From 2018 to 2023, I visited Vietnam several times as an international consultant working in higher education and vocational education and training. There would have been more visits, but we all know what 2020–22 brought.

Much of my initial work was in the more remote region of Son La in north-western Vietnam. During each visit, weekends provided an opportunity to walk the streets of local towns and villages and photograph aspects of everyday Vietnamese life that were well beyond the established Western tourist trail. I was particularly interested in images that were not created for tourists, but simply reflected people going about their daily lives.

At one village I visited in a formal capacity, the Thai Vietnamese Village, I was the first Westerner to be invited into their meeting hut. When I asked if I could take some photographs, out came everyone’s smartphones to do exactly the same thing to me! It was a wonderful reminder that photography is very much a two-way exchange.

Because I returned to Son La several times, I also had the opportunity to take back prints of some of the photographs I had made. I understand that the person featured in My Best Fried Rice still has his print hanging on the wall, a small but very meaningful connection between the photograph, the photographer and the person in front of the camera.

Son La Roadside Cafe was a regular stopping point for a snack when travelling between Hanoi and Son La. When I spotted the chicken and vegetables at a local market, the title Takeaway Chicken and Veg seemed almost inevitable.

I anticipate returning to Vietnam for the first time as a tourist in late 2026. I am looking forward to reconnecting with many of the people I came to know through my previous visits and, yes, doing some of those touristy things as well.