Photos from 8D7N Hanoi Halong Bay & Sapa Valley Photography Trek

[SereneXMM]

Yes gonna retire here and have that god granddaughter by my side
But my house will be made of reinforced concrete...can't have the big bad wolf to blow it down



' No, gonna stick with my nikki, at least I don't need to wrap like siao...'

Anyway thanks limwhow and serene for those nice pix

Kekeke... You are welcome, Grandpa Encik General stevepow. Thank you for your compliments :lovegrin:!

 

[limwhow]

I like the sharpness and good bokeh of this
And also makes me recall my childhood's story of the three little pigs and the big bad wolf


Yes gonna retire here and have that god granddaughter by my side
But my house will be made of reinforced concrete...can't have the big bad wolf to blow it down



' No, gonna stick with my nikki, at least I don't need to wrap like siao...'

Anyway thanks limwhow and serene for those nice pix

Haha... thank you, Stevepow, for your encouragement as always!
I think you can certainly still stick to your Nikons, retire and buy a reinforced concrete house here at Cat Cat Village (Valley) and every day go out with your this cute little "grand"-daughter to photograph piglets, goats and buffalos!

 

[limwhow]

T R A V E L O G U E ~ Day 7 evening - Day 8 morning :- Back to Hanoi

Arriving back at Sapa Global Hotel at 12:50pm exactly, we did two things:
We had a late lunch in the hotel restaurant.
And within an hour an a half, we had dinner in the hotel restaurant. Hahaha...
All of us were blur...! So much food, and we were hard pressed to finish them up in fear of
refusing the hotel people's hospitality

Our train were scheduled to leave at 7:35pm sharp.
We finally departed the hotel and the flight of "intentionally" angled steps.
Gratefully we bid Ms Trang farewell, but not before one of our luggage decided to take a few tumbles
down the last few steps of this evilly designed flight of steps... kekeke...

The over-night Sapa-Hanoi train took us from this lovely part up north, back to the reality of Hanoi.
I believe most of us would have managed to sleep well enough on this trip back,
as Sapa had been, not to mention the least, tiring yet exciting in its very own ways.

Arrived in Hanoi - 5:00am

Adrian: "Ok guys, we will be going for an early morning 6:30am walk around Hanoi to shoot some
morning scene of the shop-keepers opening their shops and early morning activities in Hanoi.
Those of you who are interested, please grab your gears and meet at the lobby at 6:30am."

:kok: .... Wah lau... I *faint* ah... Hahaha...
I vote Adrian the Man of The Match for this Tournament!
I just can't believe his energy level!
And what more, a few of the group actually had the energy to keep up, and they all went shooting!



limwhow #217

We all got out of the hotel at about 9am for a nice stroll (really leisurely stroll) for breakfast in one of the two-storey Pho (noodle) shops.
Nice breakfast. Real local stuff.
Here, while waiting for our Pho to come, acpical and stevepow stepped out onto the balcony for a
nice, relax appraisal of the streets of Hanoi.

limwhow #218

Here we are: our dumpling (水&#39290 Pho. For every one's information, there are various types of Pho:
Beef Pho, Duck Pho... and so on and so forth.

limwhow #219

And oh yah, how can we forget this old style Coca Cola...?
This Adrian was crazy over Fanta which he could no longer find back home in Singapore,
but was available all over in Vietnam!

limwhow #220

After we stuffed ourselves full of Pho, Adrian sprung a surprise on us by announcing that
we are all going to have fresh Vietnamese Tow Huay (豆&#33457 at the road side!
Wah lau... we all flew right out of the Pho shop and tailed him tightly...

 

[limwhow]

limwhow #221

Tow huay (bean curd) we had. (How much, Adrian? 10,000 Dong a bowl?)
Anyway thanks to the treat from Adrian and Jim (hehehe... cut long story short here...).
We all enjoyed ourselves stupid sitting on the stools along the road side.
Finally! Like real, authentic Vietnamese style!

limwhow #222

As everyone was sitting down devouring their Tow Huay, I thought it would be a good idea to do some panning shots.
I have had my fair share of panning shots. But never one where the subject gave me a surprise gift like this Vietnamese boy-
he flashed me one of the famous Billion Dong Smile while I was panning his mother and him!

