7 November: Bobbing along

So long, delta!

Mekong River Delta, Vietnam [flickr]

8 November: Rest stop

Grandma and baby, probably waiting for Mommy to finish shopping.

Vinh Long, Vietnam [flickr]

8 November: Lychee delivery

Vietnam was a great place for street photography.  In most places, when you point a camera at someone, they look away, become noticeably uncomfortable, or scramble to get out of your shot.  In Vietnam, though, most of my subjects kept a steady, slightly interested (amused?) gaze while I was doing my thing.

Vinh Long, Vietnam [flickr]

8 November: The pineapple lady

Fresh from the early morning scrum of buyers and sellers at the Cai Be Floating Market.

Mekong River Delta, Vietnam [flickr]

8 November: Young entrepreneur

Despite the hordes of tourist boats flooding the area, only this one little boy floated up to us to ask if we wanted to buy refreshments — bananas, Diet Cokes, and hot Vietnamese coffee.

Mekong River Delta, Vietnam [flickr]

7 November: Crocodile tears

Every boat on the river is painted with these colorful eyes to ward off crocodiles. 

Mekong River Delta, Vietnam [flickr]

7 November: Water cooler talk

Mekong River Delta, Vietnam [flickr]

7 November: Chicken little

A brickmaker taking an afternoon break just outside of his factory with his fighting cock.

Mekong River Delta, Vietnam [flickr]

7 November: Lunchtime on the river

Some huge portion of the Vietnamese Mekong riverfolk make their living from some piece of the coconut industry: harvesting, de-husking, extracting the milk, extracting the pulp, repurposing the husks, and making coconut candy, to name a few.  They load up their boats with impossibly large piles of coconuts and ferry them down to the next guy’s station.

But for now, lunch.

Mekong River Delta, Vietnam [flickr]

11 November: Iced coffee

Not a single day in HCMC passed without me getting one of these, paranoia about water quality be damned.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam [flickr]