Climbing up Langbian mountain in early spring

Langbian Mountain has become an attractive destination for tourists thanks to its biodiversity and attractions such as mountain climbing, camping and the traditional cultures of its ethnic minority groups.

Located 12km north of Da Lat city, Langbian Mountain belongs to Lac Duong town, Lac Duong district of Lam Dong province. The mountain is well-known for its beautiful landscape, which climbs to an altitude of 2,169m. Thousands of tourists visit Langbian Mountain each year to conquer its height and enjoy its fresh air and natural beauty, especially during the lunar New Year Festival when Spring has finally arrived.

Local residents have a legend about a young couple who lived on in Langbian mountain. The boy, named K’lang, loved his girl friend, Ho Bian, very much, but they couldn’t marry because their two clans had a long-standing feud. The two decided to commit suicide together to keep their love alive forever. After their death, their bodies were buried on the top of two mountains, which eventually merged into one, called Langbian – the name of the faithful boy and girl.

A project to develop the mountain and its surrounding area into a tourist resort got underway 10 years ago. The mountain has now become an attractive destination where visitors can enjoy its great natural beauty and explore the cultures of the local ethnic minority people.

Nguyen Thi Kim Giang, Vice Director of the Langbian tourism area, says careful attention is being paid to protecting the environment and preserving the natural landscape. Visitors to Langbian resort can climb to the top of mountain, walk down to Dankia hill, and take advantage of newly available food and beverage services, while enjoying Gong performance by ethnic minority groups.

It’s a poignant moment when visitors arrive at the peak of Lam Vien Highland. From this vantage point, the land stretches as far as the eye can see.

Ngo Thi Khanh Ha, a tourist from Nha Trang City, says she was very proud to have conquered this 2,169m peak. Despite her weariness, it felt good seeing Dalat city from high above. This was the second time Ms Ha had been to the Langbian tourism area.

Dankia hill, which rises to a height of 1,950m, lies 4km from Langbian peak. The hill has been made into an inviting rest stop for tourists passing through the area. It has a large restaurant that serves local specialties, and tourists can camp here overnight and enjoy a panoramic view of Dalat City, twinkling with lights.

Liangbian offers gong performances by K’Ho ethnic people and the ‘100-year’ Valley - a modern resort providing guest with accommodations, karaoke and travelling services, and tennis courts.

Last year, the tourism area attracted over 300,000 domestic and foreign tourists, an increase of about 35 percent over 2008.

Ms Kim Giang says tourists come to visit Langbian mainly because it remains underdeveloped. If more infrastructure is built, she says, tourists might no longer love it. Tourists especially like such activities as mountain climbing, ecological research and hang-gliding.

(Source: VOV)

Dinh Mountain - tranquil Buddhist hideaway

Dinh Mountain, also known as Bong Lai (Heaven) Mountain, located just over 30 kilometers from the famous beach town of Vung Tau and about 90 kilometers from HCMC, is suggested as an ideal venue for those who love stillness, peace and nature. Many people call it Buddhist Mountain as there are a lot of pagodas.

A peaceful path leading to Dinh Mountain in Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

The foot of the mountain, situated along National Highway 51 in Kim Dinh Ward of Ba Ria Town, is covered in a dense forest of lush green foliage and rugged outcrops. The path leading to the mountain is lined with many kinds of trees. There are not many houses but scattered around are Buddhist pagodas, towers and temples, a peaceful change of pace from the noisy cities.

A large bodhisattva statue on the peak will be the first impression with its whiteness and solemn features. While it is possible to take a motorbike or car up to the peak, hiking is a great option, allowing for more time to take in the wild scenery, listen to the sounds of nature and take photos.

Along the way to conquer the peak 500 meters above sea level, visitors can explore the hidden beauty of Da (Rock) and Tien (Fairy) creeks which originate from the top of the mountain. Visitors can also take a swim to release the tiredness and sweat after trekking for a while. Nearby, smooth, flat rocks make for a pleasant area to relax after splashing in the cool water.

The mountain also boasts many mysterious caves and several Buddhist monks call the mountain home because of the great solitude. While sitting in the shade of the mountain’s ancient trees, visitors can feel a tranquil calm wash over them. The soft ringing of bells from distant Buddhist pagodas, the chirping of birds and the babbling of brooks are a treat for the senses and a great escape from the chaos of daily life.

Trekkers can also stop by many pagodas to discover ancient and contemporary architecture or make prayers for good luck and good health. After conquering the mountain, tourists can visit Phu Hai Fishing Village to learn more about the daily life of the locals.

Vung Tau Beach, about 30 kilometers from the mountain, is a must see destination for playing in the cool, blue waves and flying kites under the sunset.

(Source: SGT)

Moc Chau Plateau is attractive in spring

When mentioning Tay Bac, people think about magnificent mountains, windy hills, immense terraced fields and ladies with tawny complexions in colorful brocade dresses with bamboo papooses on their backs.

Especially, visiting Tay Bac in spring, excursionists will surely be surprised by the picturesque landscapes and peaceful life and can not resist wallowing in nature.

For those who prefer a ‘smooth’ road and less tortuous, less perilous and less collapsed rocks, Moc Chau, a plateau of Son La Province, is suggested as a priority. People often say: dairy cow + green tea + white plum = Moc Chau. That is right. The terrain is endowed with many steppes and has fewer mountains than other highland regions of Tay Bac. Therefore, it is covered by the colorfulness of wild flowers and the greenness of grasslands as the climate is warmer and more comfortable and does not suffer severe chills as the winter of Tay Bac.

Loong Luong Village is nestled outside and Ta Phinh Village lies inside. All appear in tourists’ eyes with valleys overwhelmed by the endless whiteness of plum flowers, and winding roads to the village entice tourists to step into the village as the legendary garden. Amidst limitless whiteness it is studded with radiant smiles of children who are striking with sunburned skin and weird costumes. They stroll in lands, in forests, in gardens, and are innocent like wild grass. With them, trees are friends.

Stepping for some kilometers on the winding roads strewed with plum flowers, tourists can get lost in the boundless tea valleys, growing in lines from the foot to the peak of the hills. Teas here are not too seasoned and large like Ta Xua tea, a very special type of tea in Tay Bac, but Moc Chau’s teas are short and green.