Ladies and Gentlemen of the team, this small little travelogue is most likely coming to an end soon,
as we have finally returned to Hanoi. But even as the travelogue finishes, I will be putting up a
Miscellaneous sections which I foresee to be more interesting than ANY of the photos that I have put in
the travelogue, for this Miscellaneous section that follows will be a Free For All where we can all just
hum-tum all our whatever shots that we have during this trip.
A good chance for every one to catch up with those good, meaningful and memorable shots
that we wanted to share with all in the team, but haven't had the time to PP or to arrange.

Meanwhile, keep posting up your photos, Ladies and Gentlmen!

 

[newnikon]

Wow, thanks for bringing me to this wonderful journey Whow. I literally spend the last half an hour traveling with you. What a nice way of spending my lazy late Sunday afternoon. Nice last panning shot.:thumbsup:

Adrian and Melvin, i think u guys have a travel writer onboard.. quickly grab him b4 Lonely Planet calls him...hint, hint...

limwhow #222

As everyone was sitting down devouring their Tow Huay, I thought it would be a good idea to do some panning shots.
I have had my fair share of panning shots. But never one where the subject gave me a surprise gift like this Vietnamese boy-
he flashed me one of the famous Billion Dong Smile while I was panning his mother and him!

Ladies and Gentlemen of the team, this small little travelogue is most likely coming to an end soon,
as we have finally returned to Hanoi. But even as the travelogue finishes, I will be putting up a
Miscellaneous sections which I foresee to be more interesting than ANY of the photos that I have put in
the travelogue, for this Miscellaneous section that follows will be a Free For All where we can all just
hum-tum all our whatever shots that we have during this trip.
A good chance for every one to catch up with those good, meaningful and memorable shots
that we wanted to share with all in the team, but haven't had the time to PP or to arrange.

Meanwhile, keep posting up your photos, Ladies and Gentlmen![/QUOTE]

 

[divinemoment]

Communal Dining

I like this very much. A very good capture giving a good overall view of the market. What focal length?

 

[divinemoment]

.

Well caught. She's has the guts to stand up. Pei fu, pei fu

 

[divinemoment]

Very surreal. Nice B/W conversion. Very appropriate and I think it speak louder than colour.

Nice perspective.

A deep, thoughtful young girl

I like the shadow on her left face. Gives more dimension

 

[limwhow]

Wow, thanks for bringing me to this wonderful journey Whow. I literally spend the last half an hour traveling with you. What a nice way of spending my lazy late Sunday afternoon. Nice last panning shot.:thumbsup:

Adrian and Melvin, i think u guys have a travel writer onboard.. quickly grab him b4 Lonely Planet calls him...hint, hint...

NEWNIKON!
Wah it is great to have you on board!
No lah it is really a joint effort between all the team members.
I am merely a facilitator.
Looking forward to another wonderful trip with you!

 

[acpical]

limwhow #207-#210

I saw a nice, smiling farmer lady plating rice.
In her local dialect, she was remarking to her fellow farmers that her boots are so dirty.
In a blink of an eye, she started washing them with a bunch of stalks - splash, went the muddy water!
[Sorry for the typo mistake in the label... too excited liao!]

This is really great timing!

 

[acpical]

A deep, thoughtful young girl

I like this. I remember the girl was rather shy initially and took a while to warm up.

 

[limwhow]

T R A V E L O G U E ~ The last day



limwhow #223

Hanoi. On Day 8, the very last day of our trip. 8:29am.
It was still very early. And it would be another 6 hours before our minibus to the airport set off.
Hither and thither we went, enquiring where it would be good to go for some walk-about and
to do some last minute shopping.
Adrian suggest Dong Xuan market, not far from our hotel and off we went-
Acpical, divinemoment, Jim CPA, George, myself and SereneXMM.

Some interesting street scene we saw as we walked and many of my team mates actually
caught quite a few fruitful shots.

