When I first began traveling to Vietnam in the early 90’s, no one on a motorbike wore a helmet. They couldn’t afford it. And there were a lot of injuries as a result. Sometime in the mid-90’s a law went into affect that motorbike riders had to wear a helmet. Though this isn’t exactly followed by everyone, the vast majority of riders do sport a pretty nice looking head piece.
While strolling through Saigon earlier this year, I came across a store packed wall to wall with helmets.
This couple was posing for photos in Hoi An. It’s customary to have your wedding photos taken about a week prior to the big day. Pretty smart as I’m sure it’s less stressful. But I wonder if it’s bad luck for the groom to see his bride all decked out ahead of time!?
These men are worshipers at the Cao Dai Temple in Tay Ninh. This temple represents a melting pot of religions including Daoism, Catholicism and Buddhism. Each sect wears a different outfit and accompanying hat.
This gentleman popped out of the ground at the Cu Chi Tunnels. A completely different kind of hat, thankfully no longer as common as it once was.
And this post wouldn’t be complete without conical hats. These gals were selling veggies and herbs in Hoi An.
If you’re interested in experiencing Vietnam for yourself, we offer women-only tours to many parts of the world.
Travel Well!
Beth
Related links:
Vietnam Cultural Tour – February, 2011
Vietnam and Cambodia Photo Gallery
David says
Those are great photos Beth! I like that you can go back through your photos – I’m sure you have thousands – and these themes pop out at you that you might have missed if it weren’t for your blog. Not sure if that’s the case here, but for me it’s been a real positive – re-living things that I sort-of missed on the first go round.
Beth says
You’re absolutely right, David. I probably have published some of these already but as I was sorting through Vietnam images, these start popping out as an unusual theme.
Marina K. Villatoro says
Beautiful hats! The ones in the second picture look a lot like something native Guatemalan women use as part of their typical outfits.