In the limitless greenness, kids run and play, making the land lively and full of breathes of life.

The daily life there is so simple, peaceful as well as colorful. Stilt houses lie obediently in valleys, halfway up mountains. The fronts of the houses are always decorated with wild sunflower and wild peach and many wild unknown flowers. Wandering around the villages, tourists sometimes can see pigs running around. They are black and much smaller than pigs people often raise on farms, and most of them wear wooden necklaces which can protect them from banging their heads into mountain walls.

Adults go to farms far way, children stay at home and play in the vast space of the mountains and forests and young couples in colorful costumes decorated with many necklaces and bracelets hang out in love markets.

Under the sunset, tourists can catch some couples seated side by side on mountaintops and looking down over the endless valleys. They keep silent in order to let their souls connect, let their emotions stretch into nature. The silence falls into sleep with soft hugs and kisses.

That is Moc Chau, fresh and primitive, giving travelers a chance to escape the bustling and hustling urban life. Have you ever thought about a simple journey to nature to find stillness and balance for your soul after stresses of daily life? Pack a bag and go ahead.

(Source: Vietnam+)

Taking the air at Tan Thanh Beach

Tan Thanh Beach in Go Cong Township in the Mekong Delta Province of Tien Giang is not as famous as Vung Tau, Mui Ne, Nha Trang or Phu Quoc beaches but it boasts its own beauty with primitiveness and purity.

The beach is very wide and not ideal for swimming, but tourists can walk offshore for some kilometers while the water level just comes up to the ankles. Afternoon is the time for villagers and visitors to catch clams and have them boiled to eat on the spot.

That is why many cottages, which are just five meters high, stand on the sand for villagers to catch clams. And this is a very weird image in comparison with other beaches with their many resorts and umbrellas.

But it is not interesting to go to the sea without swimming. Tan Thanh Beach is often gentle and shallow, but when the tide rises, the waves are strong. However, to ensure tourists are safe while swimming, people have built a one-kilometer-long bridge. When the water rises high, swimmers can jump down from the bridge and swim into the bridge wall. When the water drops, the bridge becomes an ideal place for tourists to enjoy the wind, look into the distance and breathe the salted smell of the ocean.

“The beach is not too crowded like other beaches, so I really love to wander along the shallow beachside, keep silence to wait for the dawn and wallow into sunset. That is a wonderful sensation in Tan Thanh,” said Hoang Khanh, a visitor.

Once visiting Tan Thanh, tourists should stop by some wooden stilt houses covered with simple leaves along the beach to try indigenous specialties. The fleshy, good-sized clams are the main food specialty of Tan Thanh but it is also known for its crabs.

When the tide is high, tourists can ask for a ride in a basket boat to one of the many stilt houses in the sea where they farm clams. Tourists can climb into the houses to look out to sea and in the evening the twinkling mountains of Vung Tau Town in the north can be seen.

Visitors can spend a night in simple one-bed bungalows along the beach, which are illuminated with electric or oil lamps and priced at about VND100,000 per night. Behind them in the green forest, the wind whistles all night long.

Visiting Nguyen Huynh Duc Mausoleum

About 3.5 kilometers from Tan An Township in the Mekong Delta Province of Long An, Nguyen Huynh Duc Mausoleum is one of most ancient temples and has remained unchanged through the ups and downs of time. This is an architectural complex comprising a gate, tomb and the temple of Nguyen Huynh Duc, a mandarin of the Nguyen Dynasty.

Tourists visit the tomb of Nguyen Huynh Duc in Long An Province.

The tomb was built in 1817 and attracts tourists by its royal architecture of the Nguyen Dynasty and by its antiques kept inside. The site, covering about 3,000 square meters and surrounded by many kinds of bonsai trees, ornamental plants and colorful flowers, is a peaceful sanctuary.

Passing through lines of ornamental plants, tourists can see a black wall engraved with time traces of an old civilization. The wall is made of laterite and compo mortar.

Visiting the temple, which has black wooden doors and curved roofs in southern Vietnamese style, tourists can see the portrait of Nguyen Huynh Duc at the age of 50.

The most interesting things to discover are a chair carved meticulously and presented by the King of Thailand, an old bed of Nguyen Huynh Duc and many original decrees of the king.

Behind the temple is the tomb of Nguyen Huynh Duc, built simply but imposingly, and shaded by many seasoned trees.

(Source: SGT)

Ha Tinh to have a large-scale beach resort

The People’s Committee of Ha Tinh Province has approved a beachside eco-resort project on an area of 1,557ha at Thien Cam national tourism site in the north-central coast province.

With a coastline of over 14km, this ideal resort features clear-blue sea water, a gently sloping beach, a casuarina forest, many historical sites and over 200 available hotels and restaurants along with entertainment and fitness facilities, over an area including Thien Cam Town and Cam Duong, Cam Linh and Cam Nhuong districts.

Under the development plan of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), the project includes five areas, among which a high-quality beach resort will be strongly developed from 2010-2015 in the north of Thien Cam at a cost of VND5 trillion (USD273,2 million).

(Source: VNA)

Work starts on largest hotel in Lao Cai

Works began on a four-star hotel on February 23 in the misty mountainous town of Sapa in Lao Cai Province.

Sapa lndochina, the largest of its kind in Sapa, will be built at a cost of VND145 billion (roughly USD8.1 million) by Dong Duong international commercial investment joint stock company.

Covering an area of 7,252m², the French-style hotel will accommodate 88 rooms looking the Hoang Lien-Sapa mountain range.

The hotel is expected to be put into operation in June, 2011.

Apart from Sapa lndochina, the company plans to build a luxurious resort, Indochina International, with 80 villas on an area of 28.2ha in Lao Chai-Ta Van in Lao Cai Province.

(Source: VNA)

Calligraphy Markets in Spring

In the minds of the Vietnamese people, New Year is an occasion to express their wishes. The calligraphy market, where old scholars write calligraphic scripts with a Chinese brush and ink, has become a typical cultural feature of Vietnamese people during Tet.

A calligraphy market on a Hanoi’s pavement.

