Lan Hạ bay and Cát Bà island

Boats for kayaking at Hạ Long bay
One of the things to do on the tour was to do kayaking
at Hạ Long bay. We traveled from Lan Hạ bay to Hạ Long
 bay and I got sea sickness on the way because of waves.

Weekend 20 to 22 March 2015 - I bought a ticket at Hoàng Long bus company in Hanoi and traveled to Cát Bà island for 3 days. It took me 4 and a half hours to travel by bus and speed boat from Hanoi to the island. It is 20 years since my first trip to Cát Bà island. I still remember that day when my boat was approaching the island at the sunset. I saw some simple buildings along coastline and rock mountains behind them. At that time there was no electricity on the island yet and the locals had to use generators at night. Today Cát Bà island is a very popular tourist destination and it has changed a lot. The purpose of my trip this time was to visit Lan Hạ bay which is located south east of the island. I planned to do this tour 3 years ago on my last visit but I missed it.

Tết 2015 in Hanoi (the Year of the Goat)

A good luck wish for
the New Year
New Year decoration at
 a shopping mall in Hanoi

It has been six years since my last Tết (Vietnamese Lunar New Year) celebration in Hanoi as I often traveled in other cities of Vietnam and abroad during the holiday. This year we have a long holiday (9 days) so it is a good chance for our family reunion. I spent the week before Tết learning to drive a car. This was a new experience for me and I really enjoyed learning this new skill. I found a private instructor and he often arranged another learner going with me, so that we could share the cost. Our driving lesson lasted 5 hours every morning and it cost us USD 10 per hour. However, some days I drove by myself under instructor's guidance and we traveled over 130km on different roads. The week before Tết is always the busiest time of the year. The road is very crowded and the traffic is unorganized at times. On the first day of my driving lesson I had to drive on a busy highway. I still remember that day as I drove like a drunk, sometimes moving toward left side, sometimes toward right side. Every day we drove to a driving course outside Hanoi which is quiet comparing with other sites where 20 cars may practise at the same time. However, we only practised there for an hour then back on the road again.

The Chàm towers in Mỹ Sơn

Mỹ Sơn 
I am wearing a white Áo Dài
(traditional dress) and sitting at
 the main tower group of Mỹ Sơn.

Mỹ Sơn Holy Land (Thánh địa Mỹ Sơn) near Đà Nẵng and Hội An in central Vietnam is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It used to be an imperial city during the Chăm dynasty (Champa kingdom) from the 4th to the 13th century. Mỹ Sơn is also the only site in South East Asia which experienced such a long development period (for 9 centuries). Up to present, it has played an important role in the architectural heritage of the Chăm ethnic minority group in Vietnam.

Mỹ Sơn is a large complex inside a valley, which was built to celebrate the divinity of the King. The 71 towers of red and brown bricks were divided into 13 groups and used symbolic architecture to reflect the various facets of the King's divine nature. However, after the wars, most of the buildings had been destroyed. There remain only some brick towers and ruins, but they still look very special.

I visited Mỹ Sơn for the first time in July 2003 on a business trip. At that time, my Company was awarded the Contract to build an exhibition house at the entrance of the site. The project used a

Circus performance in Hanoi

Two girls in the role of Egyptian cats
Princess (the girl in the middle of the photo)
 was looking at cat girls performance.

1 June 2014 was the international children's day and we celebrate this day every year in Vietnam. We bought tickets to see circus at 8pm at the Central Circus in Hanoi. I haven't seen circus for a very long time. Every time I go back to the circus, I always remember my childhood when my parents and teachers took me to the shows and it was always a big event for us. In the past, circus consisted of separate performances with introduction, but nowadays they are all included into a story. The subject for this year's circus is "Legend of Egypt". I had seen posters of the show outside the circus since May whenever I passed by it. The shows take place at weekends. Ticket prices are different. If you choose a show on Sunday morning, it costs VND 100,000 (about USD 5). Evening shows are a little more expensive, VND 150,000 (about USD 7) and VND 200,000 (about USD 10) for the tickets, depending on your seat locations.

Old French buildings in Hanoi

St Joseph's Cathedral
St Joseph's Cathedral (built in 1886)
at Christmas 2007.

