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

[limwhow]

T R A V E L O G U E - Day 2 Hanoi ~ Ngo Dong River



As we drove into Ninh Binh Province and had lunch at Tam Coc, we were prepared by Adrian for what lies ahead ~ a 3km sampan cruise down the Ngo Dong River.


limwhow #38
A farewell pose from the 3 children.

limwhow #39
At Tam Coc, a rower awaits his next customer.

limwhow #40
An interesting sight. A bridge with multi-coloured sampans.

limwhow #41
A cheerful rower lady sitting on her sampan watching the water flows by.

 

[fatigue]

limwhow #15
And here is a young comrade of the Vietnamese Guards.
They were very cute, the way they would hold up their loud speakers and shoo off those who step over the white line just before the flag raising ceremony began.

Nice composition and perfect timing

 

[limwhow]

limwhow #42_______________________________limwhow #43
Haha... 2 person to a sampan. With two rowers_____Here is chubbykei and helen having
per sampan. Initially I couldn't understand why_____their own great time on their sampan.
we need two rowers. But later on as the distance____We can actually see how excited they were!
lengthened, I begun to understand. It was really__
hard work.
Here is Adrian and acpical on their sampan._______
They are having a great time. If you look closely
into this picture, you can actually see Adrian
chatting up the young Vietnamese lady-rower.f__________________

_____________

limwhow #44______________________________limwhow #45
A humble little IR shot of the landing of the________A very cheerful rower-lady.
Ngo Dong River. As per my personal_____________Somehow the Vietnamese never failed
preference, the foliage turned white with the R72___to surprise me, pleasantly, how ready
filter, and the water was made dark green.________they are to give one a sponatneous smile.
_____________

[click on the small pictures to see an actual bigger picture]

 

[zoossh]

Limwhow:

Your next threshold will be this. ha ha ha ha

is that one of the guys on this trip or from somewhere else? wow, the knee guards. i think elbow pads good also.

 

[limwhow]

limwhow #46
Such intricate colours were presented to us as we were being rowed along the river. The rowers, aftera while, sat down and used their feet to manipulate the oars! It was simply amazing seeing how they were able to skilfully and swiftly paddle.

limwhow #47
The Vietnamese themselves obviously also enjoyed this past time having a row down Ngo Dong and chatting on the mobile simultaneously.

limwhow #48
A fisherman on his sampan hoisting his net. The tanned skin, the chipped tooth, the typical blue shirt, the classical Vietnamese army hat and most of all, the candid smile. Captivating it certainly was!

limwhow #49
Another ready smile as the traveller takes her photo. Her demeanor, her relaxed posture as she pumped the paddles with her feet ~ I feel that it's a moment of timeless quality.

 

[SereneXMM]

SereneXMM #18

SereneXMM #19
Vertical panning in the dark.
I used a slow shutter speed when the sampan moved forward.

SereneXMM #20

SereneXMM #21
IR photo of the bank of Ngo Dong River.

SereneXMM #22
Another IR photo of the limestone formations at Ngo Dong.

 

[LowLights]

SereneXMM #21
IR photo of the bank of Ngo Dong River.

SereneXMM #22
Another IR photo of the limestone formations at Ngo Dong.

Wa Ngo Dong River in IR I don't have leh .. Nice

 

[limwhow]

Nice composition and perfect timing

Thank you so much for your complements, fatigue!

I was told that there is a high chance of such shots if you were to station yourself outself a school during dismissal time.
I was in Hanoi from 1-4 June, not sure if I bumped into you guys. Nice reliving through this thread.

ahbian, haiyah.... we almost met...
Not sure if you remember I was the one wearing the deep blue T shirt walking a distance behind you near the Opera House in Hanoi... ?

Wa Ngo Dong River in IR I don't have leh .. Nice

Hehehe... brother LowLights... Time to give Ngo Dong a re-visit liao lor!

 

[limwhow]

T R A V E L O G U E - Day 3 ~ Halong Bay

I know we should take a breather here to do a bit of consolidation in PP and postings.
But right after the opening match of the FIFA 2010 World Cup, the excitement still lingered on.
So with Stevepow's urging still ringing in my ears, I begged for forgiveness in pushing the Travelogue to Day 3 first.
Just to bring us to right around Halong Bay.
Then we will take a breather.

limwhow #50
Adrian never gave chance. [Well, we didn't forget - we were on a photo-trip. Hehe...]
Early next morning 8am we hit the ground running again.
Departed from our Hanoi Deluxe Hotel and made our way to Halong City.

limwhow #51
Well, as we were awaiting our transport outside the hotel,
I made the best of my last few chances before leaving to shoot some street shots.
Here is my favourite type - Vietnamese lady in blue wearing straw hat!

limwhow #52
Haha... I remember in my previous trip with SgTrekker, I was searching high and low
for motorcyclist on mobile phone. And I did manage to capture one SMS-ing.
Here this gentleman on a scooter was just mobiling away... haha...

limwhow #53
On our way, we past by this big Handicraft Centre called Thai Son.
Outside we found a colourful display of a mixture of clay potteries.
I am sure all of us on this trip would be able to remember the young girls
inside doing hand weavings...

limwhow #54
True to Stevepow's spirit, while we were all busy eating ice cream inside,
and shooting the embroidery cloth from the under side of the tables,
he was out there in the hot sun chasing after [?butterflies, house flies...] some
subjects of immense interest.
Try as I could following tightly behind, I could only capture this shot as he disappeared
out of sight soon after...