For many generations the Vietnamese people have the custom of buying scripts and couplets written by scholars to hang at home during Tet. In the old days when Confucianism prospered, old people liked to hang the couplets on the walls in the house during Tet. At the year-end markets in the rural areas there were several scholars who wrote scripts on red paper and displayed them at their market stall. In the cities, especially in Hanoi’s old quarter there are always scholars sitting on the sidewalk writing scripts with a Chinese brush and ink.

An old scholar writes calligraphic scripts at Van Mieu (Temple of Literature) in Hanoi.		The calligrapher is listening to his customers’ explanation about their favourite script to be written down.

Visiting this calligraphy market, people want to have a calligraphic painting to bring home, hoping that their wish will become true. Children who wish their grand parents and parents to be healthy will ask for the scripts “longevity” or “good health”. Scripts such as “Happiness”, “Luck”, “Prosperity”, “Enduringness” and “Kindness” are also much sought after. Nowadays, in Hanoi the calligraphy market is mainly held in Van Mieu – Quoc Tu Giam (Temple of Literature – The first University of Vietnam). The calligraphy market has become a fine cultural feature and a refined pastime of the Vietnamese people.

(Source: Vietnam Pictorial)

Going to pagoda on the Lunar New Year is Vietnamese people’s good cultural tradition

When spring comes, apart from travelling, Vietnamese people usually go on a pilgrimage at the beginning of Lunar New Year – or called ‘go to pagoda’ to pray for safety, health, good luck, prosperity and happiness during the year. Going to pagoda has become a custom of many people from all walks of life in Vietnam.

When the New Year comes, Vietnamese go on pilgrimages, they never forget to burn incense at home to commemorate ancestors, their original point and then go to pagoda at midnight on the 30th, the last day of lunar year or in the morning of the first day of the New Year.

At midnight on the last day of the old year (giao thua), every family prepares a hearty tray and then burns incense to invite deity, God of the soil, ancestors and foreheads to gather with descendants. When the incense ends, everyone together gathers around the tray to eat and wish each other a happy new year. Children in the family will wish grandparents, parents and other adults and they are given lucky money in a red cover and good wishes to hope for a good new year. Then the whole family goes to the pagoda to pray for lucky things for the year and ask for offerings. If they cannot go to a pagoda at midnight of the last day of the old year, everyone can go in the early morning of the first day of the New Year.

Vietnamese people believe that going to the pagoda is not only to pray for good things for the coming year but is also the time for everyone to be reminded of the spirit life after the hardy months earning a living.

Vietnamese people offer the pagodas steamed glutinous rice, boiled chicken, wine, tea or fresh flowers, scent incenses. However, it usually has incense, fresh flower, gosh money, money and Chinese-written petitions which write wishes of everyone in family for a new year to pass as expected. After kowtow, everyone wants to get offerings from the pagoda like a branch of tree or flower which symbolize for verdancy, abundance and health.

We can catch the image of a stream of people making a pilgrimage to the Buddhist sanctuary across the country as Perfume, Yen Tu, Tay Phuong, Quan Su or Tran Quoc Pagodas to pray for good fortune when spring comes or go to the Temple of Literature to pray for descendants to become good learners.

It doesn’t know whether Gods hear these prayers and wishes or not but everyone believes in going to the pagoda on New Year’s Day and sincerely praying for their family, gathering with descendants, being a happy, safe, peaceful country where the people enjoy food and warmth and each individual is brought good luck in life. This is culture and humanity of the Vietnamese people.

(Source: CPV)

Ao dai and Turban –Traditional Attire of Vietnam

Vietnamese people are proud of their traditional attire, an Ao dai with a turban, not unlike the Japanese with their kimono and the French with their smart suit. The combo of Ao dai and turban make the wearer look serious and elegant and it is usually worn at festivals and ceremonies.

It is interesting that the attire of Ao dai and turban is common for both women and men. The Ao dai for woman usually clings tightly to the wearer’s body with its flaps separated at the waist, while the Ao dai for man always hangs loosely. The turban for woman is worn high on the head while the turban for man is worn lower.

Since long ago the Ao dai and turban have been attached to the life of people in both rural areas and cities. Normally when there were important events in a village, men and women had to wear the Ao dai and turban to be permitted into the communal house. Woman wore an Ao dai made of flower patterned material and a turban made of embroidered silk while man wore an Ao dai made of crape and a black turban. The Ao dai and turban worn by the elders and senior people were red in colour and printed with the Chinese calligraphic script “longevity”. The attire for children is green, red or yellow, very eye-catching and beautiful. It was, and for some people still is customary to wear this attire to important events, such as a death anniversary, wedding ceremony, village’s festival and Tet (New Year Festival).

Today the Ao dai and turban are used mostly by women. In the rural areas, especially the areas that still retain old customs, the local people usually wear the Ao dai and turban during ceremonies. In the cities, some young newly weds like to wear the Ao dai and turban for their wedding ceremony to show traditional Vietnamese solemnity and recall the old customs.

Foreign visitors to Vietnam are very interested in the Ao dai. In the ancient town of Hoi An, Quang Nam Province there are tailor shops specializing in making the Ao dai and turbans to meet the demands of visitors’. Many foreign visitors like to wear the Ao dai and turban when they attend the festivals in the north. At Festival Hue foreign artists also select the Ao dai and turban to wear during their performances. Many western girls who visit Vietnam buy this attire as a souvenir.

Being an authentic dress of Vietnam, the Ao dai and turban was selected as the attire for the Heads of States during the closing ceremony of the APEC Meeting held in 2006 in Hanoi.



Over time, the traditional attire of Ao dai and turban has been preserved. In the minds of the Vietnamese, the Ao dai and turban is the national attire.

