Adori Studios – Fine Photography

I am so lucky to have just made the most amazing trip to Vietnam with my hubbie. Anthony had to work over there for 1 day so we decided to both go and add a few days on either side.

There is something totally transforming about travelling, it connects you too others, their struggles and  their culture. It makes you realise how grateful we should be everyday about even the simple things in life like clean water and a blue sky.

These cultures have so little yet so much. Even in the crazy traffic we never once saw road rage!!

This is the first photo I saw when I woke on my first day in Vietnam. The days was really misty and our hotel was right on the lake at West Lake. As you can see you can not see the other side of the lake lol!

I was watching this lady for a while trying to be mindful of not intruding in her moment. We were at the one Pillar Pagoda which was built originally back in 1028. It was destroyed by one of Vietnam’s many wars and rebuilt in the late 1950’s.

It symbolises the lotus flower coming out of the dark muddy waters. This lady had been standing there for a while praying before the Pagoda. When she looked up she had tears falling down her face. I got quite emotional just watching her and would have loved to hear her story.

Hubby on the cylco driving through the manic traffic!

We got ripped off by him but didn’t mind.. This job is given to many men from the war or from the country and is seen as the lowest of jobs…

The vietnamese are multi-talented, yes he is rowing the boat with his feet and scooping rubbish from the lake with his hands.

Uncle Ho’s museum where he is embalmed…he was such an amazing man. Giving up on his own life in pursuit of freedom for the Vietnamese.

A slight issue with the electricity wiring lol!

One Pillar Pagoda.

Vietnam is wedding central, it’s just crazy the amount of weddings you see around Hoan Kiem Lake on any one day. Supposedly from the minute they get engaged to married is only a few weeks. Weddings photos are taken about 2 weeks before the wedding and the wedding day is chosen by the local buddist monk. So it could be a Monday or a Wednesday. They hire their wedding dresses etc for the photo shoot, it was funny to see many brides holding up there dresses with jeans underneath!! here I am being an Uncle Bob!

There are beautiful Bonsai Trees everywhere!

Our first hotel The Intercontinental on West Lake was amazing, the actual pavilions where some of the rooms are, are built over the water.

At every opportunity these ladies carrying their basket would stop and try to sell you their wares. Some of them are so amazingly heavy!

This is one of the busiest intersections in the Old Quarter! Driving through it on cyclo is a very scary experience, but by the end of our trip we were locals walking through. If you walk at a steady pace the motorbikes just manoeuvre around you, cars on the other hand don’t!

View from above and from a cyclo…

It’s quite amazing how many people and how much produce they can fit on their scooters! The hotel bar, with beds!

We spent 1 night on a Junk sailing around Halong Bay, what a great experience!

Our room on the boat, so comfy!

Hubbie looking spunky!

The ladies that rowed us around the fishing village, they rowed for an hour !

The fishing Villages are built on the water, we even saw dogs on these houses and babies wandering around!

Having a bath in a bowl!

The local school, the kiddies on the fishing village go to school from ages 7-10, if they want to go further they have to go to the main land. Many don’t.

This lady was so beautiful!

Upper deck of the boat.

We were told that before we leave that we have to get up early and get down to Hoan Kiem Lake before 6am. So on our last day we did! it was amazing, it turned into exercise central. There was so many different forms of exercise from aerobics to Tai chi

Tai chi with swords, pretend ones that fold up of course!

Make shift gyms with dumbbell’s made of concrete, man that is one workout!

Even if you can’t stand up very well, you can still exercise!

I was really taken with this lady, she was so beautiful!

Boxing the light poles….as you do lol!

An example of the sort of things you see on the bikes.

hubbie trying to look happy with getting his photo taken, standing in front of a house in the Old Quarter.