Tho Ha Village, Bac Giang, Vietnam

Thổ Hà village is situated on the bank of Cầu River, about 50km from Hà Nội, in Bắc Giang province. To visit the place, tourist needs to take a local ferry to cross Cầu River. Different from other Northern villages, Thổ Hà did not rely on rice cultivation for living but pottery and floating market on the river. Thổ Hà used to be a famous place of Gốm Sành (pottery without glaze fired with dry grass, and then firewood and coal). In the early 1980s, Thổ Hà villagers turned to making dry pancakes (bánh đa nem, mì gạo) and raising animals as pottery was gradually abandoned.

You will discover here a real country life with the special walls have attracted film producers, painters, and photographers. Sadly, there have been several environmental issues in the area, polluted river water and untreated trash/ livestock waste, which should be addressed urgently to keep the place as one of the tourist attractions in Northern Vietnam.

(More info at: Vietnam Travel Guide & Wiki)

Here is my photo essay about the place:
Camera: Olympus XA (35mm f2.8) - Lomo LC-A 25th Anniversary Film 800

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A film review

Below is the list of films that I've tried. Not truly a good review as I'm not the one that controls the developing and scanning process (different scanners can give very different results). But I hope you can still made some judgement about the "feel" of each film from the photos I posted.

In my opinion, I think that Fujifilm is a bit "cold" and renders the green pretty well. Kodak is more toward yellow warm colors, thus gives nice skin tone. Not sure if there is any connection between Lucky and Kodak film as they seems to have similar looks. Lomography 800 film with its vivid colors is my favorite so far.

APS

• Fujifilm Nexia 400 (color): #1
• Kodak Advantix 400 (color): #1 (over-heated)

35mm (135 film)

• Fujifilm Superia 200 (color): #1 
• Fujicolor Superia X-Tra 400 (color): #1
• Kodak T-Max 400 (BnW): #1
• Kodak Tri-X 400 (BnW): #1, #2
• Kodak ColorPlus 200 (color): #1, #2
• Kodak Gold 200 (color): #1
• Kodak UltraMax 400 (color): #1 
• Lucky Super New 200 (color): #1
• Lomo LC-A 25th Anniversary Film 800 (color): #1, #2
• Afga Vista 200 (color): #1, #2

 120 film (MF)

• Kodak Portra 400VC (color): #1 
• Kodak Ektacolor Pro 160 (color): #1

To be continued...
27/04/2011: Added new post for Lomo LC-A 25th Anniversary Film 800
06/06/2011: Added new post for Kodak Advantix 400 APS film
23/06/2011: Added new post for Kodak Tri-X 400 (BW)
27/06/2011: Added new post for Kodak Tri-X 400 (BW)
21/07/2011: Added new post for Afga Vista 200  
19/08/2011: Add new post for Kodak Ektacolor Pro 160

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In Focus

Just to share some street photos that I made recently with an Olympus 35SP rangefinder (42mm f1.7 lens) loaded with Kodak UltraMax 400 film. The lens come with little fungus but I think the photos are still quite alright. 

The girl feeding pigeons - HCMC, Vietnam (2011)


People waiting for boarding at Tan Son Nhat airport - HCMC, Vietnam (2011)


Little corner of Japan in Singapore (2011)


Near Singapore National Library (Bugis). Windy spot where people like to gather around.

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Penang, Malaysia

Places we visited in our less-than-2-day trip
George Town, Botanical Garden, Tanjung Bungah beach
Will we come back again?
Yes. To take more photos of the streets. And will eat more. Plus visit Batu Ferringhi beach, which seems to be much nicer than Tanjung Bungah.
Remark
Penang Rapid bus is clean, convenient & cheap. There is even iPhone application (RapidPenang) to search for bus services.

Camera: Olympus OM1

Lens: Zuiko OM 28mm f2.8 and 50mm f1.4

Film: Kodak Gold 200

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