On the second day, we joined Mekong River Cruise tour. It was a tour for Japanese tourists so our tour guide was really fluent at Japanese. I was very impressed by his guide because I think I could never do the same thing in English or even in Japanese. In the bus to the river, he taught us some Vietamese language. He was saying that "Xin chào" means "Hello", but also means "Porridge please." if you put accent on "a". So I couldn't help wondering if I was to say "Hi, can I have some porridge?", that would be kidna funny.
Anyways, first we visited fruit farm and tasted some tropical fruits. Then we listened to traditional Vietamese music. There were 3 guys with unique instruments on the back, and when each song starts, a female singere showed up and sang some Vietamese song. The funny thing is that one of the guys kept tuning his instrumnent (kind of like guitar) during the performance. I guess almost nobody realized it but it was so funny.
Then we got aboard a little river boat and enjoyed about 15min river cruise. The triangle shaped hat actually is very good for shading. The sun was glaring down but the wind was comfortable. Mekong River is the world's 12th longest river, and it runs through Yunnan province(China), Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Since its water is fresh and nutritious, they can utilize the soil in various ways. That is why fruits grow well.
to be continued.
Yesterday, I graduated from college and we had a graduation ceremoney. At night, I dressed up and went to a party that my friend and her friend planned. It was also my best friend's party so I had been thinking about surprising her. I didn't really say anything in the morning because I wanted to make it a big surprise. (She told me later that she thought I forgot about her birthday!) It all succeeded and I was happy to see her smile.
In many cases, good models are good photographers. Doing self portrait is very educaional.
Last year, we did some photo sessions and this is one of his works. It was really exciting to do it from scratch so hopefully we will be able to have more in the future. I also want to start using Photoshop someday....
On the way back to downtown, our bus stopped by a temple. Unfortunately, I forgot the name of the temple but I was able to take pictures there and they turned out pretty nice. (I think) My favorite is the last one. I really like the contrast of the darkness and the light. Although there were lots of tourists, inside of the temple was sacred and quiet. I also like my friend's picture. We were at a souvenir shop and tried some lovely hats. (we didnt buy any) Her smile looks adorable in this picture. Actually I realized that she's really photogenic. I'm thinking about shooting her someday.
They crash coconuts with this machine
wrapping
"Elephant Fish"
