It took me only one day in Vietnam to realize the Vietnamese mothers are actually like the Jewish mothers; They like feeding people. It took me only one day to realize the Vietnamese are also like Israelis; Food is at the very heart of their culture. Almost every aspect of social, spiritual, and family life, revolves around food.
In Vietnam, food is everywhere in sight. In every street corner, a woman pulls out plastic stalls around a a dish, or a huge pot of soup. At each train stop, vendors rush up to the passengers, offering homemade treats such as shrimp cakes, sticky rice, grilled corn, mango or pineapple covered with sweet red chilly flakes, sun dried squid, dried fish, dried fruits, little black dotted eggs or French baguette. The Vietnamese cooking is fresh, healthy and light, and more over, colorful and beautiful to behold; Yellow corn, pinkish-orange shrimps, deep orange crabs, red hot chilly peppers, vivid greens, pearl-color glassy noodles.
In Ho Chi Minn I was drawn immediately to Ben Thanh Market, a popular and touristy destination, watching the women washing, peeling, cutting, cooking and serving food. And in Hanoi, I visited particular street vendors who were located in the alleys around the hotel I was staying in. I learned to recognize the specific type of food for every hour of the day; pork sausages on skews served as a morning snack for kids before they go to school, grilled pork in a marinade of sweetened fish sauce with a side of rice vermicelli for their parents, airy baguettes, then throughout the day one can find pork and mushroom dumplings, spicy Pho noodle soup, white porridge soup served with crunchy croutons, grilled seafood on skews, rice noodles in so many variations, and of course, the Vietnamese coffee; thick, rich with a sweetened condensed milk, that makes it all worth it.
Quick tip: If a place is busy, it’s almost certainly fine to eat there. Don’t eat anywhere with slow turnover (this includes fancy-yet empty restaurants) and make sure to drink a lot of water.
“One should really use the camera as though tomorrow you’d be stricken blind”
Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi, Vietnam February 2012
As a photographer, I love taking pictures of others who take pictures. There is something very special in being in the moment, looking at the viewpoint and click. When I take a picture, I always feel as the world around me freezes for the second I click the camera bottom. After I hear the sound of the shutter released, it’s like the world can get back to normal again. I was planning to take a picture of Hoan Kiem Lake on a misty morning for a long time. In fact, that was one of the reasons I wanted to go there. It was a fine misty morning on February when I just started my walk and passed through the lake, as I used to do every morning. And then I saw this young woman with her camera, pointing at d Ngoc Son Temple in the middle of the lake and the two teenager boys sitting on the right. I love the green and red color combination, both of her bag, the guy’s coat and the green of the lake and the tree.
When I took the picture, the world around me DID freeze for a second.
Drinking so many Vietnamese sweet coffees with condense milk I can even count on one hand, trying to cross to the other side of the street when so many motor bikes are zooming around, Overlooking Ho Chi Minn city at night from the Rex hotel’s rooftop, helium balloons, street food vendors, walking to Ben Thanh Market and having Pho noodle soup for breakfast, squeezing lime into the soup, adding red hot chili peppers, The Notre Damn Church outside of Paris, Cu Chi Tunnels, walking barefoot into the Cao Dai Temple exactly at noon time, Spring rolls and Shrimps at the night market. Sitting on a stool among the locals while having dinner and experiencing all the cheers and celebrations of the Tet Holiday. Staying at the old French Quarter in Hanoi, right next to the St. Joseph Cathedral. Waking up every morning to the sound of bells of the Cathedral and heading for a run along the Hoan Kiem lake, Tai Chi in front of the red Tortoise Tower, walking around the ’36 streets’, looking all day long for a steam Bao and finding it at the bakery next door. Sofitel Metropole Hotel almost every night to get a fast internet connection, passing through the Opera house on my way back. Mango and Pineapple on a stick covered with sweet chili, Halong Bay in the fog, Taking the night train to Sapa and walking almost half day inside a foggy cloud, Baguette and chocolate for breakfast at the Austrian coffee shop, Kit Kat Village, taking the night train back to Hanoi at the same day. Hoa Lo Prison, Tran Quac Pagoda, and giving some fake money to the Gods. Temple of Literature, Ho Chi Minn Mausoleum and walking back through the Ba Dinh Square. Drinking lemon tea and eating sunflowers seeds like the locals do. Getting to Hoian just on time for the Full Moon Lantern Festival, floating a paper lantern on the Thu Bon River on that very special night and praying for some good luck. Sweet potato and coconut green bean cake almost every day. Condense Milk out of the can almost every morning, Grilled corn with chili lime sauce. Waking up at 4 am in the morning just to see the sunrise in a fishermen market. Speaking in English but have no one actually understands you, but still making your way around in a smooth way….Priceless!
