Bac Duong the Model

I'm really grateful to have a person like Bac Duong in my family. He's my mom's older brother (and my dad's good friend from high school), and he's a big jokester and overall fun person to be around. You can always count on him to make a situation lighter, funnier, or more interesting.

Bac Duong jazzed up the Vietnamese landscape for me by offering to model in front of beautiful backgrounds. He would sweep his long bangs from his forehead, think of a creative pose, and stand there as long as needed to get the shot. He often needed reassurance of his beauty after each photo shoot, but then again, you must admit, he's quite pretty. America's Next Top Model material?

A tree in my grandma's hometown, Thanh Hoa

Lake Hoan Kiem

The view from the artist Thanh Chuong's house in Hanoi

With his new water puppet friend

On the boat to spread my grandparents' ashes out at sea (those are also my sunglasses that he borrowed)

At Cai Be, a city in the Mekong Delta region

At Vung Tau beach

What a yummy-looking starfruit, don't you think?

At quite possibly the best duck noodle place ever -- the last shot I got of Bac Duong before we parted ways!

Wow, Bac Duong dep qua!

P.S. You should make note of the shirts he's wearing. The yellow one says "Property of CIA -- Completely Insane Anteaters" (Anteaters are the UC Irvine mascots, and both his kids went to UCI). The red one says "Life's a BEACH!" and lists all the main beaches in California.