Tet- New Year, Vietnam, Ancient Customs

Posted by Indochina Sails | Posted in | Posted on 8:49 PM

For the Vietnamese people, Tet is the most sacred time of the year.

Peach Flowers of Tet - Vietnamese Lunar New Year

On lunar New Year's Eve, each member of a family and of society exchange sincere good wishes, strengthening common cultural ties. Tet is also time to reflect on the spiritual life.

In Hanoi, on the stroke of midnight, the whole family sits down to eat together. The house has been cleaned well in advance. The family altar is decorated with fresh flowers, fruits (5 kinds of fruits with 5 different colors) and red candles. During Tet, angry words are forbidden. Most Hanoians visit pagodas, and make sure to bring home a leafy branch, an ancient symbol of prosperity.

During the next few days, it is crucial for people to visit as many of their relatives, friends and former teachers as they can manage. As an old proverb says:" the first day of Tet is for parents, the second for friends, and third for teachers".

When visiting families, it is customary to offer children and old people money in a lucky red envelope, to wish the elderly a long life and the children a year of fast growth. Visitors wish their hosts happiness, wealth and success as soon as they arrive.

In the Centre of the country, people put a lot of energy into Tet's preparations - they are busy baking biscuits and sweets months beforehand. The people of Hue in particular are famous for their delicious food, cakes and jam.

During Tet, old people sit down together to share a bottle of wine. In Hue, people who have mastered Chinese calligraphy to give as seasonal presents are greatly respected. Some hire boats and drift down the Perfume River reciting poetry recalling old times and floating candles on the water.

Tropical HCM City is more vibrant, with friends getting together to have fun. Here as well, people visit pagoda, often next carrying huge sticks of incense or giant candles.

The free and easy Saigonese are not as bound by tradition as their northern cousins. Many take their families to beaches, pagoda and amusements centres. Most shops stay open, and shopping is a popular pastime. Just like in the rest of the county, though, the Saigonese never forget to wish one another all the best for New Year.

Source: thingsasian

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Do You Know How Vietnamese People Cultivate Wet Rice?

Posted by Indochina Sails | Posted in | Posted on 12:01 AM

Some 70 per cent of Vietnam’s population is engaged in agriculture, which uses over 20 per cent of the country’s area and produces 15 per cent of its GDP.

Farmer in Northern Vietnam - Copywrite Brenda Sunno

Vietnam has two huge deltas: the Mekong in the south and the Red River in the north. From time immemorial the Vietnamese have known how to build dykes and avoid flooding, creating more land for wet –rice cultivation. Thousands of kilometres of dykes have been built along the Red River to protect this vast fertile delta and its population.

Recently my friend Huong Do and I visited her uncle, who is a farmer in Hai Duong province in the very heart of the Red River delta. The host, Mr. Hien, was very enthusiastic about showing us rural life.

Generally they cultivate two types, sticky rice and ordinary rice. The first is used for special events and ceremonies such as Tet ( lunar New Year) and weddings.

Talking about wet-rice-cultivation, Mr. Hien recites a Vietnamese proverb:’Nhat nuoc, nhi phan, tam can, tu giong’. This translates as ‘First one needs water,then manure,then diligence, and finally high quality seed’. ‘In the north we have two rice crops and one subsidiary one, according to the weather’, he said.

The winter –spring crop begins in the 12th lunar month and finishes in the fourth. The summer –autumn one lasts from the sixth to the 10th lunar month. After these crops there is time for the land to heal and we plant maize,taro, potato and sweet potato’.

To Start a crop we have to prepare the land. We empty the water from each field. Then we plough deep and rake it carefully with the help of the buffalo. The buffalo is well cared for and respected in the same way that many foreigners care about dogs’.
There are three things that are critical to every Vietnamese farmer’s life: purchasing a buffalo, getting married and building a house.

