Saigon

How many movies have you seen that are set in Vietnam? How many photographs? If you've never been there, it's enough to make you feel as if you had. That's how it was for me ~ it felt familiar right away. But being there, actually being surrounded by it, that was a different story.


The noise was often deafening and the crowds swarming.  I did get it though ~ why there's a large ex-pat community there. It's kind of exotic and romantic and thrilling. But only on the surface; poverty is everywhere. Buildings crumbling, barefoot children playing on broken sidewalks next to their moms selling 2-day old newspapers or the ubiquitous lotto tickets. These portraits show the face of Saigon. Look at the last of the four ~ do you recognize the Christian Laboutin shop (possibly the most expensive shoes in the world) ~ with a well-dressed local woman perched on her stool, waiting for .. what? Maybe friends will join her soon and they will eat a meal there, one of them bringing a small grill and fresh fruit.