One of the (many) things we love about following Liam Campbell’s Photo-Zine ELSKA is that we get to see other queer communities around the globe that we may never ever visit.  Who would have thought that looking at local gay men in their natural habitat could be so educational … (as well as so enjoyable!)

This latest Elska …. hard to believe but it’s the 57th one in the series…. takes us on  a queer journey into Ho Chi Minh City — also known as Saigon. Campbell told Queerguru that he discovered that ‘This is a city of contradictions — electric and intimate, relentlessly busy and yet somehow unhurried, modern and deeply traditional — and that tension runs through every chapter of this issue. Some of the most open men we’ve ever encountered in eleven years of the Elska project are here right alongside some of the most nervous and shy guys.”

“There are a few things that make this issue particularly special,” continues Campbell. “In terms of the storytelling, there are some very candid and illuminating pieces… like Harry, who speaks openly about his HIV-positive status and how it’s triggered a string of positive changes in his life; or like Jesse, whose exceptional confidence plays against a yearning to find love and finally lose his virginity; or like Tin, who offers a plethora of wisdom that seems to pin down what Vietnamese communism is supposed to be all about. And in terms of the photography, symbols of Saigon abound — the coffee shops, the monsoon rains, the mopeds, the humidity, and of course the nude portraits of Saigonese men… Everything comes together in a way that makes me kick myself for having not come to Vietnam sooner.”

Inside Elska Ho Chi Minh City, readers are introduced to seven men whom the Elska team met on their journey. Each has their own chapter containing a photoshoot of them in their city streets and in their homes, dressed in their own style as well as undressed. Their chapters also include a story, allowing readers to get to know them at an even deeper level. The result is a most authentic and revealing showcase of ordinary gay men in this exciting corner of the world.