During the French rule in Vietnam from 1858 to 1954, many cathedrals, government offices, hotels and villas of French architecture were built. You can see them in different cities of Vietnam, such as Hanoi, Hải Phòng, Sapa, Đà Lạt and Sài Gòn.

Some areas of Hanoi city are called "French quarters", as many old French buildings are still preserved there. They are now used as government offices, embassies, Hanoi post office, schools, shops, hospitals or museums. My secondary school also is an old French building near Hanoi Opera House. I studied there for 3 years and my mother was a teacher at this school for a long time.

The two biggest cathedrals in Hanoi (St. Joseph's cathedral and Cửa Bắc cathedral) were also built by the French in the late 19th century. At Christmas, the cathedrals are beautifully decorated and many people visit the sites for taking photos.

A part of Hoả Lò prison is open as a museum. It was the place where American pilots were imprisoned during the American war and they called it "Hanoi Hilton Hotel".

Hàng Đậu water tower
This used to be a water tower in the past.
During French occupation, 12,000 French
 troops were encamped in Hanoi. Two water
 plants were chosen (Yên Phụ & Đồn Thuỷ)
in 1894 to provide clean water for soldiers in
the center and in the Old Quarter. This water
 tower is called "Đài Đầu" (head reservoir) by
the French. It belonged to the Yên Phụ water plant.
This tower is 21.30m high and has a diameter of 19m.
Now it's no longer used, so it's closed.

According to an article dated 9 August 2012 on the Vnexpress, there are 1,586 old French villas in Hanoi, of which 562 villas are private owned, 1,024 villas are under State's management, and 42 villas in the central government area of Ba Đình district are not allowed to be owned by private sectors.

Biệt thự Pháp tại Hà Nội

Hiện nay trên địa bàn thành phố có 1.586 biệt thự do Pháp để lại. Trong đó có 562 biệt thự thuộc sở hữu tư nhân, 1.024 biệt thự thuộc sở hữu nhà nước, 42 biệt thự ở trung tâm chính trị Ba Đình không được phép tư nhân hoá. Hà Nội đã hoàn thành việc phân loại biệt thự thành bốn loại. Cụ thể, loại 1, là biệt thự có giá trị đặc biệt về văn hoá, kiến trúc, lịch sử, có quy mô lớn, vị trí đẹp, sân vườn còn nguyên bản; loại 2, biệt thự có vị trí đẹp, có giá trị về văn hóa, kiến trúc nhưng ít nhiều đã bị biến dạng, xuống cấp nhưng cần bảo tồn.

Biệt thự loại 3 là có giá trị trung bình về văn hoá, kiến trúc, đã bị lấn chiếm, cải tạo một phần được xem xét bảo tồn hoặc phá bỏ xây mới; loại 4, biệt thự đã bị phá bỏ, xây nhà mới.

Hoả Lò prison
This prison was built by the French in the early
 20th century and now it's open as a museum.
During the American war, it was called "Hanoi
Hilton Hotel" by American prisoners/pilots.

Theo ông Tú, biệt thự thuộc loại 3 và 4 được ứng xử bình thường theo quy định của nhà nước. Tuy nhiên, một số biệt thự gắn với di tích văn hóa hoặc có giá trị kiến trúc thì phải được Sở Văn hóa thể thao và Du lịch, Sở Quy hoạch và Kiến trúc chấp thuận mới được cải tạo.

(Theo Vnexpress - Ngày 9/8/2012)

Hanoi_girl

Source: www.travelblog.org

Đồng Hới city

Quảng Bình Quan in Đồng Hới city
This is the symbol of Quảng Bình
 province in central Vietnam.

Tuesday 27 January 2009 - At 6:30am, a mini bus came to pick me up at my guest house in Lao Bảo town. As I was back in Vietnam via the Lao - Viet border crossing too late the day before, I decided to stay overnight in Lao Bảo border town and next day I would get a bus from Lao Bảo - Khe Sanh - Đông Hà - Đồng Hới, where I would fly back home in Hanoi.

