12/03/08

Nov 2008...

This is a splendid country with the shape of a dragon, which is an extremely positive symbol in the Far East. The past is quite chaotic, Vietnam is returning by far and gives the feeling that now it has to catch up with the lost years. Travelling in Vietnam remains a true adventure and nothing is excessively simple. Therefore everything has got another dimension and smiles of the kids become a priceless treasure.

In Saigon, in Cu Chi tunnels, in CAO DAI temple or in the Mekong's delta, everything is nothing else but sunny rice plantations, bamboos ...and of course little conical hats!

I do not know where this need of transforming some selected of my pictures into  black and white came from. It may be a reminiscence from the colonial period, who knows! But it is definitively another temporal and artistic dimension.

Saigon

This city has officially been renamed in 1976, ending the reminiscence of 95 years of french colonialism, and has been rechristened HO CHI MINH city. However everyone continues to name it in the old way… Several worlds followed the another's in the South of Vietnam, and particularly in Saigon, and one can not forget that neither the French, nor the Americans, settled here. But the little Paris of Far East wants to be reborn from its ashes and is now a cosmopolitan vibrant city, and everyone seems to run after the wasted time. Included: these millions of motorcyles that move exactly like a fish bench… Walking peacefully in Saigon is impossible, to get oriented as well in spite of the occidental alphabet: it is a 2 wheels world. Finally I appreciated the most the city being ridden in a "cyclopousse", once immersed in the  effervescent mobility of the motorcycles.

The Cathedral	The reunification palace	The post office Mr. Eiffel worked for the construction of this building
The post office	The post office Old map of Saigon	In the street An unbelievable traffic
In the streets 30 millions of motorcycles in Vietnam	In the streets Up to 5 people on a single motorcycle (the whole familly!)	In the street
In the street	In the street Cyclopousse!	In the street
Lasquered objects local specialties	Traditional conical hats Symbol of Vietnam	Lacquered paintings Has Tintin really been in Vietnam?
Lacquered painting	Snake wine For men only, includes a whole venimous snake in the bottle	Tropical dream However swimming pools are rare
Flowers	Flowers	Lotus
Lotus	Lotus	Lotus
Dragon fruit definitively better than Durian!

 Cu Chi tunnels

Enormous network of underground bowels digged from the hands of the Vietcongs, this is one of the most significant sites of Vietnam's war. This rebel anthill did resist to all the attacks,  aerial or terrestrial. Hopefully they enlarged the tunnels in order to welcome the visitors... otherwise it would have been impossible for occidentals to fit in!

120 km of underground tunnels	An unequalized concept But who is at the origin of this concept?	A symbol
Camouflage	One must not be thick to think about it!	Total disappearance coming soon
Nothing noticeable!	Trap 1	Trap 2
Trap .. 3!	Original entry	False entry!
Local people	Dissimulation of the ventilation system	American tank
Re-trap	Re-Re-trap	bomb makers
Old bomb crater	Cooking smoke but kitchen are far away	Tunnels entry... ... for visitors!
In the tunnels Not for claustrophobic	Vestiges

 CAO DAI temple

Caodaïsm or the universal religion. The one that unifies East and Occident. The one that only keeps the best from all religions, without discrimination of race or  continent. The CAO DAI sacred place lies at TAY NINH. Is it a church? A temple? A pagoda? … Nobody knows exactly. However, with its decors amplified to the extreme and a left eye omnipresent, this building is definitively worth the trip.

Incredible structure	All CAO DAI temples look like like this one
	The Eye, present everywhere	In the gardens
	The interior	The nave
Behind the nave
Pylon details	Arrival of the priest for noon prayer	A quasi geometric alignment
Greetings		During priest
	An impressive assembly	They look after the assembly

 Mekong's delta

2 magic words! Mekong's source is in Tibet and it irrigates  6 different country before throwing itself in the China sea. Just before doing it, it disperses in the luxury of tropics, making the delta region luxurious and fertile. Here one lives half on the water, motorcycles are replaced by boats.  Water and rice are the 2 most important things for these villagers who live with the rhythm of tides and floods. These untiring workers, simple and smiling, are generously welcoming.

Cai Be floating market		dragon's eyes
	Everyones owns at least one boat to circulate
		Village and villagers
	Lunch time
Floating taxi
Rice paper making	A very delicate job, done with a smile!	Pop rice making
Food and drink supply
		Shower
My Tho market	My Tho Street scene	My Tho market

In black and white...

These are the same pictures, without really being the same. Hard to explain why, but I had to transform these pictures. Maybe to make them timeless...

 

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This site was last updated 12/03/08