[Bob in St. Louis]

^ Agreed.

[Guy 13]

Guy,

I think we need some "shock and awe" here in our all too comfortable world now and then.  Opens one's eyes to reality, one's consciousness to the incredibly diverse world we share.  I can understand and appreciate your desire to protect us, just don't over protect, please.  This is why I deeply appreciate bside and other international travelers and dwellers that share these images with us.  My mind is expanded by this exposure. (Sorry for the photo pun.  )

Jake

Hi Jake.
All day, yesterday, I've been doing some kind of clean-up in my (Paper) pictures
and (Digital) photo files and I've seen many interesting pictures
that could be interesting and informative about the Vietnamese daily life.
I will carefully choose the pictures that are the most representative of what's going on here
and that shows the difference in culture.
Don't forget that even if I've been living on planet Vietnam for almost 20 years,
I am still a Canadian that spent more than half of his life in a civilized country called Canada.
Well, I will try to be nicer to the Vietnamese by saying that I've been living the first half of my life
in different type of culture.

Guy 13

I will not be negative about the Vietnamese culture,
but only try to point out the differences.
I hope AC members will see it that way.

[JakeJ]

Thanks, Guy.  I trust your judgement and look forward to seeing some images from "Planet Vietnam". 

[SET Man]

Hi Jake.
All day, yesterday, I've been doing some kind of clean-up in my (Paper) pictures
and (Digital) photo files and I've seen many interesting pictures
that could be interesting and informative about the Vietnamese daily life.
I will carefully choose the pictures that are the most representative of what's going on here
and that shows the difference in culture.
Don't forget that even if I've been living on planet Vietnam for almost 20 years,
I am still a Canadian that spent more than half of his life in a civilized country called Canada.
Well, I will try to be nicer to the Vietnamese by saying that I've been living the first half of my life
in different type of culture.

Guy 13

I will not be negative about the Vietnamese culture,
but only try to point out the differences.
I hope AC members will see it that way.

Hey!

   Sound like you've just called Vietnam "uncivilized" there. Well, don't let your Vietnamese wife and friends read this than.

Take care,
Buddy

[Bob in St. Louis]

So anyway......

[Guy 13]

Hey!

   Sound like you've just called Vietnam "uncivilized" there. Well, don't let your Vietnamese wife and friends read this than.

Take care,
Buddy

Hi SET Man.
Did I just wrote that the Vietnamese are uncivilized ?
Well, sorry about that, let me rephrase that:
The Vietnamese are not as civilized as Canadian people.
Is that any better?
My wife, does not read my posts, as a matter of fact,
she never read any of the 3,000+ posts that I wrote.
Is that a woman interested in her husband stuff?
No, she's just more busy with more important stuff... Like surfing on her iPad, even when she goes to the little corner. 
Now the iPad and my wife are inseparable friends.
As far as my friends (Vietnamese or not) they can comment my comments
and I will comment  their comments...

Guy 13

I really love the Vietnamese,
they make me laugh all the time every day
with their weird, well, different behavior.
 

[PeteG]

Pensacola Beach airshow, not as sharp as other shows I've shot, all do to the heavy overcast day and very bad haze.

[Bob in St. Louis]

That second to last one is spectacular. I've never seen that much water vapor!
Great shots though. What equipment and zoom did you use?

[PeteG]

Thanks Bob, gear was Canon 5dIII w/Tamron 150-600mm.

[Brad]

Swiftcurrent Lake, in the Many Glacier area of Glacier National Park



Using a Zeiss 21mm Distagon

[Brad]

Hey Pete,

My cousin in Pensacola was just telling me about that airshow.  They go every year.
I've been watching that Tamron lens too - looks like a great solution for wildlife/birding/long range shooting.
Good work!

[PeteG]

Hey Pete,

My cousin in Pensacola was just telling me about that airshow.  They go every year.
I've been watching that Tamron lens too - looks like a great solution for wildlife/birding/long range shooting.
Good work!

Thanks Brad, Pensacola Beach is a great place. The 150-600 has been great so far especially for the price, does need some good light though.

