Puppetry brings traditional rural culture to life

A water puppet show at The Thang Long Water Puppet Theater in Hanoi - Photo: My Tran

I was in Hanoi earlier this month, and saw a line with foreigners queuing to buy tickets for a puppet show at Thang Long Water Puppet Theater so I joined in. It was the first time I have seen a puppet performance in a theater and I loved it. I love the traditional culture of my country’s wet rice civilization.

As I walked in and found a seat, I was surprised by solemn atmosphere as though people were in an opera house. The stage was striking with a floating red house built in Vietnamese temple style with curved roofs. There was a big flag like the flag of Tay Son troop on the left and a red lantern on the right.

In front of the house was a water stage where the puppets perform.

Mua Roi Nuoc or Water Puppetry is a unique art which originated in the Red river delta in the tenth century. In ancient times, the ponds and rice paddies after harvest were the stage for these impromptu shows. Modern water puppetry is performed in theaters.

After a brief introduction, singers of cheo (a form of opera) together with a traditional Vietnamese orchestra using ethnic musical instruments started to perform. The singers used a Northern accent so I could not understand everything. The audience applauded when the puppets appeared.

The puppeteers stand behind a screen and control the puppets using long bamboo rods and a string mechanism hidden beneath thewater surface. The puppets are carved out of wood and often weigh up to 15 kg. The troupe sings songs and makes the sound effects to bring the puppets’ story to life.

I looked around the room and found that most of the audience were foreigners. So like me, I thought they did not understand what the troupe was singing and talking about but we could understand the story because of the puppets.

The show brought to life scenes of Vietnamese working all year round in rice farms. The puppets plant rice and then harvest. They raise ducks and protect them from foxes and snakes. The show also featured daily rural activities such as swimming in the river, the rendezvous of couples.Despite the hardships of farming, they also enjoyed life by holding boat races, singing and dance competitions and folk festivals.

I was especially impressed with the legend of the Sword Lake. King Le Loi took out the sword he had tucked in his waistband after his victory. He respectfully raised the weapon above his head. Suddenly the tortoise took the sword and disappeared into the water, but the luster of the sword remained and spread over the surface of the water. Since that time, the lake has been named Ho Guom (Sword Lake) or Ho Hoan Kiem (Restored Sword Lake). During that part of the performance I felt like I was back in elementary class listening to the legend being told by my teacher who I loved so much.

The show lasted for one hour but it reminded me of all the history about Vietnamese wet-rice civilization. That life, I thought, must be so simple.

At the entrance was a display of puppets and instruments used in water puppetry.

If I come to Hanoi again I will surely return to the theater to meet the puppets again. The Thang Long Water Puppets Theater is located at 57B Dinh Tien Hoang Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi.

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Hanoi foreign arrivals up 12 pct

Foreign arrivals in Hanoi are on the upswing again this year after a dip in April, according to the city’s tourism department.

Since the beginning of this year, 551,600 tourists have visited the city, a 12 percent year on year increase, the department says.

Arrivals from Germany quadrupled to 104,900 from the same period last year, while those from China and France saw increases of 32 percent each, the Department of Sports and Tourism reported.

Japanese and UK tourist arrivals also went up by 20 percent each, the department said, adding all the mentioned groups were high-spending groups who also stayed for long periods.

The department attributed the growth to tourism events and festivals including “Hanoians welcome you to their homes”, “Hanoi Green Tourism Year” and the Hanoi food and drink festival.

Martial arts tours and tours of imperial vestiges launched recently have also contributed to the increase, the department said.

Pham Quang Long, director of the department, said foreign arrivals in Hanoi had decreased 7.2 percent year on year in April, partly because of hikes in tour prices and room rents.

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Eat a horse

A man cooks thắng cốat Bac Ha Market. The dish is enjoyed as much for its taste as the friendly ambience in which it is served.

If you are so hungry you could eat a horse, Bac Ha Market in the north-western province of Lao Cai is the place for you. And you have it straight from the horse’s mouth.