(Source: Vietnam Pictorial)

Colours of the Flower Markets

For the New Year’s Festival, people not only prepare traditional dishes and fruit as offering to ancestors and but also buy flowers and ornamental plants to decorate their houses. The atmosphere of Tet is clearly shown by the early flower markets. A flower market on Hang Luoc Street (Hanoi) A Vietnamese pastime on the occasion of Tet in spring is to visit the gardens specializing in growing kumquat, apricot and peach trees or to the Spring flower festivals to contemplate and buy flowers, twigs of peach blossoms, apricots and kumquat trees to display in the house during the festive time. These flower markets usually take place from the 23rd of December until New Year’s Eve of the lunar calendar and are busy from early morning to late at night. Diverse varieties of orchids for sale at Quang An flower market in Hanoi. At the flower markets all kinds of flowers are sold, meeting the demands of connoisseurs. For the northern people, peach blossoms symbolize spring. These flowers are diverse in colours, white, pink, red, etc. According to an old story, a twig of peach blossoms placed in the house during Tet can chase away evil spirits, making them prevalent in homes during the traditional New Year Festival, especially in the north. Connoisseurs know how to select a beautiful twig of peach blossoms which has both a nice shape and many buds that will bloom throughout a month. They also know how to prepare the twig so its blooms will open on the first day of the New Year. The villages of Nhat Tan and Nghi Tam around Hanoi are renowned for the peach trees they grow. For southern people, apricot flowers symbolize spring. There are many kinds of apricot flowers with different colours, such as Ochna, Spicy jatropha, Prunus mume sieb et zuce with hues of white and pink, Hoang mai with yellow colour, Mai chieu thuy with a pearly white colour and Song mai with its more solid white colour. The most popular is yellow apricot flower. Kumquat gardens in Tu Lien (Hanoi) The kumquat tree is also popular in the flower markets. This kind of tree grows in an ornamental pot and is trimmed into small layers and canopies. Kumquat trees grown in Van Giang (Hung Yen Province), Nhat Tan and Quang Ba (Hanoi) are the most beautiful. The golden colour of the kumquat fruit symbolizes luck and prosperity, therefore the kumquat trees are much sought after. Other kinds of flowers which are usually displayed at home during Tet include daisies, narcissi, gladioli, gerberas, dahlias, etc., creating a brightly colourful painting of the flower markets. (Source: Vietnam Pictorial)

Po Nagar Tower Imprinted with Soul of the Cham

With its shimmering, blue ocean beach, grand hotels and tourist friendly spas such as Hon Ngoc Viet (VinPearl), Hon Tre (Bamboo Island) or Hon Tam (Silkworm Island), or the Hot Spa Tourism Centre, the city of Nha Trang in Khanh Hoa Province in Southern Vietnam is a tourist Mecca. But apart from all these quality spots, visitors to the area have the opportunity to step back in time when visiting the long-standing cultural origin of the Cham people, of which the most unique symbol is the Po Nagar Temple Tower, or Thap Ba in Vietnamese.

Po Nagar is the biggest tower of the architectural complex that comprises four temple towers built and upgraded several times between the 7th and the 12th centuries. The Po Nagar Tower was built by the Cham King Harivacman from 813 to 817. It is two storey-tall, the ground floor being paved with bricks and having many rows of piers and stairs and the upper floor where there are four towers located squarely. The bricks are placed so tightly together that the mortar is almost unseen. The tower entrance faces the east.

The tower's outside has many edges on which there are decorative dome designs, deceivingly making it appear like overlapping towers. The tower body in particular has decorative items such as bas-reliefs and terra-cotta statues symbolizing the Goddess Po Nagar, God Tenexa and fairies, and animals and beasts such as deer, golden geese, lion, etc. The main tower is dedicated to God Shiva's wife, Yan Po Nagar, the goddess of the country.

The Po Nagar Tower has four floors, each has an entrance and in the four corners there are four small towers. Inside the tower, there is a statue of the Goddess made of black granite, 2.6m high, sitting on a lotus-shaped stone base, leaning her back to a large fig leaf-shaped stone plate. The statue is considered a masterpiece of Cham sculpture, a perfect coordination between the statue making technique of polishing and embossing. The other three towers are dedicated to the Indian supreme God of Shiva and his two sons, Gods Sanhaca and Ganeca.

The Thap Ba (Po Nagar) Festival is held annually from March 20th to the 23rd of the lunar calendar to highlight the merits of the Goddess who built up the land, kept the race alive, found the rice and taught the local people to farm and make handicrafts. The festival has two parts: the sacrament and the festive activities. The sacramental procedures begin with "changing the dress" of the Goddess, bathing her with perfumed water and dressing her with new clothes. This is followed by worshipping which is implemented very solemnly, praising the merits of the Mother Saint and praying for peace, happiness and prosperity. Performances of dancing and singing, and acting out old stories are held in front of the main tower. Near the ancient tower, beautiful Cham girls seem to come to life from the mystical bas-reliefs, their charming and slender bodies moving and their sun-burnt arms waving to invite visitors back to the origin of the once flourishing Cham Culture.

(Source: Vietnam Pictorial)

Preserving a Folk Painting Genre

Dong Ho folk painting, the hundred-year-old painting genre in Vietnam that has been famous both domestically and internationally for its bright colours and unique beauty, is falling into obligation because of the change of people’s taste. To preserve the traditional craft, artisan Nguyen Dang Che has spent several years holding on to the art and establishing the Dong Ho Folk Painting Cultural Centre.

Artisan Nguyen Dang Che introduces the painting “Mice’s wedding”.

The Dong Ho Folk Painting Cultural Centre was located in the painting village of Dong Ho, Song Ho Commune, Thuan Thanh District in Bac Ninh Province . The Centre’s design is typical rural architecture of Vietnam that consists of three roofed-tile compartments, a brick-paved yard, a large pond and garden, all creating a very familiar rural space. It is both the place for artisans to create paintings and displaying folk paintings and ancient woodblocks. With great efforts put out by himself and his five sons, artisan Nguyen Dang Che has developed the Centre and obtained great success.

Tourists are interested in the process of printing a Dong Ho folk painting.

The Centre is considered a museum of the Dong Ho folk paintings as it now preserves more than 100 rare, 200-year-old woodblocks, thousands of blocks and hundreds of painting samples of different kinds, such as a set of precious paintings “Thach Sanh” (dating from hundreds of years ago), familiar paintings “Mice’s wedding”,“Coconut catching”, ”Herd of pigs”, “Jealousy”, etc. According to artisan Nguyen Dang Che, although just operating for over a year, the Centre has received thousands of domestic and foreign visitors. Europeans and Asians are particularly interested in the works and often purchase pieces.

At the Centre we met a delegation of French tourists and a group of South Korean students who all said these paintings are quite lovely especially the paintings that are made completely of natural materials.

