Returned to Bangkok on February 13th. Back to the heat, back to divine food, back to tropical birds in every city park and cats of all shades roaming alleys. Happy with that.
But, before I start sharing my Thai adventures 2025, let me post the last unpublished set of images from Central Vietnam.
To give some context, the wether isn't hot at that time in Central Vietnam despite many foreigners' expectations. The temperature range on some days is super narrow, like, from +21°C in the afternoon to +20°C at night. Raining, drizzling, and even spraying daily.
Weather in Hue in December by Google from my older post
+20°C 24h a day 7 days a week gives a certain feeling of the extraterrestrial. Because how otherwise THAT?!
And you now understand how glad I was to find that January 1, 2025, was dry and I could freely roam in the city to photograph an outstanding gloominess in its best meaning.
The late afternoon was when I set off for this walk; the best time to start a photo adventure: the early morning ends with a boring noon, and the late afternoon with its golden hour (if it's sunny) turns into the magic evening and night.
I was following my favorite An Cuu River, combining photographing people, architecture, and landscapes.
This bush with the bridge behind became my personal Mont Sainte-Victoire. 😄 I photographed it countless times 😀
Another appealing location by the river, a train station of colonial time, a two-story building with modest charm and strong visual magnetism.
Turning to a small Buddhist temple on a hill (Chùa Báo Quốc). This way, up the stairs:
The gates that have seen a lot:
Not a touristy place, definitely.
A temple yard with a dark and damp garden, with no one in it except me.
After having rested on a bench, I continued the stroll.
Getting darker.
Familiar streets and familiar trees take on different looks and vibes.
Twilight unites with the thin haze and creates that special feeling of atmospheric-ness.
The An Cuu River transforms with the arrival of night; like an unkempt girl from an old movie, she puts on an evening dress and amazes everyone by turning out to be a beauty.
And look at these garbage carts phaetons for her majesty:
(...driven by rats, definitely, since the An Cuu River has many even without magic, lol.)
The black density of the night, time of sleep of the mind, time of unleashed dreams.
More than 4 months in Hue. It was a bizarre adventure to live there. A good treatment by tranquility and planlessness, it was.
I left Hue for Da Nang on February 6, not without regret and not without relief either.
More Southeast Asian stories to come, stay tuned! Check out my previous posts on my personal Worldmappin map.
I took these images with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G on a full-frame DSLR Nikon D750 on January 1, 2025, in Hue, Vietnam.