It was the second day of the lunar New Year (Tết) and still early, so we saw only two people on the street in Lao Bảo town. I was the first person in the mini bus, but the driver picked up more people on the way. We passed by Khe Sanh which is a small town, about 20km away from Lao Bảo border gate. This used to be the bloodiest battle field in early 1968 during the American war. At a crossing in the town, there is a memorial statue of the Vietnamese soldiers and the driver said Khe Sanh museum was on that direction. I visited Khe Sanh museum and Tà Kơn airport on DMZ tour in September2000 and it was still one of the most interesting places in Vietnam that I've been to.

Mộc Châu highlands

A blue H'mong woman
She is shy when we take a photo of her.
We present these H'mong people candy
and plums.

April 30 and May Day were our national holiday, plus weekend, so we had a long holiday this year. Myself and two Vietnamese girls rented a 4 seater car with driver and traveled 192km to Mộc Châu highlands in north west Vietnam. Mộc Châu is a district in Sơn La province and this place is off the beaten track. It's also home of some ethnic minority groups such as the Thai, H'mong, Muong etc. At altitude 1050m, Mộc Châu has cool climate and it's good for diary farming and tea plantations. Mộc Châu milk is a famous brand name in Vietnam, along with Vinamilk.

April 30, 2010 - We left Hanoi at 7:30am and traveled along the National Highway No. 6. When we were going up mountains, at one section, it was so foggy that the visible distance was only a few meters and our car had to follow the white painted line. It took us 4 and a half hours to get to Mộc Châu from Hanoi with two stops on the way. Even though it was a national holiday and every tourist site in Vietnam was crowded, it was pretty quiet in Mộc Châu and we didn't see any tourists at the sites. The only thing we found was that the big hotels in the town were fully booked in advance. In the afternoon we planned to see Dải Yếm waterfall, but the locals said it was dry there and no water as this time was the end of the dry season.

Two H'mong boys in Mộc Châu
We saw a group of H'mong people having
lunch by the road. These boys are the sons
of a man there. They were eating rice with
water and enjoying their simple food.

We decided to visit a couple of villages (Bản Búa and Bản Áng 2) where the Thai ethnic minority people are living. While walking around Bản Áng 2 village to take photos of stilt houses, we were invited to come in a local house and a Thai woman even climbed up a plum tree at her garden to pick plums for us. We sat down to drink tea on wooden floor of her house and talked to her. We wanted to pay for the plums but she refused. I especially like the view from corridor of her house. From there we could see mountains, other stilt houses, gardens and fields. There was a traditional dance show in the evening (perhaps some festival), however it was raining, so we couldn't go back to this village.

May Day 2010 - We went to the tea plantation hills which are located some kms from the town. It was a day off work, so we didn't see any farmers at the site. We climbed up the hills then went down to other fields. The sun was just shining at 10am before we left for the diary farming area. We passed by some milking cows and walked to grass fields. These cows are owned by local households and they milk twice per day, at 5am and 4pm. The cow milk is then sold to Mộc Châu Milk Factory. A cow costs VND 20-25 million (US$1,000 - 1,300) and a liter of milk can be sold at VND 10,000 (50 US cents).

Cruising the Red River

The Red River in Hanoi
The boat is the office of the Red River Tourist Company.
This shot was taken when our boat was leaving it.

This is my 50th blog and it's about the river that carries my name. In 1954 my father, who was a teenager from southern Vietnam, traveled on a Polish ship to Hanoi for training, hoping 2 years later he would go back home as a cadre. The American war started and the country was divided into north and south for 21 years. He met my mother, a Hanoian woman, in the early 1970s. They married and settled down in Hanoi, before he had a chance to return home to see his parents in 1975, when the country was reunited. My parents gave me the name “Red River” in memory of Hanoi, where they met and had decided to live together for the rest of their lives, while my sister was given the name of his home town in southern Vietnam.

Direction board

The river which originates in Yunnan province of China comes into Vietnam at Lào Cai province and runs through northern Vietnam (including Hanoi). It’s called “Red River” which is the chief river of northern Vietnam (1,175 km long). The river has red water due to alluvium (silt). It also forms a great delta, before entering the Gulf of Tonkin at Nam Định province.

