Montagnard Girls
Pa Tan, Vietnam
Indigenous mountain people, Montagnards are completely different in their culture and language from mainstream Vietnamese. Some, just at the sight of a foreigner, literally head for the hills. However, others — like these young girls — timidly embrace the chance meeting. Caught in an awkward, yet endearing combination of emotions of pensive cautiousness and youthful curiosity, they go back and forth between shyly smiling and nervously giggling. Eventually, even the adults themselves - albeit with suspicious hesitation — come out to exhibit their inquisitiveness.