Well, I can't really tell you how I ended up at an orchid farm in Cu Chi, about 50 kilometres outside of Saigon. I just say yes to any old invitation, and this is where it lands me.
Quite a beautiful place, though, filled with sweet teenagers from Hue who have never quite made it to the city.
And all around it, picturesque farms with women in conical hats, and tethered buffalo. It felt like an ad from Vietnam Airlines.
I'm quite an afficionado of Vietnamese rural architecture, and keep an eye out for trends. At Cu Chi, richer farmers seem to be favouring a big porcelain lion at the tops of their gateposts, unlike in Binh Chanh, where concrete dobermanns are de rigeur.
Do you think that noticing and liking flowers is a sign of getting old?
I suspect so, because increasingly I find myself spending time looking at them, smelling them and photographing them. And I was in the perfect place for that!
