Vietnam TravelTravel Special FeaturesHanoi - The Ancient CapitalHanoi - Cafe Reality

Hanoi - Cafe Reality

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American artist Bradford Edwards has been dividing his time between the United States and Vietnam for more than a decade. Here, He describes the impetus behind and installation he created in Hanoi last summer.

Every morning for almost four months I began my day shooting photographs of the same scene ... same - same but different. It was a very typical Hanoian scene - people having their first coffee of the day, yet the resultant images were always unique. The quality of the light, where the regular customers sat, and the clothes that they wore the arrangement of the tables and stools - all these things subtly changed everyday.

Without fail I would have coffee in this charming old cafe in front of my hotel. They served their thick and robust coffee in small cups surrounded by a moat of hot water in a larger bowl. After the Southern Vietnamese style of slowly dripping coffee from metal filters this was a nice change in the cool morning of misty Hanoi.

Almost all the patrons who regularly came to the Ta Hien Cafe were older men, a few women, but rarely anyone under 40 years old. Most of them seemed to know each other and there was a familiar and comfortable feeling in the air. At the same time, people were warm and welcoming to me - an obvious outsider. Often I would have conversations that were tri-lingual montages - a fun and creative mix of Vietnamese, French and English.

One older man I had befriended, Duc, has been in the war and was now retired on a military pension. He told me many stories about what life was like in Hanoi during the war. Duc could weave tales of fear and hardship balanced with a hint of missed camaraderie and excitement that he had experienced during those times. He was a perceptive person who at 89 had an enviable calmness about him. I came to cherish our conversations.

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