September | 2026 | Go wild with the Smith's

The alarm sounds at 4:30 AM, ready for the dawn patrol, and a 5AM meeting time. What’s Ap starts binging with messages of pouring rain and decisions of whether we should go to the market which is only partially covered. Pouring rain was an understatement, one could not hope to step outside without getting completely soaked. We had been provided with raincoats that would fit the average 6 ‘5″ man weighing 350 pounds. So coverage was not the issue, however, suffocating under them and having them drag in the mud proved to be a challenge. Yet,we stoic dedicated photographers loaded ourselves into the vans provided.

Off a just waking up market, we were warned to look in all directions as not to be annihilated by motor scooters with 100 pounds of cabbage, or plywood, or just about anything you can load on a truck. Narrow pathways divided the stalls. The motorbikes wove in and out between people pushing loaded hand carts. Meanwhile the tarps that were held up by bending poles were releasing the water weight like a waterfall, dumping pounds of water onto the muddy lanes. Where were we? Trying desperately to stay dry. Some of our cameras went on strike from the moisture, even the iphones refused to submit to the weather. The raincoats for the camera did not really fit, the plastic bag trick failed, and whatever head gear we were wearing also failed. Our feet sloshed around in our shoes, and the inside of the rain gear was just about as wet as the outside from our sweating from the humidity.

After two hours of shooting we got together and exchanged stories of our interactions with people, animals, trucks, motor scooters and the rain. Off to breakfast of Pho in a tiny restaurant, then back to the a another market called the Thief’s market. Full of mechanical tools, wires, rubber, saws, compressors both used, and stolen, anything you could want to fix something was found here. Finding pictures to take was interesting, my favorite being the millions of electrical wires tangled together on poles, trees, or just about anywhere you can use to attach something. How anyone could figure out where wires provided electricity to what, would be anyone’s nightmare. Despite the rain, we had a great experience.

We are now looking forward to our massages before we get on a night train to Lao Cai outside Sapa. Up north into a non tourist areas, where we are hopeful it stops raining.

September 14th:

Beginning on September 11th we started our journey, leaving Stowe to Burlington a forty five minute trio, then one hour to JFK, five hours waiting, seventeen hours from JFK to Singapore, 5 AM arrival, waiting until 9:30 AM for our plane to Hanoi, two and a half hours to Hanoi, one hour to our hotel, thirty-one hours in total, we arrive exhausted on September 13 at 1:00 PM. Lunch at 2:00 pm, and then our driver said he had plans to take us shopping. I looked at him like he was a creature from another planet. Seriously? Apparently, the purpose of this excursion was to acquaint me with the clothing shops that featured Vietnamese style clothing. Imagine my enthusiasm, as I could barely put one foot in front of the other. Why could this not be put off until the next day when I was rested. Answer: I was the tour guide for the rest of the group who would arrive on Monday the 14th. So off we go, me and three men who had not the slightest interest in this endeavor. Imagine a shop that is 12 feet wide and 100 feet long filled with beautiful silk and linen fabric all hand embroidered. Now imagine the clothes all hanging on various racks with the aisles being maybe 1.5 feet wide, add in three men standing waiting for you to decide what you may like. After about three stores I called it quits, stating that I could not stand up for one minute longer. Nor could I take 3 men standing and yawning.

It was an early night, as we wanted to get up at 6 AM to go to the lake to see all the morning activity. Taking our lives in our hands, we crossed the busy streets with scooters and cars aiming for us. The word was. “Do not run across the street” as the cars and motor scooters steer around you and if you run they cannot judge how you plan to go. Once you get the hang of it, it is not difficult. The park around the lake wakes up to many activities. I joined a ti chi class of older people figuring I could move as much they were. What fun. The instructor smiled, gave me the thumbs up and was quite enthusiastic to have me as a pupil. After a bit, I bowed my good-by to him and continued on my way. A bit farther around the lake, I found a group of men and woman dancing. Again I joined in and had such a good time laughing and dancing with 5 women. All of them dressed to the nines and me with my “tourist” clothes.

Shap meanwhile was missing, so I traced my steps back and found him playing badminton with three young girls. He definitely kept up his end of the game. And he was so happy to have found them. Hours later we headed back to the hotel.

The rest of the day was spent taking some of the woman shopping, a much different experience than the day before. Woman are so much more fun to be with when picking out clothes. Back to the hotel to meet the rest of the group, off to a fabulous lunch, then for a slide presentation by David Julian our instructor. This gave us a taste of where we were going and many ideas to mull over for photographing. Lastly we all trooped in the pouring rain for a half hour walk to “Train Street.: This is a street that is so narrow the train takes up the entire street. People line the sides crowding into a cafe, waiting for the train. When it is about to arrive, a whistle is blown and everyone is shoo’d off the tracks and told to tuck all feet under a chair. The whole event is quite spectacular and despite the fact it has become a tourist attraction it should not be missed.

Up at 5 AM, another day of pouring rains, we all have these enormous raincoats that envelope us so we look like blobs with feet,