Foreign tourists show great interests in Dong Ho folk paintings.

Apart from paintings printed on the traditional paper – Diep (poonah), bamboo-curtain calendars, refined greeting cards, the artisan has also created new woodblocks, copies from the originals that are used for decoration purposes.

After many years of working hard, artisan Nguyen Dang Che is pleased with what he has obtained. He and the Centre have made a great contribution to restoring and preserving the beauty and unique features of the Vietnamese folk painting genre.

More Information:

- Dong Ho painting, also fully known as Dong Ho folk woodblock paintings that is one of the folk painting genres in Vietnam, originating in Dong Ho Village, Song Ho Commune, Thuan Thanh District of Bac Ninh Province.

- Paintings are manually printed, using different woodblocks, each for one colour and the woodblock for black colour is used last.

- The painting is printed on Diep (poonah) paper.

- The colours are made from tree leaves or natural materials.

- The themes of paintings are diverse: worshipping, history, painting stories, congratulating, daily life, etc.

(Source: Vietnam Pictorial)

Floating Markets in South-West Vietnam

It is called “floating market” for an obvious reason. On a vast and boundless water surface, hundreds of boats, big and small, gather together and create a floating place for trading activities. The market is on all day, but is most spirited in the early morning. Boats of different sizes and shapes thread their way along the waterway in an atmosphere of truly high-spirited, fun filled, yet businesslike purchasing and bargaining, sellers and buyers bellowing over the noisy boat engines.

From the bow of each boat is attached a bamboo pole and a sample of the goods being sold from each boat is tied to the pole, making it easy for buyers to find what they’re in need of. The poles are also of different sizes, standing up straight or bending over, which makes up an interesting view and is a really unique form of advertising.

The boats are loaded full with merchandise, most noticeably fruit of the current crop such as rambutan, mango, tangerine, pomelo, water melon, mangosteen, durian, etc. Products of the watery area are also in abundance, such as fish, tortoise, snake, crab, shrimp, field bird, or fresh vegetables and water lily. The sellers and buyers often agree upon the price very quickly without much of bargaining, because everyone is aware of the going prices of all products. The sellers are mostly farmers who are honest and never overcharge for their products.

On the vast watery area, hundreds of boats busily thread their way through the maze of sellers to do business.

Together with trading boats, there are smaller boats, each of which supplies a specific service such as fast-food and drinks, haircuts, tailoring, sewing, etc. Such a panoramic picture is interesting and full of the local cultural imprint.

Among the long-standing and famous floating markets in the region are Phung Hiep-Nga Bay, Phong Dien, Cai Rang and Cai Be, with the Phung Hiep-Nga Bay Market being the biggest.

Established in 1915 in the Cuu Long River delta, the Phung Hiep, or Nga Bay (seven turnings) Market is at the convergence of seven river branches with such ordinary names as Cai Con, Bung Tau, Mang Ca, Soc Trang, Lai Hieu, Xeo Mon and Xeo Dong. From this market, the market goers continue to the Snake Market, which is on land, where they may be invited to partake in a glass of snake wine, watch magic snake performances, or buy snakes, tortoise, bird, squirrel, varan, etc.

Normally the farmers go to the floating market to sell products and return home in daytime, but many high quantity merchants stay at the market for several days on end so as to buy enough goods to load their boat. Thus merchants’ boats also serve as a mobile home, and so are much bigger than the boats of the local farmers. Sometimes, there are boats crossing over the market and they stay overnight to wait for the high tide, thus making the Nga Bay more bustling all day and night.



At night, especially during bright, moonlit nights, some boats are grafted together to make a large space for their owners to socialize while some “amateur” artists-farmers sing and play music. In the light of the moon the singing and music echo across the water so melancholically while the half-drunk farmers enjoy drinking their wine and watching the view around them. To the honest, hard working and romantic people in the watery western areas of Southern Vietnam, such moments are surely unforgettable memories of their life.

(Source: Vietnam Pictorial)

In the footsteps of the Cham

People may be amazed when seeing a little girl in a red neckerchief, Phung Thi Trinh, leading a group of foreign tourists through the ruins of the Cham religious site of My Son, a World Cultural Heritage Site in Duy Xuyen District, in the central province of Quang Nam.

Font of knowledge: Phung Thi Trinh (right) leads foreign tourists during a visit to the My Son relics.

The 15-year-old student is confident, professional and dynamic when greeting groups of tourists. "I'm delighted to lead you on your visit to My Son. I would like to introduce the value and unique character of this world cultural heritage site," the young tour guide says.

This year, tourists from both home and abroad have visited My Son to attend the festivities to mark a decade of UNESCO recognition of the site as a world cultural heritage.

My Son is within a valley in Quang Nam, around 69km southwest of Da Nang city. From the 4th to 15th centuries, it was an imperial city built by King Bhadravarman, and the centre for spirituality and worship during the reign of the Kingdom of Champa. This is graphically illustrated by the remains of a series of impressive tower-temples located at My Son.

Although time and the war have destroyed most of the towers, the remaining sculptural and architectural remnants still reflect the style and history of the art of the Cham people. Their masterpieces mark a glorious period for the architecture and culture of the Cham, and the whole of Southeast Asia.

Exemplifying the height of Cham architectural achievement, the My Son sanctuary is a large complex of monuments originally consisting of more than 70 structures in a variety of different styles, only 25 of the structures remain today. They include temples and towers that connect to each other with complicated red brick designs. The main component of the Cham architectural design is the tower, built to reflect the divinity of the king. Bricks are main material used in the constructions.

However, scientists have yet to discover the secret of how the towers were constructed, or how the bricks were fused together or used in construction by the Cham.

According to records on stone stele found on the site, the prime foundation of the ancient My Son architectural complex worshipped Shiva Bhadresvera. In the late 16th century, a big fire destroyed the temple. Step by step, historical mysteries have been unveiled by scientists.

Significance

Time trekking: Although time and war have left most of the towers destroyed, the remaining sculptural and architectural remnants still reflect the art and history of the Cham people and attract thousands of tourists each day.

