Picture Perfect - Vietnam - by Tom Cameron
local guide feature
Picture Perfect
by Tom Cameron
“You and your click click,” Nu says, smiling. “Just don’t fall behind taking your perfect picture.”
“I know,” I mumble. What I really know is that this is my chance to photograph the mountains south of Hanoi. A horn signals our local guide’s arrival, and Duong's van arrives complete with touring bikes.
“Three bikes?” I ask.
“Someone has to get you white guys when you fall too far behind,” Duong answers, playfully tapping my arm.
“Hey!” I point to my legs. “I trained at home for this! Doesn’t that count?”
Duong laughs. “Can you handle flat and level all day?” He shares a knowing smile with Nu, snaps shut the door, and we’re off. As city streets become county roads, I realize that the Vietnamese grow up on bicycles. Out the window, children and teenagers are all pedaling somewhere.
“Hey! Do you want to cycle, or sleep?” Duong jokes, unpacking the bikes. Nu and Duong scoot ahead on gravel and dirt. The road threads between grey cliffs and mountains. Women zip by me, pedaling their bicycles at a leisurely pace, passing effortlessly beyond my reach. One lady turns and nods. Is she sorry for this tourist with knobby knees?
Wait now, where’s my camera? Here, yes … click, click. Ok, perfect.
Duong’s far ahead, his bike pedals coasting, I’m sure! Mine must spin to catch up. I wave, but Duong gestures to the nearby cliffs, his free hand sweeping over his handlebars. “Karsts,” he explains. “They’re limestone left untouched when the land was stripped away. That’s why mountains just jump up from the ground.”
Yes, there are no foothills. A line of karsts marks the end of these green farm fields like a convoy of grey camels silhouetting the horizon.
Duong’s smile is mischievous. “But the real reason our karsts are famous is tomorrow’s mystery.”
These roads seem to hold no secrets. We’re cycling in a large valley, the road’s flat and straight, so no challenge. Off I pedal, taking in the seedlings around us. “I didn’t expect pineapple farms in Vietnam.”
Duong laughs. “These farmers can plant what they want. Pineapples are a big export. There’s lots of money to be made.”
The next few farmhouses sport satellite dishes on their walls. Yes, pineapples are profitable for everyone.
Duong’s shouting now. I slow down. He’s yelling from his bicycle seat. “Go! Get out of here, you big dumb animal!”
A cow has strayed out into a pineapple field and is eating the fresh shoots. Duong’s off, jumping over a shallow ditch, running over the fields, his bike abandoned by the road. His arms wave frantically. “Go, get out of here! Get going!”
He’s shouting in English. Are Vietnamese cattle bilingual? His arm waving has no effect; this cow is not cowed. I’m a step behind, reaching for my camera. “That cow’s not listening,” I call out to Duong.
Duong’s shouts do get attention. A feminine voice joins his bellowing. Beside a farmhouse, a farmwife puts down her basket. She’s a good 500 meters away, yet her voice carries clearly.
I smile;
She’s my Little Girl Blue, her voice a clear horn;
Her cow’s in the pasture of pineapples not corn;
But where is the boy who looks after the sheep?
He drops what he’s doing, he’s not fast asleep!
There’s her husband, bolting out from behind the farmhouse, a streak of pumping arms and legs rushing towards us.
I’m excited, moving too; scrambling about, aligning angles and backgrounds, my breathing level so heaving lungs don’t bounce my camera arm about. I look through the viewfinder for our pineapple farmer. There! He’s charging across farm furrows, jumping over seedlings, bearing down on the invader.
Click, click! I’m capturing the stray animal.
Magnificent! This is drama! This is real life, nothing staged or posed.
“Thank you Duong!” I cry. For how could I take a picture more perfect?
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Tom’s Tips: This story took place in the Tam Coc area of northern Vietnam, about a two hour drive south of the capital city, Hanoi.
For those not interested in cycling, the town of Tam Coc has much to offer. There is an excellent restaurant (you can't miss it, as it's on the water where you get the boats to see the karsts) in the center of Tam Coc, with a great view of the lake and the canoe type boats where you can float beside the karsts. We were there on a day when the locals had set up their market stalls across the street from the restaurant, and beside the lake.
Tom’s local recommendation is the guide from his story. Duong is a "highly recommended guide" from the 2011 Guides & Services competition: http://www.leaplocal.org/locals/view/431/
Bio:
Although project management at times includes a lot of travelling, Tom Cameron
finds his vacation journeys provide him the most pleasure. Why? Because they
often stimulate his other great interest. No, not sampling the great variety of
tangy bites and sharp spices an exotic locale has to tease his palate (although
this is a close second), but to be the seed for many of his story ideas. And
travel writing for Leap Local is the fun filled union of these two pursuits.
Tom finds his fictional characters to almost be real, but it is the residents of a locale who live on in his memories. For no matter where he is, sitting down over freshly picked coca mate tea in the highlands of Peru, or squatting to drink ice sharp water from a mountain stream in the Sapa highlands of Vietnam, local folks have shared bits and pieces of their life’s story with Tom. Along with the valleys and cliffs in the landscape, people have twisted down plot turns far more interesting than what the casual tourist might imagine.