Giang Seo Sau, a 65-year-old resident of Lao Cai’s Bac Ha District, is known for his expertise in cooking thắng cố (horse meat soup).

He says the dish appeared in the area nearly 200 years ago when the H’mong people settled down in the district, and to this day, the specialty of the ethnic mountainous people is said to be the most delicious at Bac Ha.

Although the recipe itself is quite simple, experience is necessary to produce tasty thắng cố, Sau says.

He explains: After a horse is slaughtered, the meat, bones and innards are washed and cut into pieces. These are marinated in a mixture of salt, black cardamom and grilled địa điền (a spice used in north-west Vietnam) before being placed in a big pan and fried. Water is then added to the pan and simmered for several hours.

HOW TO GET THERE

- The Bac Ha Market is open every Sunday in Bac Ha District, Lao Cai Province, 354 kilometers from Hanoi. - Tourists can book a tour to the market via travel companies like Sinh Café (http://www.sinhcafe.com.vn) and Viet Sail Travel (www.vietsailtravel.com). - If tourists prefer to travel independently, they can take a train or bus from Hanoi to Lao Cai Town. From here, they can catch a bus for a two and a half hour trip to Bac Ha District.

Visitors are likely to get an enticing whiff of the thắng cố cooking as they enter the Bac Ha Market. The horse is slaughtered earlier at the homes of the soup vendors and brought for cooking to the market.

A special feature of the dish is that it is typically served in a cauldron, so customers do not have thắng cố alone. Several people sit around the cauldron and fill up their own bowl for a sumptuous meal, exchanging stories about trading, the crop, hunting and their children.

For young men and women, a turn at the thắng cố cauldron is an opportunity to socialize and even find their soul mates. Many people who have met over a bowl of thắng cố soup have gone on to solemnize their vows.

For the men, maize wine is an indispensable accompaniment to thắng cố. In fact, there is a saying among the H’mong people in Bac Ha to the effect that those who have thắng cố without drinking maize wine from Ban Pho Commune (also in Bac Ha District) have not enjoyed the dish yet.

When the dish is had as a family, the usual accompaniment is cơm nắm (rice balls) and mèn mén (steamed maize powder).

Thắng cố is famous not only for its taste, but also for the animated and friendly atmosphere in which it is enjoyed.

The traditional dish of the H’mong people has become a cultural glue that brings people closer together.

In the old days, thắng cố was only made with horse meat, but these days it is substituted with meat of the buffalo, goat or pork. All these thắng cố varieties are available at Bac Ha Market.

A giant thắng cố pan with a diameter of three meters weighing 1.6 tons was displayed at the Bac Ha Market on the occasion of the Bac Ha tourism and cultural week in May 2008. It was recognized as Vietnam’s largest thắng cố pan. Three horses were slaughtered and cooked in the pan to serve around 1,000 visitors at the fair.

The market is open every Sunday. Various ethnic groups living in Bac Ha District and surrounding areas bring to the market many kinds of mountainous produce: tea, fruit, honey, wine, brocade, and orchids, not to mention horses, buffaloes and pigs.

The colorful brocade dresses and scarves of H’mong girls as they move about in the market are itself an attraction; and visitors can also buy brocade and handmade pictures here.

In fact, the general ambience here is not of trading, but of a hospitable, amiable place for people to meet and make friends, swap stories and have a good time. It is not surprising that this mountainous market was ranked first in the list of ten most attractive markets in Southeast Asia by Serendib Magazine’s first issue in 2009.

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Thang Long Royal Citadel named World Heritage site

The Thang Long Royal Citadel has been named a World Heritage site by UNESCO, the UN cultural and scientific body, according to a statement on the government website Sunday.

The decision was made Sunday morning (Vietnam time) during a 10-day meeting in Brasilia where the World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization revised its list of environmentally or culturally unique sites.