When I was a little girl, my family lived near the river outside the dike system. We experienced many floods over the years, especially during the high water season from July to September. I still remember the day when we woke up to find all pots/basins floating around our beds and we had to walk around in the water. Power was cut off on those days and we had to move to our grandparents house or my father’s office for a few days. Nowadays, there are rarely flooding on the river, thanks to Hoà Bình hydropower plant built in the upstream.

B52 wreckage in Ngọc Hà village

B52 wreckage at Hữu Tiệp lake
Wreckage of the US B52 bomber at
Hữu Tiệp lake, Ngọc Hà village, Han

 Tuesday, 2nd September 2008 - It was our Independence Day. My friend and I took a taxi to Hữu Tiệp lake in Ngọc Hà village to take photos of the B52 wreckage on the lake. The journey took longer than we expected due to the traffic congestion on the public holiday. We went along Hoàng Hoa Thám street (one way street) then turned right at the lane next to house No. 55. After going straight down the alley, we saw Hữu Tiệp lake and the B52 wreckage on it.

According to the record, at 23:05 on December 27th 1972, the Battalion No 72 - Air Defense Missile Regiment No 285 shot down on the spot a B52G bomber of the US during an air raid in Hanoi. A part of the wreckage fell in to Hữu Tiệp lake, Ngọc Hà village in Ba Đình district of Hanoi near the Botanical Gardens (Vườn bách thảo) of downtown Hanoi, Vietnam. Today the wreckage still lies where it fell.

The 60th anniversary of Hanoi’s Liberation Day

By Hoàn Kiếm lake in Hanoi's center
This shot was taken on evening 8 October when
I went down to Hanoi's center with my parents.

10 October 2014 - Today we celebrate the 60th anniversary of Hanoi’s Liberation Day. On 9 October 1954 the French troops left Hanoi and the war against the French was going to an end. Next day the Vietnamese soldiers came into Hanoi from different directions and they were happily greeted by the Hanoians. There are many activities in Hanoi these days and I saw many foreign tourists around Hoan Kiem lake in Hanoi's center. Some Vietnamese students approached to talk with them. The streets are decorated with flowers and colorful lights at night as well as flags everywhere. You can go to see photo exhibitions, music concerts or fireworks at 30 different locations in and around the city tonight.

Kim Bôi hot spring (2nd trip in 2014)

My nephew and niece at the meeting hall
My nephew and niece played chess while their mother
and my parents were dancing at the meeting hall.

Weekend 12 to 14 September 2014 - My father organized a 3-day trip for our family and his friends to Kim Bôi hot spring which is located in northwest Vietnam, 80km away from Hanoi. It is exactly 6 years since my first trip to this place and I was happy to go back and see how it has changed. Kim Bôi hot spring is a popular destination for north Vietnamese from September to December, when the weather is cooler. Its mineral water is suitable for drinking, bathing and useful in medical treatments. It’s not an open air stream. The mineral water is pumped into public or private pools and you choose the pool. A ticket for public pool is VND 50,000 (about US$ 2.5). There are private pools for 2 or 13 people and they are more expensive. A special feature in private pools is the water is pumped with strong pressure.

At a shop outside Kim Bôi hot spring
Honey and rice alcohol as well as forest
 products are sold outside the hot spring.

When the water hits your body, it feels like you are having a massage. The best time for swimming in public pool is the early hours of the day, around 6-8am, because the new water is pumped into the pool and there are few people there during that time.

Sunday is a very busy day as the public pool is often full of people.

One of the interesting places to visit in Kim Bôi is the local market, about 3km from the hot spring. There are many local products sold at the market, for example, mushrooms, dried bamboo, banana flowers, taro, rice wine, sticky rice cooked inside bamboo pipes etc. When I went to this market in September 2008, I saw buffaloes alongside the traffic and the town was quite small. Things look so different now with a lot of shops along the main street of the town. Some students played volleyball at the sport center opposite Kim Bôi post office.

On Saturday evening a musical show as cultural exchange event was organized. The local girls wearing traditional dresses of the Muong and Thai ethnic minority groups performed some tunes on gongs, dances and songs in their languages.