‘In order to prepare the land we put down fertiliser, either natural or chemical.water is constantly needed too’.’Different varieties of rice are very important.

Normally we select the best species from previous crops, using techniques passed down through generations. “In order to germinate it we put the paddy in a jute sack and soack it in water for 24 hours. We then take it out of the water and arrange it in a dark, damp place to facilitate germination. After 12 hours we repeat the process.

In cool winter weather straw ash is mixed with the paddy in order to keep it warm. When the roots reach two to three centimetres you can sow rice in a small prepared area.

During this period the young rice plants need water, but not too much. After one month you pick the young shoots and transplant the rice seedling to another field. ‘Working the fields requires diligence, During the three- and-a- half months of rice development you have to constandy watch your field! You need to pull out any weeds growing with the rice. This work is normally reserved for women.

There has to be water in time for each period of development of the rice’.
The ethnic minorities in mountainous areas practice wte- rice-cultivation on terraces.

It is not until you actually take off your shoes, roll up your trousers and muck in that you really appreciate the skill and energy required to harvest rice.

As Mr Hien says,’when the rice is mature the whole family has to work. We cut the rice with sickles and bring it home by ox cart.

Fortunately, machines are now used for separating the paddy and straw. Last year we had a big harvest. This year we have had to work very hard due to floods’.

With a trace of sadness Hien adds that the farmer’s life is till difficult. ‘We depend on rice but if the price is too low there is no profit. The government should pay more attention to our life, to build processing zones for agricultural products and find markets for us’.
Famers in the south harvest three crops a year and the wet-rice-cultivation technique is also different.

Source: thingsasian.com

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The Streets of Hanoi, Vietnam

Posted by Indochina Sails | Posted in | Posted on 1:52 AM

The author has an unforgetable experience when she arrived Hanoi.


A barbershop on the streets of Hanoi



It’s an act of faith! Crossing the street in the city of Hanoi in Vietnam is an experience I will never forget.

The roads are literally wall to wall traffic. Motorcycles, bicycles, rickshaws, cars, hand carts, buses, cars, mopeds, taxis and trucks whiz by in a blur of color and motion. There are very few traffic lights and I quickly learned that the ones which do exist are just for decoration.

I asked our guide in Hanoi how we would ever get to the other side of the street given the endless stream of vehicles. “Just step out onto the pavement” he said, “and start walking. Keep a steady pace. Don’t speed up and don’t slow down and never ever come to a complete stop. If you do you will be hit for sure.If however you walk at an even pace the vehicles will be able to judge your speed and will dodge around you.”

He was right! I admit that even after being in the city for four days my heart beat still began to race ever time I took that leap of faith and stepped out onto the street. I had to keep my head down, because if I looked at that frightening wave of traffic coming at me, it was too easy to lose courage and slow down or stop. And the noise! There is absolutely no need for signal lights on vehicles in Vietnam. No one uses them. Everyone just blasts their horn when they want to pass. The honking of thousands of horns is a twenty four hour a day background accompaniment to life in Hanoi. After awhile you just get used to it.

The traffic is only one of the things that makes the streets of Hanoi unique however. The sidewalks are endlessly fascinating as well.

Since houses and shops are small, narrow and for the most part without air conditioning, the people of Hanoi do lots of their living and working outside their homes and businesses. Children play tag, soccer and jump rope on the street.

Barbershops are set up right on the sidewalk. A chair, a pair of scissors, shaving cream, razor and comb and you’re in business! In the evenings children in their pajamas sit outside their homes reading or doing homework. People wash dishes, butcher chickens, do laundry, bag rice, cook, eat supper, feed their babies and sleep on the sidewalk. Of course it’s also where everyone parks their motorcycles and bicycles. Often there are so many vehicles parked on the sidewalk that there is no room to walk.