I only managed to capture this record shot of Dong Xuan Market.
I am sure those who frequent Hanoi would be familiar with this place.

limwhow #224

What did Dong Xuan Market reminded me of?
The Old Airport Road old retail market or the old City Plaza in the 80's.
Well... maybe even a little before that.
Nothing really much, unless one is a retail businessperson trying to get some wholesale
merchandise to ship to Singapore for sale.

limwhow #225

SereneXMM and I came to this stall manned by an owner without his left lower limb.
He had quite some unique stuff here.
No wonder his prices were rather fixed.
We got a few nice handbags for around S$4 per bag.
Chubbykei and Helen met us right here at this stall too.
And they were also attracted by some of his merchandise.
Well, women will also know what they wanted...

limwhow #226

9:30am. We walked back from Dong Xuan market.
The weather was beginning to be unbearably hot.
And it takes a resourceful man like divinemoment to find a boutique shop that was blowing
its air-con full blast -- out through its front door!
Hahaha... we all stood there quietly, winking at each other, and enjoyed the brief moment of cold respite.

When we arrived at the hotel, it was still very early in the day.
Both SereneXMM and I myself (and later on I learned, stevepow too) were totally fatigued and we just needed to take another good shower and rested.

What did Chubbykei, Helen and divinemoment do? Hehehe... I think the French Quarter they went!
I am really starting to think these marvellous machines were half-human.
Either that, or SereneXMM and I were terrible travellers!

 

[SereneXMM]

Hello newnikon, joining us for our next trip too!:think:

 

[acpical]

Communal Dining

I like this very much. A very good capture giving a good overall view of the market. What focal length?

Thanks, Divinemoment. It's the only shot of this type that I took that can make it.

24mm on a full frame.

 

[divinemoment]

Somehow I missed these beautiful montages. Perfect timing using the "tool" at hand yet effective feat whilst she provided the action for your taking.

 

[limwhow]

This is really great timing!

Somehow I missed these beautiful montages. Perfect timing using the "tool" at hand yet effective feat whilst she provided the action for your taking.

Thank you, Gentlemen, for your kind words.
'Twasn't me. 'Twas my machine working hard.
Credit should go to its motorised mirror.
Still, your encouragements will give me a sleepless night tonight... being elated,
more so than if Brazil were to beat Ivory Coast by 3-1 (hee hee hee...)

 

[divinemoment]

Amongst the many photos, i find this quite challenging. The children were fridgeting and to get at least one of them looking at you was already a challenge, not forgetting the buffalo head kept turning about as well. I’m not contented with just one face looking at me, I also wanted the buffalo’s face to be in a more proper angle. Added to the formidable task was the wide disparity in exposure level (but at least this can be corrected in PP, that’s what I did). Here was my best attempt, but not happy enough. ? So far I only saw Doc's pic which reflect many good smiles. I’m interested to see what other's got.

 

[Helen]

Hi limwhow, divinemoment and Apical
Thank you very much for the compliments

 

[divinemoment]

he flashed me one of the famous Billion Dong Smile while I was panning his mother and him!

The achievement is really satisfying if a panning shot turns out good, and I know exactly how you feel. Good job.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the team, this small little travelogue is most likely coming to an end soon,
as we have finally returned to Hanoi. But even as the travelogue finishes, I will be putting up a
Miscellaneous sections which I foresee to be more interesting than ANY of the photos that I have put in
the travelogue, for this Miscellaneous section that follows will be a Free For All where we can all just
hum-tum all our whatever shots that we have during this trip.
A good chance for every one to catch up with those good, meaningful and memorable shots
that we wanted to share with all in the team, but haven't had the time to PP or to arrange.
Meanwhile, keep posting up your photos, Ladies and Gentlmen!

Doc, I'm very sure youself (and others) have many more good, gooder or goodest photos to share.

 

[Helen]

Hi divinemoment, I was going to give up on this photo cos my lens was fogged up when I took it. As you can see the kid in yellow and the buffalo's head is lighter than the rest. So I tried pp..this is the best I could do:dunno: