The train ride from Mũi Né to Đà Nẵng in Vietnam (a little more about that here) rode through a few parts of the country that really show you how the other-half live. And by that I don’t mean the zillionaire half… I mean quite the opposite. Barreling full-tilt down the tracks is never a time for good photography, but I had to try. I opened a window, stabilized the GF1 camera as much as possible, set it to my customized high ISO B&W mode, and proceeded to time shots to hopefully capture some of the life on the rails.
These are all shot with the equivalent of a 35mm lens, and none of these are cropped. That shows you just how close the buildings — and in some cases, the people — are to the trains rushing by.
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This is no back door. This is a door and a window and a place to hang laundry and put out potted plants.
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This chap has quite a nice garden going. If it weren’t 10 feet from the train, I’m sure it’d be lovely.
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Most windows (well, probably all) are chain link fence or chicken wire, not glass.
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Don’t miss the woman in the lower right corner. She’s just going about her day, as if we aren’t even there. As if this massive, twenty-car train isn’t rushing by at top speed, an arm’s reach away.
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Laundry, potted plants… normal life.
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Getting closer to the station, you can see that the track has split, and even some train lights on the ground. And the old woman sweeping the train soot off of her ledge.