You can buy just about anything on the sidewalk in Hanoi. Enterprising entrepreneurs have hundreds of “knock off” designer clothing items neatly arranged on blankets spread out on the cobblestones. People sell fruits, vegetables and fresh bread on every corner. Children carrying cases of cigarettes, souvenirs and toiletries accost you constantly. Vendors with pirated copies of bestselling novels piled high on their heads will approach likely looking clients any hour of the night or day. Lots of women have little restaurants on the street. In the morning they come from their homes with the traditional wooden yoke across their shoulders. Balanced on one side is a pot of steaming soup. On the other is a pail filled with bowls, spoons, a little coal burner, two small plastic chairs and a folding table. They pick their spot for the day, set up their supplies and voila they’re in business. Once the pail without soup is emptied of its contents it is filled with water so the women can wash dishes in it after each customer. We ate at several of these mobile soup kitchens and had delicious meals.

The streets and sidewalks of Hanoi are places of constant activity and endless fascination. If you really want to get to know the city all you have to do is walk down the street. Just be careful when you cross it!

Source: thingasian

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http://www.indochinalsails.com

Ha Long Bay: one of the world’s natural wonders

Posted by Indochina Sails | Posted in , , , , , , , , , | Posted on 9:06 PM

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism said on October 8 that Ha Long Bay has been ranked as one of the 150 most beautiful natural wonders in the world by a French leading e-magazine.

Indochina Sails on Halong Bay by you.


Indochina Sails on Halong bay



An article portraying Ha Long Bay – a world natural heritage, was published in September in the Voyager (tourism) column of L’Internaute magazine.

The article noted that apart from its thousands of charming islands and beautiful caves, Ha Long Bay is also home to a wide biodiversity that includes eco-systems like mangrove forests, coral reefs and tropical forests.

The Bay, twice recognized by UNESCO for its landscape and geological value, has advanced to the final stage of a campaign to vote for the world’s seven new natural wonders by the NewOpenWorld.

It currently ranks 4th out of the 28 successful landscapes in terms of votes.

Vietnam is making an effort to promote and preserve the Bay to encourage the community, especially friends across the world to vote for it.

Reported by: VOVnews

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Mid-Autumn Children's Festival, Vietnam

Posted by Indochina Sails | Posted in , , , , , , , , , | Posted on 9:05 PM

Mid-Autumn Children's Festival or Tet Trung Thu is a wonderful time to visit Vietnam. The festivities last for several days and there is singing and shouting. Children wear masks, parade happily in the streets and bang their drums. Parents buy lanterns and toys for their children and prepare their favorite dishes. Special cakes are made and exchanged, and fruits are plentiful.

Full moon on halong bay cruises by you.



Full Moon Festival in luxury cruise on Halong bay


The festival is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, the day of the first full moon closest to the autumn equinox when the moon is at its fullest. The autumn equinox always falls on September 23. This year, the Children's Festival will occur on October 8. At the spring and autumn equinoxes the duration of day and night is equal and the sun appears directly overhead at noon at the equator. After September 23 the days become shorter and the nights grow longer.

During the Children's Mid-Autumn Festival, although the moon is then at its greatest distance from the earth, it appears larger than at any time of the year and takes on a reddish glow. In the West, this large, full autumn moon is called a harvest moon. In its partial phases, the moon represents the incompleteness of life and potential for completeness, fullness and prosperity. The Mid-Autumn celebration is then a celebration and a prayer for the fullness and completeness of life.

In many ancient agricultural cultures, when the nights got longer and the light and heat from the sun decreased, there were prayers and ceremonies urging the sun not to forget to rise again the next year. The theme of light after darkness is a key to understanding fall festivals. In ancient times in northern Europe farmers held a great festival with bonfires and they rolled firewheels down hills to recall the descent of the sun and then to invoke its ascent and return. The lanterns which Vietnamese children play with on this festival day recall the wish for the return of the sun's warmth and light. There are several different shapes of lanterns including the five-star lantern representing the sun and the frog-shape representing the moon. There are lanterns which spin around when a candle is placed inside, symbolizing the seasonal spinning of the earth around the sun.

