Exploring a ’new’ Life Heritage Resort in Hoi An

Located on the edge of Hoi An Ancient Town and on the banks of the scenic Thu Bon River, the Heritage Resort Hoi An is a short stroll from the colorful and bustling ancient town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Though featured by old-time Asian design, the influences of French, Dutch, Chinese and Japanese cultures make up the distinct ambience and atmosphere of the resort.

The Life Heritage Resort spa treatment facilities situated along the romantic Hoai River are a welcoming place for relaxing. New plantings have increased the shade cover around the pool and the spa has moved indoors with three single treatment rooms open to views of the Thu Bon, while a double-room looks onto the resort's gardens.

Renovations at the popular 94-room resort pared the hotel back to its concrete shell and then, with Pisani Designs holding the palette, recast the property with more space in the rooms, more light in the bath-rooms and bespoke furnishings. The second-generation upgrade features a new spa and a new Heritage Bar that celebrates the history of the exquisitely preserved 19th Century trading port and provides an outdoor perch on one of the town's most quaint streets.

Inside the air-conditioned bar is a series of archival prints for visitors to explore the town's past. Upstairs at the Heritage Bar cigar aficionados hold court in segregated space, seasoned by the finest imports and Life's recommitment to a wine list that would do justice to the finest hotels.

At Senses, the resort's signature restaurant, the menu, like the resort itself, has been completely revamped to feature a fusion of Asian and Western cuisines. The open, riverfront exposure remains the same, but custom furnishings have redefined the ambiance.

At Vienna Cafe, the ground-floor pastry and light-meal eatery. Old World aesthetics conjure a remarkably different dining experience. But, like the rest of the resort, its tiling and furnishings are fresh and stylish.

This is a new window on Hoi An that has never been opened before, said Cathy McConkey, the resort's general manager. She added they always traded on their proximity to Hoi An and now visitors can watch the world go by from a prime perch outside the Heritage Bar.

Life Heritage Resort Hoi An reopened on August 1 after a six-month suspension of operations.

Life Resorts also owns and operates the Life Wellness Resort Quy Nhon, inspired by the architecture of the Kingdom of Champa, just as the Life Heritage Resort Hoi An was inspired by the classical design featured in Hoi An ancient town.

Travelling Vietnam’s jagged north

On a hot stuffy summer’s day in the crowded city, one group of travellers are looking to leave it all behind to journey to northeastern provinces of Bac Can, Tuyen Quang and Ha Giang.

This isn’t just any random group of friends, but the staff of travel agencies in Hanoi, led by Duong Manh Ha. As an unexplored route, Ha will lead this group to see if route would please the adventure traveller.

"The provinces have been favourite destinations for adventure tours, so we want to create extraordinary tours rather than the old ones," said Ha who works at the Wild Lotus company. "People always like new things in life as do tourists."

The tour the group set out on early in the morning from the My Dinh bus station in Hanoi had not been explored by a travel company or foreign tourist. The path ahead of them will consist of a treacherous journey by bus, boat, foot and other unknown troubles in the mountainous area.

With Ba Be Lake in Bac Can the first stop, the group headed to the northeastearn province along National Highway.

It took them four hours after a 150km drive, and two more hours to drive 70km up the zigzagging mountain road to Ba Be national Park, where they spent the night.

On the second day, the group started off with an early morning 20minute boat ride to Dau Dang Falls where they made a 2-km trek to the next route along the Gam River.

Rocky roads

The short boat trip was a tease for the seven hour ride they took next along the river from Bac Can winding through Tuyen Quang to arrive at Bac Me wharf. The last led of water travel, they still had 30km to go to reach the centre of Ha Giang Province.

Unfortunately, with the water level going down in the afternoon, they didn’t make the full 30km and were forced to stop at the nearest wharf in Minh Ngoc village. Eager to make their destination, the group had to rent motorbikes at an astounding VND400,000 (US$23) to travel across a rocky 12-km path.

"It’s unlucky for us, but also an experience for our next trip and the bad luck will not be repeated," said Ha.

"The road actually exhausted me. However, I could recognise the road as good for a biking or trekking route for my company’s tour service," said the director of Green Trail tours Nguyen Van Dung.

The road was so rough that it threw one of the travellers, Tran Van Hung, onto the ground as he couldn’t hold tight on the doubled up motorbikes. Luckily, he was still wearing his life-jacket from the boat to cushion the fall.

Hoang Thi Nga, from the Exotissimo travel company, said the ride was like being in an action film she had seen and she had no regrets taking part in the trip.

"I live in the city and rarely join in adventures like this. My fear was over when I crossed that terrible sloping road sandwiched by abysses," Nga said. "It was really a challenge for me as I was afraid of falling off the motorbike."

Nguyen Hoang Anh, product manager of Focus Travel company, wasn’t as excited as Nga.

"I would rather walk down the road than drive on a motorbike like this," said Anh. "I think it’s too dangerous and the road is an option for trek and adventure tours."

Living it up Tay style

One hour later, the group was safely in Ha Giang Town where they got buses to Me Village.

In the village which belongs to ethnic Tay people, the group slept in stilt houses for only VND30,000 ($1.7) after a full dinner for just VND50,000 ($2.8) a person.

"Tourists always join in on the Tay lifestyle, with both dance performances and food," said the host, 48-year- old Dam Duc Xuyen.

"The village has been promoted as a destination of eco-tourism by the Ha Giang Culture, Sports and Tourism Department for two years. Currently, around 15 households in the village have built new houses serving tourists," said Nguyen Hong Hai, vice director of the department.

Next, the group attacked the 110-km route linking Xin Man and Hoang Su Phi districts in Ha Giang to Bac Ha town in Lao Cai, which was another 140-km drive to the appointed stop.

More bad luck hit the group as a landslide in Nan Ma village in Xin Man district left a big hole in the road, stopping them at 30km from Bac Ha Town.

"Landslides in the mountainous areas often happen in rainy seasons from April to July," said Le Trung Kien, a tour guide of the Green Sa Pa Tour company.

"During this period, bad weather often delays adventure trips, so you should ensure you’re prepared because it’s an adventure tour."

Finally arriving at midnight, the members were relieved not to have faced more tribulations driving the short cut.

With the group making it back safe, tourists can now follow their path, with a few upgrades, for at least $560 one-week package tour. Considering the time of year, these expert travellers recommend bringing a few provisions for anyone daring to make the journey.

Danang charm

As a city it doesn’t get much by the way of positive press but after spending a week hanging out with the locals Caitlin Worsham hearts Danang.

The city of Danang gets a bad rap. It gets a bad rap in tour books, from visitors and from travel agents. It’s called ugly. It’s called dull. It’s called overdeveloped and industrial, and, perhaps understandably, it is constantly shunted to the bottom of the list of must-see places in Vietnam.

True, the city itself lacks a charming Old Quarter like Hanoi or the upscale polish of the swankier Ho Chi Minh City joints. It is not home to a famous cuisine like Hue or dubbed a cultural heritage site like Hoi An’s Old Town. The river port is rife with industry and the beaches are not nearly as well loved as Nha Trang’s.

I knew all of this before my recent work trip to Danang, and I’ll admit I was less than enthused about the prospect of spending five days there. But upon arrival, I realised that, in spite of all these things, Danang might be my favourite big city in Vietnam. One of the reasons for this is that I actually felt like I was in Vietnam, not some expat haven or tourist enclave.

I can probably count the number of westerners that I encountered while there – and that’s rare even in smaller stopovers, like Sapa or Dalat. Perhaps this is not a selling point for most, but because of it, I got to experience a side of the country I have never really seen before.

I got to sit on a beach full of locals and drink tepid beer and eat little boiled eggs and peanuts and dried squid with hot sauce while the women selling these items out of baskets eyed me curiously and kindly answered my questions, spoken in halting, awkward Vietnamese. But this is not so different, you might argue, from sitting at a bia hoi in Hanoi or the like. Well I’m here to tell you it is different.

