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Sa, Hoi An during the Flood

Sa stands at the emergency flood exit-door built into the attic of her house in Hoi An, Vietnam. “Usually, there are floods at this time of the year. The highest water level in my house was 2.2 meters (7.2 feet). If the water flow is too strong and rises fast, we have to escape through this door”

Bình, 24 — Hoi An Flood

Bình poses with his broom outside of his home during the flood in Hoi An, Vietnam. “I am Vietnamese. Being negative and sad doesn’t make disasters go away. Therefore, we should accept it with a smile and soon everything will be back to normal.”

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Colors of Hoi An — A Photo Essay

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360nomad

Emmy Award Winner
Documenting the People and Culture of Vietnam
Fine Art Photographer
Teaching Photography in Hoi An

Temporary post by Trinh @my.vietnam.diary The pict

Temporary post by Trinh @my.vietnam.diary The picture today is not on a professional level because it wasn't taken by Alden. The story today is a bit “different” because I am not good at writing my thoughts down, but there is a great person in the story that I’d like to tell you about.
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My mom. My mom is an orphan. Her mom passed away due to an unexploded bomb from the war when she was just 3. She never met her dad because of the education camp. She does not even know if he is alive or not, or if he ever tried to find her. She lived with my great grandparents and suffered a lot of difficulties in life. When she was a kid, she had to go to the forest to collect wood, smash huge piles of rice straw to get a small bowl of rice, didn't have enough money to even finish primary school and so many more.
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I am thankful for having her in my life.
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She never finished primary school, but worked hard to send me to college.
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She always buys cheap clothes, but wants me to dress beautifully.
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People says she is stingy for herself, but little do they know how much she has given to me and my siblings.
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When we are sick, she doesn’t sleep to take care of us.
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She never takes a break from taking care of our family. Whenever she is sick, she still works hard.
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There are so many more beautiful things about her that I cannot list here because there are as many as the number of stars in the sky.
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Her love for us is bigger than anything in the universe, no it is even bigger than the universe. No, that is not right. There is nothing bigger than her love.
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I am grateful for everything she has done for me. I am proud of her. I love her.
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Today is Vietnamese Woman’s today. I am sending my love and best wishes to all Vietnamese moms. ❤️
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P/s: The picture was taken on the lunar new year in 1999. My mom is on the left ❤ The little chubby girl is me. 😆 The handsome man is my dad. And my grandma is in the middle. ❤❤❤

Swipe for the video and don’t miss the end! 🎥 .

Swipe for the video and don't miss the end! 🎥
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Sa stands at the emergency flood exit-door built into the attic of her house in Hoi An, Vietnam.
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"Usually, there are floods at this time of the year. The highest water level in my house was 2.2 meters (7.2 feet).”
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“If the water flow is too strong and rises fast, we have to escape through this door”, she explains, pointing to the door where she was standing in the photo.
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Trinh: Are you afraid of floods?
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Sa: Yes. I am afraid of them, but I have been living here for a long time, so I'm used to it. We live in the attic. For my whole life, whenever we see the water rising, we have to figure out our plan. We live with the floods.
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"During this season, we had to store food beforehand. (In the photo,) I was standing at the escape door. The current at this spot (in front of her house) is usually strong".
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Trinh: What was on your mind when you saw Alden wading in the water to take pictures?
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Sa: I was thinking that he was pretty brave and capable. Because the locals are used to the strong flow, we can deal with it. However, he's not from here, it's not that easy to wade in the strong water flow. On that day, the water was this high (pointing at Alden’s shoulders). After that, I told my brother about him, and we agreed that he must love art a lot. No kidding!”.
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Sa, in her 50s
Hoi An, Vietnam

Năm and her husband paddle through Hoi An Old Tow

Năm and her husband paddle through Hoi An Old Town during the flood. With so much rain the Thu Bon River overflowed and the streets of Hoi An turned into rivers, brown with silt from the fields and mountains above.
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"During the flood season, we give tourists boat rides. There aren't many tourists this year” Năm tells us.
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Two days after taking this photo we had it printed and searched the area for them. With the help of one of our local friends we located their house, gave them the photo and learned a bit about their life in Hoi An.
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"The water was flowing strong. We had to paddle against the current so much that we were almost out of breath.”
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Năm and her husband live on An Hoi Island (across from the old town) which was underwater.