During the festival, children wear paper-mache masks of Ra Hu who looks somewhat like a tiger. According to the myth, during the creation of the world the gods stirred up the sea to activate the ambrosia of immortality. The demon Ra Hu, lord of the nine planets and ruler of the gods of the nine planets, stole it and the sun god punished him by cutting off his head. The myth also says that Ra Hu ate pieces of the full moon and that is why it has phases and eclipses. Children wear the masks and growl like tigers to frighten Ra Hu so he will not gobble up the entire moon. Nowadays there are also many kinds of plastic masks, including Mickey Mouse and Superman, to frighten off the monster.

The masks, lanterns, toys, decorations and drums are sold on Hang Ma Street in the commercial quarter of Hanoi. Days before the fifteenth of the month the street is crowded with children and their parents. In the evening, pagodas and temples, especially those temples dedicated to goddesses, are open for worshippers to light incense and make offerings of flowers and fruit and to pray.

Several types of special cakes called banh trung thu are eaten at the festival time and are sold all over town. Some cakes take on the shape of a carp. In Vietnamese tradition the carp represents the soul of the moon. Other cakes are round and white and still others are square and golden brown. The brown ones represent the yang elements, or the sun, and the white ones are the moon. Most of the children don't know the symbolism but just enjoy the taste. We see a yin and yang aspect to many of Vietnam's seasonal festivals. In the balance of the female and male elements of the universe, the fall festival represents the ascendancy of the female powers over the male, the prominence of the moon over the sun's influence.

Banh trung thu are not raised like Western cakes. They are filled with lotus seeds, orange peel, ground beans, and sometimes egg and pork fat for flavor. It is traditional that one offers a box of these special cakes to someone that you want to please or owe a favor, like your landlord or the local police. In addition to cakes, fruits are plentiful during this time, especially watermelon and grapefruit. Grapefruit sections can be transformed into animal shapes like the rabbit of the moon, who according to legend pounds the ambrosia of immortality at the foot of a cassia tree. In addition to the rabbit, there are other mythical inhabitants of the moon. One is the three-legged toad, an incarnation of the moon maiden who stole the elixir of immortality from her husband. And the old man who, as a punishment for displeasing a revengeful god, is forever cutting down cinnamon trees which regrow as soon as his ax chops them.

The dragon dance is an important aspect of many festivals including the Mid-Autumn Children's Festival. The dragon dance expresses the duality of Vietnamese festivals. The dragon dance is a re-enactment of the earth and sky duality, the yin and yang of the world. The Lord Earth, called Ong Dia in Vietnamese, is the dancer who dances around the dragon, urging it on. Ong Dia has a very round, happy smiling moon-face. He represents the wealth or fullness of the earth.

The meaning of the Mid-Autumn Festival has been transformed over time. Originally it was not specifically for children. The Vietnamese people believe that only when one is innocent and pure can they get close to the natural and sacred world. So by becoming like children, they can acquire attributes of the gods. Because of its interesting legends and customs, and because the weather is mild, the Mid-Autumn Festival is a special time to see Vietnam.

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The little dragon- Halong bay, Vietnam

Posted by Indochina Sails | Posted in , , , , , , , , , | Posted on 9:05 PM

Often called the baby of Ha Long Bay, beautiful and diverse Bai Tu Long Bay holds its own.

Indochina Sails By Active Travel Vietnam by you.


Indochina Sails on Halong bay



The Vietnamese nation was invaded so often in ancient times that God was moved to send a dragon and its child to fight the enemies.

After the fighting was over, the dragon refused to return to heaven. The mother became Ha Long Bay (Descending Dragon) and her children, Bai Tu Long Bay (Dragon children cheering their mother). The children are beautiful, like the mother, but not as well known.