Vân Long nature reserve

Vân Long nature reserve - August 2008
The boat rower and I at the Vân Long nature reserve
in Ninh Binh province, 112km from Hanoi.

Sunday afternoon, 31 August 2008 - After visiting Phát Diệm cathedral in the morning and having lunch in Ninh Bình city, my friend and I traveled another 12km by car to Vân Long nature reserve. I had not been to this site before, so I was really looking forward to seeing it. When our car reached the site, we saw the vast range of limestone karst mountains along the stream and the landscape was absolutely beautiful. It reminded me of Guilin in China and Hạ Long bay in northern Vietnam, but this place is very special, as it’s far less touristy. The site was just found out 7 years ago, then developed into a nature reserve and not many people go there yet. The locals at Vân Long are also gentle in comparison with the ones at Tam Cốc (which I never want to return).

View of the area

We parked our car and bought tickets for both sightseeing and boat ride (VND 35,000/person, approx US$2.2). Certainly the boat rowers expect some tips at the end of the boat trip, as they receive very little money from the authority. The man, who rowed our boat, is 56 years old. He asked whether we wanted
to cruise for an hour or an hour and a half, we chose “an hour”. I loved the view of the mountains and their reflection on the water. It was really quiet and peaceful while sitting on the boat and moving around without seeing anyone else, except a local woman and her ducks on the way. We also got into a cave, however the water level was high, so we couldn’t go too far and had to turn back the same way.

The Mid-Autumn Festival 2014

Drums and lion heads
At a stall on Hàng Mã street
 in Hanoi's Old Quarter

8 Sep 2014 - Today is our full moon day or Mid-Autumn Festival. It is 5 years since my last blog about the Mid-Autumn Festival in Hanoi which I published in 2009. One week ago I took my nephew and niece to visit a big market in the Old Quarter where traditional lanterns and toys are sold for this event. In Vietnam, the Mid-Autumn Festival is considered as the festival for children and we buy them lanterns or toys as well as presenting each other moon cakes. On r the 15th of August based on our lunar calendar a big party is organized fochildren and they parade with lanterns or watch lion dance.

We walked along some streets in the Old Quarter and enjoyed great atmosphere there. It has been a long time since I went to this place. Two years ago I was traveling in the North West of Vietnam during the moon festival and I saw local people parading on the street or practicing lion dance.

Do you appreciate the chance to travel?

Hạ Long bay
One of the UNESCO world heritage sites in
Vietnam. There are 1,969 islands in the bay.

Last week a Travel Blog member said to me “Your blog is a bright statement of Vietnam”. I replied to him “There are the good and the bad everywhere in the world. I always show my respect for the people and countries I visit. Life is too short, so I try to think about the positive side”. And he agreed with me.

My story will start with the meetings with two English men in Hanoi. The first English man visited Vietnam on 12 business trips during the past 3 years and he fell in love with Vietnam. I also attended the dinner farewell party with his local staff and saw how sad he was on the last day in Vietnam. The second English man came to Vietnam based on the votes of his friends and traveled for a couple of weeks from south to north. During his visit in Hanoi I took him to a camera shop where the shop owner inserted two screws into his camera without any fee. He was also invited to drink tea at a shop and at some places people approached him and asked him how old he was.

Đông Hồ woodblock paintings

Đông Hồ woodblock painting

---

"Hứng dừa" - coconut catching.

On my trip to Bắc Ninh province last week, I bought some Đông Hồ woodblock paintings. This is the most famous traditional painting style in northern Vietnam which has experienced 400-year history. The paintings are drawn on "Dó" (poonah) papers with coloring from pigments in half-baked bricks, tree leaves, ground coal, roots and resin. They reflect the aspirations of the people for peace, prosperity and happiness.

The village that specializes in making these paintings is Đông Hồ village in Thuận Thành district, Bắc Ninh province, 40km from Hanoi. Previously, it was called "Mái" village. It's a beautiful village by the Đuống river which still preserves some cultural heritages of the Kinh Bắc area.

