after exchanging our cash at vietcombank, we decided to visit long thanh's photo gallery located nearby. just as we were getting our bikes, uan discovered one of the two locks rented to us was taken for use by someone else. the lock was used to secure a bike parked next to uan's. we had no choice but to wait for the bike owner to appear and return the lock to us.

after an hour's wait (and guessing), the 'culprit' finally appeared. two girls have taken the lock placed in uan's bike basket and used it on their bike. they remained silent and smiled apologetically when we questioned them. the security guard on duty, at this time, realized what was going on. my attempt to convey the message in my broken vietnamese had failed. the two girls then left, embarrassed.

we cycled on to long thanh's home-cum-gallery. hanged on the walls are his black-and-white works. when chai asked him what one of his pictures conveys, his reply was, "what do you think? picture talking". the picture titled "she's gone" shows a conical hat left on the stairs. when i asked him one of the photos that was artistically edited, he brought me to the back of his house and showed me films which he had just shot in the morning. those were pictures of women working on the salt fields. i requested to take a picture with him, he agreed. hub wisely chose a spot with his well-known shot "walking in the rain" (as shown in pic) in which two girls were walking under the rain mysteriously with a ray of sunshine. he also designed his own home.

by this time, i was tanned by the blazing sun of nha trang.