Located around 200 kilometers to the northeast of Hanoi, Bai Tu Long Bay includes the seas off Cam Pha Town, Ha Long Town and Van Don District.

The bay hosts hundreds of large and small islands of various characteristics. One island looks as if it were made by piling up stone bowls. Locals call it Dong Chen (Bowl Pile). Yet another, called Dua (chopstick), is like a giant chopstick lying on the water surface.

Quan Lan Island does not have a particularly striking shape like its neighbors, but it has sandy and rather wild beaches, like Ngoc Vung and Minh Chau, alongside a 300-year-old primeval forest.

The sixth lunar month is festival season on the island. No locals are allowed to leave, but visitors are welcome to join the festivities.

Other islands carry different flavors. Ban Sen Island, for instance, brings to tourists cups of tea produced from trees whose seeds were first sowed hundreds of years ago. Meanwhile, Minh Chau Island presents the pristine lifestyle of a fishing village.

Like its mother, Ha Long Bay has several caves such as Dong Trong Cave and Hang Quan Cave. The latter served as a Vietnamese army base during the Vietnam War.

Other attractions at the bay include temples dedicated to famous generals during the feudal period and seafood specialties like snout otter clams (Lutraria Rhynchaena), locally known as tu hai.



National ‘water park’



Covering nearly 16,000 hectares of land on 30 islands, Bai Tu Long National Park boasts considerable biodiversity with mangrove forests and coral reefs that are home to rare flora and fauna.

The park also has considerable archeological significance with scientists finding traces of people who lived there 14,000 years ago.

Located at the end of a mangrove forest, Doi (Bat) Cave is the home of thousands of bats and other animals like foxes and otters, while the Cai De Cave, about one kilometter away, goes through a range of mountains for about 500 meters at a maximum width of 60 meters.

Although the cave is decorated with stalactites and a plentiful source of marine life, visitors can only enter when the tide is low.

Cai De was proposed to be introduced to visitors in 2007, but nothing has been done so far to make this happen.

Reported by Thy An-TNnews

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Cruising in Ha Long Bay

Posted by Indochina Sails | Posted in , , , , , , , , , | Posted on 9:04 PM

Ha Long Bay in the northern province of Quang Ninh has thousands of islands and many beautiful areas.

cruise on Halong bay by Indochina Sails by you.


Cruise on Ha Long bay by Indochina Sails



For nearly a decade, the nominee for a Natural Wonder of the World title has attracted more tourists since the bridge linking Bai Chay (Chay Beach) and Hon Gai (Gai Islet) was built.

In the bay area, there are many caves, beaches, restaurants, hotels and entertainment sites. Among its well-known scenic spots and tourist sites are Thien Cung, Dau Go and Trinh Nu caves, and Ti Top, Tuan Chau and Ba Trai Dao beaches.

At hotels on Bai Chay, visitors can ask at reception desks to hire tourist ships to visit the bay. You can choose which ship from photos and decide beforehand how long the tour should be and which places to visit or if you will have lunch on board.

The ships usually have sofas on the top deck for tourists to sit and watch the seascape. The deck below has tables and chairs made from precious woods worth billions of dong. Some cruises from big travel agencies also have karaoke rooms and bars.

According to Ha, who is a helmsman, tourist ships have to compete with one another because hundreds of them operate in the bay. A ship is considered successful if it is recommended by its customers. For this reason, tourist ships strictly observe the itinerary and respect customers.
Tourist ships usually take people to see Bai Chay Suspension Bridge first and then take them to visit Thien Cung Cave, one of the biggest and most beautiful caves in the bay. If there is time, they will stop at other caves and Ti Top Beach, a beautiful coral beach.

The ships also go past Ga Choi Islet, two rocks which look like roosters fighting each other.
The crew normally brings along fresh seafood for customers’ lunch. During the boat tour, you can see small boats selling fish, crabs and shrimp that you can buy and grill them to eat on board.

Reported by Phan Huy Tram/ TNnews

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