“As soon as we met our photographer guide Hoang Viet outside our Old Quarter hotel in the pitch black and mist, we knew it was going to be a great morning.

My kids love trains and photography, so the tour was perfect for them, and walking along the tracks in a local neighborhood gave us an incredible look at life in Hanoi, something that can be hard for tourists to find. One of my kids is about to start a photojournalism program in college, so learning directly from a professional photographer gave him amazing insight into photography as a possible career. Learning about the local neighborhood, watching its morning market open, getting photos of dancing couples at a local park and shots of market goers from the Long Bien bridge gave us such a wonderful look at regular Hanoian life.

Hoang Viet shared a lot of great technical tips, and advice, too, about being a working photojournalist. In addition to the photography, we learned so much more that morning about Hanoi and Hanoians than we ever could have on our own.

We’ve gotten a lot of great feedback on our photos and have so many fun memories from that morning. We highly recommend Vietnam in Focus to our friends.” (Marcy, USA)