Nightlife in Vietnam

[tiboy8x]

All cities on the tourist trail have bars catering for Westerners, so you’re never too far from a game of pool and a vodka & Red Bull, even in the mountains of Sapa (where incidentally there’s also an English pub). Should you want to do as the locals do, a standard night out for the Vietnamese involves ca phe and karaoke in equal amounts, with the former as strong as the latter is loud. Unless it’s your (ahem) bag baby, avoid the ‘karaoke om’ bars, where the girls are hired by the hour along with the room. The regular karaoke bars have a mixture of Vietnamese and English songs and it was in one of these that I made my karaoke debut attempting About a Girl by Nirvana, an experience as surreal for me as it must have been painful for my audience. Officially there’s a - sporadically enforced - 12am curfew on public entertainment, though there are plans to abandon this in the near future. HCMC and Nha Trang are the liveliest cities for after-dark adventures, with masses of neon-lit bars and clubs. Hanoi is more relaxed, with many travellers spending their evenings strolling around Hoan Kiem Lake or hanging out at a local bia hoi. The infamous Apocalypse Now nightclub has branches in both HCMC and Hanoi, where Western men will find themselves magnetically attractive to certain local ladies. Just bear in mind it’s not the gun in your pocket that’s making them so pleased to see you.

[tiboy8x]

Mid-Autumn traditional toys, a time-honoured tradition for Vietnamese children, carry legends imbued with mysticism and a storied history.
The eighth lunar month is upon us, and Vietnamese children have been waiting patiently for the most cheerful and colourful festival of the year: the Mid-Autumn Festival.

But for toy-maker Nguyen Van Nham, 76, preparation for the festival began two months ago. Mr Nham is the third generation of a craft family from Khuong Ha Village, Thanh Xuan District, Hanoi, which for decades has been producing handmade toys for Hanoians.

Mid-Autumn toys represent the main source of income for most of the village in the autumn. When the festival season finishes, villagers return to their year-round work of making objects of worship and items for family use.

Now, as some villagers have been lured away to new jobs, Mr Nham's family continues to make traditional toys.

[tiboy8x]

What do you do in the ancient imperial capital of Hue after having visited the citadel, royal palaces, tombs and other tourist sites? Actually, the central city offers you more than you’d expect, particularly after dark.
In the late afternoon, you can stroll along Song Huong, the Perfume River, that flows through Hue. They enjoy the romantic scenery of the river, hills, Thien Mu Pagoda and boats slowly going up- or downstream.
Spanning the river is Trang Tien Bridge, which has come to symbolize the former imperial capital and inspired many poets and musicians. It also forms the backdrop for numerous music clips and films.
Colored lights adorn the old bridge, attracting tourists to come to take photos at night. Not far from the 400-meter-long, 6.2-meter-wide bridge are boats lining up on the river’s southern bank for you to get onboard.
Instead of a night cruise, music performances are on for one and a half hours. The show only starts after an audience has gathered and been rowed to somewhere in the middle of the river, near the old ironwood bridge.
Men and women in traditional Hue costumes recite poems, sing modern and folk songs and explain the stories to that the songs refer. During the interval, the artists light colored paper lanterns and let the audience release those on the water, together with a wish.
Though it is uncertain whether the wish will really come true, it is great to see the shining lanterns flow downstream. People in the many other boats drop their lanterns more or less at the same time, creating a splendid pattern of bright dots on the dark, smooth water surface.
Souvenirs and Hue specialties are also sold before the second part of the show begins. In addition, you can buy roses to present to the performers with a tip after a song.
When the show ends at around 8:30 p.m., the spectators can take photos with the artists before the boat goes back to the bank for tourists to continue discovering the city at night.
They can go along the riverside street Le Loi, stopping by a restaurant to try bun bo (beef noodle soup), banh canh cua (rice noodle soup with crab meat and sliced shrimp) and other Hue specialties.
Hue has earned a reputation for its wide selection of banh (pancake-type dough). There is banh nam (ground shrimp and pork steamed with rice flour and wrapped in banana leaves), banh khoai (rice pancake dried with bean sprouts and pork) and banh bo (steamed rice pancake).
Vendors also set up foldable tables and plastic chairs here and there on the pavement of Le Loi Street at night to sell snails steamed with citronella and chili slices. It is safe and delicious to taste one or two dishes with beer while watching what’s happening on the river and the street. A plate of hot snails costs VND3,000 to VND5,000.
After the snack, you can keep strolling along the city’s main streets. An even better idea is to hop on a cyclo to tour Hue, which is more quiet at night than HCMC. The cyclo driver can take you slowly across the Trang Tien Bridge to the northern bank of Hue and then back to the southern bank via the concrete bridge Phu Xuan.
The route continues past lit old buildings on Le Loi and Nguyen Hue streets and past bars on Hung Vuong Street. Many backpackers who stay in the nearby cheap hotels gather at the bars.
The cyclo tour takes in any spots that you want to see so do not hesitate to tell your driver where you want to go or ask for advice.
A cyclo ride costs some VND30,000 per hour, and a cyclo can carry two people at a time. Remember to bargain before you hop on.
Many cyclo drivers wait along the Huong River and in front of hotels. Tourists can ask at their hotels to arrange a tour to make sure that they get a driver who can speak English and French. The drivers often turn into impromptu travel guides with much useful information about Hue.
In the end, the night passes faster than you’d think. And the next morning, you have to get up early again to visit more sights or continue your trip. But who needs sleep when there’s so much to do!

cheers,
Thanks

[tiboy8x]

The sea of Ha Long is deep blue water throughout all four seasons. In spring, sailing amidst the waves, the stone islands look to be bobbing on the water. As summer approaches and the sun is setting on the far horizon, they appear to awake in unison and rise from the blue depths. The whole bay is bright red, and then turns to blue as the crests of the waves run together towards the shore. Orchids and fig trees, growing from fissures in the stone, bloom with snowy flowers.
As a boat makes its way through this forest of islands by ways of meandering channels, sometimes stone seems to be spread in front of you; forming a wall heeding further progress. Once nearer, the wall appears to crack open as if letting your boat pass. The scenery disappears behind you as yet another panorama opens to your view.
The winding route seems to be endless, but the beauty of Ha Long Bay does not consist only in the forms of it’s mountains, islands and the colour of its waters, but also in its infinitely rich system of grottoes and caves; concentrated mostly in the middle of the UNESCO-protected area. Thiên Cung (Heavenly Palace Grotto) bears a modern and refined trait, while Đầu Gỗ (Driftwood Grotto) is ample and grandiose and Sửng Sốt (Surprise Grotto) appears deeply secretive. There are many beautiful examples, closely linked with legends and popular tales, such as: Trinh Nữ and Trống Grottoes (Virgin and Male Grottoes) and the Fairy Grotto Lake (Ðộng Tiên Lake). Each is a grandiose and refined natural architectural creation.
At sunset, when the mountains’ shadows stretch out long across the bay, the water turns grey-blue, before suddenly transforming to a crimson red as the last of the sun’s rays reach the far away islands. For one short instant, the whole scene mingles into one colour, and then all light is extinguished. After the moon climbs into the sky, the sea seems to be coated with silver, with the lights of Ha Long City reflected on the surface of the water.
It seemed that every islands, caves and beaches in Ha Long closely linked with the legend and popular tale of love, of the heroic song for safeguarding country... Visiting Ha Long Bay is a good chance to witness the romantic and attractive love story, which happened only in the legend.
The 18th meeting of the Committee of the World Heritages of UNESCO (in Thailand on December 17th, 1994), officially recognized Ha Long Bay as a natural heritage of worldwide importance. And Ha Long Bay is honorly recognized as a world natural heritage once again for its geological value.

[tiboy8x]

Cat Ba is an island of approximately 140 sq.km in Halong Bay, Northern Vietnam. It is commonly used as an overnight hotel stop on inexpensive package tours to Halong Bay run by travel agents from Hanoi.
Cat Ba is the largest island in the Bay and approximately half of its area is covered by a National Park, which is home to the highly endangered Cat Ba langur. This golden-headed langur is rarely seen, as fewer than 100 specimens are thought to survive in the wild, although it is the subject of a well-organised conservation programme. The Park covers both land and marine areas and has a high biodiversity, although it is at risk from too rapid an increase in tourism. Other mammals in the Park include civet cats and oriental giant squirrels.
Cat Ba town, showing the limestone hills behind the waterfront strip
Many tour operators include an option of trekking in the National Park or canoeing on three-day tours; shorter tours generally only stay overnight in the small town of Cat Ba (population about 8,000) or on boats moored in Cai Beo bay, about 2km away from Cat Ba town. Cat Ba itself is attractively situated around a bay teeming with small boats, many of which belong to pearl or shrimp farmers, and can become very busy at weekends and during public holidays. The promenade has illuminations and a large fountain which only plays after dark; it is backed by a strip of cheap hotels and bars, but dominated by the wooded limestone hills behind. The island is a national park of Vietnam and was recognized by UNESCO in December 2004 as a Biosphere reserve of the world

[tiboy8x]

The forest at Ba Be can be classified into two main types: limestone forest and lowland evergreen forest. The limestone forest is distributed on steep limestone slopes with shallow soil, and covers a large proportion of the national park. This forest type is dominated by Burretiodendron hsienmu and Streblus tonkinensis. Lowland evergreen forest is distributed on shallow slopes with deeper soils. This forest type has a higher tree species diversity than limestone forest and has a richer ground flora.
With regard to mammals, the site is of particular interest for the presence of the globally vulnerable Owston's Civet Hemigalus owstoni and Francois's Leaf Monkey Trachypithecus francoisi, although it appears that only one group of 7 to 13 Francois's Leaf Monkeys remains.
It is highly unlikely, however, that the globally critically endangered Tonkin Snub-nosed Monkey Rhinopithecus avunculus continues to occur within the core zone of Ba Be National Park. Information from Ba Be National Park staff suggests that the species may have occurred in the north-west of the national park as recently as 1997.
However, surveys by BirdLife International and Fauna & Flora International on behalf of the Creating Protected Areas for Resource Conservation Using Landscape Ecology (PARC) Project, in 2002 and 2003, provided no evidence in support of the supposition that the species remains at Ba Be.
Ba Be is unique amongst Vietnamese protected areas for the diversity of freshwater habitats. This is reflected to some extent in the diversity of fish species found at the site. Although recent surveys by the PARC Project have documented the existence of several endemic fish species, more work needs to be conducted in this area.
Ba Be also supports a high butterfly species richness. During surveys in 1997 and 1998, a total of 332 species were recorded at the national park, of which 22 were new records for Vietnam.

Cheer,
thanks,

[tiboy8x]

Like other southeast Asian languages, Vietnamese has a comparatively large number of vowels (nguyên âm). All vowels are unrounded except for u, ô, and o. Vowels â and ă are pronounced very short, much shorter than the other vowels. Therefore, ơ and â are basically pronounced the same except that ơ is long while â is short — the same applies to the low vowels a (long) and ă (short).
Outside Hanoi, u, ô, o may be back rounded [u, o, ɔ], while ư, ơ, â, a are back unrounded [ɯ, ɤ, ʌ, ɑ], and i, ê, e, ă are front unrounded [i, e, ɛ, æ].
The correspondence between the orthography and pronunciation is rather complicated. For example, the vowel i is also often written as y; both may represent [j], in which case the difference is in the quality of the preceding vowel. For instance, tai "ear" is [tɑ̄j], while tay "hand/arm" is [tāj].
In addition to single vowels (or monophthongs), Vietnamese has diphthongs (âm đôi).
• Three diphthongs consist of a vowel plus a. These are: ia, ua, ưa. (When followed by a consonant, they become iê, uô and ươ, respectively.)
• The other diphthongs consist of a vowel plus semivowel. There are two of these semivowels: y (written i or y) and w (written u). A majority of diphthongs in Vietnamese are formed this way.
• Furthermore, these semivowels may also follow the first three diphthongs (ia, ua, ưa ) resulting in triphthongs.

[tiboy8x]

Vietnamese vowels are all pronounced with an inherent tone (thanh or thanh điệu). Tones differ in:
• pitch
• length
• contour melody
• intensity
• glottality (with or without accompanying constricted vocal cords)
Tone is indicated by diacritics written above or below the vowel (most of the tone diacritics appear above the vowel, however, the nặng tone dot diacritic goes below the vowel).

[tiboy8x]

Visitors to Vietnam have been regularly impressed, often pleasantly surprised, and in some cases, downright shocked by Vietnamese cuisine and dining preferences. However, food and dining are integral to Vietnamese culture and social events, and now the secrets of the flavors can be discovered through cooking courses throughout Vietnam.
While Hoi An still offers the widest range of cooking classes for tourists, there are now some interesting options in the capital city as well. Cooking classes began in Hanoi at Sofitel Metropole Hotel as far back as 1999, but more recently there have been two new arrivals on the scene: Highway4 restaurant and Hidden Hanoi culinary tours, each offering something a bit different.
There was no more impressive location to start our first venture into world of Vietnamese cuisine than the Sofitel Metropole Hotel. We departed from this colonial masterpiece by cyclo with our destination being the centrally-located "19th of December" (19-12) market. Our guide, Miss Hai, decked us out in Vietnamese conical hats and led us through the tight passageways explaining a world of scents and tastes that are in large part alien to Western senses. Her knowledge was impressive, explaining the intricate world of herbs vital to Vietnamese cuisine, while taking us through the seafood section, where we could see how the food was processed on site. In Vietnamese markets everything is fresh, extremely fresh. (In term of the meat counters this might take newcomers by surprise).
Returning to the Sofitel we were sent straight to the kitchen where Miss Hai introduced the six dishes of the day: Steamed snake-head fish, Hanoi deep-fried spring rolls, Banana flower salad, Marinated pork grilled in bamboo, Grilled chicken skewers in lemon leaves, and Saut饤 pumpkin branches.
Before long we were already tucking into our first culinary delight in the vast hotel kitchen - traditional Vietnamese pho
(noodle soup). One thing about the Sofitel class is that there is definitely no shortage of food to experience. During the class we enjoyed a generous taste of each dish produced and the finale was settling down to a sumptuous Hanoi "street-food" buffer in the Spice Garden restaurant.
Miss Hai's language skills were excellent and her kitchen skills exemplary. Not only did she show us how to make each dish but she paid detailed attention to simple ways in which we could reproduce stylish decoration. However, with six dishes tucked into a tight schedule there was negligible time for audience participation, giving it something of a classroom tinge as we b bounced through a busy curriculum.
The Sofitel class is professional but leaves little interaction for the students. The food is abundant and of high quality, and the recipes easy to reproduce, especially as we were accompanied by a comprehensive take-home recipe booklet.
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More information at Trafest.com.
Email: roninreturn@yahooo.com

[tiboy8x]

FISH SAUCE (nuoc mam)

Can be used plain to season fish, meat, shrimp before cooking or in soup or saut饤 vegetables before serving. Since fish sauce is too salty to serve with grilled, fried, and saut饤 dishes, we usually prepare it with lemon juice, sugar and chopped hot pepper. Vinegar can be substituted for lemon juice but the fish sauce will be less tasty.
SOY SAUCE

Although many people think that soy sauce is used only for Chinese and Japanese cooking, Vietnamese use it also for seasoning because of its distinctive flavor. In the recipes, soy sauce can be either the Japanese Shoyu or the Chinese Chiang Yu. American soy sauces are very salty and much more concentrated than the Oriental brands and less should be used
More information at Trafest.com.
Email: roninreturn@yahooo.com

[tiboy8x]

