel becomes so narrow and low you can only fit in on hands and knees (and only just!) A lamp is fitted only every few meters and i occasionally
had to use the flash of my camera to see anything at all. Oh did i mention there were also spiders and other creepy crawlers down there? :rolleyes
Down in the tourist part of the tunnel. This was relatively big.
The ingenouity of the Vietnamese in tunnelbuilding was demonstrated when our guide told us of the tank you see below. The American tank was abandoned after being damaged in a fight and the Vietnamese literally dug below the tank to eventually make it disappear into the ground. They used it as fortified bunker for high ranking officials. :rofl They dug it back up after the war for display.
Although it felt kind of wrong and disrespectful we decided to head to the attached firing range to complete the 'Vietnam war experience'. We traded 5 dollars for 5 bullets (if only all bullets were this pricey, we wouldnt have this many shootings; and yes this is a refence to eddy murphy's standup comedy in the 80's
)Since this forum is occupied mostly by Americans, you may find it interesting to know this was the first time i fired a rifle. The shock and sound was undescribable..
firing an AK47. Although im a big ol' pacifist, my boyish side thinks this doesnt look all that wrong.. :scratch
my girlfriend didnt want to go at first, a bit afraid of the bang and force but i confinced here to fire one bullet since it (hopefully!) would be a while till she got another chance. Concentration..
And *BANG* .. I managed to get a shot of her reaction after she fired the bullet. its a mix of relief and shock and the combination of the two shots are just too funny. long live DSLR's to be able to get these kinds of shots :bow
Although i dint want to miss this part of the journey for the world, we had enough of war for a moment and we went on to the mekong delta.
Taking a boat ride over a small river.
The majority of the trip was done with a bigger boat but we had to change to small boats for some parts. It was really nice to be rowed along the river but the boats were very unstable and i kept thinking we would go over and all my gear would end up with the fishes :uhoh.
The river banks were a photographers bonanza with lots of locals going about there rural lives.
Washing on the riverside
Selling your goods on the docks **warning, may be considered graphic**
Vietnamese man riding his bycicle.
man rowing his boat
Local kids waving. Almost all kids in Vietnam were really interested, enthousiastic, friendly and full of live. I honestly believe that if they are given the chance to develop themselves properly they will grow out to be a generation capable of great things.
The riverbanks were also full of live, like with these mudskippers (one of the oldest creatures around, a look into history when fish began to walk on land. :thumb
This concludes this series of photos. I hope you enjoyed it. I really think Vietnam will do great in the future (the recent discontinuation of the boycot of Vietnam by the american government and their entrance to the WTO are examplary of that) if they work on their problems (corruption, racism and some leftover communist artifacts). I encourage enyone to visit this beautifull place and especially Americans. It is amazing to see how the Vietnamese are looking towards their future instead of their past and trying to make people see there is more to Vietnam than the Vietnam war.
C&C is always welcome as well as (non political) discussions :thumb
Peace! :sweet
Visit my website at christopherroos.smugmug.com
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Comments
Still no comments? :cry
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Thanks for sharing - enjoyed the series.
I have silently been following your journey... what a tremendous experience! and some really wonderful shots! Concerning the silk worm cocoon... how do they find the end of the thread to unravel the cocoon? <img src="https://us.v-cdn.net/6029383/emoji/ne_nau.gif" border="0" alt="" > <?xml:namespace prefix = v ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" /><v:shapetype id=_x0000_t75 stroked="f" filled="f" path="m@4@5l@4@11@9@11@9@5xe" o:preferrelative="t" o:spt="75" coordsize="21600,21600"><v:stroke joinstyle="miter"></v:stroke><v:formulas><v:f eqn="if lineDrawn pixelLineWidth 0"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @0 1 0"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum 0 0 @1"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @2 1 2"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelWidth"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @3 21600 pixelHeight"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @0 0 1"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @6 1 2"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelWidth"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @8 21600 0"></v:f><v:f eqn="prod @7 21600 pixelHeight"></v:f><v:f eqn="sum @10 21600 0"></v:f></v:formulas><v:path o:connecttype="rect" gradientshapeok="t" o:extrusionok="f"></v:path><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:lock aspectratio="t" v:ext="edit"></o:lock></v:shapetype><o:p></o:p>
Winston
Very crisp and clear, I would love to visit Vietnam.
I Live at http://www.alaskamountainforum.com
thanks for sharing my vietnam
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Regarding silk spinning.. its a whole process of boiling and furnacing and i'm not sure how they get from cocoon to thread sorry
Then, the leftover, now dead silkworms were apparently sold as food! (Unfortunately, I didn't get to try this.)
I have a pic somwehere .. It takes 8 cocoons(or was it six) to make a normal silk thread and a machine automatically creates this thread by winding the individual cocoon threads together. The cocoon is boliled as it makes it easy to find the end of the thread and kills the moth. Double cocoons are used to make quilts as its impossible to untangle them. Excellent pictures and series by the way.
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I've never seen photos of a silkworm factory before but my mother used to tell me stories of when she was a young child having to help in such places, and she hated it.
Thanks so much for sharing this. It looks like you two had a great time.
Photos that don't suck / 365 / Film & Lomography
Well i can wholeheartedly recommend it!
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Any tips on photography in Vietnam?
I'm going there in a couple of weeks with my family and plan on taking my dSLR and an 18-85mm lens (Nikon, 1.5x multiplier). I was also considering taking my 75-300mm but I'm leaning towards not taking it. I've also been flip-flopping on an appropriate bag for the camera. I could take a fanny/waist type camera bag, or simply carry it in my hand or backpack. It's been a long time (19 years) since I've traveled to Asia with a backpack and SLR...
Would a separate flash be handy? Tripod? I don't have a lightweight tripod right now but would consider getting one for the trip. Our itenary is Hanoi, Halong Bay, Hue, Hoi An, HMC and Phu Quoc.
thanks!
I live in Mekong delta and near phuquoc. you dont have to worry about vietnamese people cause they most are friendly . I like 75-300 and i usually take photos with my 70-300mm its ok. You will be able to see sunrise and sunset in PhuQuoc. you can hire a motocyle with 100VND/day in phuquoc and get a map also, very easy to go. if you have ND filters dont forget to bring it to PhuQuoc it very nice to take walterfall's photos in PhuQuoc. if you need any more feel free to contact me. i live in KienGiang province !
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Do you guys think it's worth the hassle to bring a tripod? I guess so, if I'm going to bring a ND filter!
Ooh tough question! I didnt bring one, might have missed some shots but
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Thanks for the kind offer!
I'm traveling with my wife and two young kids, so our schedule is pretty organized already. We're flying from HMC to phuquoc, and only spending one day in HMC. It's just the way how things worked out. I haven't been to South East Asia in 19 years, and I'm a bit surprised at how much pre-planning has been required. Flights book up fast, and many of the hotels are booked. Mind you, I used to stay at the cheapest low budget places possible but this trip we are opting for slightly better standards.
cheers
Doug
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really beautiful photos
Call me Riz.
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