Part 1 of 4 // 720 Minutes
(Click the corresponding Parts below to view their albums or click HERE to go back to Vietnam+ photo albums)
“…This photo series (720 Minutes), which serves as a 12 hour timeline when viewed together, is broken into five parts of what my typical day was like in Saigon:
(1) 8AM early morning walk at my grandma’s neighbourhood;
(2a)(2b) 10AM grocery shopping at the local market with my aunt;
(3) 1PM buying gifts for relatives back home in Canada;
(4) 2-8PM running the home restaurant at night.”
-
- This is the same house that my mom and her parents lived in since emigrating from Guangzhou, China in the mid 1940s. The street itself hasn’t changed much physically even throughout the Vietnam War and through all these years of technological advancements.
-
- Early morning walk along my grandma’s neighbourhood, photographing all the little nooks and crannies of a typical street in Saigon.
-
- Mopeds
-
- Food being sold on mobile vendors, bicycles included.
-
- Looking backwards down the street I was walking from.
-
- Cafe serving Vietnamese drip coffee and wifi. 8 years ago, before the advent of iPhones (and Facebook), internet cafes dotted the city. Nowadays with all the personal and home internet technologies, they have dwindled down in amount.
-
- The striking contrast between what is a home and what is a shack that is a home.
-
- A vendor setting up her morning station around 8 AM. No permits are needed if you want to set up shop and sell food, FYI
-
- Grilled Pork (Bun Thit Nuong) on a charcoal grill, street-side style.
-
- People in Saigon are usually very welcoming to be photographed.
-
- You can always find interesting things happening, even on mopeds
-
- Street side vegetables for sale
-
- Fresh green okras
-
- A lady sitting outside her house making what appears to be wonton?
-
- The end of the street before it leads to the very busy main road…
-
- These wandering alleyways through people’s houses tgave me glimpses of the time when I was Venice… it was pretty cool to experience that feeling of community, comfrot and home across different continents.
-
- Street vendor vs the street
-
- Walking back to my grandmother’s place for breakfast.
-
- Even more street side food. Alleyway restaurants like these can be found all throughout Southeast Asia
-
- Food delivery from a neighbouring restaurant. Once you are done with the food, you just leave it outside of your house and they will make their rounds and pick up their bowl. No service fees or tips required.
-
- Delicious BBQ Porkchop and Egg Meatloaf with Fish Sauce (Com Suon Nuong) – my favourite Vietnamese comfort food.
-
- Dessert after lunch – fresh coconut filled with coconut jelly (Rau Cau Dua). They didn’t have these when I came back 8 years ago… I can only assume that it is one of the latest dessert fads in the city.
Pingback: 04 SAIGON – 10AM Local Food Market (720 MINS Pt. IIa/IV) | SAMMY DESIGN