Streets of Hanoi

May 2009. Hanoi, Vietnam

It is hard to find a big city in Asia that is also a pretty city. For some reason they tend to be disorganised and chaotic, the buildings’ design seems to be completely random, and the traffic rules – or the lack of thereof – can be very overwhelming. But there is also something very exciting and addicting in those cities. One such place is Hanoi. Among the chaos and noise there is a magic that makes so many travellers love and hate it at the same time. At least this is how I feel

Magical Colors of Bac Ha

May 2009. Bac Ha, Vietnam

Bac Ha is a small village in the north part of Vietnam, near the border with China. For about 313 day in a year it is a quiet place. The remaining 52 days are Sundays. And this is when the place goes on display.

Sunday is a market day. The merchandise on sale is nothing unusual – fruit and vegetable, meat, live stock, grains, oil, tobacco. What makes this market so amazing is the people. And I don’t mean the tourists who visit it. I mean the locals.

This part of Vietnam is populated by hill tribes, which are essentially minority groups. And you can quite easily tell them from a regular Vietnamese – they wear amazing clothes. The clothes are hand-made and so colorful they can give you a headache!