Stories that weave through my blog
I've been writing this blog since 2005, which is to say over twelve years. Sometimes there's more, and sometimes I have less to say, but the average is about ten…
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September 22, 2018
Son Doong Cave
The interior landscape of Son Doong Cave is ethereal and fantastic. Keep in mind that this mystical landscape is cloaked in darkness. The camera sees far more than the naked…
June 9, 2017
Darkness into Light
This spring I visited and spent a number of days and nights in the world's largest cave, in the jungle mountains of central Vietnam. Fewer people have been to the…
June 7, 2017
Potemkin Water Wheel
This photo of kids playing on a river bank near a waterwheel is from a tribal village near Sapa in the north of Vietnam. The thing to observe is that…
May 21, 2017
The Reality of Sapa, Vietnam
From six thousand miles away, reading about Sapa in the Lonely Planet guide and on the internet, I thought the city would be as advertised: a serene portal to the mountains of North…
May 20, 2017
Hang En Campsite
This is the first campsite on the way to Son Doong, just within the entrance to the Hang En cave. The trail leads down the rock slide you see in…
April 17, 2017
Respite, Restoration, Catching Up and Moving On
I got back from Vietnam earlier this week. Tomorrow (Monday) I leave for France. So this has been a brief respite with my family here in California. Maybe time for…
April 16, 2017
Vietnamese Viagra
When a guy in Vietnam feels the need for an increase in, shall we say, manliness, potency, and virility, he reaches not for a little blue pill but rather for…
April 10, 2017
Entrance to the Warlord’s Palace
In the early years of the twentieth century a Hmong warlord ruled in the remote and high mountains in the triangle between Vietnam, Laos, and China. Opium poppies were the source…
April 9, 2017
Yesterday and Tomorrow
Danang is the third largest city in Vietnam, following Hanoi and HCMC ("Saigon"). The beach strip to the south of the city, across the road from the former US Army…
April 6, 2017
Field Trip in Hue
At the tomb of the last king of Vietnam, near Hue, I saw these cute kids on a school field trip. It's amazing how kids are kids the worldwide, regardless…
April 5, 2017
Regarding Scale and Wonderment
There's something very tricky about creating images that capture a truly vast wonder of the world such as the Grand Canyon or the Son Doong Cave. The sense of scale…
April 5, 2017
Portals
Son Doong Cave---Wind River Cave---is located in the impenetrable mountainous jungles along the old Ho Chi Minh trail on the Vietnamese side of the Vietnam-Laos border. To get to the cave,…
April 2, 2017
Eric in Son Doong
Son Doong is the world's largest cave, located in the remote mountains along the Ho Chi Minh trail on the Vietnamese side of the Vietnam-Laos border. This photo shows Eric…
April 2, 2017
Tom Toa Church Steeple
On a quiet, gray day Eric and I walked along the banks of the Nhat Le River. This river bisects the city of Dong Hoi, a provincial capital in central…
March 27, 2017
Construction Fence, Halang City
This photo shows a construction fence in Halang City, Vietnam. The fence is hiding some of the mammoth construction that is going on here. Not only does the fence hide…
March 26, 2017
Nets in Halang Bay
Amid the vast floating towns of Halang Bay, everyone seems to be casting nets. In some cases these are part of the floating homes themselves. At night, the lights go…
March 25, 2017
Cat Ba Island Sunset
The day started slowly. The drive from Hanoi to Halang City seemed interminable. We passed endless rows of the gritty Vietnamese version of strip malls, factories, and Soviet-era coal-fired power…
March 24, 2017
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