Maybe it’s the fact that there are so many families, so many children that the atmosphere is friendlier. Or perhaps it’s that no one has had time yet to get jaded about the still very much developing tourist industry. Regardless of the reason, I got to talk with people without feeling harassed or pressured or judged or made fun of (well, maybe I was made fun of a little bit).

I got to walk along the river without fears that I would be run over by a vehicle speeding down the sidewalk. Delicious food sure didn’t hurt either. I ate the popular noodle dish mi quang, with it’s subtle turmeric flavour and succulent sweet shrimp and pork. It’s neither a soup like pho nor a dry dish like my xao. The noodles are fat and dense, but mixed with ample mint, basil, lettuce, sprouts and banana flower. It’s light and zesty (provided you add a little lime, hot sauce, or pickled chillies) and perfectly satiating.

You can also eat your weight in fresh, quality seafood, cheaper than you can in the capital, though perhaps not by as much as you’d like. I ate grilled dish and delicate clams, squid that melted in my mouth and a hot pot that made me dip for seconds, thirds, fourths…

I ate nowhere that didn’t involve a plastic stool, some beer and usually a bottle of local vodka. Everything was good and the conversation lively, despite my nearly nonexistent speaking ability. It’s amazing how much can be gleaned from context and how hard people are willing to work to be understood when drunk. In terms of activities, I toured the loop of Son Tra peninsula, a beautiful elevated natural preserve with the sea and bay spreading out beneath it, a dwarfed city below.

I visited the cave in Marble Mountain where soldiers slept and received medical aid during the American War and where places of worship constructed in the 1800’s still stand, decaying with the slow drip of time from the cavern’s moist ceiling. The Museum of Cham Sculpture is worth a stop for a brief (and free, if hard to always follow) description of religious history.

And if you don’t think the sculpture merits the visit, perhaps the gorgeous old open air building constructed by the French just might. And, of course, most importantly, there are the beaches, perfectly cool water, soft sands, endless resort options but also cheap divey digs for those not wanting to shell it out. Generally what recommends a place is its landscape or climate or even the activities it offers. But sometimes you can fall in love with a city for nothing more than its vibe. The friendly, laidback feeling it exudes. And Danang has, at least, one new convert.

The journey to the "underworld"

For those who have no understanding about the underworld a visit to Suoi Tien Theme Park in HCMC will disclose the twelve levels of the underworld, where people are punished for bad behavior or for committing crimes when they were alive.

Tu Van Pagoda in Cam Ranh of central province of Khanh Hoa is an interesting place where one can visit an artificial underworld, a scary construction made from thousands of blocks of corals with terrifying images in the dim light.

When in Five Devine Mountains Area (Ngu Hanh Son) in the central province of Quang Nam, after you have seen the pagodas and caves, remember to visit the Underworld Cave which was opened to public in 2006 September.

The Underworld Cave is a spacious area about 1,000 square meters. It served as a secret shelter for Vietnamese soldiers during the two wars. The wartime headquarters of Quang Nam authority witnessed important decisions during 1936 to 1939 and was the site of a battle between five Vietnamese soldiers and two American battalions on December 24, 1968.

Thousands of years of geographic change have carved a complex system of caves into the hillside of the limestone mountain. Designers used the structure of the cave to change it into the Buddhism-originated underworld, a place, it is said, that all men have to visit after ending their lives in the real world. It is where they pay for anything bad they have done in their lives and suffer punishment, the nature of which is determined by the severity of their actions.

The man-made underworld consists of twelve levels, from Dam Thien Son to Thien Thai Gioi; each level is punishment for wrongdoers. The natural chill and dim light in the cave make the journey more real and exciting.