The other foremost absorbing element of My Son, besides its significance as a religious site, is its unique Cham-style architecture, which was greatly affected by Indian design. Each historical period has its own identity, so that each temple worshipping a god or a king of a different period has its own architectural style.

All of the Cham towers were built on a quadrate foundations and each comprises three parts: a solid tower base, representing the world of human beings; the mysterious and sacred tower body, representing the world of spirits; and the tower top built in the shape of a man offering flowers and fruits or of trees, birds and animals representing things that are close to both the spiritual world and human beings.

Although few remnants remain, those that still exist display the typical sculptural values of Cham culture. They are also vivid proof of a nationality living within Viet Nam today boasting a rich cultural tradition.

When UNESCO held a heritage conference dedicated to raising popular awareness of the site's value, the Duy Xuyen District education department decided to open school trips from 2004, according to Vo Thien Tinh, deputy chief of the district's Education and Training Office.

The office worked together with My Son heritage management board to compile documents to promote study of the site, while campaigning for its preservation and upgrading. The documents introduce the history, development process, decline and restoring of the My Son Site. The value of the My Son site is incorporated into the history and geography lessons of students in the region, said Vo Quang Luc, principal of Tran Cao Van School.

Until now, Trinh is not the only student acting as a tour guide in the province. Her Ngo Quyen Secondary School, is one among schools in the region training students to act as local tour guides. Dozens of Ngo Quyen students can introduce sites in English, while other students can work as tour guides for domestic visitors.

"They work as professional tour guides," says tourist Nguyen Trung Hieu from Ha Noi. "Their lively introductions helped us get a better understanding of the significance of the site."

The first time standing Trinh stood in front of a group of foreign tourists made nervous, but now she is used to the tours. Trinh and her friends now are happy to play their part in attracting tourists to the province and its special sites of cultural value.

(Source: VNS)

Mountain church in a coastal city

Nestled on the peak of a small hill in the center of the central coast city of Nha Trang, Chanh Toa Church, or Nui (Mountain) Church, is an imposing architecture, standing superbly under the endless sky and above the ocean.

The church attracts tourists not only by its elegant architecture but also by its poetic surroundings.

The church started construction in 1928 and was completed in 1933 by a French Catholic priest named Louis Vallet (1846-1945). At that time, the priest used 500 bombs to level the mountain. The church boasts elegant Western décor and its architecture is a combination of ancient and modern styles. All walls, roofs and pillars are cement.

The church also arouses curiosity by its bronze bell that was cast in France and the bell-tower which is 32 meters high and striking with a large watch which has four faces toward the four directions.

There are two paths leading to the church. The first one in front of the church has 53 stone steps, starting from Thai Nguyen Street, and the second is a stone path from the city square to the yard behind the church. In front of the church is a cave with a statute of Mother Maria where a lot of Catholic followers and visitors come to pray.

The church motif makes people think about a citadel with ramparts or a castle in ancient Roman times with naked stone walls, arches along the corridor and glass windows decorated with Western style patterns.

Seen from afar, most people think the church was built entirely of stone called da che, a kind of solid stone available everywhere in Khanh Hoa Province. That’s why the church is also called Stone Church. This kind of stone is often used to pave roads and yards.

The church is a familiar destination for tourists to the city, especially photographers and film makers.

(Source: SGT)

Copper Casting by Ngu Xa Artisans

Ngu Xa Village, located west of the former Thang Long capital (present-day Hanoi ) has practised the craft of copper casting for more than four centuries. Through the village’s ups and downs, the local artisans have preserved this traditional craft with their wholehearted devotion. Among them, artisan Nguyen Van Ung and his offspring have become famous for having turned out various sophisticated products that demonstrate their talent and skills.

Nguyen Van Ung, a leading copper casting artisan in Vietnam

On Tran Vu Street in Ba Dinh District, Hanoi , there is a house that was built, copying ancient designs, where Nguyen Van Ung and his children often meet with their craftsmen friends and others interested in copper casting, to discuss and exchange information about the craft and new product models. Apart from being a meeting place, the house also serves as a showroom for various copper art works cast by Ung and his family members.  It has become a familiar and credited place not only for domestic customers, including many Hanoians, but also foreigners who often come to place large orders for products.

Born into a family engaged in the traditional craft of copper casting, Ung grew up in his parents' love, especially from his father, who taught him in detail all the steps in producing a copper cast product. They included how to select the soil for mould making, how to differentiate copper and aluminium materials and how to carve each design carefully so it will have an artistic and aesthetic value. Since he was a little boy, Ung was fuelled with a passion for this traditional craft.



Over the years and through the historical ups and downs that the country experienced, copper casting in Ngu Xa Village began to decline, partly because most customers changed their likings from using copper cast household utensils to those made from aluminium. To maintain the craft, Ung had to produce aluminium products and with profits earned from them he made copper cast items. By doing so Ung hoped that the craft would be revived and again prosper.

Copper casting attracts the attention of international and domestic cultural researchers

With the country's shift to the market-oriented economy, helping improve people's quality of living, Ung took full advantage of the situation and developed a copper casting operation with a wholehearted passion. After thorough research and studies of each model, the materials and production processes as well, Ung produced many products much sought after by customers. His products are of high artistic value with reasonable prices, hence attracting the interest from many domestic and foreign customers. More and bigger orders for his copper cast products were placed, some of which reached to billions of Vietnamese dong. To expand production Ung rented a larger space for the workshop and recruited more workers. His skills and experience have been picked up by his two sons and many young workers, helping them earn more and stabilize their life.

Among so many copper products cast by Ngu Xa artisans, the most typical ones are the statue of Buddha Amitabha, 14 tonnes in weight (including the base) and 3.95m in height at Than Quang Pagoda in Ngu Xa Village, and a 3.6-tonne statue of Huyen Thien Tran Vu (the Guardian) at Quan Thanh Temple in Hanoi. In addition there are many smaller worshipping objects available that are being sold both at home and abroad.

