Tam Coc, Ninh Binh, Vietnam

I have visited Tam Coc, Vietnam three times since January 2020 and over time have been struck by the increased quietness due to the absence of tourists as a result of Covid 19. Though often overlooked by visitors Tam Coc town and the surrounding area have returned to a tranquility that has not existed there for many years. At first it felt like a privilege to see this landscape in an uncorrupted state but the realisation that the empty waters that you see in some of the pictures mean that hundreds of people are now unemployed. Those who rowed the tourists through the still shallow water, through caves and into the vivid green rice paddies are likely to be enduring a very difficult time. The pictures depict this quietude but still retain evidence of the diminished human presence.