Beauty in the Mekong Delta
Women run many of the family businesses in the Mekong Delta. They are lovely, strong and fascinating. I loved watching them row the boats through the canals that act as the main transportation channels on the smaller islands.
There are so many winding channels through the smaller islands, some of them breathtaking when the tall palms curve overhead like driving down an old country road where the trees form an archway overhead. And the slight wind rustles the leaves of the palms and you hear that soft clap, clap, clap when the leaves lazily bounce off one another in the breeze.
These are fish traps made of poles and hand made netting. At the far end the netting curves around in a seashell pattern. The fish that are unlucky enough to swim in often can't find their way out and end up on the dinner table.
The women who worked the boats as taxis had a great sense of humor and enjoyed our cultural awkwardness in a good-natured way. Vietnamese is such a difficult language to master as the same word can have multiple meanings depending on your inflection. They graciously took our awkwardness all in stride.
So many shapes and forms to love in this place.
I love that they all work barefoot!
And when I wasn't fascinated by the women's fluid rehearsed movements, the forms of the tall palm like water plants captured my attention.
The water in the Mekong during the rainy season has a milky smooth appearance due to all the silt the river drags with it on its way across Laos and Cambodia and into the lower reaches of Vietnam.
I loved the tall spiky plants in contrast to the milky smooth water.
And all the interesting wooden boats the islanders make and use.
The many subtle textures really lend themselves to B&W or Sepia.
Sometimes your surroundings would seem almost primal.
and beautiful. I love using a vintage image process give these scenes an otherworldly feel.
Even the shadows the leaves make on the water have a dreamlike quality to them.
Check out our website at lunasara.com