One of my favorite books as a kid was ‘Alice in Wonderland’. I remember how I used to imagine that every glass of orange juice my mom asked me to drink, was actually the bottle that read ‘Drink Me’, enabling me to shrink or grow, like Alice. My favorite character in the story was, with no doubt, the Cheshire cat. His ability to disappear when ever he wanted, leaving behind him only his smile, always amazed me. Through the years, I’ve watched all the movies about ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and saw different variations of the musicals. As time passed by and I grew up, Alice’s stories were replaced by other stories and she slowly slipped away.
Until one winter afternoon in Manhattan, when I got into a magical store near Union Square and I felt as though I was in one of those places that Alice used to visit. I was in ABC Carpet and Home. One of the most beautiful furniture and home-accessory store in Manhattan, or in any other place I’ve been till then. A store I wish I could call it Home.
ABC Home is a synonymous name for good taste and great style in anything that has to do with urban furniture and home accessories. It feels as though one can find almost everything for the home and for his/her needs. Beside furnish your apartment, you can also ‘furnish’ your own look by buying make up, clothes, jewelry, perfumes, you name it.
If you are related to the Design world (with a capital D) or if you just love looking at beautiful things, ABC Home is the right place. If you have any fantasy of getting lost in one of the best stores in Manhattan, losing any sense of time while indulging your eyes in aesthetics and beauty, then add to your busy calendar a stop over at that place.
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The store, which is spread over an entire block on Broadway (with an extension for Textile and Carpet department in a different building across the street) is 10 floors of heavenly furnitures and accessories. In the entry floor, hidden behind shelves and dishes, there is ABC Kitchen, an organic restaurant, owned by the well known chef, Jean-Georges. Entering the store, you have to go through a maze made of decorated arts and crafts, candles, ceramics, glass kitchen ware and crystal chandeliers, suspended from the ceiling. As in a real maze, you can’t see the back of the store from its’ entrance and vise versa and all is set in a spiral shape and piles of objects you want to add to your shopping cart.
But what I like the most about this furnished chic labyrinth, is the order and structure of things. It seems as though there is an internal aesthetic logic behind all this sort of abundance of furnitures and items. Wether it is organized by shades of colors, by a season or by some exotic destination in the world, everything is so neat and seemed as it is in the right place it should be.
For me, ABC Home is like a microcosmos of New York City and its essence. As New York is a combination and a mix of different ethnic groups and immigrants who all live in (sort of) harmony, same as the mix of styles, trends, colors and items at the ABC Home. The store is a collection of various small shops, all under one roof. Different styles are all integrated together; From Vintage to Antique to Tribal to Oriental style. Heavy sturdy furnitures from the Great Britain, alongside exotic items and home accessories from India, Cambodia, Dali, you name it. Materials such as glass, ceramic, wood, porcelain, paper, plastic and tiles.
I can easily go on and on, dreaming about the leather sofa from England, the silky bedding from South of France or the huge pillows from Indonesia, but I think you got my point. ABC Home is definitely a store where fantasies and dreams can come true, and a place that at least for a minute, you can feel like Alice in Wonderland.
“Never allow yourself to become one of those people who, when they are old, tell you how they missed their chance”
Hanoi, Vietnam, February 2012
This picture was taken in one of my latest days in Hanoi. I spent almost six full days in this city and I walked its streets and alleys thoroughly, despite the massive traffic. I had an urge to eat bao buns, these delicious steamed buns filled with either pork or sweet beans, as a vegi-version alternative, for vegis like me. But even though Hanoi is filled with Boulangeries, thanks to the shades of a French past, it took me a while to find what I wanted. But eventually I did!
