Lynel, Dennis, daughter and their friend
Hung on Hung's motorbike, Ha Noi.
A friend from Williams College, Lynel recently worked as Country Representative
of the Population Council,
an international non-government organization focused on reproductive health
issues. She and her family graciously hosted me for over a month, and I was
also able to do some volunteer work for the Pop Council.
During the same period Dennis worked as Environmental Specialist for the Mekong Project Development Facility.
Lynel Horne Long presenting a major Population
Council study (on private sector reproductive health care in five provinces
of Vietnam) at a conference in Ha Noi.
Attendees included the Minister of Health, representatives of the national
government and various provinces, and other policymakers.
Dennis and Lynel host a farewell party for a Population Council colleague, featuring a jug of "straw wine."
Sticky rice, a sweet form of the grain common in Southeast Asia, is left to ferment for weeks in this jug, creating a sweet kind of rice beer. In a tradition from the highlands of Vietnam, guests suck it out communally through long bamboo straws.
Lynel outside her house on the Nghi Tam peninsula with Aunt Chi--neighbor, landlady and close friend.
Behind them walks a woman selling vegetables from shoulder baskets.
The Long daughters at home in the Nghi Tam district, Ha Noi.
The Longs live next to the west lake at the end of a long series of alleyways.
To get out to the road on a rainy day, the girls often travel by cyclo, a three-wheeled pedicab. A group of drivers usually waits for customers nearby, all day and into the evening.
An elegant style of dress traditionally worn on formal occasions, after decades of eclipse the ao dai has recently undergone a resurgence in popularity.
The Longs at the Au Lac Cafe, across from the elegant Hotel Metropole in downtown Ha Noi.
In the four years the Longs lived in Ha Noi, they saw it transformed from a rather run-down place with few, poorly maintained public amenities to a bustling capital with nightclubs, elegant restaurants and pricey boutiques.
