“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” ~ Buddha
I’ve just returned from my Southeast Asia trip – all be it, 3 days returned. It’s taken me some time to adjust to the 12 hr time difference. This was an amazing trip for the adventure, history, experience and that it was my first major trip with my new wife (our honeymoon) and as Buddha has said, I spent it all concentrating on the present moments during my trip.
I’ve taken 1000s of pictures during the nearly 3 week trek and already looking through some of them, there’s about 10% gems amongst the rushed pictures, improperly cropped and poorly exposed scenes. I realize that photography is as much about being in the moment as it is, being patient for that moment. When traveling like I did with my wife, where the focus of our trip was to get as much out of the places and people we saw as it was getting as much out of being with each other, our situations did not lend themselves to the patience and timing required for great travel photography. I was torn between the modes of relaxation and enjoyment of the scenes with my wife and capturing them with my camera and in my situation. I wasn’t able to effectively capture both – so I spent more time enjoying the moments with my wife sans lens to my face – and my wife thanks me for this decision.
In doing so, I experienced wonderful cultures, foods, people and history of Vietnam, Thailand, and even Hong Kong. We spent just under 2 weeks in Saigon and Hoi Ann, Vietnam, under 1 week in Koh Lanta, Railay Beach and Bangkok Thailand, and 5 hours in Hong Kong. Within that time, I ate some wonderful street food in Hoi an, experienced the daily life first hand in Saigon with my wife’s family, smiled widely at the sunset over Andaman sea at Railay Beach West, had dim sum in Hong Kong, shot live ammo from an M30 machine gun at the Cu Chi tunnels in Vietnam, boated down the Mekong River eating mud fish and drinking snake whiskey, and experienced first hand the chaos of street travel in Saigon white-knuckled in a cyclo.
I’ll be sorting through my photos to find the best of the lot, but my experiences and memories will carry me farther than my photos of this trip – I’ll hopefully will be posting these quicker than my wedding albums went up. Much thanks to my wife’s family and all the people that we met that made this trip wonderful. I hope to return sooner than later.
