British tourists traveling through Vietnam are looking for people in photos taken more than 30 years ago

In October 1992, young British man Andy Soloman arrived in Hanoi with a plan to travel for a few months. “The beauty of poverty and the strange hospitality” of the people living in old tubular houses kept him there for 7 years, turning Vietnam into his second home. Andy lived in Hanoi for 7 years (1992-1999), working for many newspapers, magazines and news agencies. He married a Vietnamese woman and welcomed two sons here.

For 7 years, Andy traveled from remote villages in the northern highlands to the bare hills of the Central Highlands to document life in a country in the process of change. Andy left Vietnam in 1999 with black and white films recording his journey through Vietnam and the people he met along the way. Many years passed, and the undeveloped film still lay dormant in Andy’s archives in England.

When the world came to a standstill due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Andy went through old memorabilia and realized that many people in the film he took in Vietnam had never seen their young selves. The idea of ​​the “journey of rediscovery and return” started in 2020. Andy calls that journey “continuum”, returning to Vietnam to find the people he met and saved memories of them through black and white film photos 34 years ago.

Talking about Vietnam in the 1990s, Andy recalls roads that “cannot be found on modern maps”. To make his first trip across Vietnam, Andy rented a UAZ469 car in Hanoi, the most popular vehicle at that time to conquer red dirt roads.

“The car was slow and extremely bumpy,” Andy said. On the car, he went through lands where in 1992 the concept of grid electricity, clean water or medical services was still a luxury. Hanoi at that time did not have high-rise buildings, only “mossed yellow walls and the sound of bicycle bells”.

In 1993, Andy was one of the first foreigners to set foot in Dong Van, Ha Giang. The road to the rocky plateau was described by him as “terrifying”, with steep slopes and jagged rocks. Andy said that the nights spent sleeping at the district People’s Committee’s guest house, with no running water, no closed toilet, surrounded by mosquitoes and dim light from the generator, left an indelible mark on him about a resilient Vietnam in need.

“I also met children with goiters due to iodine deficiency, ethnic minority communities that lacked food for several months each year, but were always willing to give the best sleeping place to a stranger,” Andy recalled. The contrast between harsh living conditions and the warmth of human love became the catalyst for his lens.

At that time, Andy took photos with film, there was no screen to review, and no way to send photos to people. Those moments only existed in his mind and in undeveloped rolls of film. He recorded traditional weddings of the Black Thai people, highland children, the daily lives of people in Quy Hoa maple village, or the handmade firecracker village in Binh Da, Hanoi (formerly Ha Tay).

The journey of giving back photos to the people I met during my trip through Vietnam in the past faced many challenges. The hardest thing for the British photographer was the three-decade period. Administrative boundaries have changed, many people have moved away or are no longer there. His search tools were handwritten diaries with instructions such as: “65 km southwest of Pleiku” or “Leprosy village near Quy Nhon”.

Andy and his Vietnamese wife drove a 500cc motorbike through the Central Highlands provinces in 2022, then to Bac Ninh and villages around Hanoi in 2024. He used social networks to connect with local groups and was successful beyond expectations. By the end of 2025, he had successfully found 57 people corresponding to 57 pairs of works comparing past and present photos, which he included in his personal exhibition “Continuum: Vietnam”.

Returning to the old lands, Andy was overwhelmed by the “change” of Vietnam. The bare hills in the Central Highlands in 1992 have now turned into economic forests, vast coffee hills and wind farms.

“In the past, getting from Pleiku to the villages took all day because of red dirt roads, now the asphalt roads are flat, motorbikes and cars run fast, and people all have smartphones to use social networks,” he said.

Finding old locations, Andy also chose to photograph old people using the same black and white film as 30 years ago. According to him, black and white helps strip away the glamor of modernity to focus on people.

“Even though the wrinkles are deep, the warmth in Vietnamese people’s eyes is still an unchanged vestige over time,” Andy said.

The story that left a lot of emotions for Andy was the journey to find “Little Locust Girl” Y Yon from the Ba Na ethnic group in Kon Tum (now Quang Ngai). On December 8, 1992, next to the old Rong House of Bahnar Kon Ro Bang II village, Andy accidentally captured the moment a shy little girl was engrossed in playing with a green locust. At that time, the village still had a pristine character with wooden houses clustered around the soaring sail-like roof of the Rong House.

30 years later, on December 1, 2022, the British photographer rediscovered the old village, now full of modern concrete houses close together, replacing wooden houses along the road. Amidst the changes of urbanization, Andy still found “little grasshopper”. Y Yon is now 42 years old.

“The reunion was full of laughter, Y Yon cherished her childhood photo, showing it off to friends and relatives. Rong’s house was still there, her smile when looking back at herself 30 years ago was still intact,” Andy recalled.

Also in the Central Highlands, on December 12, 1992, Andy visited Ia Pia village, Ia Grang commune, Gia Lai. He was welcomed by village chief Kpa ​​Ieng, then 65 years old, in a simple wooden-stilted house, with 25 jars of wine stacked along wooden walls and a smoky fire drying corn and beans. Andy’s memories of the village chief were still intact. Andy was shown the crossbow and giant bison skull by the village chief, mementos associated with the hunting life of the local people.

On November 27, 2022, Andy returned to the village to find Kpa Ieng and received news that the old village chief had passed away. The person who welcomed Andy was the village chief’s wife, Mrs. Ro Lan Lat. “When she held in her hand an old photo of her husband taken three decades ago, she sat quietly for a long time,” Andy said. The photo is not only a surprise gift but also a rare document about the deceased husband, recording a part of the family’s life in the old stilt house that is now only a memory.

Andy’s journey touches the emotions of many people. At Andy’s photo exhibition taking place at Premier Village Phu Quoc in February, Ms. Thu Ha, a visitor, was touched when learning about the photography story of him searching for strangers just to give back a photo.

“I admire the way Andy meticulously records each story and remembers each name from 30 years ago. Perhaps his memory is excellently trained to be able to connect these memories accurately,” Ms. Ha said.

Even though he has found 57 identities, Andy still wants to return to Cao Bang and Ha Giang to find old faces in his huge archive.

Currently, Andy Soloman spends about 5 months every year in Vietnam to continue the project. After launching in Hanoi, his solo exhibition stopped in Phu Quoc in February and arrived in Ho Chi Minh City in March.

“My journey in Vietnam continues, hopefully there will be many reunions in the coming years,” Andy said.