This was the end of a rather fruitless walk around my hostel's neighborhood. No surprise really: I've been in this city for over a month and a half now, so the novelty factor has worn off, and secondly, it was a dreary, overcast day. Sure, you can still find interesting things even in such lighting, but the grayness wasn't just outside, it was inside me too. Everything felt flat and un-summery, even though it was 30 degrees Celsius and my shirt was soaked with sweat.
I took a couple of interesting images nevertheless:
I like thinking he's writing poetry. He was so absorbed; with 2 cm of ash on the end of the cigarette which was about to fall.
Xiangqi (read it "shyang-chee"). These guys notice nothing except the board. I was taking images from different angles while there were unconscious of that.
I decided to end my walk with a visit to the Co.Op hypermarket to buy various things that I had been needing for a while: salt, coffee, a new travel mug - the essentials. It started to drizzle and I even had to run for a while to avoid being caught in a downpour under some random awning.
At the entrance to the hypermarket, there was a large awning where people had already gathered to shelter from the rain. Motorbikes arrived from time to time, and new neighbors joined us. I decided to take a couple of photos before going inside.
Vietnamese children often enjoy the rain. Once, I even saw kids swimming in huge puddles. But this time, there was a boy riding a bicycle in the rain while the adults were hiding under an awning. Then he climbed onto a car - I don't know if it was a stranger's car or his dad's... I'm guessing it was a stranger's.
The Vietnamese are incredibly colorful during the rain. Raincoats of all shades and shapes.
Meanwhile, the situation had acquired a certain degree of anecdotal quality, which made my mood even more humorous. The thing is that the people waiting for the rain to stop had all already noticed the crazy foreigner with the camera, and everyone felt that he could become the next target. A couple of dozen people were watching my actions, and at the same time I pretended not to notice it.
The main crowd was behind me, I didn't want to take a picture of it. But I liked poses of these two persons.
Another advantage of the rain: people understand why you take pictures of them, with or without asking. It does help.
It’s great that people who are used to frequent rains are able to notice the beauty of this natural phenomenon and the theatrical spectacle that unfolds in its scenery.
Look how the child is reaching for the raindrops; lovely. Meanwhile, I wanted a more diverse set of images so I occasionally rushed to the roadside to capture a shot or two of the traffic, shielding my camera under the edge of the T-shirt. One of my spectators decided to lend a helping hand.
This woman gave me a plastic bag and even helped me to pack my camera with the lens covered with plastic. 😀 I showed her the image then:
Yes, although the plastic was transparent... 😄
But I actually liked this retro steamroom effect. I should try taking pictures this way next time.
The rain had noticeably slowed down, and I thought the show was over. So I went shopping. How wrong I was. I spent a long time browsing the supermarket, and when I came out, I saw that the rain was still going on - strong enough for people to be wearing raincoats, but light enough for me to walk around with my camera covered by my T-shirt.
But I had lost my inspiration to that point and was hungry. So I put the camera into the backpack... ut the sights that opened up before me were amazing. Night Vietnam in the rain is a bright theatrical show.
Now, my main goal in Saigon is to get caught in the rain again in the evening. Happily, it's rainy season here, so I won't have to wait long.
More stories from Southeast Asia are ahead! Check out my previous posts on my personal Travelfeed or Worldmappin map.
I took these images with a Nikkor 50mm on a full-frame DSLR Nikon D750 on July 3, 2024, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
