Today, I made another attempt to take photos at the floating market in Cai Rang, where I had already been about a week ago with a tour group, including visits to two noodle factories. So today, I went back… together with Ben, the guide, and the boatman. It was overcast again when we arrived, too dark, and the atmosphere was very restless with tons of tourists in tourist boats.
During today’s outing, something that I had only slightly noticed before became very apparent: the different cultures. Every time we saw a situation worth photographing along the approximately 500 meters, we approached the boat so that Ben could ask if I could take a picture and tell them that it would be nice if they could stand still and look neutral. As it turned out later, he didn’t really like making this request; he felt it was unfriendly towards people. Point 1: they often moved, smiled, or continued eating. When it was obvious, I didn’t take any photos. Point 2: When we were at the boat, the people stood where I wanted them to, but we first had to turn our boat around to be further away, meaning we were moving, the other boat was moving, sometimes one pushed in between, and some of the people waiting were annoyed, according to Ben. Point 3: Of course, we couldn’t stop exactly where I wanted to; the boat moved further away or closer to the target object. Point 4: Of course, I couldn’t take a Polaroid to see if everything was okay. Point 5: And I couldn’t see through the matte screen either. So I took photos blind again. Of course, one could say at this point that using an analog medium makes no sense, but if I want to stay within my series, it has to remain analog.
Ben said afterwards that you can’t ask people not to smile, that it’s unfriendly. The Vietnamese are reserved and cautious. In our culture, we’re more used to calling across the river.
Back at the homestay, I photographed more street vendors, whom I was able to ask to look neutral.
So the question is, where was the sensitivity greatest here: with the guide, the boatman, or the people portrayed? It’s not easy….
The bridge in the right-hand picture is under construction.
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Arriving at the market around 6:00 a.m., we had noodle soup relatively soon, partly because we had to wait until it got lighter. There were numerous boats offering coffee or soup. As always, this soup is made up of individual components: the base soup with meat (pork or beef), bean sprouts, basil, chili, kumquat instead of lime, and of course different types of noodles. All of this is put into a bowl and then served to the (mostly) tourists.
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And mine looked like this, with chili and a Qumquad in the little bowl:
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All kinds of things were sold at the floating market. We had our coffee on the boat on the left, while the boat on the right made sandwiches.
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And this afternoon there was a special treat: fishing in the company’s own pond:
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This is utterly fascinating and so well written. I am hungry after all the noodle PHO