Crossing Bridges 8 Vietnam 2011

Vietnam originally organized Crossing Bridges 3 with a programme based in the northern capital city of Hanoi moving through picturisque Halong Bay and further north into the mountain region of Sapa in 2006. It was their FIRST time participating in Crossing Bridges and they put together a fantastic trip without any prior first hand participation experience.

During that same year, we saw PhotoMalaysia sending its first team as well participating in CrossingBridges

Five years later in 2011, Vietnam under Photo.vn undertook again the challenge of organizing Crossing Bridges 8 this time planning a route that took participants from Ho Chi Min City through to the coastal areas and then into the hills of Dalat

The actual places we visited and shot at were:

Long Hai
“Long Hai is a small fishing village in Ba Ria Province and located 30km north-east of Vung Tau. This fishing village is always crowded with fishermen, boats and a fish market with lots of interesting activities”

Long Son
Ancient Village…”Long Son Commune sits on Nua Mountain, located next to Ganh Rai Bay and to the south of Sac Forest. Nha Lon Long Son was created by a man nicknamed Tran, whose real name was Le Van Muu, a follower of An Giang-based Tu An Hieu Nghia religion. He come to the region and set up the house in the beginning of the 20th century”

Phan Thiet“Phan Thiet town is the capital city of Binh Thuan Province, Vietnam. Located on an arm of the South China Sea, Phan Thiet is one of Vietnam’s most important fishing areas. Ho Chi Minh lived in Phan Thiet for a short time and taught at the Duc Thanh school. During the war, Phan Thiet was the site of the US military base known as Landing Zone Betty which was located at the now closed Airfield South West of the City

Bao Loc“Bao Loc is a town of Lam Dong Province in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam. Bao Loc is famous for its registered trademark: Bao Loc tea”

Tuyen Lam Lake
Tuyen Lam is a beautiful natural lake located on top of a mountain covered with pine trees. It is 6km east of Dalat City.

Suoi Vang Valley
Small streams, wild horses and home to the Koho tribe otherwise known as Da Lat’s Golden Valley or the Valley of Love

Trai Mat Hills
Terraced farms and close to the nearby ancient Champa Kingdom with thick pine forests. In town, there is an old Russian diesel steam locomotive

Lang Biang
Is a pleateau on the southern area of the Central Highland of Vietnam. Lang Biang Mountain commands a grand view of the Dalat area

Cau Dat
Known as the Earth Bridge is known for its steep streets, magical mist-shrouded valleys dotted with centuries old tea-plantations. Cau Dat produces ideal conditions for creating stunning and gorgeous landscape images

Da Lat
Home to the famous Vietnamese highland arabica coffee bean and Vietnam’s premier hill station city. It is a maze of little streets , churches, vegetable gardens and waterfalls all mixed together in offering freshness and pleasure to its visitors.

This trip saw the group from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam on the move constantly in exhausting bus journeys . We were well rewarded with great photo opportunities from the coast into the hills and in the cities

Food was a major attraction during this trip with Pho (Vietnamese Noodles) and other Vietnamese favorites … NOT forgetting their wonderful coffee culture

Image by Bonrya