To make a long story short…in one of my searches for French Boulangerie, I came across this guy, who was sitting on a chair trying to have a nap. His eyes were closed before and he was semi-napping I think, but he has just opened them and looked at me when I took that shot. He didn’t say a word. He just stared back.
As a travel photographer, I often find myself juggling locations, running around and skipping some cities and places just so I can be in the right place at the right moment.
This is actually what I did on February, while visiting Vietnam after Tet Holiday, the New year of the Vietnamese people, as I was touring the country from south to north, and back to the center, just to make it on time for the Full Moon Festival in Hoi An, on February 5. It was well worth it.
Hoi An is an ancient town in central Vietnam, located only 15 miles southeast of Danang (where there is a great new airport) and occupies a scenic location along the banks of the Thu Bon River. For several centuries Hoi An was one of the most important trading ports in Southeast Asia and an important center of cultural exchange between Europe and the Orient. On 1999 it received the status of World Heritage site by UNESCO, who took the initiative to restore and safeguard Hoi An’s Old Quarter and historic monuments.
The town is a mix of Japanese, Chinese and French cultures. The Old Quarter is divided to West-Japanese Quarter, where you can walk along the Japanese Covered Bridge (from the late 16th century) and the East-French Quarter, where you can walk beneath the colorful market and street-side shops.
For me, Hoi An was the Vietnamese version of Venice, but without the gondolas on the canals. There was something very magical to walk along the narrow streets of this town, with its yellow-colored walls of the old buildings and the colorful lanterns, which are the trademark of this town.
It was a very magical night for me both as a photographer and a tourist to experience the Full Moon Festival, which is held on every 14th day of the lunar month. The old town is completely transformed into something else. There is no access to motor vehicles but only to pedestrians (locals and tourists) who are holding these brightly colored lanterns to sail them on the river and ask for the gods for prosperity and good luck for the New Year.
If you plan a trip to Vietnam, I encourage you to visit Hoi An and not to skip its Lantern-Full moon-Festival.
“…A smile is the only crooked line that sets a lot of things straight…”
Sapa, Vietnam, February, 2012
I just got back from Sapa in the north of Vietnam, where I was hoping to take pictures of the beautiful endless rice fields and terraces. I say ‘Hoping’ because from the minute I arrived there till the minute I left, it was quite rainy and foggy. Least to say, I was quite disappointed. In fact, very disappointed that I got back to Hanoi at the same day, getting on the first night train back.
However, in between my back and forth train rides I still got a chance to eat the best Pho soup (in an outdoor market among the locals) and walk with two other photographers down the hill towards Cat Cat Village, which is a home to the Black Hmong people.
The only way to discover Cat Cat village and its people is by taking the steep stairs down the rice terraces to see the waterfalls. On my way downward I passed through this little girl who was running up the hills. I managed to pull out my camera very quick and take a picture of her before she ran away. When she saw my camera she made this silly smile. No doubt it was such a nice smile that it brightened up my so far depressive day.
It is not that difficult to find laundry in Vietnam. It is everywhere! In fact, I’m not sure if there are dryers in Vietnam (in other words, I’m quite sure there are not). The Vietnamese hang their clothes out to dry in every window or balcony of their home, and sometimes, they just open a window to let the wind dry the clothes in doors. In Hanoi, for example, the Vietnamese hang their flags outside the windows and sometimes the National flag seems like part of the laundry itself. In all places though, laundry (and a lot of laundry) could be seen in all parts of the day and sometimes I just had to walk inside an alley into a small court in between the houses to find the clotheslines. In most cases, the Vietnamese women who were either hanging the laundry or cooking/selling food outdoors, didn’t really understand why I take pictures of some clothes on a wire.
‘Madam, Motor’… ‘Madam, Motor…’ This is how most of the Vietnamese motor-bikers in Hanoi used to approach me, trying to convince me to get on their bike for a ride for a certain amount of money. For those who didn’t experience Vietnam yet, please be advised that crossing the streets is a challenge.
