The rider's story

[nightflowervn]

May…

The rainy season has begun. It doesn’t necessarily mean that it rains every day, or would the earth be soaked in mud like what you probably have seen in some scenes relating to the Vietnam War. The frequency is around 2 times per week.

In an agricultural society like Vietnam where most of the countryside people depend on the cultivation of rice, rain brings life to the crop, rain brings livelihood. In the mountainous regions where little number of water reservoirs could be found, the rainy season is the only time of the year when rice could be grown. With hills patched by the terraced field, this season provokes inspiration among photographers around the country to capture the unique moment of the year. Thus, I gear up for the go. A bag of clothes, a bag of camera and an adventure spirit. I head for Yen Bai province - home to amazing rice fields in Vietnam.

I ride a Minsk, all bikers learn of Minsk’s existence in Vietnam – party because Vietnam is a communist country where Minsk found their way to around the 80s – 90s. Minsk are old folks that need nothing much apart from fuel, a can of oil for mixing with petrol and some spare parts just in case something falls apart from the bike. But above all Minsk is a spirit – a dream alike bike. It conveys an idea of socialism in some way.

The first day…

The distance from Ha Noi – Nghia Lo (a main town of Yen Bai province) is around 200 km. Minsk doesn’t travel much more than 50 km/hrs, and a photographer on bike does not need anything faster. Additionally, the traffic density in Vietnam allow you to ride it your way, as long as you don’t move faster than 30 km/hr. Well, cut it short, it takes 1 day on Minsk to reach the hotel in Nghia Lo.

Pretty much one third of the distance is riding through urban areas, thus, I didn’t stop much. Only when the countryside appears in the golden light of sunset

Apart from that, most of my shots was done while…riding (well, there are 02 of us so that would not violate the traffic law)

After a day riding and listening to the stone breaking sound of Minsk – a good shower and some moonshine at dinner is always appreciated. Food in this part of Vietnam is fresh and cheap, 25 dollar could buy 2 people a good dinner with one whole chicken served with rice.

Good night!

 

[nightflowervn]

Second day...

The morning was a bit foggy – well, hard to expect much better when the altitude starts to ascend. Some breakfast and a cup of tea, Minsk is ready for another day riding again.

The road from Nghia Lo to Tu Le is around 50 km, fenced by green hill and small tribal community peacefully rested in palm roof houses. We aimed for Tu Le directly but still, the scenery and people kept us several hours to finish 50 km. Lunch in Tu Le was a good treat with chicken (again) and the sticky rice. If you’re a fan of this type of rice, never skip a meal at Tu Le if possible, best sticky rice of the country could be found here.

Camera ready, soon after leaving Tu Le, a beautiful pass overlooking a green valley reached our sights.

We decided to go down the valley. Things gets clearer as we got closer. It was amazing capturing the local busy with the new season: Uprooting the seedlings, plowing and transplanting.

The local ladies – open and friendly to the lens of strangers:

I shot 02 pics and used “Merge” in Photoshop to merge them together:

 

[nightflowervn]

Using tele lens to capture the people busy transplanting rice:

And some kind of mirror effect:

Little kid, half naked like most of the local kids here, followed his parents to the rice field:

Time to roll on. We arrived in Mu Cang Chai at dusk, check in a simple motel room and enjoyed a hot shower. Time for food and some moonshine again.

The third day

More and more terraced rice field:

My great admiration seeing the photos, not in the way of seeing a National Geographic shot, of course. But the amazing terraced field is the aftermath of hundreds of years of work from generation to generation. This is the only way by which water could be saved from hill top to valley.

Every corner here, there’s something to shoot, something to think and some stories to be read:

 

[nightflowervn]

We came across Hung, a little boy in his 7th grade at school. Hung goes to school in the morning only. During this time of the year, he supports his family with farming works. In this far remote part of Vietnam, everyone in the family is supposed to work, more people means more labor. Well, some other parts of the world it is called child labor. Still, we got to go with the flow here, we take it as a cultural difference. He was pretty shy at first, but probably that made the picture more charming in some way.

Moving uphill, I captured a house in the middle of nowhere. It's quite interesting how far houses are from each other. Sometimes the next door neighbor is several miles away. This photo was merged from 02 smaller photos:

Later in the day, the cloud started to come. Well, it's ok, many great photos were actually shot in the rain, though. We got to sit down at a local tea shop (a very simple one). Time for a hot tea while looking at the cloud:

Rain came soon afterwards, followed by the happiness of the local. A grand mom slowly walk her kid, probably home. It seems the rain is just some pure water falling, they didn't even hurry up. Kids here may have best immune system in the world:

 

[nightflowervn]

And the lovely blue sky with beautiful rainbow appears after the rain:

The air became fresher. Me and my travel mate wondered in different directions. When we met up to hop on Minsk again, it was already at dusk. Last shot before the hotel shower, before the...moonshine. A fruitful day of shooting, of seeing and talking to the local. Well, after all, the most beautiful picture ever taken is by your eyes and mind.

Tired after a long day, I rested a bit before heading to the hotel. On this half heaven half earth land (elevation around 1500mm above sea level), some places are always in cloud:

...to be continued...

 

[wolfton]

..........Well, after all, the most beautiful picture ever taken is by your eyes and mind.

Well said and well documented. :thumbsup:

Looking forward to more of your pictures and encounters.

 

[LifeInMacro]

I thoroughly enjoyed viewing your photos and commentaries. An awesome adventurous journey indeed! :thumbsup:

 

[chempaka]

what a wonderful adventure. I enjoyed this.