“This is an invaluable and meaningful gift for Vietnamese and the people of Hanoi just ahead of the millennium anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi,” the statement said.

The Thang Long Royal Citadel met three out of six selection criteria, including exhibiting an important interchange of human values over a span of time; bearing a unique or exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization; and being associated with events or living traditions.

Nearly 900 environmentally or culturally unique sites have been named in the World Heritage list so far.

Vietnamese entries in the list prior to the latest recognition are: the Complex of Monuments in the old imperial capital of Hue; Ha Long Bay; Hoi An Town; My Son Sanctuary and Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park.

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Royal Citadel declared World Heritage Site

Thang Long’s Royal Citadel nets prestigious UN designation just in time for the millennial celebration

One of the largest excavation sites at the Thang Long Royal Citadel

The Thang Long Royal Citadel was named a UNESCO world heritage site Sunday morning after a period of delay and uncertainty.

UNESCO, the UN cultural and scientific body, rates heritage site applications in four categories: the first one includes those that are recognized immediately, the second are those that are recognized after brief consideration, the third are delayed for a lengthier period until the application is amended, and the fourth are rejected outright.

Early this year, the UN placed the Thang Long Royal Citadel into the third category. Many expected roughly three years to pass before the honorarium would come through.

“But we have managed to clarify every issue in the application... to bring the citadel to the first category, which means it has passed two ranks,” The Thao & Van Hoa (Sports & Culture) quoted Phan Huy Le, chairman of Vietnam History Association, as saying.

But Tong Trung Tin, head of Vietnam Archaeology Association, said following UNESCO recognition, there need to be long term efforts to preserve the citadel.

Expert Nguyen Lan Cuong from the association said preserving excavated relics from the ravages of Hanoi’s tropical climate will not prove easy.

Cuong said there have been suggestions that parts of the site be buried to preserve it for future generations. The hope is that they will have more money and better technology to effectively excavate the site

A brick assumed to date back to the Ly Dynasty

The decision was made Sunday morning (Vietnam time) during a ten-day conference in Brazil. The World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization had gathered there to revise its list of environmentally and culturally unique sites.

Chairman Le said getting the UNESCO status was “a very big success.” He credited the efforts of local scientists, international researchers and the Vietnamese delegates at the UNESCO session for the coup.

“I’ve been following the [UNESCO session] for days.” He said. “I knew the chances for success were high but we couldn’t say anything in advance as the situation was not simple.”

In October last year, the world’s leading conservationists from the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) visited the site and gave it high marks. At the time, Le said, the ICOMOS inspectors found that the ancient city met all the criteria for the UNESCO designation and did not indicate that further measures should be taken.

But early this year, their report noted several shortcomings. The scale of the citadel was too small, archaeological studies about the site have not been widely known, and there remained many constructions around the core of the site, they said.

They also said there were not many guards around the site and the managers do not have the resources at their disposal to properly preserve the citadel.

“We have explained all the issues scientifically. The citadel is small... but it was the political center [of Vietnam] for 13 consecutive centuries; furthermore, it was the country’s capital for eight centuries.”

Le said that, following the findings, Hanoi authorities set to work removing constructions from the site and have taken steps to strengthen supervision around the site

A ceramic bird discovered at the ancient site

“[The UNESCO recognition] is an invaluable and meaningful gift for the Vietnamese and the people of Hanoi just ahead of the millennium anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi,” the government announced in a statement posted on its website on Monday.

The Thang Long Royal Citadel met three out of six selection criteria.

The UN organization found that the ancient city exhibits an important interchange of human values over a span of time. The layout of the citadel combines eastern royal qualities with aspects of western military fortifications.

The citadel is an exceptional monument of the Vietnamese civilization on the Red River Basin. It stands as a testament to Vietnam’s extraordinary ability to survive waves of foreign invaders and testifies to its intimate relations with cultures all over Southeast Asia. Artifacts, including pottery from China, Japan and West Asia illustrate the extensive trading network that existed in ancient Hanoi.

