Back in July, at the border between Laos and Vietnam, I was blissfully unaware that I was about to be told “Vietnam cannot!” A few minutes later I was walking alone across the now quite border when I snapped this picture.

A lone guard sat under the grandiose archway of the Vietnamese border with Laos. After a flurry of traffic and activity when the border opened for the day, the place is fell eerily silent. The only sound was the noise my case made as I dragged it along behind me in the formidable heat that had already enveloped this hour when I would usually only just about be stirring from sleep.

As I neared the guard I forced a smile. The guard glanced at me, uninterested, unengaged, and obviously unwilling to go to the effort of smiling for some hapless over-cooked tourist.

From his red plastic chair next to a fold out table the guard followed me with his gaze for a few moments before staring back off in the direction of Vietnam like a dog awaiting the return of its master.

What was he looking for I wondered as I stopped on the other side of the road, lifted my camera and took the shot. He looked back over at me and gave a dismissive wave for his hand. Maybe this was another one of those “no photo” times, but if it was the guard was not about to get animated about it.

I like the photograph because it looks entirely boring in that way that border crossings often are. The shot I actually used this day was taken earlier than this one, at the time when I walked the short path from Laos to Vietnam. That shot was more suitable because I felt it illustrated the story better, but I think this picture is a better stand alone photograph. What do you think?

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