A train station in Da Lat in 1953, as seen in ‘The Old Days of Langbiang’ photo book

A new photo book shows a simple, unobstructed Da Lat, before the days of tour buses and kitschy souvenirs.

It was 1976 and Thai had been searching private storage areas and public records in Nha Trang for materials about Dr. Alexandre Yersin as part of a personal research project. But the rare photos, showing an undeveloped and pure Da Lat, put him on another track.

“I knew immediately how important this collection was,” said Thai. “I decided to track down the history of each photo.”

The collection contained a vast array of shots and films, depicting the people of Da Lat and their everyday lives, as well as the stunning mountainous landscape of Da Lat and its views from atop the Langbiang plateau.

Now, over 30 years later, Thai has put 150 of those photos, along with 150 of his own shots, into a new 230-page book: Ngay xua, Langbiang (The Old Days of Langbiang).

The work, complete with meticulously researched captions for each shot, brings to life a slower time in Da Lat, before the cool-weather Central Highlands town became the bustling resort city it is now.

Sacrifices

After finding the photos, Thai said he found it exceedingly difficult to get good information on them.

He had found them tucked away in a small storage space by a Nha Trang businessman who knew next to nothing about their origins.

Thai said his research has proved that they were taken in the 1950s, but he still doesn’t know who snapped the iconic images: young Vietnamese women in ao dai (traditional Vietnamese dress) preparing for work, hunters shooting rifles from atop elephants and pastoral shots of the old town marketplace.

Thai said the new book contained photos of Da Lat and the surrounding area’s most famous waterfalls such as Prenn, Cam Ly, Dambri as well as pictures of the Lake of Sighs and the former summer Palace of King Bao Dai.

“I had to track down the history of each place in the photos and talk to many people to gather information about the history of Da Lat.”

Thai said that he fell in love, as most photographers do, with Da Lat during the project. Many of the photos are now very emotional for him.

Thai said he feels a sense of loss every time he sees the photo of the railroad between Thap Cham and Da Lat, which Thai dates at around 1952. The shot shows a train crossing over a remote stream.

“Thousands of Vietnamese people sacrificed their families and even their lives to build that railroad from 1903-1938. But it was put out of commission during the war in 1964.

“And even though it ‘survived’ the long war years, it was disassembled and sold as scrap metal after the war ended.”

Heart and soul

Nestled 1,500 meters above sea level on the plateau, the picturesque Lam Dong Province town has provided inspiration for many artists and photographers with its Swiss-Alps style setting and combination of Vietnamese and European charm, due to the thousands of French villas built there by the colonialists.

Thai has not proven immune to this inspiration.

“Da Lat is a Vietnam fairytale,” he said. “Da Lat is my heart and my soul. It is that love which pushed me to create this photo book.”

Thai’s favorite shot is a panorama view of Da Lat taken in 1952.

“We can see decades of change in that shot.”

He also likes an old photo in the book of Highway 20, taken when it was little more than a hard dirt road through undisturbed primeval forest.

Thai said he hoped the book would be available by January 2010, in time for the annual Da Lat Flower Festival.

Reported by Ha Dinh Nguyen