Le added that the citadel will be open occasionally and there will be two displays of relics at the site this month.

Nearly 900 environmentally or culturally unique sites have been named in the World Heritage list so far.

Vietnamese entries in the list include: the Complex of Monuments in the old imperial capital of Hue; Ha Long Bay; Hoi An Town; My Son Sanctuary and Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park.

Le Thi Minh Ly, deputy head of the Cultural Heritage Department under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, who attended the UNESCO session, said Vietnam enjoyed tremendous support from international allies.

“They respect Vietnamese heritage, Vietnamese people and especially the significance of Hanoi’s millennial anniversary,” Ly said.

Portions of the 20,000-square-meter site were excavated from December 2002 to March 2004. Hundreds of architectural vestiges and artifacts from the 6th century to 20th century period were found amidst the sedimentary layers of history.

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20 years on, mangrove forest repays farmer

Famous for its beaches, the resort town of Nha Trang offers nature-lovers a special, “strange” experience in the heart of a private mangrove forest

Nguyen Van Hung stands on one of the wooden pathways that he has built to explore his mangrove forest resort

Beautiful islands, sandy beaches, great diving spots - Nha Trang Bay is famous for these attractions.

But you can also take the less travelled path here.

Just three kilometers from the town’s center stands a mangrove forest that was cultivated and tended to for two decades by Nguyen Van Hung.

Hung, now in his fifties, has opened the forest to visitors, but is insistent that the tourism business does not harm it in anyway. He was moved to cultivate the forest after seeing hectares of mangrove forests destroyed by shrimp farming.

The mangrove forest, covering some 25,000 square meters, is unfortunately a rare phenomenon in the bay area which has seen a dramatic decrease in the brackish water species over the past 30 years. Mangrove forests have dwindled from 500 hectares to just 11 hectares at present

HOW TO GET THERE

One of the cottages in the mangrove forest that visitors can relax in By motorbike or by car: go along Le Hong Phong Street, then take turn at Phong Chau Street. After about 800 meters, turn left where you can see the Nha Trang Export Shrimp Farm. The Tu Rung Duoc Resort is some 700 meters away from the farm. Fees and charges * Free admission and parking * Huts on the bank: VND50,000 per day; “in the forest” VND100,000 per day * Fishing rod: VND10,000 per day * The catch is free

Hung, who calls the forest the Tu Rung Duoc Resort, said, “I want to do business in tourism without doing harm to the forest.”

True to his word, he allows no motorboats in the forest as they may harm underwater creatures and scare storks with their engine noise. Hung’s afforestation work has been so effective that blue storks have chosen the forest to build their nests and stay the night.

Trees and shrubs are allowed to grow in their natural habitat, and Hung raises fish and other species in his forest.

Hung has set up ten huts with thatched roofs, five of which are in the center of the forest and can be reached only on a raft. Five others are built under the shade of big trees on the banks of the Tac River.

If you rent one of the huts, you will find a mat to sit on and a few bowls to have a meal of shrimps, fish and crabs that you catch, or you can have Hung do it for you.

Food can be grilled on coals, but no littering is allowed, Hung says.

When the tide is low, tourists can also find lots of ba khia and nha – small crabs unique to the Mekong Delta - at the root of the mangrove trees.

A stay in this resort is going to be a strange, but rewarding experience.

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Rendezvous, Rendezvous

Hanoi is a city that lends itself easily to lyrical waxing.

Voted one of the top ten winter destinations in the world by US-based Huffington Post, its calm, magnificent lakes – around 20 of them – give the city its special allure.

And there is no place more alluring than Ho Tay (West Lake) and its surroundings.

This is true even today, although the once quiet, serene place of great beauty that awakened the muse of legions of poets, music composers and painters has become a wistful memory.

For every aspect of the West Lake that has changed or disappeared over the years in the modernization rush of the last few decades, there are others that have remained unchanged.

Covering around 500ha, the West Lake continues to be home to villages growing flowers and bonsai (the Quang Ba Village, for instance); its famous old pagodas and temples are still havens of peace; and a few handicraft villages have survived.

Most of all, it has the atmosphere only places that attract people from all walks of life can have. Not too long ago, as the sun began its daily descent in the horizon, the West Lake was the place to meet for young lovers, whose locked embraces became sculptures lining the lake’s shores.

Even today, the West Lake is the most popular rendezvous in Hanoi, not just for lovers, but also for friends and family.

The lake can be “sensed” from afar, with the capital city’s charms unfolding as we approach it – the light yellow French colonial villas on Hoang Van Thu Street in Ba Dinh District and the cool breeze from the lake that releases us from the heat of the burning summer as we pass by Uncle Ho’s mausoleum.

Part of growing up

For natives, the West Lake is dearly attached to every childhood memory, every single spring, summer, autumn and winter.

In the days before every Tet (Lunar New Year), like other friends, I would go to the Quang Ba Village looking for some canh dao (cherry blossom branch) with my father. Sometimes we spent hours under the shade of the cherry blossoms talking about plans for the New Year. Traditionally, no Tet is complete without a canh dao with flowers, young leaves and buds, so that the branch continues to produce new flowers for the two weeks following Tet.

During the summer young people get together at Phu Tay Ho Temple, snack on steamed snails and pray at the temple for a fruitful new school year.

The Thanh Nien Street, which separates West Lake and the Truc Bach Lake, always teemed with dating young couples, hand in hand, deeply in love. I sometimes think the West Lake and its environs are steeped in the romantic stories of millions who have dated, hugged and kissed on its shores.

Autumn, when Hanoi acquires a magical beauty, was the time to go rowing on the lake until the sun set, and during winter, Hanoians warmed themselves up with barbequed dishes to keep the winter chill at bay.

That holiday feeling

Given its immense popularity, the West Lake area has numerous cafes, restaurants, bars and other gathering spots. Vietnam’s equivalent to Starbucks, Trung Nguyen Café, is located on a white boat floating on the lake, and there are other boats that offer dinner cruises as well.

The place gives the sense of a holiday spot far away from the city, enjoying the sun and breeze, watching people fishing on the lake’s shores, and observing the stylish attires sported by most guests.

Besides the cafés and bars, the West Lake area is also home to special dishes, like pho cuon, fried goose and many seafood dishes that the Nguyen Khac Hieu Street has become well known for.

Pho cuon is a new dish created recently by a Hanoian who was fed up of making the same bowl of pho every day. Instead of cutting the flour into long thin strips to make the noodles, he kept it like a sheet and stuffed it with beef stir-fried with garlic, mint and other herbs to make a roll served with sweet and sour sauce. Pho cuon is now served by families all around the Truc Bach Lake.

Eating a delicious, satisfying meal under willow trees, watching love birds return to their nests and listening to the bell ring in the nearby pagoda... such precious moments stay with you forever in memory.

In recent years, the area has also begun to host luxurious, up market events and establishments. On special occasions like weddings, many Hanoians choose to have guests picked up by boats and transported to the other side of the lake for a party.

A dinner for two at the InterContinental Hanoi Westlake Hotel’s Milan Restaurant gives the feeling of being in Venice, as it juts into the lake and gives you a clear view of the small boats that travel to and fro.

Watching the twilight from the 19th floor of Sofitel Hanoi with a bird’s eye view of the West Lake, the Truc Bach Lake and the Hong River is another special experience that does not come cheap. The restaurant serves oysters, barbecued meat and ice cream.

It is said that the West Lake was created when the Hong River changed its course. Later, the big lake was divided with the Thanh Nien Street running through it, creating the Truc Bach Lake.

The jewel in Hanoi’s crown, the West Lake continues to charm residents and visitors alike. Love stories are still being written on its banks, sunsets continue to enchant and in season, the lotuses cast out their enticing fragrance.

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