Sunday, October 17, 2010

Bicycle with roses, Hanoi


One of joys of wandering the streets of a new destination is what you chance upon in your meanderings.

This is very true as a photographer as much as a general traveller.

Asian cities house a plethora of sights, smells and experiences.

Yeah sure like in all cities some of the sights and smells leave a bit to be desired but that’s to be expected when the city has grown over centuries.

Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, is a wonderful old city. At different times in its history it’s been controlled by the Chinese, the Japanese during the 2nd World War and then the French not to mention the various ethnic groups that now go to make up the present Vietnamese state.

One of the things that I like about the Vietnamese is that they are survivors. It is 35 plus years since the Vietnamese War, or as the Vietnamese themselves refer to it, the American War, but there is little sight or hint that a major conflict ever happened in their country. Most wreckage has been completely removed, most likely cut up for scrap. They are a very positive people and their country is moving forward at a rapid rate, or seems to be, on the surface.

While walking the streets this particular morning we came upon this bicycle, with its basket of roses, on a major street in old Hanoi. The street was packed with the usual comings and goings of any Asian city but as I got to the bicycle, turned, framed the shot and took this photo, there was no one there. It looked like I had set the shot up and stopped the traffic. Within seconds the street was again packed. You just know that you’ve captured a beauty.

This could be in a lot of cities in the world but looking closely at the picture there’s a map of Vietnam on one of the buildings across the street.

I can’t wait to go back. There is so much to see and do and photograph!

See more photos of Vietnam on:

www.stickelsimages.com

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanoi