HOUSE ON STILTS OF TAY PEOPLE IN CAO BANG.

On our inspection trip of 3 days trekking in Cao Bang, on the first day, when everyone were pretty tired, we stopped at one of the houses of Tay people along the way for resting, and it was great experiences. We had lots learning and great time in this house, with super hospitality host. In this entry, I would like to share with you some photos taken from this house.

Cute granddaughter of the owner:

Interior of the house:

The yard in front of the house made from bamboo, where the people in the family can work, washing, wash up with great view to the rice field

The view to the rice field from the house

They were preparing the corn as a food for their animals such as chicken, duck and pigs.

Sling shot, mirror, comb and scissors by the door of the house

And the altar of the family

Having a good rest in the house

Grandfather and granddaughter

Lovely kitchen

Cutting the corn

The roof of the house looked from inside

Door of the house

Great view in front of the house

Off we go again

Photograph and written by Yang Blue.

MID AUTUMN FESTIVAL IN VIETNAM.

The full moon day (15 of lunar month) is very special day for Vietnamese people. This is the day for people to go to pagoda to worship to Buddha or dedicate to our ancestors by offering flowers, fruit and burning the incense stick on the altar of the family. But for me, there are two very special full moon day in the year next to each other and both are very humane.

The first one if in the 15^th of July in Lunar Calendar. This is very special day that the whole country dedicates to the wandering soul. What is wandering soul? This is very special and unique superstition of Vietnamese people that we believe in the life in another world. So when the people died, we worship to them in the altar of the family. We just need to call their name, and we remember the date and the place they passed away, we can invite them back to the family to worship to them in all the special occasions like full moon or no moon day, Tet holiday or specially their dead day.

But if the people died and we did not know the place and date when they died, we can not call them back to our family, and they turned to be the wandering soul that never could find the way back to their home. In Vietnam, after the wars, we have many soldiers died in this situation, and this day can be very special day to dedicate to them.

The second day is in the middle of Autumn (15^th August) – when the moon is most beautiful in the whole year. The country used this day as the biggest festival in the year for children. As in the whole year, parents were working so hard in their job that they left the children playing by themselves. To make up for lost time, parents would use the Mid-Autumn festival as an opportunity to show their love and appreciation for their children. Mid Autumn Festival was one the biggest impression from my childhood.

In the 80 decade in last century, when Vietnam was in the subsidize system, the children did not have much chances to have candy or Ice-cream. I still remember that every time I have one 10 mark from school, my father gave me one local candy name “ Hoa Hong (mean Roses)”. It would be the worse candy in the world if you have it now, hard like stone and just have a sweet taste to know that is candy. But at that time, it was my very big happiness, and I always keep it for few days before deciding to take it. And I just can have ice cream only 2 or 3 times in a year. So for us, at that time, Mid Autumn Festival and Tet Holiday are really very big and special occasions that make us looking forward to in the whole year. In this occasion, even our television also having the special and exclusive program for the children (at that time, there was only on channel for our television from 7 to 10 PM).

So how the mid autumn festival happened at that time like? As it was very deep and impressive memory, so I still remember every single detail. We – the children were preparing for the festival about a month ahead. The festival is in the autumn, it is also the season of Grape Fruit. So after eating the fruit, we always collected the seed of the fruit, took out the cover of the seed and put them in the small steel wire. It took few days for this seed to dry and we will save it for the festival. In the festival, we can burn this seed as it burning very well with the old still existing in the seed and carried this in our procession. At that time, electricity or touch were something very rare and normally, we just can have power in few hours at night only. But for the grape fruit seed, every kid can do it.

The next step, we all waiting for some presents from our parents for the festival. The most popular one is the Star Lantern. The frame is made from bamboo. The center is made of a multi-colored plastic material. A candle holder is located in the center so that children can put a candle inside the lantern and light it in the dark night. Most of us had this lantern as the present from our parents.

But the biggest impression of the lantern to me must be Den Keo Quan. This was very authentic and smart traditional lantern in Vietnam . The cover is in square shape play the function as the screen. Inside this square shape install the round one. Inside the center is a vertical construction, the first two ending in two sharp needles made from bamboo as big as the little finger. On top of the lantern cover by the propeller made from paper, that could roll around when the air inside heated by the candle. Attached to this propeller is 1 to 5 layer of the round and clear layers, that have many interesting figures cut from paper, that could create beautiful shadow on that 4 screens in the square shape. And the propeller rolling around also made the shadow of this figures moving around these 4 screens like the movie or shadow puppet. At that time, television is something extremely rare and luxury, so the Den Keo Quan was amazing toy not only for the children but also for the adults.

