Hoi An

30th March 

After a fairy comfortable night bus, I arrived in Hoi An early morning and so went out for some breakfast.

The hostel is in the old town and the streets are very narrow and pretty, the buildings a mix of colonial and Chinese style.

Just crossing over the river you can see the terrain is so much more flatter than the North and Hoi An is a 15th - 19th century trading port, where Chinese, Japanese and French merchants arrived. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1999.

I spent the first day just walking around, looking at the buildings and also I visited a tiny museum that was set up by a French Photographer who had travelled all over Vietnam on his motorbike, visiting the small tribal villagers and learning about their culture, customs and particularly their costumes. He had photographed and collected the tribal dress of each village he visited and these were all on display along with his photographs.

The Hidden Smile Project.

The Hidden Smile Project started in the summer of 2011 in Hol An when I first met Madam Xong. As I photographed her, she laughed and covered her mouth with her hands. I found that even though her mouth was hidden, there was so much emotion within her eyes.

Behind the kind faces of the Vietnamese people lies the spirits of survivors and a cultural endurance which remains unmatched. As a portrait photographer, I believe that a person's life story leaves an imprinit on the body and the human face is the map of these memories.

The more that I travel throughout Vietnam, the more I realize that smiling while covering one's mouth is a common action for women of all ages in Vietnam. For many reasons such as modesty, politeness, discomfort or joy, they use their hands to hide their mouths when they laugh or receive a compliment.

This is part of why I decided to go beyond the singie portrait of Madam Xong to create a series that leaves it up to the viewer to make their own conclusions as to what lies behind the covered smile. I want to leave people guessing, but most of all I want people to look at the face and realize there's a deeper story to be told, a story that can be discovered through the hidden smile.

Réhahn

There was a summary and pictures of every tribe in Vietnam - too many to put all here - here is an example of some:

Here were shots from videos of cotton weaving and drying out the cardamon crop.

The elders in the villages have tried to hold on tp their traditions and old methods and ways, by teaching the younger generation, but this had become harder and harder, particularly with the rise of the smart phone, and inevitably, many traditional practises and crafts have been lost.

I noticed, walking back to the hostel, that there are people who collect the plastic bottles from the rubbish bins in the town - presumably to be recycled. I guess this is where Asia is far behind, on the plastic front. They use a lot more plastic and I'm guessing no system for people or businesses to have recycle bins.

After dark, I returned to the river to see the boats with their colourful lanterns and people lighting candles to float on the river for good luck, happiness and prosperity.

There was a night market with loads of souvenir stalls and food 

Here's me getting photo bombed!

It was all a bit loud and busy for my liking but I enjoyed my dinner - Quang noodles

and some of the quieter areas look beautiful lit up at night

31st March

The last day of March was spent exploring the town with a Polish girl, Ola, from the hostel. We stopped to film this pretty butterfly. She is 28 and travelling and working a bit, for a software testing company, whilst she travels.

This is a famous Japanese bridge, built in the 17th Century by Japanese merchants, according to legend. It is pictured on the 20,000 dong note.

There are many clothes, shoes and leather goods shops and tailoring. It seems to be a popular thing to have clothes custom made here.

Ola had a craving for a 'pesto pizza' she had seen advertised at a restaurant, but it took us ages to find it.

She really didn't have any idea where the restaurant was, and by some miracle, and after a lot of walking, I happened upon the sign and it was the right place. 

Unfortunately, however, they didn't really have any pesto so they sprinkled a few herbs on instead. Ola complained and they gave us the pizza for free - I must say I felt a little guilty.

What amused me was that while we were sitting there eating, a guy was trying to manoeuvre a fork lift to carry a rusty metal panel, right by the side of the river - with little regard for safety - he was very close to the edge - or the restaurant customers. It really made me chuckle. I had to film some - the first parts a bit blurry before I cleaned the lens.

We bought some Papaya and dragon fruit and these strange things I thought were nuts, but they are a soft jelly-like fruit that you peel and are called Longan

Later Ola had to work so i went for a walk down by the river again. Watching the boats and the lanterns, I got talking to a Greek guy, Yannis who is a similar age to me, 53, and works as a private chef on the Island of Paros. It's funny, because when I travelled in my twenties I worked on the nearby Island of Naxos and visited Paros.

We chatted over a beer and agreed to meet for coffee the next day.

1st April

Another lazy day spent wandering around the streets of the town. I had PHO for lunch which was yummy.

I met Yannis for Coffee and, like Ola, he had a craving for Souvlaki, from a place he had been to on a previous day. And, exactly like her, he wasn't sure where to find the place. It felt like 'deja vue'.

After more walking and talking we did, eventually find it. We had another coffee after & it was time to get my night bus so I said my goodbyes to Hoi An and to both of my Hoi An friends.