The country in general and Hanoi in particular, is humming and buzzing with traffic. A steady stream of motorbikes, rickshaws and cars driving around in both directions. Not once, did I join a group of people or someone else just to cross the street, and I won’t lie if I say that sometimes I just hold my breath, praying silently I will make it safe to the other side of the street. I arrived to Hanoi at the end of January, few days after Tet Holiday and the streets of the city were even more buzzing and humming, especially during night time, when families went out for dinner, ice cream treat and some loud Karaoke.
I arrived to Hanoi planning on staying for only two days but ended up staying for longer.
One of the reasons was the place I’ve stayed. I booked a room in Hanoi Hibiscus Hotel, a family hotel, few meters away from the Saint Joseph’s Cathedral in the Old Quarter and it instantly became my ‘home away from home’ place to stay. The central location of the hotel and the friendly professional staff, made my stay much easier than in Ho Chi Min City, where I landed, which has inspired some culture shock. The area around the Cathedral was packed with young crowds, all sitting in the local cafes on plastic stools, drinking tea with lots of lemon and cracking sun-flower seeds, leaving a trail of shells on the ground. Fashionable young girls driving on their motor bikes, was a common thing to see.
The variety of places to see and visit, the comfortable weather at that time of year, the great street food and the sense of tourism, made the North of Vietnam more welcoming and easier to travel.
I’ve booked an initial tour to get to know some parts of the city with Hanoi City Tours, a free tour by a local young student, who wants to improve his/hers English skills and at the same time introduce and promote their city.
I chose to have my guided tour in the Old Quarter or what called the ’36 Streets’, a labyrinth of old streets, evolved in the 13th century when artisan guilds were concentrated along each of the original 36 lanes, and clustered by speciality; Silver street (where you can find silver jewelry as well as gravestones), Silk Street, Mats Street, Paper Street, etc. Each of the 36 craft guilds once had its own communal house, however, like most of the quarter’s pagoda and temples, they were shut down during the communist takeover and transformed into schools or public housing.
In the outskirts of the Old Quarter, there is the Temple of Literature (located to the south of the Fine Arts Museum at Pho Quoc Tu Giam street). When it was first built, it was the school of the Elite of the Nation and Vietnam’s first University. After passing exams at the local levels, scholars who wanted to become seniors came here to study for rigorous examinations. It got its name ‘Temple of Literature’ at the beginning of the 19th century, and now serves as a place where people and mostly students come and write a prayer and a wish and ask for success in their studies. If you want to be like the locals, have your wish or prayer written by one of the calligraphers outside the temple. I visited the temple one afternoon, during the last days of Tet Holiday. It was packed with young students who came by, all excited and anxious when there was a special ceremony, all praying for a good luck in the up coming year. The Temple is a homage to Confucius, peaceful and spiritual, arranged in a series of a linked courtyards. I was walking past tone-stealed shaped like turtles, overlooking the students praying with a great intention. (Felt so relieved I don’t need to pray for my next school year)
One of the most beautiful pagodas that exists in Hanoi is the Tran Quoc Pagoda, which is located beside the Red River and perhaps is the oldest one in Hanoi, dated from the year of 1639. I was there one afternoon watching the crowd lighting perfumed incense and giving fruits and fake money to their Gods, just at the last days of Tet Holiday.
While you are in the area, you can walk along the river towards the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the Presidential Palace near by. Make sure to check the opening hours in advance and the strict rules of the mausoleum. By the time I got there by noon, it was already closed. Some of my friends told me I didn’t miss a thing though….
Even though I didn’t plan it, I paid a visit to Hoa Lo Prison, also known as the infamous Hanoi Hilton. The prison was used by the French people who imprisoned, tortured and guillotined Vietnamese revolutionaries, and later on was used by the Vietnamese who prisoned American pilots, including the Republican senator John McCain. One can easily notice the hinted propaganda by the way the Vietnamese represent themselves as considerate to the American needs. As scary as it is, I really recommend to visit this site.
From Hanoi, it is very easy to book a day-or two day trips to Halong Bay or book a midnight train to Sapa in the North. April is a great time to visit Vietnam. The weather is comfortable, the trees are blooming and the food is always great.