The second thing but also very important thing that without it, there will not be the mid autumn festival. There are two kind of cake always go together with the name Moon cake in English or Banh Nuong and Banh Deo in Vietnamese. At that time, there is only one way to make moon cake. Banh nuong is the baked one, outside had been covered by flour, inside is beautiful mixture of local sausage, pumpkin seed, green mallow soaked in sugar, meat, little of alcohol and specially the thin slices lime leave. Banh nuong will contain 3 part is the inside and 1 part is flour outside, but Banh Deo is in opposite way. The covers of Banh Deo made from sticky rice flour and contain the charming flavor from grape fruit flower in this. Banh Nuong is in square shape represent for earth and Banh Deo is in round shape stand for sky. At that time, only Mid Autumn Festival is the chance we can have Moon Cake. And we all are waiting for year for this.

Now the modern Moon Cake was made from many different and new things inside. Someone even put the shark fin, bird nest or abalone in the Moon Cake to make it to be luxury and expensive, but for me, the best moon cake still the original selling in Hanoi Old Quarter.

The third thing also very interesting and very fun for the festival is the mask or lion head made from papper, that were very important for the procession. Normaly, we need to have one lion head for leading the procession, and the rest of the us can wear the mask with all funny shape like buffalo, horse, monkey or monster.

When we have the Star Lantern, Moon Cake and the mask and lion head, we can celebrate the Mid Autumn Festival. The children in the same living quarter just gather together for the big time in the year. We have big table where our parents putting Moon Cake and different fruit in the season. The most popular one are grape fruit and persimmon. The children stand in the line and start the celebration by the long and exiting procession, with all out Star Lantern light up by the candle. There was always some lantern caught on fire from candle in the procession, surely some kid will cry as their lantern had the bad luck, but it was always fun. We sang and shout out loud in the procession. Our parent stood there watching it in the great happiness.

After the procession, we all jump to the food and eat as much and as fast as we can. As we were waiting for all year long for this and the faster got it more, so we always trying our best for having the food as fast and as much as we can. That is the reason why Vietnamese have very beautiful word for this action: Pha Co, that mean destroy the party. After destroying the party in amazing short time, we sang a song again and watching special program for us in television. The festival never ended before 10 PM.

More than 30 years pass by from this time, and the Mid Autumn Festival today also change allots. The Star Lantern still selling in the occasion, and the Moon Cake now have hundred of different kind. But the children now did not have to wait for all year long for this as our living standard is much better now. Our children can have sweet, chocolate or Ice Cream anytime they like. Many living quarters do not organize this Festival for children anymore, and it will be the matter in individual family, that mean much less fun. The television still has the special program for children and now all of them can watch it from their television. And the saddest thing is for many parents, they forgot their children and the Mid Autumn festival is the big chance for them to bribe their boss (with shark fin moon cake and thick envelope).

Tomorrow I will go to Old Quarter of Hanoi to buy the traditional Moon Cake to bribe my parents. But now, I would like to share with you the photos taken in Hang Ma Street today – the place where they sell all toys and Lantern for the Festival in Hanoi. Enjoys.

The masks selling on Hang Ma street.

The Star Lantern selling on the street. After many year, the lantern still keep unchanged.

The Lady selling the drum and lion head, very important thing for the procession in the festival.

The big Star Lantern with the picture  of Uncle Ho.

The shop for selling Mid Autumn festival decoration.

The old lady selling little drum on the street.

Busy in selling and buying.

This woman walking around for selling Star Lantern

Another one

This is a great chance for the teenage for having the impressive photos

Mother and son in viking style

The Rabbit Lantern

Mickey girl on the street

Buying the Lantern for grand children

The little boy very enjoy his new toy

Very busy and crowded on the street

And for teenage now, it seems to be like the Halloween day

THO HA VILLAGE.

In 2001, I got a phone call from my friend in Vietnam Television asking about Tho Ha Village. At that time, I had no idea about this place. Feeling ashamed, I decided to jump on my motorbike the next day and make my way to Tho Ha with my best friend to discover the village. At that time, there were no tourists going there. The only image and information I had about Tho Ha before this trip was the beautiful picture in the Fine Arts Museum in Hanoi. Tho Ha was so attractive in this picture. It was the typical image of a traditional village with a village Gate, Banyan Tree and Communal House.

Upon first coming to this village, I found that the name of Tho Ha was well suited for its location. “Tho” means land, and “Ha” means river. Tho Ha is on a narrow peninsula that is located in the middle of the Cau River, so the village is surrounded by water on three sides. The only way to get there is to take the local ferry to the center of the village. From there, you can see a very interesting local market that only opens in the morning, the authentic gate of the village, the still intact 500 year old pagoda, and the impressive communal house.

The ferry taking people to the village. This  is the only way to get to Tho Ha:

Boarding to the ferry:

The Local market:

The 500 years old Pagoda from outside:

More close up:

And from inside:

500 years old original doors:

And huge Buddha statue:

The lady drying rice cracker had just been made at ferry station:

Tho Ha is the only village in Vietnam with no gardens. The reason is there are too many people in the village and a very limited amount of land for each family, so there is no space for gardens. The rice field is inadequate for the needs of the village people, so they have had to produce handicrafts to earn their living. For such a long time, Tho Ha was very well known as one of the best villages in the North of Vietnam for manufacturing terracotta products such as big jars, vases and especially the terracotta coffins used for the scary custom of second burials of the people in the North of Vietnam. The quality of terracotta products here is the best because they fire their product in a kiln for 72 hours instead of 48 hours like in other places. The terracotta here is much harder and more durable than the regular product. I was totally shocked on my first trip to Tho Ha upon seeing many local houses there constructed of defective coffins. Instead of discarding the defects, they made use of this terracotta as the brick for building their houses. The defective and broken coffins, vases and other terracotta products have been used in their walls for several hundred years and make Tho Ha unique among all the other villages on the Red River Delta.

One of the houses had been built of terracotta coffins:

This fence in a small alley is also built of the coffins:

Close up of the wall with defective terracotta coffins:

Most of the families in Tho Ha live in very narrow alleys because they need to save the land for their houses. Since the decade of the 70s in the last century, they have stopped manufacturing the terracotta products, and now we can only see the relics in the walls of their houses. The main income of the village now comes from making rice paper for spring rolls. Visiting Tho Ha, you can see how rice paper is made in any house of the village and you can walk in the shade of rice paper being dried along the small alleys. Many of these alleys are connected to each other so that it seems you are walking in a maze with lots of surprises at every turn.

A lady drying rice paper along the alleys:

Lady in traditional costume at a corner of the alley:

Rice papper drying on the narrow alley:

When you come to visit the village like this. If you just walk around the village, you may not feel and get to know the place and people there as it was. When I came to the village for the first time, in the the narrow but very authentic alley, I found a part of the wall built from defected vase. As the alley was too narrow, so I had to ask the permission of the man there name Mr. Viet to step in to his house to have enough space to take the photo. In his house, his wife was making the rice paper in traditional way and it was great photo stop as well. We had very good conversation, built up great relationship between us and his house is one of the best highlights of our visit to Tho Ha then.

Coming to his house now, you can see how the rice paper have been made by Mr.  Viet’s wife. And you even can try it.

The entrance of his house viewed from the kitchen. This is very typical house of Vietnamese people where he still live in the same place with  his parents and brother in separated house. His grandfather was wealthy man in the pass so he inherited quite nice house.

Coming to his house, Mr. Viet will receive us as the guests to his house from the village. He will invited us to have some tea, then may by some rice wine as the special guests. He was the veterants who liberate Saigon in 1975 and you still can see his photo taken from this time on the wall. We can talk and sharing with him the story from his life as well as in the village.

Next to his photo taken from Saigon in 1975, you can see the music instrument. Mr.Viet is the leader of the group performed folk music in the village and he is always willing to perform for us with the great passion.

This is really very good chance for interact as well as exchange the learning experience on our visit to Tho Ha. Everyone having very good time in his house.

There is the hidden part of the village and mostly have not been visited by the people. But it is very attractive to me. The cemetery of the village was not scary to me at all, and I really like the way local people drying rice paper on the bamboo panel on top of the tomb in the cemetery. Coming here, you even can here the sound of dry rice paper cracking from the bamboo.

Walking over the cemetery, you can walk along the dike and enjoy the view of the village from the back. You will feel the open space after spending time in this very dense village. The photo here show  you the great view from the lake side to the village.

 

BAI TU LONG BAY

Most of people when talking about Halong Bay, they will think of Cock Fighting Islet, Titop Beach, Incense Burner Islat, Thien Cung Cave …. as the popular routing for travelers to visit Halong. Now in Halong, they have more than 700 boats for cruising in the bay. Imagine that what happen if all of them sailing for the same route? Halong will be the big floating market. On the side of Halong Bay near Hon Gai, there is Bai Tu Long – the place where the baby dragon saying goodbye to their mother in the legend of Halong. In this route, you can get away from touristy part of Halong bay and indulge with beauty of nature on the bay. This pictures was taken on my inspection trip to Halong Bay in July 2011.

I do really love the layers of the mountain on the back ground:

Boat and reflection of the sun set:

Mountain and sunset. The layers still so amazing.

Junk and fishing boat:

Instead of seeing other tourist boats, you can meet lots of local fishing boat here.

A lonely rock:

Small islet and fishing boats

Rocks

Lonely boat.

PHU QUOC, THE PEARL OF EAST SEA.

