Road Ramblings: Vietnam
The things I found on the road, I can only begin to explain. Half the moments I had were feelings, they weren’t anything I can relate very well. Like the tightness of my hand upon the gas. The second I came around a corner and saw a green valley. Locals that waved and smiled, or gave you the finger. Animals running across the road or laying blatantly in it. The feel of the rain splattering across my face shield. The way the wind swayed my bike across the road. The intense sound of truck barreling beside you. The stillness of a rice field with one person tending it. How the feeling of the fog could wrap you up. How the silence of the hills could be heard beyond my motorbike.
All these are just a small token of my experience. Separate, they don’t really mean anything, maybe small poetry; abstract. Together they mean everything, but still hard to paint the picture. To you, maybe nothing. To me, maybe the world.
The only tragedy was how available my camera was. I had to tuck my camera many days because of wind, rain, and positioning. So many things I saw will never be captured and brought home with me. They only live there. Out there. In the wild. Forever free.
There are the times I did lug around my film camera. I didn’t even use it most the time. I carried it just in case, for a 1/100 chance. But when it all came together. When I risked the frame for some potential, the result could be priceless.
Film I always find so pleasing. They make me feel like I lived a true adventure, like my story was so great and compelling that someone needed to document it. But it was my story. It was my moments. I’m right behind the lens. I saw those moments of my life in front of me and decided I could hold on forever. That’s my photos. That’s my story. You can flick through the pages and read the whole tale like it was yours.
I hope you find some of that essence here. Although these photos don’t move or talk, they’re alive to me. I can feel them as if I’m there living right in front of me like a symphony on their last song. I can still hear their tune.
Hoi A lit up at night was equally different and moody as the day. it has the ‘Spirited Away’ feel where it’s kinda ghostly and quiet after all the tourist have left. Just a slight bob of the lanterns. Magical.
Daytime is different. During the middle of the day it’s lovely with light crowds and many locals.
The afternoon lighting though, muah. 💋
A true fishing port. So serene in the early AM and then contrasted by the sky rises behind. This place felt like Miami, and I’ve never even been.
Way overcrowded, but these beams of light inside Marble Mountain was beyond cool.
I met Jill over breakfast coffee. She was a longtime traveler from the old school. She had stories and feelings I only hoped to find int he younger generation. We talked everything. Just when I needed a pick-me-up, she was there waiting to share her story. I love when the road provides.
First visions of the green and the grey. Big, bold, wet Vietnam is the one of my dreams.
Ninh Binh was A+. Beautiful, good sights, friendly people. Easy to get around.
I needed a photo to explain how many bikes are in this city. I love how this one turned out.
This was my shooting star. I wanted a photo of the whole family on a bike so bad. I sat on corners for 20 min at a time for the perfect one. Really hard to do with film 😝
Everything 👌🏼
Maybe my favorite sunset of the whole trip. It was stunning. It was everything I wanted with the hills and the rice paddy’s. Vietnam said, “you’ve waited long enough. I just wanted to be sure everything was perfect.”
🫰🏼🫰🏼🫰🏼