[Bob in St. Louis]

"600"....wow..... 
I just bought a 70-300 Tamron. But six hundred would be fantastic!

[Guy 13]

Hi all.
Picture of the day on planet Vietnam.
This is a terrible torture scene of my wife getting tortured by myself,
(Hopefully the facilitator, will not send my post the the Intergalactic waste bin...)
because she did not wanted to give me money to buy some audio stuff.
Boooommmmm....
That will teach her to refuse to make me happy with the only thing
that can make me happy on planet Vietnam and that's audio stuff.
More seriously.
When the Vietnamese are sick, not feeling well,
they get those succion cups to suck the bad out of their body.
They light up a torch that was soak in alcohol and heat up the inside of the cup, therefore, removing some of the air
and put the cup on the skin, so when it cool down, it create a vacuum
and pull whatever bad is inside the body.
(Could be aids, virus or only bad thoughts in the brain...)
I've never tried it myself, but all the Vietnamese say it very effective.
Different countries, different customs !

Guy 13
 

[JakeJ]

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!  Perfect response to my request for images from other countries and cultures.  Guy, is this considered to be related to religion or is it more of a folklore/tradition thing?  Now for my morbid curiousity, how much does the skin pull up into the suction cups?  It has to leave nice bright red marks, no?

Again, thanks for this post, so cool!  You are a very lucky man because you wife does not see or read what you post.  Wow!   

[bside123]

PeteG: Given the overcast day and the haze, the air show shots from Pensacola are quite impressive. The long Tamron lens gave you quite a reach and seems to be performing well. You're right about needing a lot of light; that's not a fast lens starting at f/5. Thanks for sharing. The jets are thrilling!

[bside123]

Swiftcurrent Lake, in the Many Glacier area of Glacier National Park



Using a Zeiss 21mm Distagon

Brad: Nice use of the wide angle. Great reflections accented by a dramatic sky... very evocative! Would love to see more.

[Guy 13]

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!  Perfect response to my request for images from other countries and cultures.  Guy, is this considered to be related to religion or is it more of a folklore/tradition thing?  Now for my morbid curiousity, how much does the skin pull up into the suction cups?  It has to leave nice bright red marks, no?

Again, thanks for this post, so cool!  You are a very lucky man because you wife does not see or read what you post.  Wow!   

Hi JakeJ.
I was 99.99999% sure that you would find this picture interesting
and hopefully also other AC members that never been in Asian
and know very little about all the different things going on here.
It's more of a tradition/culture thing.
The skin does not really go up much in the cup, maybe only 1/8"
and yes, it leaves for several hours round bright red marks all over the back.
It's like a blood thirsty Octopus tentacles had tried to suck up their blood.
And, yes, I can confirm that the suction process only happen in the back, not in the front,
for obvious reasons.
If you don't mind, will not comment on that, however, I would like to make jokes about it,
but I am afraid that you might send it to the waste bin.
Often I see women (More women than men, don't ask me why) wearing thin blouse or T-shirt
and you can see the red spots thru their clothing and it always make me chuckle
because I know what they went thru.
Minds you, I never heard any Vietnamese complain about the blood sucking process,
it must be painless.
The day that I will stop posting on AC,
it's because my wife will have read my posts about her
and she will have poison me...

Guy 13

[charmerci]

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!  Perfect response to my request for images from other countries and cultures.  Guy, is this considered to be related to religion or is it more of a folklore/tradition thing?  Now for my morbid curiousity, how much does the skin pull up into the suction cups?  It has to leave nice bright red marks, no?

Another way of looking at it is - accupressure or acupuncture treatments.

[Guy 13]

Another way of looking at it is - accupressure or acupuncture treatments.

Hi charmerci.
Acupuncture is not very popular here on planet Vietnam,
because you have to see a specialist and that cost $$$.
As for suction cups, every Vietnamese have a set in his home
and no need to have a doctor diploma for that.
The suction cup method seems to always give good results.
Just wanted to say.

Guy 13