Local Color — My Favorite Shots From Hoi An, Hoi An, Vietnam, December 2008, all photos in Collection © 2008 by ybonesy. All rights reserved.
I find out on the way to Da Nang that this is rainy season on the narrow coast of central Vietnam. The woman in the seat next to me on the plane tells me in broken English that it rains all day, and she combs her fingers through the air to show me how the water comes down in sheets. “I stay inside this time of year,” she says.
The descent is bumpy and tortuous. We fly through violent rain, and the lights from the plane’s wings flash against the clouds like an electrical storm. At night in bed, the wind’s howl is unrelenting out my balcony window. I pull the comforter to my chin and try not to cry.
This morning, on the way to the ancient city of Hoi An, less than an hour’s drive from Da Nang, there is a patch of light blue. I leave the umbrella from the hotel in the back of the taxi and wander around the town. Last week, I’m told, Hoi An flooded with a foot of rain. By noon I take off the extra shirts I piled on while the sky was still a dreary gray back in Da Nang.
Now it is bedtime. My cheeks are flushed from the sun. Hoi An is one of the most beautiful towns I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen a lot of beautiful towns), and I am ready to start another work week in Vietnam.
Postscript: I took these photos with a camera loaned by a work colleague. I tinkered (to the best of my ability, which is not much) with the images using a public domain photo editing software, and although I amped the saturation in all cases, the colors and tones seem consistent with my already fading memory of Hoi An.
-Related to posts Love Of Maps (December In Vietnam) and Local Color — My Favorite Shots From The Mekong Delta
ybonesy, wonderful photographs from Hoi An. I’m so glad you could borrow a camera and had the time to post them. I could stare at the detail and color in them forever. It’s just so strikingly different than anything I would see here in Minnesota.
Though I like all the photographs, the graphic qualities of the motorcycle and bike photos draw me. The simplicity of the bicycle one especially. It’s like a visual break. Really like that one. I also like the two shots of people — is that a barber shop? Nice detail in that one.
Your flight to Da Nang sounds a bit harrowing. And the wind outside your hotel. Glad you are safe. It’s hard to imagine a rainy season like that — so much rain. Sleep tight.
LikeLike
Thanks, QM. I saved a couple to post alone, as I think each one has so much texture and color that they could easily be enough for a single post.
Yes, the two men are in a barber shop. I walked past and was struck by the color and ease. There are a lot of foreigners in Hoi An—a lot of them backpackers. And so to come across everyday life, where no one is trying to sell us something, it was striking.
Yes, lots of rain. I didn’t sleep as well as I did the night before, but I feel refreshed. Lots of stimulation on this trip compared to my last trip to VN.
LikeLike
yb, I love them all! My favorite is the bike photo. Funny thing when I first looked at this post this morning, J was sitting beside me while I was looking through them, I came upon the sandal photo’s & J thought I was looking at at a bunch of butts! He didn’t have his glasses on at the time.
Hope you are doing well! We all miss you! D
LikeLike
lol, diddy, that’s funny about the butts. I just took my glasses off and yeah, tell J. I saw the butts, too. 8)
ybonesy, I read the NY Times link to the piece about the link to the Hoi An article. It’s really well-written and includes a lot about the history of the place. Really ancient. Thanks for that link!
It’s Sunday night here, Monday morning there. Happy Monday!
LikeLike
gorgeous photos!
LikeLike
Great photos Ybonesy! You have a good eye!
LikeLike
I love the colors – such bright colors. The blues/yellows in the bike – I love that shot. Such a drastic change in comparison to the whites/grays/browns around Wisconsin this time of year.
Though we’re supposed to have an ice storm tonight, so maybe everything will be shiny crystally in the morning…
LikeLike
Greta captures, ybonesy! i love the composition of the vegetable photo – it is really quite abstract and reminds me of the way you organize the compositions in your complex drawings. Those reds just sing against the greens – like good horn music. G
LikeLike
just wanted to say–nice shots
LikeLike
Gorgeous photographs. Thanks for sharing. I’m VERY jealous.
LikeLike
Haven’t read yet, but I *love* the flip-flop shot. That’s very quirky and fun, and the bicycle one is just perfect. Interesting to me how the colors of buildings on so many of these, it has the stressed, dual tone look that people here try to simulate with different paint applications, and sponge techniques.
