Picking up from where I left off in the last post, I arrived in Ho Chi Minh via the airplane. Getting in and around was actually pretty straight forward, and there was limited if any haggling to get to the guest house area. It was a simple and cheap ride via shuttle bus.
The layout and character of Ho Chi Minh was quite a swing in the opposite direction from Hanoi. Gone were the intimate building facades and tight alleyways replaced instead with over width roads and drab row apartments. Ho Chi Minh does however win with their small network of parks. Parks that actually looked like they were designed, something I haven’t seen in South East Asia.
I did two intense shoots in Ho Chi Minh – three less then Hanoi. On the second day I made a large extended loop of the downtown area (doubling the area I covered during the previous shoot) and quickly realized I had already shot all the good stuff. I was aiming for a ship yard that looked dense with photos on Google earth – unfortunately the small detail of a large fortified security fence around the entire area didn’t transcribe itself during my research.
It’s all street, so I am forgoing categories.
So without further ado I present Ho Chi Minh:
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/500 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 200 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Date Taken: Nov 6, 2009, 1:48:09 PM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/200 second
Aperture: F/4.0
Focal Length: 135 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 6, 2009, 10:43:15 AM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/200 second
Aperture: F/4.0
Focal Length: 135 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 6, 2009, 10:43:19 AM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/160 second
Aperture: F/4.0
Focal Length: 135 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 6, 2009, 10:51:18 AM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/125 second
Aperture: F/4.0
Focal Length: 200 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 6, 2009, 10:55:46 AM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/200 second
Aperture: F/4.0
Focal Length: 125 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 6, 2009, 11:02:31 AM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/250 second
Aperture: F/4.0
Focal Length: 200 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 6, 2009, 11:08:45 AM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/320 second
Aperture: F/4.0
Focal Length: 200 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 6, 2009, 11:10:20 AM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/125 second
Aperture: F/4.0
Focal Length: 200 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 6, 2009, 11:14:28 AM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/250 second
Aperture: F/4.0
Focal Length: 150 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 6, 2009, 11:38:49 AM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/500 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 200 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 6, 2009, 11:49:49 AM
I’m not sure exactly what was being done here other than the guy was having a letter typed for him. The setting and look on his face is what grabbed my attention. Although you can’t tell from the frame – they were right in the middle of an intense and extremely loud traffic jam, not to mention the heat. Personally it doesn’t seem like a good place for typing a memo.
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/1000 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 200 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 6, 2009, 12:01:14 PM
This guy stared me down for a full block; once I passed I lost his attention and was able to pull this shot. He was sitting in the middle of a busy intersection working, with no barricades, and no signs.
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/1000 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 150 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 6, 2009, 12:28:53 PM
Trash people were everywhere, it’s a pleasant sight but one thing that should be noted (this probably isn’t the best expression) is “if you polish a turd, it’s still a turd.” It’s not that things are foul, it’s that the construction quality is such that it doesn’t matter how much you clean the sidewalk, it will never look clean because they didn’t build it right in the first place.
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/640 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 135 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 8, 2009, 1:12:47 PM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/250 second
Aperture: F/5.6
Focal Length: 135 mm
ISO Speed: 400
Date Taken: Nov 8, 2009, 1:59:37 PM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/800 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 155 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 6, 2009, 12:42:28 PM
You can see I crashed another wedding. The guy was shooting the same lens stage left, but the Canon version. The body he had it on though – was not a pro camera, something I have seen a few times now. I’d be interested in knowing how their shots turned out.
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/800 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 155 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 6, 2009, 12:42:58 PM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/250 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 135 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 8, 2009, 12:57:01 PM
Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Model: NIKON D3X
Shutter Speed: 1/640 second
Aperture: F/2.8
Focal Length: 135 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Date Taken: Nov 8, 2009, 12:19:04 PM
This was shot right before they went ape. I was a decent distance away and at the corner of a building. I left before I could figure out what they were yelling.
One thing I should note about Ho Chi Minh is the food. I didn’t get the full breath of the menu but I got enough that I can confidently say the food was on par if not better then Hoi An – first class. The prices were a smidge higher then Hanoi, but if you look hard enough there are still deals to be found.
I already noted this but I’ll copy it over to here. The day of departure for breakfast I ate 2 twelve inch omelet cheese sandwiches, 1 ice coffee with milk, 1 hot coffee with milk, 1 large tea, and 5 small bananas – total cost $2.20. It was from a street stall that looked far less then sterile, but the food was delicious and the service was worth the experience alone, a nice old lady that was supper pumped to be there cooking.
I actually ate at the same place three mornings in a row, it was worth it. I usually try to eat someplace different for every meal – sometimes I make an exception, this was one of them.
On another note I have arrived in Phnom Pehn, Cambodia. I’ll get into the details of what has transpired later. Of course I’ll also have a grip of photos to show by that time.