With a great passion for the craft, preserved by his co-villagers, Ung has spent a lot of time and effort researching new products and training his children and together they turned out various products that helped in exposing the fame of Ngu Xa artisans. Since 1991 they successfully cast such works as: a statue of Duc Ong (Lord), 1.50m in height and over 400kg in weight, at Huong Tich Pagoda in Hanoi; two statues of the sitting Bodhisattva, 1.2m in height and nearly 200kg in weight at Du Hang Pagoda in Hai Phong City; a statue of the sitting Sakyamuni, 2.20m in height and 2,057kg in weight at An Da Pagoda in Hai Phong City; and most recently a bell, 5 tonnes in weight and 3.6m in height hung in the bell tower of Dong Loc T-Junction Relic in Ha Tinh Province.

Artisan Nguyen Van Ung was entrusted to cast a 5-tonne bell to be displayed in the bell tower of Dong Loc T- Junction Relic in Ha Tinh Province

Ung recalled: "Casting copper to make sophisticated works is really an art that absorbs the quintessence of various fields, including culture, religion, painting and most of all the heart of the artisan. It is not really a difficult undertaking, but it requires the producer's thorough concentration, diligence, care and skills to turn out worthwhile pieces, each having a soul."



It is artisan Ung who over the years has kept the flame in the copper casting kilns in Ngu Xa Village burning. At present, the Mai Hoa copper casting workshop owned by Ung has many young workers, including his grandchildren who are learning and preserving this long-standing traditional craft along with contributing to the village’s development.

(Source: Vietnam Pictorial)

Enjoying Spring in Tay Bac

When Spring arrives, Tay Bac (the entire north-western region of Vietnam) seems to be awaken after a long sleep with peach and Ban flowers blooming. It becomes more bustling and animated with traditional festivals and markets of the ethnic groups, attracting many visitors both at home and abroad.

Peach blossoms in bloom signal the arrival of spring in Tay Bac.

For the Mong ethnic people, the traditional Tet (New Year Festival) is considered the greatest and most sacred one in the year, which includes several religious ceremonies.  According to their belief, the Sun is the supreme genie who brings about the light as well as life to humanity so Tet is the festival to call the Sun Genie to come back. During the three-day festival, the hamlet is boisterous and exhilarating with many cultural activities. Children joyfully participate in traditional folk games, such as playing Tu lu, “Dragon hatching eggs” and throwing Pao (colourful fabric ball) while couples visit the wife’s parents to express their gratitude for giving birth, the old visit families and friends to wish each other luck and good health in the New Year and young people go out to look for their life partners.

Young Mong girls enjoy a spring walk.

Visiting the hamlets of Mong ethnic people in the border district of Phong Tho in Lai Chau Province , 300km from Moc Chau District, tourists will have a chance to attend the Gau Tao Festival that aims at praying for having more children and family happiness.

The Thai ethnic people in Phong Tho District also organize the Then Kin Pang Festival at Nam Lum Stream to thank Then for treating locals who had become infected with a variety of diseases. The festival includes many folk games including the animated water splashing that is held to pray for rain, hence bringing a bumper crop. At the festival the locals will splash water on each other and visitors. It is believed that the more you get wet, the more luck will come your way.

At the time when the white Ban flower and wild Bo ma flower that is used as an offering to genies, are in blossom, the Thai ethnic people in Muong Sang Commune, Moc Chau District hold the Hamlet Forbidden Festival to thank genies for the protection and clement weather they provided in the past year and pray for an abundant crop in the next year.

A folk game on spring days.

When spring crosses over the Hoang Lien Son Mountain Range to Dao San Plateau in Lai Chau Province, the community of Dao ethnic people starts selecting lucky days to hold the Tu Cai Festival that marks the maturity of boys in the hamlet. It is the most important event in the life of the Dao men and is usually followed by marriage.

Going upstream of the Da River to the hamlets of the Ha Nhi ethic people in the border commune of Ka Lang, Muong Te District, Lai Chau Province, tourists will mingle in the festive atmosphere of the Ga Ma Thu Festival that aims at thanking genies for granting the locals with abundant rice crops and health. During the festive days, the tourists will be treated as sons returning to the hamlet after a long time of living away. The elder villagers will present them a red-coloured egg with a hope that the genies of the Ha Nhi ethnic people will follow and protect them in the New Year.

Anywhere throughout the north-western area, tourists will see happy faces and glances of ethnic people, full of belief in life and a bright future and receive their warm welcome.

(Source: Vietnam Pictorial)

Air with oxygen at Yang Bay

Yang Bay Tourist Area in Y Bay Tribe, Khanh Vinh District, Khanh Hoa Province, is suggested as an ideal site for tourists to celebrate the Tet holiday and discover this area that is endowed with magnificent waterfalls, blue lakes and splendid scenery.

A view of Yang Bay Waterfall

To reach the site from Nha Trang City, tourists must pass through Dien Khanh Old Town and 40 kilometers more through deserted villages. The way to Yang Bay is rather complicated, so tourists should stop frequently to ask locals the right way if traveling independently.

Yang Bay Tourist Area is located on an area of 570 hectares of primeval forest and three waterfalls, namely Yang Bay, Yang Khang and Ho Cho. Yang Bay in the local ethnic language is Raglay, which means Heaven Waterfall. Entrance tickets are VND30,000 per adult and VND30,000 per two children. English speaking tour guides cost VND100,000 per hour and Vietnamese language conducted tours are VND50,000 per hour.

The 800 meter path to the center of the site is shaded by seasoned trees and is lovely with its flowers and creepers. However, anyone too lazy to walk the 800 meters can catch the electric bus for VND10,000.

On the stone steps of the gentle slope, tourists can start the journey to Yang Bay Waterfall with fresh air in the lungs and the relaxing feeling of cool water under the feet. The silence of the site is broken by the roaring of the waterfall spilling onto the giant rocks below. The stream from a height of hundreds of meters looks like a silver carpet under the glistening rays of the sun.

Tourists have fun in a cool stream in Yang Bay Tourism Area in Khanh Hoa Province

The waterfall sustains several small lakes below, of which the deepest is 16 meters.

The nearby Yang Khang Waterfall offers swimming or bathing in clear water. Bathing suits and buoys are available for rent, VND60,000 to VND70,000 for swim suits and VND5,000 for buoys.

After working up a hunger from the hiking and swimming, tourists can stop at Yang Khang Restaurant or Yang Bay Restaurant which was built in the traditional architecture of the highlands. While enjoying some food, locals will perform on ethnic musical instruments.

