Market

Had an excellent day investigating Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). The best part for me was visiting the big wholesale market just outside the city. 

Our photographic leader, Jean Francois (Jeff) Perigois, was keen to improve our street photography, in particular using wide angle lenses and getting in close to our subjects. This is not something which comes naturally to me, but it is a lot easier here than in the UK where people are, I think, more likely to object to being photographed.

The difficulty was reacting fast enough to developing scenes. Too often I saw a potential picture, but it had already gone by the time I pressed the shutter release. This type of photography definitely needs fast reactions, particularly in the hectic, crowded narrow roads of the market.

Saigon is a busy, noisy city. It has a population of around 10 million, I was told, and about 8 million motor bikes.  Motor bikes are everywhere:  the roads are choked with them, to the extent that riders often resort to the pavements to make progress which, in turn, makes being a pedestrian a little hazardous at times.  You certainly have to keep your wits about you.  Junctions are particularly exciting as all the vehicles appear to take the straightest line to where they want to go, regardless of other road users or pedestrians attempting to cross the road. There is a lot of pushing, beeping of horns and close encounters, but it generally seems to be well tempered and I haven't yet seen an accident or even a dented car (but I am told that the death rate from road accidents throughout the country is typically 10,000 per annum.

We leave Saigon tomorrow to move south to the Mekong Delta.