PHU QUOC

One of Vietnam ’s star attractions, mountainous and forested Phu Quoc is a splendid tropical getaway set with beautiful white-sand beaches and quaint fishing villages. Adventure comes in many forms here – from motorbiking the empty dirt roads circling the island to sea kayaking its quiet inlets, scuba diving the coral reefs or simply having a bang-up seafood meal followed by a cocktail on the beach. Once a sleepy, backpackers’ retreat, Phu Quoc has ramped up tourism significantly, and visitors can now choose between five-star resorts and rustic family-run bungalows. Plans are underway for developing the island even more heavily – a la Phuket style. If package tourism isn’t your bag, get there now before this happens.

Phu Quoc Island served as a base for the French missionary Pigneau de Behaine during the 1760s and 1780s. Prince Nguyen Anh, who later became Emperor Gia Long, was sheltered here by Behaine when he was being hunted by the Tay Son Rebels.

Phu Quoc is not really part of the Mekong Delta and doesn’t share the delta’s extraordinary ability to produce rice. The most valuable crop is black pepper, but the islanders here have traditionally earned their living from the sea. Phu Quoc is also famous in Vietnam for its production of high-quality fish sauce (nuoc mam).

The island has some unusual hunting dogs, which have ridgebacks, curly tails and blue tongues and are said to be able to pick up their masters’ scent from over 1km away (the nuoc mam their masters eat certainly helps). Unfortunately, the dogs have decimated much of the island’s wildlife.

Despite the impending development (of a new international airport, a golf course and a casino), much of this island is still protected since becoming a national park in 2001. Phu Quoc National Park covers close to 70% of the island, an area of 31, 422 hectares.

Phu Quoc’s rainy season is from July to November. The peak season for tourism is midwinter, when the sky is blue and the sea is calm; however, when it’s not raining it’s stinking hot. Bring sunglasses and plenty of sun block. Take plenty of water when setting out to explore the island.

PLACES TO VISIT IN PHU QUOC:

In this entry, I will show the picture taken from hidden charm of Phu Quoc we found out accidentally in 2007. Getting lost on the way finding Da Ban stream, we rode our motorbike to Duong Dong Reservoir – the biggest lake in Phu Quoc. Talking to the local, the man in charge of guarding the lake offer to take us to the other side of the lake on his little motor sampan. Little hesitating but we decided to take this adventure. Here is the sampan on the lake

Little scary to be on the sampan.

Blue lake and green tree.

On the other side of the lake, the beautiful stream that supply water for the lake hidden from our view. The boat man slow down the boat and here we can see the stream.

From here, the man leave us there for discovering the stream. This is the most beautiful one I ever seen in Vietnam.

The rock along the stream were so clean and nice shape

Some beautiful puddle right on the stream:

Looking back to the lake

Lots of tree like this grew along the stream

Lots of place promised for the beautiful bath.

Bath time!

More scene of the stream

Boat returned

Everyone happy when coming back. It is really the hidden gem of Phu Quoc.

MUI NE.

These pictures was taken when I was on motorbike on the way running from Mui Ne to Bau Trang. Impressed with the beautiful trees growing on very dry land, these image made me feel that I was somewhere else but not in Vietnam. The goats and the dust from their movement also are things that I like from picture.

When we were back, the tree was still there in the sunset. The goats had gone and the color of the sky was so different. It was really beautiful moment in the day.

And the wind still blowing!

DOI HONG (PINK SAND DUNE) IN MUI NE.

Located only 200 kms from Saigon, Mui Ne turning to be one of the most popular resort area in the South of Vietnam. Along the beach, there are so many resorts from 2 to 5 stars , provide great choice for the travelers . The infra structure and restaurant there also much improve from 6 years ago, when I had a chance to come there first time. Beautiful ocean, authentic seafood, great scenery of sand dull and cozy and comfortable resort are highlight of this beautiful destination.

For the one who love photograph in Vietnam, they must know about the the pictures of sand dune in Mui Ne in the sunset and sunrise. Some of them got the prize in the international competition with popular image of some ladies in conical hat carried baskets by bamboo pole as for foreigner, it is totally different image. One of the most famous and beautiful sand dune is Doi Hong – the enormous Pink Sand Dune in Mui Ne.

Located not to far from the town, one of the best time to visit Doi Hong is in the late afternoon before the sunset. The pink sand are really shining and attractive. Walking on the bare foot up hill to feel the very fine warm sand under your feet, you can see lots of couple coming here, spending the sweet moment in the spectacular nature. If you were there by yourself, I am sure that you will understand the meaning of loneliness deeply. That can be the reason why I have no pictures of lonely people here on this entry.

Heading to the sun.

Couple looked at other couple:

The sand really pink in the sunset:

Top of the hill:

Sandy wind: