Đồng Văn Town sits (under the karsts so typical of this area) at the extreme end
of the Himalayas as they fall towards the China Sea Vietnam's most northerly town belongs both to this series on Hà Giang Province, and concludes pages, added some years ago, on the town and its immediate area, those pages showed something of the market and the people. Because of its position near the Chinese border, it has always been strategically important - hence the nearby palace which was featured previously. Below, the pictures catch a little of the streets and buildings of the town itself.
The main street of Đồng Văn
Houses on the edge of town have a treed spaciousness
Handcarts are used to bring vegetables to these shops...
...from the fields all around the town
The enclosing karsts limit the extent of flat fields
Leading from behind
Above, in contrast to the flat fields, these are hay stacks for storing crops grown on the precipitous hillsides
Right, a karst, by the town,
conspicuously lacking any space for fields
A westerner, identified by the backpack, walks through the vegetable fields towards a karst...
...on the shoulder of which is a translucent sign shouting: 'Rendezvous Dong Van' in English and Vietnamese
Gently sloping terrain means gravity and terracing can...
...water the fields; although insufficiently so here
A masterclass in external root architecture
This mud-brick house, with wooden doors and barred windows, also has its skeleton on the outside - seemingly a northern design
In Scotland, plants often manage to root on walls - however, although Đồng Văn is over 4,000 feet above sea level, the tropical climate lets these manage to flower more profusely
And a masterclass in roofing. Pantile roofs can have the two necessary curves combined in one tile - convex and concave (ogee). Or, as here, single curved tiles are placed alternately along the row, pointing up, pointing down, pointing up; and so interlocking.
An old veranda with very plastic clothes pegs
Just a hint of furniture through the tempting open doors
A house in need of some loving attention, but with compen-sating fruit trees, taken in December, so probably oranges
The formality of the arranged seats suggests sales of some sort
Most households in Vietnam have at least one motorbike, so steps are nearly always built with central ramps
A street in Đồng Văn 'Old Town' (as proclaimed by the street-wide banner) with the beloved Vietnamese style clutter of motorbikes and shop signs
Peeling plaster and black mould: the price of Vietnam's climate. This is the side of the building to the right, looking war torn, but inside the cafe is chic and comfortable
The Pho Co Cafe, above proclaimed as 'Pho Co Coffee'.
Compare this
with 9 years previously, when the cafe received the attentions of a whole page. Then there was an inscribed sign rather than this plastic one. Another change is the road signs. As the country aligns itself with international standards, so signs such as these alter the nature of the buildings - as they do in the UK
And, maybe due to the popularity of the Pho Co Cafe, a new coffee shop has opened next door also avoiding the word cafe, but this proprietor has come up with a compromise: 'Nguyên Caffee'. It offers: "smothies, teas and juices" permanently on its wall, plus a changeable board of daily delights
The main street just after sunset, lit only by the advertising neons of local businesses
Trailers...
The next Picture Posting page is to take you west of Đồng Văn Town to the countryside of Yên Minh District.
The next page
of the Mosaic Section is headed 'Active Education'.
Or go to the contents Go to the contents of the Mosaic Section. of the Mosaic Section. Monitors can keep the layout, which phones may need to discombobulate.
The last page had photos taken to the south of Đồng Văn, in Bắc Mê District
To another, contrasting, small town - Kirkcudbright
...guide to this site