In the distance is a colorful orchid garden with many kinds of orchids brought from southern provinces. Tourists can also hire a horse-drawn carriage to enjoy the flower garden as well as the site.

Less than a thousand meters away is the pristine Ho Cho Waterfall with its wonderful surrounding landscapes.

An overnight stay ensures tourists a chance to enjoy a stone musical instrument performance and an old fashioned campfire in the great outdoors.

(Source: SGT)

Simacai Heaven’s Gate

Combining the poetic charms of its wild scenery and the simple daily lives of its people, “Heaven’s Gate”, as people often call Simacai, is becoming more and more attractive to travellers. Si Ma Cai is located in a remote mountain area of Lao Cai Province, at the far end of a road near the border with China and is inhabited by ethnic people.

Through spectacular mountain scenery

An old bus, heavily loaded with baggage and passengers crept slowly along a narrow winding road, with a high mountain on one side and a deep abyss on the other. Despite the danger we had to face, the humourous driver told us that it is much easier to go to Simacai now than before when it took a few days’ ride on horseback to reach the area.

Our first stop was Quan Than San, a southern commune of Simacai district, which is 1,600-1,800 metres above sea level and shrouded in white clouds all year around.

Phin ethnic village is another high point of the district with plum gardens looking like a water-colour painting. The village is so charming that our voluntary guide, a border soldier who has been posted there for nearly ten years, had to exclaim, “Look! It’s really spectacular!”

Despite its breath-taking scenery and favourable climate, Simacai is not popular with tourists because of its difficult terrain, low living standards and poor services. It’s rare enough to see a foreign tourist riding an old Russian motorbike covered with red soil and stopping there for a bowl of pho (rice noodle).

The mountain district of Simacai has 13 communes and 90 villages, 80 percent of which are inhabited by the Mong ethnic people. Most of the people there are living below the poverty line and need assistance from the government’s programme 135.

Phin Village

It took us almost two hours to negotiate the less-than-10-kilometer bumpy road from the Quan Than San Commune People’s Committee to the Phin ethnic village. On arriving at Heaven’s Gate, we had to take a deep breath to summon up courage before continuing our trip along the one-meter-wide road with a deep abyss on one side. Ly Seo Phu, a communal cultural official had to do most of the talking to dispel our fears.

“It used to be very dangerous to go to the terraced hillside. Thanks to the government’s programme 135, the roads have been widened for motorbikes and cars, so our village is no longer isolated,” Phu said cheerfully.

Showing us around the village, elder Giang Seo Hang, said there are only 13 households living along the three slopes. “Since the district was rebuilt in 2000, there have been many non-governmental projects on the go here to help improve the people’s living conditions,” he said.

Pham Quang Tu, vice director of the Towards Ethnic Women (TEW) centre, said the centre has been working with the Simacai District People’s Committee and Phin residents on a number of projects to gradually improve the living conditions of Quan Than San residents.

TEW officials often came to live with local residents and learn about their expectations before deciding to focus on four major issues related to running water and environmental sanitation, saving credit and animal husbandry, Vietnamese herbal medicine development and forest protection, Tu recalled.

In Giang Seo Hang’s house, chairman of the Quan Than San Commune People’s Committee Ly Xuan Lau proudly said, “the ethnic people’s lives are changing day by day. Electricity is now available, all of the 13 families now have pigs, 10 of them have buffaloes, seven of them have TV sets and all the children go to school.”

After taking a sip of wine, he added, “We have even built a cultural house and are now restoring traditional Mong folk music, musical instruments, and martial arts to be ready to receive visitors.”

On our way to Pho Lu where we would take a train to Hanoi, we saw ragged children carrying bundles of firewood on their backs. A thought crossed our mind that the Phin Village still has a long way to go before beautiful Mong girls have the chance to welcome tourists with their traditional sinh tien dance.

(Source: VOV)

Hoping for a bumper crop

Muong ethnic people in the northern province of Hoa Binh tend to celebrate their new crops with the pomp and circumstance of the events. While breezes are rustling the yellow stubbles remaining in the rice fields, the Muong in Hoa Binh are busy preparing for their New Rice Feast.

Bui Van Phuc, 66, in Muong Pieng Village, Ngoc My Commune, recalls that when he was a little boy, he liked to see his parents and other Muong families taking part in new rice feasts.

“The traditional feast started in feudal times,” he says. “Before doing the cooking, people must prepare high quality glutinous rice and fresh fish caught from the stream.”

Early in the morning, villagers send a young man into the forest to get cheo tree bark. Using a sharp knife, he whittles the bark off, then brings a bunch back to the village.

People use stones to beat the tree bark until its resin seeps out, then dip the bark into the stream.

“According to the Muong’s experience, this resin can make fish emerge. Then they simply use nets to catch them,” Phuc says.

The Muong process fish into three dishes: fish mixed with chilli, baked fish and fish cooked with bamboo shoots.

In contrast to the Kinh, whose women do most of the cooking, young men in the Muong community are in charge of preparing the food.

Meanwhile, a group of young women wearing traditional black skirts with white scarves round their heads and 1m-long narrow bamboo tubes over their shoulders walk up the stream to its source to get clean water for cooking.

In their houses on stilts Muong women help the men cook the steamed sticky rice and other dishes. Amid the sound of voices and laughter they use bamboo clips to bake fish over the fires and smoke keeps curling upwards over the rooftops.

When the dishes are ready, people lay out seven food trays and pray for their ancestral spirits to come back home and bless them.

On behalf of villagers, Phuc, who is the village chief, prays for a new year with a bumper crop. He wishes everyone good health.

In the village yard young women hit the ground with bamboo tubes, making a series of thuds as if pounding rice.

One of them, Bui Thi Hien, says she feels very happy because this year her village harvested a bumper crop.

“That’s why we organise the new rice feast today. The feast demonstrates our national character and the traditions inherited from our ancestors,” she says.

In the bustling atmosphere, filled with the sound of gongs, people feel free to drink ruou can (local wine out of jars through bamboo straws).

“The present-day feast has been simplified with less quaint customs than in the old days,” Hien says. “Not long before, the Muong could not organise the new rice feast annually as it depended on whether their crops were successful or not.”

(Source: VOV)