When the rain (and cold) got the better of me in Hue

Hue, Vietnam

Sometimes the weather gets the better of you. And it’s okay when that happens. Do the best that you can, but it’s no failure if rather than sucking it up, you want to curl up in the hotel room.

After the highs of Hoi An we headed a little way up north to another central Vietnamese city – Hue. As soon as we were over Hai Van Pass, there was rain. And we didn’t see the last of that rain until we were headed back south a few days later.

I know what you’re thinking – you’re from London, you should be used to the rain! Well, I am. Sort of. Living in Bahrain has made me soft! And the rain’s the main reason why 99% of the photos from Hue are from the inside of the Imperial City… Continue Reading

April 8, 2016

Holiday packing – what camera kit to pack

The struggle is real. My struggle of figuring out which camera kit to take on holiday. Before every single holiday. And I’ve learnt that don’t need a lot of kit to feel the struggle.

Camera kit

From left to right – Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8, Nikon 35mm f/1.8, Nikon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6, Nikon D7200 with Nikon 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6 attached. Joby GorillaPod at the back. Camera on phone (LG G4) not included.

This is the entirety of my camera kit. It’s not a lot. Camera body, a few lenses and an “it’ll do” tripod. But, before heading to Vietnam I struggled to figure out what I wanted to take with me.

What I couldn’t figure out was

  1. Weight – I didn’t want to be carrying around dead weight with me as I knew we’d be on foot most days.
  2. I had very little idea of what I’d be taking photos of. Sure I knew roughly that there might be some landscapes, scenery, monuments, city stuff, but nothing specific.
  3. Fear. Fear of leaving one piece of kit behind that might have been perfect for one occasion.

Continue Reading

April 4, 2016

A stroll through the old town of Hoi An

Hoi An Old Town

On the central coast of Vietnam is the city of Hoi An. Known for it’s well-preserved Ancient Town, food and amazing mix of architecture, it was our first destination on the trip to Vietnam. After a brief one night stay in Saigon. I’m just going to let the photos do the talking for a little while. Continue Reading

March 24, 2016

10 favourites from Vietnam

Vietnam - Saigon

It’s just shy of a week since returning from Vietnam and I’m still sitting in a sea of photos waiting to be processed. Digitally. Occasionally the task of sorting through and processing the photos can feel like, well, a task, but it’s so much fun re-living all the memories while they’re still fresh. I think the sorting process gets elongated because every now and then I’ll take a ‘break’ to just scroll through the photos in Lightroom to see what’s to come. Continue Reading

March 10, 2016

A sunny morning at Riffa Fort

Riffa Fort

Weekends lately have been crammed. Sadly we’ve spent a few of them saying goodbye to newly made friends. (something I’m still getting used to, as an expat) But saying goodbye is a great excuse to go out and do something. And do something we did, last weekend. Anish and I headed down to Riffa Fort to take some friends of ours, who are heading to the States, for breakfast at Saffron. Despite them having lived in Bahrain for far longer than us, they’d never been! So it only felt fitting that in their final couple of weeks they should go to one of our favourite breakfast eateries on the island. Continue Reading

February 18, 2016