 

[SereneXMM]

SereneXMM #23
This is that Thai Son Centre.

SereneXMM #24
The scuplture at the main gate.

 

[limwhow]

T R A V E L O G U E- Day 3 Halong Bay continued...


limwhow #55

Finally we were there!
The departure warf for the Bum Boat to Bai Tu Long Junk Cruise.
Here, our good fellow member, divinemoment, lost not a single moment in ensuring he caught
the optimal view point for that step up the Bum Boat by the rest of the team mates.

limwhow #56

Well, with excitement welling up inside us, we wasted no time and almost jumped into the
tiny little Bum Boat. Strangely, despite its size, it was quite a stable ride.

limwhow #57

Whew... for once, I finally saw Adrian actually smiled a relaxed smile...
Must be the thought of boarding a Junk....
Or perhaps he was just very satisfied with his images in the camera's LCD...?

limwhow #58

Whatever it was, the reverie was short-lived.
Because in only a few minutes, our Bum Boat bumped against the Bai Tu Long Junk.
Looking back after I leaped onto the craft, I saw our Vietnamese guide Tommy frantically
lifting the anchor together with the sailors.

 

[limwhow]

limwhow #59

Once we all jumped onto the Junk, the first person to make a bee line for the cockpit
was our good mate acpical.
He couldn't get enough of the feel of the wheel.
In fact he was so enchanted that he simply dumped his D700 one side!
Must have been dreaming of this cruise for many nights....

limwhow #60

The cabin were honestly of quite good sizes. I must admit that they were certainly
larger than I expected. The whole Junk has a nice, yacht-like feel. I felt like I was
on a Vacation! Finally!

limwhow #61

Peering out from the Dining deck of our Junk Cruise, I saw another Junk
with 'Bai Tu Long' clearly marked on it. Shocked, I thought I was seeing double!
How come there was another Bai Tu Long?!
Only later did I realise that there was several Bai Tu Long Junks and they
all belong to the Bai Tu Long Company...
Here is an exercise in framing...

 

[limwhow]

limwhow #62 - #66​

click on the individual images for a larger picture


click on the individual images for a larger picture


click on the individual images for a larger picture

On board the Junk, I could see my fellow team mates firing
away at the beautiful scenery around this lovely bay.
While awaiting everyone to post their photos of this magical
bay, I thought I'd just do the record shots of the various water crafts
of different shapes and sizes that I saw while here.​

 

[limwhow]

limwhow #67​

Just before I lower the anchor on the Junk Cruise and take a breather to allow myself and
all my good mates time to consolidate, do some more PP and to post more photos,
I just want to put up a montage of our lunch on board the Bai Tu Long Junk Cruise on this very day.
A memorable lunch on board an unforgettable Cruise.

Bon Apetit!

To quote Adrian's own words: "We are like being away on a Vacation, while we are on Vacation".
It simply feels like it because one moment we were in the hustle and bustle of the City
and the next moment we were out bobbling on the calm waters of the bay.

So here I will take a breather and
invite everyone to continue posting their pictures.
Come on, ladies and gentlemen. Come post come post!​

 

[SereneXMM]

Good morning, stevepow!:bsmilie:

 

[divinemoment]

Good morning, stevepow!:bsmilie:

Kooning now lah, world cup fever !!!

I must say Doc is really qualified for photojournalism. He may also consider branching into food photography!! The photo seems more delicious than the food itself (at times). But we walup all whatever on the table, isn't it ?

 

[stevepow]

Ok la...here're my photos of the Ngo Dong's river cruise

1)

2)

3)

4)

Sweet hor...

5)

Harvesting padi by the river side. Probably different bred of padi not similar to those in China where harvesting are done usually on dried ground.

 

[divinemoment]

Apologise as I shared this before. Taken in the traditional Asian quarter.

I saw these clothes hanging but somehow not in order. So made an effort to line it up and hoping no one spotted me what's this weird man doing.

What caught me was the glowing lights shining thru the clothes. Can someone verify are this custome called Ao Dai ?

 

[stevepow]

continuation of my serie on the Bai Tu Long junk at Ha Long Bay

6)

A junk similar to the one we took

7)

My room on board the junk.. spacious ?

8)

Close up view of the junk

9)

Junks anchoring at the bay for the night

10)

 

[LowLights]

Some very nice shot so far .. anyone capture the "fish" at Halong Bay ?