That very red shot was a little disturbing to me on a visceral level. Which, i suppose makes it good photography.
LikeLike
I can see why these are your favorites…they are all gorgeous!
I especially love the bicycle one!
Thank you for sharing your trip!
LikeLike
Thanks to all for your comments on ybonesy’s post from Hoi An. I’m betting she’ll be arising and starting her day soon as we are just winding down here in dark December in Minnesota (with respect to varying degrees of light all across our readers’ geography). 8)
LikeLike
Stunning photos. I really want to visit Vietnam. I was suppose to last summer, but that has been delayed. I’ll be back to read about the rest of your trip.
LikeLike
These are amazing photos. How I wish I could attend an Armchair Travel program after you return!
Perhaps the most amazing thing to me is your remark that nobody was trying to sell you anything. I’m guessing that is in the areas away from where the tourists go.
Thanks for sharing. Enjoy the rest of your trip.
LikeLike
I’ve been offline quite a bit, but would like to take a moment to thank you for these beautiful, rich, deep photos. I too like the bicycle one especially – so agree with previous comments. So glad you were able to take these images and post them. Also I think you are so very brave to go far from the safety of home and endure what you do, I am blown away by that. I know it is an opportunity and you gain great experiences, but it takes endurance and courage. Thanks so much.
LikeLike
lil, thanks for stopping by. ybonesy should be on her way home in a few days and will be thrilled to read your comment. I wanted to say, I’m also always blown away by yb’s ability to do everything she does and raise a family with Jim. I never know how she packs so much into a single day. Traveling across the world is a whole other stretch and she seems to do it effortlessly. Yet it has to take a lot out of a person to do that. She’s a wild Wonderwoman. 8)
LikeLike
Thank you all for the kind comments. I saw them in snippets during these past two days. Saw some about 14 hours ago when I checked in from Hong Kong. I tried so hard to leave a comment but the free wifi was just slow as syrup.
I really appreciated hearing from you all while on the road. ritergal, actually, the selling was quite aggressive in Hoi An…vendors approaching constantly. But coming across the barbershop was a reprieve from the selling. So just wanted to clarify, as I’m pretty sure given that many tourists visit Hoi An, you can almost always count on aggressive vendors. 8)
lil, it can be so much easier to travel with a group of people than alone. I was traveling with others during most of my time in VN. (Unlike when I went to the Mekong Delta, where I was on my own, but with strangers.) I find I feel much more “normal” and not at all unsafe or bold when I travel with others, although I do tend to need down time. A couple of nights I opted out of dinner and just went to my hotel room to read or go to bed early.
I love seeing other countries and cultures and meeting other people. Last night one of my VN work colleagues and I did a bit of shopping and then she took me to yet another great little haunt of hers. She knows the BEST restaurants, all cool little places. The one in Hanoi was like a beat poet’s place, something out of Hemingway.
It is such a gift to have this opportunity. I feel blessed, and I guess that gratitude fuels me on. (And then I crash, which I will have to wait up at least until 8p tonight before doing.) 8)
LikeLike
[…] still a bit groggy from her trip to Vietnam, so I guess a little self-indulgent play won’t hurt. Here are a few of my favorite things. […]
LikeLike
I’m back from Oregon and checking out what I’ve missed.
Stellar bicycle shot…you don’t get better than stellar yb
😉
LikeLike
[…] the ancient city of Hoi An, Vietnam, I saw shades of blue everywhere. There was the periwinkle blue of a wall that when I stopped in […]
LikeLike
[…] today hit home that point. Above is the view from my hotel window in Da Nang, which I visited last month on a trip to Vietnam. I could see a pink steeple in the distance my first morning, and late that afternoon I went in […]
LikeLike
[…] at Market, four chickens for sale in the open air market of Hoi An, Vietnam, December 2008, photo © 2008-2009 by ybonesy. All rights […]
LikeLike
[…] of Hue. (I have been to Central Vietnam before, to the city of Da Nang and the ancient village of Hoi An.) Sometimes I wonder, How did I get so lucky as to come to know this beautiful country and its […]
LikeLike