Tag: Vietnam
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THE CANALS OF THE MEKONG DELTA
Back in the early 19th century the Emperor Gia Long, the founder of the Nguyễn Dynasty, had the foresight to build canals for irrigation, transportation and military purposes in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. The French colonizers thought that was a pretty good idea as well and they enlarged the network in the mid-19th to mid-20th century. The French recognized the agricultural potential of the Mekong Delta and used the canals to promote rice cultivation, improve transportation and extract natural resources. Today, canals are everywhere in the Mekong. It does mean, however, that…
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CAN THO
I arrived in Can Tho, Vietnam’s gateway city to the Mekong Delta, after an all-night flight and a three-hour drive from Ho Chi Minh City. I was too tired to set out and explore the city … and it quickly became too hot and humid. So I did the lazy photographer method and just set the camera on time lapse on my hotel room’s balcony while I took a snooze. There was a fair bit of activity on the Hau River, which is a distributary of the Mekong and passes through…
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A DAY IN THE RICE PADDIES OF CAO PHONG
Timing is so important in photography. And I seem to get it wrong so often. I stayed an extra day in Vietnam so I could see rice being harvested in terraced paddies. But it soon appeared that my timing was wrong. Turns out most of the rice in northern Vietnam had already been harvested. Nothing left but stubble. But our host, Vietnam’s National Genebank Director Dr Toan, said his sister-in-law had a homestay near the upland rice fields in the Cao Phong District near Hoa Binh – about two hours from…
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A TWILIGHT STROLL THROUGH HANOI’S OLD QUARTER
I came to Vietnam as part of a Crop Trust-supported genebank review team and after five days here I thought I’d only see a slice of Vietnam between our hotel and the plant resource center. But the team was able to wrap up its work by mid-afternoon on Friday so we all travelled to Hanoi’s Old Quarter to get a taste of the city and unwind a bit. And there’s no better location to immerse yourself in Hanoi. The Old Quarter is vibrant and bustling with people constantly dodging motorcycles and…
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