There is nothing like the chaos of Hanoi to jolt a visitor into the strangely functional confusion of Vietnam. We had a couple of days in Hanoi to adjust to the pace of Vietnam before heading north to the mountain village of Sapa.
A low pressure system off the coast made the weather less than perfect, but we managed to find sheltered painting locations and were lucky to have a fine day to walk through the Hmong Valley and do some sketching.
From Sapa we travelled by coach back to Hanoi then flew on to Da Nang where we were taken by bus to Hoi An and the luxury of the Anantara Hotel.
Rice Paddys near Hanoi
Hanoi Back Street
Electrical repair workshop – Hanoi
Hanoi Flower Vendor
How many flowers can you pack on to a motor scooter?
Portable kitchen – Hanoi
Party Time – Hanoi street bar
Midnight peak hour – Hanoi
Hanoi Rain
Coke and Hot dogs – Hanoi
Unidentified Delicacys – Hanoi
Stainless steel tuk tuk
Mother and five chicks – Hanoi
Small police wagon – Hanoi
Hot water, Pumps, Microwave specialist – Hanoi
Dangerous Verandah – Hanoi
Dangerous front yard – Hanoi
Mix your own paint.
Most of the Hanoi motorcycles are pretty mundane, but there are some stand out models.
Sapa Evening
Sapa Duck
Rice paddy fire – Hmong Valley
Crazy Dancing Chicken
Hmong Valley
Black Hmong woman with pedal sewing machine.
Grant sketching in Hmong Valley
Sapa – small buildings replaced by tall skinny ones
Our painting group with Hmong women models – Sapa Markets
Hmong Women sewed busily while we sketched
Water everywhere as we left Sapa.
Hoi An
Rosa hijacks a river boat to get us to the Red Bridge Cooking School
Net Casting – Hoi An
Red Bridge Cooking School – where we all became excellent Vietnamese chefs.
Painting by the river on the verandah of an abandoned building – Hoi An.
Splashing Paint 
Wow! What an amazing adventure!!! Awesome 🙂 🙂 🙂
Frankie Sharman Customer Service Devotee
Disturbing dogs
Beautiful art
Hi John & Di, Ray says nothing has changed in Vietnam since his conscript days 50 years ago!! Beautiful photography and painting. Thank you for sharing. Cheers Bev
Fantastic photos John. Brings back wonderful memories of our trip .
Stunning once again thanks for the visual tour
Just fascinating! Thanks for sharing your trip and your paintings – in which you so ably capture the essence of Vietnam… Nancy
I was in Vietnam this summer- your photos are stunning!
I wish I could travel with you!
Can you please tell me which travel easel is the most popular?
Hi Lisa,
Thanks for your comments.
Most of my students dont use easels but, because I’m demonstrating, I use a light weight Holbein easel. You can read more about it here
Cheers,
John
Thank you for your response. I just looked up the Holbein easel and there are may models with various price points. Is there a specific one you suggest? I really like your work and wish I could travel with you but my day job gets in the way.
Sent from Wonder Woman’s favorite gadget.
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Thanks for sharing the photos and the commentary! Interesting!
I’m speechless!
Many thanks for your article and amazing pictures! Vietnam is awesome indeed ❤
Always enjoy your journeys and comments, and almost smell the atmosphere. Love your paintings! Many thanks.
I enjoyed the photography and learning about the people and country. I really appreciated seeing the two paintings at the end of the post. The atmospheric painting of the boat stopped me in my tracks. I went back to it twice before I was sure it was a painting. Well done…
Absolutely stunning photos and artwork! We’ve just come back from a long holiday in Vietnam and seeing these photos makes me want to go back there tomorrow!