Monday, November 30, 2009

Landscapes

I'm finally done with the bike tour pics. Here are some landscapes I snapped driving out from Sapa and towards Ha Long Bay.

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Bye Bye rice patties. I loved the island of trees in the middle.


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Civilization creeps into the landscape.


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Made it!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Lunch, and on our way

Constant staring by the locals aside, lunch was enjoyable, as was the really strong tea afterwards.

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The aftermath

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The strongest tea you'll ever have.

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Oh, what's this? A scooter? Tag! ;) Snapped this from the van on our way out.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Last Leg

On our last day we made our way back down from elevation. Slowly a lot more greenery emerged and it became more and more humid. We actually passed through what looked like a tropical jungle at one point. Here are some captures.


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Our trip down.


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This one was for Jane.


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What better way to finish off the ride?

Monday, November 9, 2009

Color

Most of Vietnam, although beautiful, is green. The rest is brown. So when I have the chance to take a picture of something that is not one of those two colours they seem a lot more special than they'd normally be.


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This image has all the colors of Vietnam.


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This was the best Vietnamese sweetened coffee I had. The red tables were we sat were so vibrant against everything else.


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I loved the colours that the Vietnamese people painted their houses with. It seems like they too became fed up with the brown and green.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

The Market

Whenever I visit a new place, I always feel like I learn a lot by visiting whatever local market the city has to offer. If they don't have one, that tells me a lot too.


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"Honey, could you pick up some baby chickens, and some frogs tonight on the way home?"



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I was astounded at how deeply vibrant red pigs blood was. It's almost fluorescent!


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More goodness. I just realized that I'm eating carnitas as I post this image.


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Tag, photohogger, you're it.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Been there done that

Our guide one afternoon told us that we were going to be able to have tea in a traditional Vietnamese house. She poured us tea.

Then she poured us moonshine. I think I used to clean my paintbrushes with that very same potent liquid.

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I love taking pictures of kitchens. This one, despite its setting was very tidy.


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Our gracious host.


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Bad news: That bottle was filthy dirty.
Good news: Nothing that touched the moonshine could have survived.


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She gave us this pillow she made, which was very kind of her. The only downside being I now had to lug this across Asia.


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Chicken. It's what's for dinner.