LA journalist gets a nice surprise on his Hanoi visit

Nick Ut at the Metropol Hotel in Hanoi. Photo: Henry Weinstein.

If the joy of travel is all in the unexpected discoveries, Henry Weinstein had a magical moment this week on a visit to Vietnam. Henry was at the Metropol Hotel in Hanoi, traveling with a longtime friend, when he saw a familiar Los Angeles media face. And not just anybody, but the one person from home who might be the most perfectly fitting LA person you could run into while exploring Vietnam.

Henry bumped into Nick Ut, the Associated Press photographer who won the Pulitzer Prize for his 1972 photo of a terrified young girl, Kim Phuc, running from a Napalm attack on her town. Nick is in Hanoi for an exhibition of AP photos. Ut seems to be received as something of a celebrity on his frequent returns to Vietnam, where he grew up. Earlier in the week, you may remember, Ut revisited the road where he first met Kim Phuc.

The exhibition of AP photos is on display a short distance from the hotel. In the photo above, Ut is greeting well-wishers with AP CEO Gary Pruitt in the background.

Weinstein was a longtime legal affairs writer for the Los Angeles Times who is now on the faculty and staff of the UC Irvine School of Law.