"The water was rising high and flowing into my house, so we couldn’t do anything anyway. We decided to work to earn some money for food."
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Năm looks down at the photo: “Aww, beautiful! So cute” she says with a giggle.
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Năm
Hoi An, Vietnam
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Swipe to see a closer view and Năm with her photo.

Bình poses with his broom outside of his home dur

Bình poses with his broom outside of his home during the flood in Hoi An, Vietnam.
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"While I was swimming around in the flood, I saw him (Alden) taking pictures so I posed for a photo. I was using that broom to push the trash stuck on the walls away.”
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The flood in Hoi An is actually an overflow of the Thu Bon River. Therefore, the river current is still moving through the streets and it carries trash along with it.
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Bình came to live and work in Hoi An to start a new life. “Since I was 18, I’ve lived independently without relying on my family. I’ve traveled alone around Vietnam to start my own career. I am from Ninh Binh. Last year, I decided to stop in my dear Hoi An. I love people here because they are loving, caring, and willing to support each other, which is very touching."
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Bình rented a house to open a coffee shop in a small alley of Hoi An. However, the coffee shop has been closed due to Covid-19 and natural disasters (floods). “During this flood, I just stay in my coffeeshop because I don’t know where to go. I don’t know many locals, so I just stay here to look after my property”. Despite the difficulties, Binh stays positive. “I am Vietnamese. Being negative and sad doesn't make the disasters go away. Therefore, we should accept it with a smile and soon everything will be back to normal”.
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When travel does return to normal, you can come to Hoi An and visit Bình's coffee shop at 11/3 Nguyen Thai Hoc (down the alley next to the blue building).
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Bình, 24 years old
Hoi An Vietnam

“I was a widower She was a widow. I saw her sad be

"I was a widower She was a widow. I saw her sad because of loneliness, she saw me sad because of loneliness. Then she ‘caught' me and I 'caught' her."
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"We all need a life mate to be with when we are old. Now, we have each other to talk to every night and go to the forest to collect wood and wild vegetables together."
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"On our wedding, I gave my wife lots of gongs (brass gongs highly valued musical instruments and are integral to their culture) and precious things that I could afford because I love her. I also gave her a motorbike. I gave it to her, so whenever we are sick, our descendants can take us to the hospital.”
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Brê & K’Lon, in their 80s
Ma Ethnic Group
Central Highlands, Vietnam
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On a cold and very rainy day, we met this couple in a remote village in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. This is in an area that is difficult to access and by some stroke of luck, we were allowed to enter.
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For our project documenting the ethnic cultures of Vietnam, we have never hired a fixer and don’t ever plan to. We want to discover the cultures and meet people on our own and to hear their stories directly. I feel that this makes it more authentic and personal but it also involves a huge amount of effort that a fixer would usually take care of; finding the people as well as permission issues. We spent over a week in this area before meeting Brê & K’Lon. It was a fortuitous day after over a month on the road.
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Swipe to see behind the scenes photos of Trinh and I together with them, including partaking in some homemade local alcohol.

“I ride my bike around the town all day selling se

"I ride my bike around the town all day selling sea snails."
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"5 or 6 years ago, there was a Viet Kieu (A Vietnamese living outside of Vietnam) who gave me $50 USD because he saw me working hard on a hot afternoon. I thought it was $5 USD, so I gave it to my son when he asked. He said “Mom! It's $50!”. I exchanged it for more than 1 million VND. I was so happy!”
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Mai, 57 years old
Hoi An, Vietnam
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In the US this would be equivalent to giving someone about a $400-$500 tip (on the conservative side). For Mai, it was equal to a week's worth of wages for her and her husband combined. (You can read the rest of Mai’s story at 360nomad.org)
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“Colors of Hoi An” is now online! We have been working hard to meet the people and compile the stories for our “Colors of Hoi An” photography project. I’m happy to announce that the first article is now online. Links to the stories of the people can be found at the bottom of the article.
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I have also spent a considerable about of time re-designing my website and adding more of the stories that you see here on Instagram. I will be adding more over the coming weeks. Check it out when you’ve got time. It looks best on a computer but of course will work on your phone as well.
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Link is in the bio. Buts it's an easy website to remember.

360nomad.org

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