A few months ago, I was visited by two great friends and former colleagues from The Sacramento Bee, Bryan Patrick and Florence Low. They only had six days to see Vietnam. This is a fairly typical time allotment of a tourist. They either stick to the north or the south and go on several canned tours. I hate tours with the passion.
So when they said they were coming over, I told them we were heading to the Chinese border to visit the mountain town of Sa Pa. The town itself is nice and all but the real adventure is going out to the surrounding minority villages on motorbike.
It’s as if time stands still out here. The air has never been cleaner. The sounds and smells are pure. The people are interesting and full of life. This is by far my favorite place in the world.
___
Chasiti Moore
November 17th, 2009, 10:30 pm #
These are great photos. The last photos are so full of happiness and joy. Well captured. Sa Pa seems like a wonderful place. Glad I can visit it through your photographs. I’ve lived a few places through your photographs. I’ve also been keeping up with you for a while now. You are a great photographer.
Kevin German
November 18th, 2009, 3:11 am #
Chasiti – thank you for the kind words … really appreciate that. That last photo is of Bryan and Florence when we were taking the 10-hour train to the Sa Pa region. They are good friends.
Charu
November 18th, 2009, 7:47 am #
Love the pics especially the MCU of the man and the mountain and the eagle
Daniel Williams
November 21st, 2009, 9:14 am #
Wonderful set of photos Kevin. I’m so glad to have you blogging again. I was really missing seeing all your work. I do have a quick question though. Where the heck did you learn to edit your black and white? It’s so rich and full of texture everywhere. Everything I try to do in B&W ends up being way to contrasted and I end up losing details. How long do you spend on an image in general? That first photo is unbelievable. Just love it. The range of your black and white reminds me of something from Ansel Adams. Good luck with everything and looking forward to many more posts.
Florence Low
November 22nd, 2009, 6:20 pm #
Kevin, I absolutely love the pictures! My favorite is the one of the kids up on the cliff with the water buffalo. Thanks for the post, and for being the best travel guide while we in Vietnam!
Those last two pictures, I was laughing so hard because you were making jokes at Bryan’s expense – a running theme of our trip!
Kevin German
November 23rd, 2009, 6:41 am #
Daniel, thanks … send me an email and I’ll give you some B&W tips.
Flo, it was so great to have you guys! Can’t wait to see you two again!
Vy
November 23rd, 2009, 10:47 am #
Wooooow.
These photos nearly moved me to tears. My favorite is also the one of the kids on the cliff.
m.a.
December 14th, 2009, 6:08 pm #
beautiful, man.