Maiden Trip to The Mekong Delta – Vietnam  (Arthur Teng)

Inspired by some photographs which I saw on Vietnam, I joined a 7-day trip last December. My priority was the Mekong Delta but I found Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) offered some photographic opportunities on the people’s lifestyles. For those who like photographing people, Ho Chi Minh City was the place to capture some interesting photojournalism images. It was a lifely and busy city.

It would not be wrong for me to say that Ho Chi Minh City was a city of bikes and bicycles, according to statistic, the ratio was 1 bike to every 10 people a few years ago. For your information, the population of Ho Chi Minh City is more than 5 million people. With so many bikes on the roads, I found it was a nightmare to cross any roads. If you dared not cross, you could never make it because no one would stop for you – not even at the zebra crossing. Of course the bikes would avoid you if you crossed the road slowly. I guessed if you could pass the test in Ho Chi Minh City, you could cross any road in the world. Beware of pickpockets in this city, some well-dressed kids would offer to sell you tid-bits and other services but it was your wallet that they were interested. Our guide told us a joke that if you put your hand out of the plane’s window, if it turned black, you were in Africa; if it turned white, you were in the Artic and if you lost your watch, you were in Vietnam.

Originated from Qinghai Province in China, The Mekong River meanders through other five Indo-China countries before pouring out to the South China Sea via Vietnam. When Mekong River enters Vietnam, it is divided into two major rivers namely Tien Giang (upper River) and How Giang (lower River) and these rivers create many waterways and canals that criss-crossing the Delta. Hence, rivers and canals are some how the highways and roads in the Mekong Delta where floating markets are the norms.

I visited three floating markets in Cai Rang, Phong Dien and Phung Hiep. Wholesalers in bigger boats displayed their produces tied on a pole as point-of-sale to attract the customers. Phung Hiep was situated at the confluence of six rivers. At sunrise, boats of all sizes emerged from all directions headed towards the bigger boats, jamming the confluence. Drinks and food vendors swirling in and out of the ‘market’ in smaller boats. The height of the activities was from 6:00AM to 10:00AM.

Some of the families who conducted businesses in the boat were virtually lived there as I could see clothes were hung to dry, kids played with pets, flower plants were nicely arranged for decorations.

In the morning, activities along the canals and rivers were in full swing-washing, fishing and bathing against the rustic backdrop of the countryside. There were many images on people’s lifestyles here but sadly I could not capture the insight of the lifestyle while cruising on the boat. Vietnamese were friendly people who did not mind being photographed-even at close range. But avoid shooting the military, police, government buildings and uniformed personnel. A word of advice for those who want to bring tripods into Vietnam. Foreigner who brings a tripod into the country will be regarded as a journalist and is entitled to apply for Press Visa at no cost (no visa is required for ordinary tourist) but you need an ascot for a fee of USD100 ‘Personal Administration Fee’ per day and films will be checked before departure. To be hassle free, do not bring any tripod to Vietnam. Apart from this, Vietnam is a friendly country to visit.

It was a pleasure to watch the gracefulness of the beautiful Vietnamese students in white traditional uniforms on bicycles. See you again Vietnam!