What has two wheels and an umbrella?
It wasn’t until we saw the third or fourth person riding a scooter with an umbrella (on our first afternoon in Luang Prabang, Laos) that we realized it was “a thing”. It wasn’t raining—the umbrellas were simply shade from the sun. Often if two people were riding, the person in back would hold the umbrella for the person in front. We were completely charmed.
A few days later I went out in the afternoon, with the sun beating down, to take a few shots. I realized then it wasn’t just scooters with umbrellas—people on bicycles rode with umbrellas too.
I am working on the photos for my post about the image of “Lao girl riding scooter under umbrella”… googled the phrase to check out if I am the only one who noticed that Luang Prabang’s anomaly :) and found quite a collection. You got nice pics here!
Ha, yes. Our stay in Luang Prabang was a week-long respite from the frenetic pace of Hanoi, where we’d been previously, so we didn’t really do much other than walk around and take a few classes (cooking, weaving). It was therapeutic, but I didn’t have much to show for our time there until I started focusing my lens on the umbrella-wielding bike/scooter riders. I found it completely charming. I’m glad you enjoyed.
I have also stayed in Luang Prabang to get some rest from Hanoi. Not much you can do there. Especially when floated Mekong river is cutting off the roads. It was crazy during my visit. The only way out of town was by air.
My “Lao Umbrella Girl” post is up. If you are interested in seeing some umbrella pics, please visit my blog above.