Patrick Love Photography » Travel Photography

I liked the food in Hong Kong better than the photographic opportunities.  But that’s just because the food is blow-your-mind amazing.

It was in the 60s at night and the 70s in the day.  This was my first chance to comfortably wear jeans in, like… forever.

We stayed in a hotel that should be avoided at all cost.  However, the location was money, and the price was right up my alley.

My inspiration for the trip was the Kowloon Walled City, which used to exist within the city limits of Hong Kong.  Unfortunately, government officials had it torn down in an effort to “modernize” the city.  I can only imagine what a wild place it must have been.  I would have loved the chance to photograph within it’s dense maze of streets.  It was once the most densely populated place in the world, and it is said that many of the residents would never see direct sunlight.  Before it was torn down, a team of city planners or something, from Japan, did a cross section of what some of the buildings were like.

In Hong Kong, every market has a specific theme.

Sporting Goods Market

Flower Market

Bird Park – Birds are lucky in Chinese culture

Fish Market

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We spent a quick three day weekend in Ho Chi Minh City.  Before I went, I heard a lot of comments about how it’s just not all that great.  Hanoi seems to get everyone’s vote.  Maybe they are right, but that doesn’t matter because I had a great time in HCMC and still don’t know any different.  I loved HCMC, and I would go back in a heartbeat.  Everywhere we went, the food was indescribably good.  I’d take Vietnamese food over Thai food any day.  We also did a really fun cooking class, and a scooter/eating tour of the city.  We stayed at the Riverside Hotel, which was nice, but I wouldn’t splash out that kind of money again.  We also ate twice at the highly acclaimed Hoa Tuc restaurant.  I wanted to like it, as it’s the most popular place in town, but it really didn’t take the whole dinner experience to the next level.  I also got the feeling that every tour group in HCMC eats at this place every single night.  I’m going to go all Anthony Bourdain next time I’m there.

New and Old

At a Chinese New Years party someone gave me a $100 note.  Unfortunately, I had to burn it.  Was it real?  Now I’ll never know.

Not sure what these funny hats are all about.

Same same, but slightly different

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