Photos No. 7 - 12 in this blog were taken at the Museum of Ethnology in Hanoi on 30 January 2009 during our lunar New Year festival (Tết 2009) and they show how to make the paintings. Each artist is in charge of a part of the paintings and they are using wooden moulds. The papers they use are "giấy điệp" (poonah papers covered with mixture of sea shell powder and sticky liquid). After printing, they brush the rear surfaces, so that the ink on the moulds can stick into the papers. When the paintings are complete, they dry them in the sun.

Đông Hồ woodblock painting
"Chọi trâu" - buffalo fighting.

The subjects of Đông Hồ woodblock paintings are dreams in the daily life, national heroes, or landscape, flowers, birds and animals symbolizing the 4 seasons. The 8 Đông Hồ woodblock paintings in my blog are the buffalo fighting (chọi trâu), chicken family (gà đàn), pig family (lợn đàn), little girl holds a duck (em bé gái ôm vịt), little boy with flute on a buffalo (em bé chăn trâu thổi sáo), swinging (đánh đu), lovers fighting because of jealousy (đánh ghen), coconut catching (hứng dừa). They are the symbols of happy family, prosperity, development, life in the countryside, as well as the sense of humor in Vietnamese culture.


Blog about my trip to Đông Hồ village in 2014: Đông Hồ painting village &Chuôn Ngọ village

Tranh dân gian Đông Hồ

Đông Hồ woodblock painting
"Em bé chăn trâu thổi sáo" (little boy with flute
on a buffalo) - symbol of life in the countryside.
This lunar year 2009 is the Year of the Buffalo,
 so this painting is very popular in Vietnam.

Tranh Đông Hồ là tranh khắc gỗ in trên giấy "điệp". Tranh Đông Hồ màu in trước, nét in sau. Tờ tranh có bao nhiêu màu thì in bấy nhiêu lần ván màu. Giấy in tranh là giấy "dó" dai bền, trên mặt giấy quét phủ một lớp màu trắng óng ánh, mịn màng như
 lụa, đó là tinh chất của mai con điệp ở ngoài biển hoà quyện cùng bột hồ nếp thơm, tạo cho tờ giấy "dó" cứng xốp và nổi lên chất nghệ thuật đặc sắc của những thô điệp. Sắc màu của tranh Đông Hồ rất đặc biệt, đó là sự hoà quyện của những sắc màu cổ truyền tươi tắn của những cây cỏ rất dễ tìm ở mỗi vùng quê Việt Nam. Màu son được khai thác từ đất đá của đồi núi, màu vàng được lấy từ hoa hoè. Tất cả các nguyên liệu làm tranh đều có sẵn trong tự nhiên và các bức tranh có màu sắc rất bền và đẹp, không dễ bị phai nhạt bởi ánh sáng và thời gian.

Nội dung tranh dân gian Đông Hồ rất phong phú, có tranh phản ánh cuộc sống sinh hoạt dân dã (em bé chăn trâu thổi sáo, em bé chăn trâu thả diều, chọi trâu, múa rồng, múa lân, bịt mắt bắt dê, rước rồng, đấu vật, kéo co...), có tranh miêu tả các anh hùng lịch sử (Đinh Bộ Lĩnh cưỡi rồng sang sông, Hai Bà Trưng, Bà Triệu...), các câu chuyện cổ tích (Thạch Sanh, Tấm Cám...), hay phong cảnh cỏ cây hoa lá phối hợp với chim muông, cầm thú tượng trưng cho 4 mùa (chim công, tứ quý...).

Đông Hồ woodblock painting
"Lợn đàn" (pig family) - symbol of prosperity.