 

[nightflowervn]

The fourth day...

A bit lazy in waking up, I still lied on my bed looking at the white ceiling of the hotel. My shoulders, my arms and my legs were sore, from riding Minsk - a super vibrating bike, and also from walking up and down hill, jumping from once rice field to the others. Well, we got to captured much. It's always good seeing more landscape and learning more about the life of people.

Noodle soup - everywhere you go in Vietnam you could find noodle soup for your breakfast. The Vietnamese seem to be lazy at breakfast and choose to eat something easy, takes less effort in chewing. For that reason noodle soup becomes the best choice one can have after getting up. We got some noodle, some tea, and ready to be on the go again.

We headed further to the North-Western part of the country, where where expected more to see and capture. This 48 km was a sweet part of the journey on Minsk

We didn't expect, but we got to see it: The great tea plantation. Yes, Vietnam, Japan, China...all share tea as their traditional drink. And this terrain - thousands meters above sea level is definitely an ideal place for great tea plantations. Tea covers hill tops, tea covers valleys...you can never drink this all:

Long time ago, tea was a part of the wilderness. When the market reached the place, tea became a commercial products, owned by business. The local people picked up tea as a part of their extra-income job. They are all farmers and when the farming is not busy, they come over, picked up tea and got paid at the end of the day. Set the commercial story aside, the tea plantation was a heaven for me capturing the local people picking up the leaves. They were all very, very friendly. When I held up the camera and asked to take picture, the common response was: No no, we are not beautiful, we are very humble looking. It took me a while explaining to them that they are among the most beautiful people, and indeed I meant:

Snapshot of a local girl while working:

And this is probably among the most beautiful smiles I have ever taken, in a really natural way. I told her I would come back and bring her a printed photo, and truly I will:

 

[nightflowervn]

Here and there you could see the typical hats of the Vietnamese, especially ladies would wear this when working outdoor:

My 70-200 mm f/2.8 found its heaven just right here:

Another great day shooting, moving up and down hill. My Minsk seems to enjoy the tough terrain of this hilly area very much. She took gravel roads and steep terrain without any hesitation. She's resting a bit here:

 

[eleveninth]

awesome.

 

[wonglp]

Lovely thread, more pls!

 

[Ahren]

I enjoyed the photos and the commentary very much. Keep it coming.

 

[nightflowervn]

Soon, sunset comes, the hills look amazing as the sun goes down:

The fifth day

Waking up from a great night sleep. I was ready to be on the go again. I actually wanted to stay back for another day, get back to the beautiful tea plantation again for more shots. Additionally there were many beautiful villages dot around the hillsides that caught my sight. The night sleep there was amazing watching the hills fading at dusk...Well, there's never enough time for everything. I shall come back here again.

As you could see, we stop at Sa Pa for our lunch. If you have traveled to VIetnam, you must be very familiar with the word "Sa Pa" - a lovely town settled on mountain top. It was founded as a summer shelter for the French officers during colonial time. Moving from the "Tea paradise" to Sa Pa, the road is only 55 km, but you need to pass the Hoang Lien pass - one of the steepest and most beautiful passes in Vietnam. The land road here peaks at over 2000 meters - the highest road in Vietnam. And the scenery is just worth riding:

We had lunch in Sa Pa - a good treat after all jungles food of places that we had been through. After lunch and before leaving Sapa, I had a shot, of the whole town from above, with the background being the Hoang Lien Son mountain range, whose peak is Fan Xi Pan (3143 meters above sea level):

Next day would be Saturday, the day of the once-per-week mountain market of Bac Ha, with no hesitation, Minsk rolled again. The road shown beneath was above 90 km, however, we could only reached Bac Ha at dusk due to the extremely winding road:

Man, it was rather cold even though we were in summer. I was trembling as Minsk found her way to our hotel in Bac Ha. Forgot to mention we caught some rain on the way riding - the rain in high mountains is always the coldest possible. Well, sitting ourselves at the table, time for good local wine and cuisines. And i slept like I never did before...

(to be continued...)

 

[wolfton]

We had lunch in Sa Pa - a good treat after all jungles food of places that we had been through. After lunch and before leaving Sapa, I had a shot, of the whole town from above, with the background being the Hoang Lien Son mountain range, whose peak is Fan Xi Pan (3143 meters above sea level):

Wow the ray of light emerged so straight from the cloud. Quite a magical sight.

 

[nightflowervn]

The sixth day

The town of Bac Ha is probably in its first process of development. There are little motels, restaurants and coffee shop (even though with a limited number). Bac Ha is famous around the country for plump fruits. When the season comes, the fruits are everywhere, covering the hills, the gardens and the riding roads...

Not only pump, Bac Ha is well known for its Sunday market (held only on Sunday). This is when the local tribal people (Mostly the H'mong), in their colorful dress, come to the markets and bringing along their domestic products: fruits, food, clothes, pigs...or whatever they can generate, for sales. The whole mountain corner is brightened with the dress color:

The market is not only for buying or selling, it is also for socializing as many tribal people do not get to see their neighbors for days due to distance. Thus, they are always in their most beautiful dress possible for the market:

A local H'mong lady selling alcohol. You could always have a taste by the cap of the alcohol can/bottle. I have to add up that alcohol, like what it is meant to be, is an integral part of socializing in this market:

Out on the open space, there is an oxen/buffalos market. You could have a look at one, pay in cash and walk the cattle home:

It is very common to see the local lady carrying babies on their back. These little angels sleep and never bother what is going on around the world:

 

[nightflowervn]

The women here to go for fashion, too, but it's just in a slightly different way.