Vietnam
Vietnam November 12 - 22, 2010
LIFEONTWOWHEELS LIFEINTHEMARKET LIFEONTHEWATER
LIFEONTWOWHEELS By all accounts, the Vietnamese don't walk. They hop on their motorbikes, hurl themselves into a river of chaotic traffic and arrive at their destination safe and sound. In Saigon alone, a city of five million residents, there are over three million motorbikes. Taxi cab. Station wagon. Even beds. Two wheels fill virtually every need in Vietnam from livestock transport to mobile business. Traffic laws? There are only two: Get out of the way of anything bigger than you. Honk often. Want to truly experience a walk of faith? Try being a pedestrian in a country where sidewalks are just another fast lane. And stepping into cross-fire traffic requires a comfort level of epic proportions: you walk slow and steady across a street buzzing with bikes and trust that the swarm will break before they reach you. And somehow they do.
LIFEINTHEMARKET
Life begins and ends at the market. For many Vietnamese, the first stop of the day is at the market for fruit, meat, clothes and more. And for many animals, the market is their last stop as eager butchers skin frogs, ducks, snakes and rats, shuck live seafood from the shell and parcel out pigs into various parts. Until we can find an affordable scratch and sniff book printer, take our word for it: the aromas swirling through the market redefine sweet, savory, fresh and putrid. The smell of sweet mangoes and rambutans collide with fermented fish sauce and the infamous durian - a fruit described by a local as "tastes like heaven but smells like hell."
LIFEONTHEWATER From Halong Bay in the north to the Mekong Delta in the south, the waters of Vietnam are woven deeply into the fabric of daily life. Not only does it provide travel, food, commerce and recreation, it's also the heart of their culture and legends. LIFE IN THE MEKONG The Mekong means 'nine dragons,' owing to its many mouths that open up south of Saigon. It's home to thousands of animal species including crocodiles, 600-pound giant catfish, cobras and geckos. LIFE ON THE OCEAN Amid the azure coastal waters of Vietnam sits the island of Phu Quoc. Once a prison island for the French, it now serves as a tropical base from which to scuba dive and fish. LIFE IN HALONG BAY Halong Bay or 'descending dragon bay' is a maze of thousands of limestone pillars and isles, the perfect backdrop for a couple days aboard an asian junk boat.
Life in the Mekong Delta
Life on the Ocean
Life in Halong Bay