one-minute vacation
 
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vietnam ( 1998 )

Field recordings made in Vietnam.

Source sound for Vox Americana.
Approximately 25 hours available.
 
beach rain 1.3 MB Rain on my poncho as I stroll on the Nha Trang beaches.
bell 1.2 MB Exploring a four-foot bell at Thien Mu monastery in Hue.
bleeding 1.2 MB Our guide cuts his foot on coral while we swim in Ha Long Bay. Butterflies cross from island to island.
boat motor 950 KB Motoring down a canal in the Mekong delta. Narrow boats under narrow bridges.
bolts 1.2 MB A roomful of people in a Hanoi storefront foot crank machines that punch nuts off spools of taper.
buffalo 1.2 MB Bell-wearing water buffalo are herded past in the hills outside of Sa Pa. The diesel engine in the distance moves a belt in a path-side quarry.
chant 1.2 MB Evening chant at Thien Mu monastery in Hue.
children 1.2 MB Walking along with a collection of very young Hmong children in the northern hills.
cicadas 1.2 MB Paused on a stroll under trees by a brook.
courtyard 1.2 MB Our window and many others in Hanoi opened to an offstreet courtyard of our hotel, the A Dong.
descent 450 KB Returning from a hike to the central peak on Cat Ba island.
dialog 420 KB A bit of conversation in a restaurant in the countryside.
email 1.2 MB Checking email in a storefront in Saigon.
faucet 1.2 MB Ominous gurgling from the faucet in room 402.
frogs 1.1 MB The periodic symphony of frogs in a suburb of Hoi An. They would sit ten or twenty minutes, then burst into a few minutes of competitive croaking.
ha long dusk 1.2 MB Sitting on a gravel beach as dusk overtakes Ha Long City bay. Diesel launches, passing traffic, and people pausing to urinate against the seawall.
hmong musicans 1.2 MB A performance in a bar/cafe in Sa Pa.
homeward 1.2 MB Walking home through unfamiliar streets after recording the frogs in Hoi An. Hot night air and utter darkness.
karaoke 1.2 MB Sitting in the rain outside a hotel that was once the last Emperor's dacha, listening to karaoke through the window.
leafs 1.1 MB Hmong women playing a duet on leaves. Slowed down, they sound like clarinets.
market pigs 1.3 MB Understandably unhappy pigs caged in cones of bamboo amid the chaos of market day in Bah Ca.
music lesson 1.2 MB The bandleader spells out a part to one his players in Hoi An. We were graciously allowed to sit in during the rehearsal after the show was canceled.
night in the hills 1.2 MB Sitting on our balcony as a hill town goes to sleep.
performance 1.2 MB The cultural center band from the music lesson above in full swing.
project description 1.2 MB Explaining to the adult child of an American GI why I'm wearing microphones on my head. My wife explains the Quiet American project.
questions 1.2 MB Questioned in the evening by the river in Hoi An: where do I come from?
riverrun 950 KB Perching on the rocks beside a waterfall, mesmerized by white noise.
rowing 1.2 MB Rowed on a bamboo boat through the karst hills of Tam Coc.
st josephs 1.2 MB St. Joseph's school lets out in central Hanoi.
temple of literature 1.2 MB A free outdoor concert at the Temple of Literature in Hanoi.
train 2 MB A brief roar of the train. This one's for Paul Theroux.
voice of vietnam 1.5 MB State radio broadcasts in less touristed areas from bullhorn speakers.
washing laundry 1.2 MB Women wade in the river and wash bamboo trays that will freshly caught fish to be sold in the nearby Hoi An market. I was laughed at for sitting near them to record this, as the same stretch of river is the market's public toilet.
water buffalo 1.2 MB Buffalo plash happily in a pathside pond.
waves, china beach 1.2 MB Shorebreak at dawn, not far from China Beach. As the sun rose behind the clouds we listened to Coltrane's Crescent.