Vietnam - Việt Nam

From North to South

April 2019 · 69 photographs

scooters rule all

Motorcycles crowd a busy intersection between modern buildings.

Motorcycles travel along a tree-lined city avenue.

Two people ride a motorbike beside a blue-and-yellow bus.

A small street food cart sits beneath a red-and-blue umbrella.

A man reclines on a chair attached to a parked motorbike at the curb.

A motorbike rider waits beside the sidewalk and a low railing.

A woman in pink rides a yellow scooter along the street.

A man stands beside a bicycle cart in a brightly lit night street.

Or BICYCLEs

Two vendors display vegetables from bicycles along a city curb.

A person bends over a bicycle loaded with baskets of fruit.

A vendor in a conical hat stands beside a bicycle carrying goods.

A flower seller rides a bicycle loaded with bright bouquets.

A flower vendor on a bicycle passes a green taxi at an intersection.

It's all happening in the streets

Best street food ever, ever..

A small street-side food stall occupies a narrow paved lane.

Customers gather around a market stall filled with leafy vegetables.

Several small bowls of food are arranged on a tabletop.

Two bowls of noodle soup sit on a wooden table.

A red Vietnamese menu board hangs above a small sidewalk food stall.

A man sits beside an outdoor cooking cart on the sidewalk.

People eat at low tables outside a neighborhood restaurant.

A crowded night market street glows with colorful lights.

Yellow and green citrus fruit is piled in a market basket.

A plate of meat, herbs, rice, and dipping sauce is served with chopsticks.

Vietnamese coffee

Vietnamese coffee is almost always Robusta. The usual coffee bean is Arabica, since it is the main type of coffee exported by Brazil, the world's largest exporter of coffee. Vietnam is the world's second largest exporter of coffee, but the main bean is Robusta instead. In Vietnam, Robusta is the traditional bean and also one of the cheaper ones (for obvious reasons) as well.Vietnamese coffee is almost always drip coffee. Go out to any Vietnamese street coffee stall and you'll find rudimentary aluminium drip filters and cups of exquisitely aromatic black coffee underneath. The Vietnamese like their coffee nice and slow, and setting up the filter and choosing right time to drink is an art in itself. Drip coffee is very thick, and the coffee bean is usually intentionally over-roasted, making it quite bitter. A frequent way to enjoy this is with condensed milk and ice (cà phê sữa đá), and it naturally maintains a strong taste - everything is condensed in this cup, even the water! Drip coffee is the way Vietnamese people create and enjoy conversation.