Vietnam people and their belief
By Van Ngan
Saigon--What is the best way to keep a child healthy? An old Vietnamese grandfather believes the charm of a certain necklace wards off evil spirits and he may give it to his grandson to protect the boy. An employee fails to show up for work on the third day of the lunar month because he believes that particular date brings him bad luck. A student tries to borrow money to buy lottery tickets because he dreamed of fire the night before. These are some examples of superstition which may baffle the foreign visitor to this country. But, in Vietnam, it is part of tradition and customs passed down from one generation to the next. Ignorance, of course, plays some role in the traditional acceptance of superstition. Not having sufficient knowledge, faith or trust in scientific methods, a Vietnamese often relies on his prejudices, emotions and the word of his forefathers to guide his daily life.
Superstition, sometimes, plays more than a passing role in Vietnamese society. By the time a boy is old enough to marry, for example, he may not be able to wed the girl he loves because she was born in the wrong year. On the 12-year lunar calendar commonly used throughout Asia, many of the years are considered incompatible. Such years are thought to bring misfortune if they are improperly matched with other years. Thus a young man born in "the Year of the Tiger," cannot marry his beloved from "the Year of the Horse" unless he wants to risk a break in family ties with his parents and elder relatives. To the conservative relatives, the Tiger and Horse are incompatible and sure to bring bad luck to such a marriage. The hoot of an owl is regarded as a bad omen announcing death or illness. According to ancient tradition the bird must be chased away and those who heard his cry should be extremely cautious about their personal safety.
Superstition in Vietnam
A large number of fortune-tellers, astrologers and palm-readers owe their living to Vietnamese superstition and often made a small fortune from their clients. Even the poor save money for occasional visits to well-known soothsayers. Superstition has been known to determine the conduct of the war in this ravaged country. A friendly or enemy commander may refuse to attack or may alter his strategy if the stars are not in his favor. One story has it that an American commander always consulted a Vietnamese astrologer before planning the deployment of his troops. When questioned by his incredulous superiors, he explained that, according to his theory, he could depend on the enemy to base his attacks on the positions of the stars. So, he consulted a stargazer himself for intelligence on the enemy's movements. Another story passed down through history is that of the famous Vietnamese generals Le Loi and Nguyen Trai. Several years ago, the pair was leading a war against Chinese invaders. Nguyen Trai decided to turn superstition to his advantage and used grease to write the phrases "Le Loi vi Quan; Nguyen Trai vi Than," (Le Loi for King; Nguyen Trai for Minister of State) on the large leaves of forest trees. Ants later consumed the grease absorbed in the leaf tissue and left the prophecy clearly engraved. People living nearby noticed the perforated leaves and interpreted them as a "divine message." Inspired by this, they wholeheartedly supported the war which eventually led to the defeat of the Chinese and the enthronement of Emperor Le Loi.
A story of vietnam people's superstition
Another story is told of a Montagnard tribe that trapped a white elephant in 1961 and offered the rare animal to the late President Ngo Dinh Diem as a gift. Government news agencies, attempting to strengthen the already tottering regime of Diem, spread the word that a "powerful king" had been sent down from Heaven to rule the Vietnamese. The President himself flew to the city of Ban Me Thuot in the Central Highlands to accept the gift, a symbol of supreme and divine power. The elephant was given to Diem in a much publicized ceremony. Two years later, history proved no "powerful king" had come to the rescue when Diem was assassinated and his regime overthrown in a military coup. Whether by chance or not, superstition scores an occasional point in its favor. One story tells of an old Vietnamese Senator who, learning that the opening ceremony of the first Vietnamese Senate under the new Constitution would be October 10, 1967, voiced his disapproval. It was a bad day, he said, and someone in the Senate would surely suffer for the indiscretion. Four months later, during the Communist Tet offensive of 1968, Senator Tran Dien, a popular and well loved figure, was assassinated, by the Viet Cong in Hue, in Central Vietnam. The old Senator is convinced his prophecy of doom came true .
There are some social reformers in this country who believe that superstition is a problem, which should be eradicated in Vietnam is to become a truly progressive, modern nation. A young whipper-snapper, a graduate from a foreign western university, even proposed legislation to outlaw superstition in this country. How dull life would be if all our soothsayers, fortune tellers, palm-readers and astrologers were to be pensioned off and retired. We promptly took this abominable proposition to our favorite soothsayer who solemnly assured us that this is not in the stars.

[080726jk]

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