Monday, January 5, 2009

A surprising neighborhood in Saigon

If you cross the bridge close to my neighborhood, you pass onto this island called Binh Quoi, a quiet world cut off from the teeming city.


Here are the backsides of the island homes along the river's edge, taken from the bridge. These houses might actually have pleasant fronts; often less care is taken with the home's rear when it's facing a smelly, pestilential river!

The island's western edge is crowded. But as you go farther east, it turns into a scene you might find in Vietnam's countryside miles away from the city, with dirt lanes and small farms.

The track narrowed, until it was wide enough just for a bicycle.

The cityscape was never too far in the distance.

The ubiquitous plastic bag! It shows up a lot in my photos, like Waldo.

This pond had a crust of mint-green algae.

The people living in the house above could step out onto their porch in the morning and catch their daily livelihood. Their little pond was bubbling with fish bobbing to the surface for bugs.

A small shop where I bought a rice cracker flavored with chili and fish oil, which smelled like it actually might have been river water. I ate the cracker anyway!

It's hard to see, but there are two little grungy dogs protecting their home here.

The animals are often grimy. I suppose the environment is so dusty and unclean that animals, despite their strong instinctual compulsion to groom, cannot stay on top of their feathers and fur. Even the herons have dirty wingtips, the pure white symbol so often associated with pastoral Asian scenes.

Grungy ducks.

A grungy water lily, or is it a lotus flower? I have shown restraint in taking photos of water lilies up to this point!

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