Hình ảnh những em bé bụ bẫm, khoẻ mạnh hay những con vật quen thuộc thường xuất hiện trong loại tranh "chúc phúc" thể hiện ước vọng hạnh phúc từ bao đời của người dân. "Em bé trai ôm gà trống" biểu hiện lời cầu chúc mọi người, mọi nhà có con trai khoẻ mạnh, lớn lên sẽ vinh hiển với đủ đức tính tốt, văn, võ, duy, nhân, tín. "Em bé gái ôm vịt" biểu hiện đức tính của nữ giới về sự phong lưu, hiền dịu, đông con. "Em bé ôm cóc" biểu hiện ước mong đứa bé lớn lên gan dạ, dũng cảm, giàu có và nhân nghĩa. "Em bé ôm rùa" tượng trưng cho ước mong khoẻ mạnh và sống lâu. Tranh "gà trống" oai vệ, hùng dũng biểu tượng cho sự thịnh vượng và có ý chúc mừng mọi người, mọi nhà đón xuân tốt lành. Tranh "gà đàn" có ý nghĩa chúc tụng mọi người về hạnh phúc gia đình, vợ chồng hoà thuận, con cái đông vui quấn quít bên nhau. Tranh "lợn đàn" là biểu tượng của sự sung túc, no đủ. Khoáy âm dương trên mình lợn ngụ ý sự phát triển, sinh sôi, nảy nở.

Bài viết về chuyến đi đến Làng tranh Đông Hồ vào năm 2014: Đông Hồ painting village & Chuôn Ngọ village

Hanoi_girl 

Source: travelblog.org

Weekend at Khoang Xanh & Thác Đa

Khoang Xanh - March 2009

Sunday 15 March 2009 - I traveled with my parents and their friends to Khoang Xanh and Thác Đa, which are located 50km from Hanoi's center. Both places are famous for the waterfalls and hot spring/mud bath services, however we are now in the dry season, so there are not much water at the waterfalls.

We left Hanoi at 6:30am and arrived back on the same day at 6:30pm. I climbed up the rocks at Khoang Xanh, but there were not much to see so I decided to go down. The lake and another little waterfall are the places where I met a local photographer and he helped me take some beautiful photos of my orange traditional dress Áo Dài. Often I choose a bright place for taking photos, but this photographer advised me to stand in the shadow and his advice really worked this time. When I offered him a tip, he refused and walked away. I am always touched by the kindness of friendly locals wherever I travel.

While my parents and their friends stayed at Khoang Xanh and danced with their own music (CD), I walked 2km with two girls to Thác Đa, which is another site near Khoang Xanh.

The old houses in Đường Lâm commune

A house in Mông Phụ village
Soon we will celebrate the Independence Day
(2nd September), so a flag is hung up at window of this house.

Đường Lâm (53km away from Hanoi's center) is the first ancient village in Vietnam, which was recognized as a national heritage site in May 2006. There are over 300 old houses in the 9 villages of Đường Lâm commune and they were built 300 - 400 years ago. The old houses are of wooden type, while other houses in Đường Lâm have the walls of lateritic bricks (gạch đá ong) made of the hill soils. Other than the old houses, some must-sees in this area are the temples, pagodas and mausoleums of the two Kings of Vietnam (Ngô Quyền and Phùng Hưng).

The photos in this blog were taken in Mông Phụ village of Đường Lâm commune last Saturday 29 August 2009. In this village, there are about 50 old houses that are still preserved. A friend and I hired a car and driver to this village and we spent some hours visiting four houses with the oldest and most beautiful architecture.

Sunday at Việt Phủ Thành Chương

Sơn Tĩnh tower & water
puppet theater

Sunday 1 November 2009 - I traveled with my colleagues to the Thành Chương's Viet Palace which is located 35km from Hanoi's center. Mr. Thành Chương was born in 1949 in a northern province. As a famous artist in Vietnam, he has earned millions of USDs from selling his paintings and he has also collected antiques for years. He bought 10,000m2 of land in Sóc Sơn district, flattened a hill and started building various works of art in his own realm during 2001-2003. Mr. Thành Chương has devoted most of his property, energy, heart and mind to the construction of this realm. At this place we can see the old traditional houses of northern Vietnam, Buddha statues, lacquer paintings drawn by Mr. Thành Chương, wooden furniture and antiques dating from hundreds years ago. Anyone who visits the palace would be surprised at his great love for the invaluable heritage of Vietnamese culture.

There are about 20 places to see at the site, for example, the water puppet theater, the house on stilts, the Mountain God Tower, the thatched cottage with earthen walls, the horse shrine, the Champa gate etc. In one of the houses, there are the most valuable antiques and visitors have to pay an extra fee to see them.

