Smile

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.
We are not students anymore and will not see each other at the campus, but I'm not sad at all. I think it's because it has nothing to do with our friendship. No matter where you are, it is possible to connect with people.

Self Portrait

In many cases, good models are good photographers. Doing self portrait is very educaional.

My friend John helped me editing these pictures. Now he is in Kuwait for his military job but we found out it's still possible to have fun playing with pictures like this! He is a good photographer and also a good editer.

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....

Temple

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.

Coconut Candy

They crash coconuts with this machine

wrapping


"Elephant Fish"

After the cruise, we visited a coconut candy factory. Workers were wrapping candies with a little piece of paper very quickly. The place was filled with sweet smell. We tasted the candy and I thought it tasted like sweet potato somehow. One Japanese old lady was asking the tour guide man if the candies melt on the way back to Japan and he said that she doesnt need to worry about it because the candies are wrapped with paper and rice paper.

For lunch, we had some Vietamese food. The rice paper of nems seemed a little bit too dry and hard although it was good for wrapping candies. The huge fish is called "Elephant Fish" but I forgot why elephant.

Mekong

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.

Different World

If you think what you do and see everyday is normal, it is probably wrong. Because there is always another world that is completely different from what you believe is normal. And it's just too sad to die without knowing it. I had never crossed the road crowded with this many motorbikes, and I had never really thought that toilet with automatic flash is something special.

On the first day, my friend and I walked around Dong Khoi Street. There are lots of colonial style buildings that were built when the country was still a French colony so you can see some French sings on the road too. It's been only about 37 years since the war ended but it seemed like Vietnam is developing rapidly.

I really likeed the color of the city, the color of old buildings and fresh fruits. I was losing my motivation before I went to Vietnam but when I got there, I couldn't stop releasing the shutter.

If you're interested, please check out some high resolution photos on my flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yukariphotos/sets/72157629123390092/