Mũi Cà Mau - the southernmost point of Vietnam

On the Cà Mau cape
The words mean "The national
 trig point GPS 0001"

26 September 2009 - After traveling for 2 hours by plane from Hanoi to Cần Thơ, 4 hours by bus from Cần Thơ - Sóc Trăng - Bạc Liêu - Cà Mau and then 2 hours by water taxi, I reached the Cà Mau cape (Mũi Cà Mau), which is the southernmost point of Vietnam. This is one of my dreams that came true. As some of you have not been to Vietnam, let me explain a little bit about Vietnam. The country looks like an "S" shape. It borders with China in the north, Laos and Cambodia in the west and has a long coastline (3260km). The northernmost point of Vietnam is the Nho Quế river which runs between steep mountains. The other side of the river is China and on our side, there is Xéo Lủng village where about 100 H'mong ethnic people are living. Only soldiers in charge of border guarding make patrol in this area and it often takes them one or two days to go along the border line. We travelers are not allowed to reach this sensitive area. The national trig point that we can visit is placed at Lũng Cú near this area (see the link below).

The southernmost point of Vietnam is the Cà Mau cape. Every year the cape naturally extends about 80-100m into the sea through deposits of sand. Our guide joked that the northernmost point of Vietnam looked like a conical hat, while the southernmost point looked like a big toe.

Đông Hồ painting village & Chuôn Ngọ village

Đông Hồ woodblock painting
Đám cưới chuột (Wedding of Mice) is one of the
famous woodblock paintings in Đông Hồ village.

Saturday, 7 June 2014 - We rented a car with driver (about USD 60) and traveled to two craft villages near Hanoi. I wished to see these villages for a long time, but couldn't make my way until this day. Both villages are located 40km away from Hanoi but in opposite directions. We left Hanoi in the morning and traveled 40km to Đông Hồ painting village in Thuận Thành district, Bắc Ninh province. Our car went along a dyke road then the driver turned right and we went down to the market of Đông Hồ village. This village has a 400 year history of making folklore paintings. Most of the families in the village have given up making traditional paintings and changed to make offerings for the dead people (for example, fake money and other things to be burned at the funerals and in other occasions). Only two families in the village still continue this traditional craft work.

Tea pot and cups made from sea shells
At a local house in Chuôn Ngọ village

I chose to visit artist Sam's house first. The first floor of his house is used as a shop with many paintings. Some paintings were new to me as I had not seen them before. Mr. Sam was very friendly and introduced his hand made paintings as well as wood carved paintings or woodblock paintings. Some moulds have been used for decades. A large hand made painting "Wedding of Mice" is worth VND 2 million (about USD 95) without frame. A small woodblock painting would cost USD 2. We chose to buy a painting of a girl carrying water in the old days. It was interesting that the original painting was lost for a long time and kept in France. It was returned to Vietnam recently and recovered by the artist. Mr. Sam hoped that the Government would support the artists so that they could continue this work and he also expected UNESCO would recognize Đông Hồ paintings as a world heritage. You can find more information about this type of painting in my blog: Đông Hồ woodblock paintings

Mr Sam & his painting shop
 in Đông Hồ village
One of the only two families in the village
that still keeps this traditional work.

We walked along narrow alleys of the village and visited the village's temple. It's located next to a beautiful pond with an old bridge over it. We went to see the second artist's house (Mr. Chế). He has a big shop and prices are also more expensive. We returned to Hanoi for lunch and moved on to Chuôn Ngọ village which specializes in inlaying mother-of-pearl on wooden products. This village is located 40km south of Hanoi. We went to 3 local houses in the village. The locals showed us mother-of-pearl inlay on beds, plates, tables, calendars, tea pots, smoking pipes and carving works on big sea shells. Souvenirs such as pen holders, tissue boxes, paintings, wooden furniture with mother-of-pearl inlay are sold at a big workshop. The sea shells are imported from different countries and create different colors for the craft products.

We ended up our day trip with lots of souvenirs we bought in Đông Hồ painting village, Chuôn Ngọ village and hand embroidery paintings in Thường Tín commune on the way back to Hanoi. We had an interesting day meeting with some artists who are talented and have passions for continuing our traditional craft works. Hopefully, these works will be passed on to the next generations and not vanish in the future.