After entering the gate into the afterlife world visitors will see a line of sparkling torchlight lighting up a small part of the death world, revealing a device symbolizing the eternal cycle of birth, suffering, death, and rebirth. Next to it is a stone replica of the Yama Kings who judge the dead after entering their world with fear-some faces. There is a stone altar nearby where visitors can burn some incense for them.

The natural structure of the cave combined with human creativity makes the downward path look like a path to the real underworld. The twelve levels appearing one by one to reveal the punishment faced by sinners, such as grinding, burning or being fried in oil will make one's heart beat faster and faster.

Following the awful journey downward and the experience of extreme fear there is an upward staircase leading to Heaven (Thien Thai Gioi). Climb up to greet the light from the sun and feel the warmth of the real world to lead lives that are more meaningful ever.

A place to remember

The national relic of Dong Loc, an intersection of Tro Voi, Mui Mac and Moi mountains in Can Loc District, Ha Tinh Province, is not a popular destination for tourists.

Most of the visitors are locals and veterans who go there to burn incense and remember ten young heroines, Vo Thi Tan, Ho Thi Cuc, Nguyen Thi Nho, Ha Thi Xanh, Tran Thi Rang, Nguyen Thi Xuan, Vo Thi Ha, Tran Thi Huong, Vo Thi Hoi, and Duong Thi Xuan.

During the American war the Dong Loc intersection was a vital artery of transportation connecting the North and the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The ten girls were among thousands of people who fought to keep it open.

On 24 July 1968 a bomb fell killing all the girls. The Vietnamese honored these girls as heroes. They have been the subject of documentary films and a movie.

When the war ended, Dong Loc intersection became a historic relic. A victory statue, square, mini museum, soldiers' relics and the graves of the ten heroes, among others, are located here, covered by a beautiful pine forest.

While we were there two men and a woman came. It was noon and the sun was burning hot, but the couple stayed to pray at the memorial site. One man, who was in battledress, stood for a long time by the graves, slowly offering incense at every grave.

The woman who cleans the relics said that the 10 graves are always covered with incense. One visitor has also planted flowers and placed a palm-leaf conical hat on the girls' graves. Some of visitors cry when they hear tour guides about the history of what happened here, about the girls about the war.

Dong Loc intersection relic can reached by taxi or motorbike from Vinh airport in Vinh City.

Historic festival in the land of the Le dynasty

Construction of the Lam Kinh citadel, also known as Tay Kinh (West citadel) began in 1433. The citadel is located in Xuan Lam Commune, approximately 50 kilometers from Thanh Hoa City, in north-west Vietnam. The citadel is both an original imperial temple of the latter Le dynasty and the historic location of the Tay Son uprising.

Lam Kinh sits in a stately manner on the Chu River, with Chu Son mountain in the distance and with its back to Dau mountain. It lays a leisurely arm on Phu Lam forest and Ngoc mountain on the eastern side, and another on the Huong and Ham Rong range of mountains on the western side. Whilst the citadel still enjoys the natural scenery of hills and rivers around it, many architectural works inside have been destroyed.

However recent preservation projects have restored some of the more significant artifacts, such as the main palace, tombstone houses, King Le's temple, the temple of national hero Le Lai and King Le Hien Tong's tomb and stele, to name a few.

Lam Kinh citadel covers an area larger than 86,000 square meters. It can be reached by the Bach bridge, crossing over the Ngoc (jade) stream inside the main gate.

The courtyard in front of the palace comes into sight solemnly behind the Ngoc (jade) well, which obstructs the view from the Ngo Mon gate. The 1,700 square meters main palace is about 1.8 meter higher than the yard and carefully designed in the "Cong" (Work) style of Quang Duc, Sung Hieu, and Dien Khanh temples. Dragon-shaped corridors wind around the nine steps from Quang Duc temple to the yard, revealing the great magnificence of the ancient royal court.

The spacious royal temple of ancestors separated from the main palace by a tiled floor includes the nine buildings where the kings and queens of the Le dynasty are worshipped. Lam Kinh historic location is also the site of a number of important royal tombs and tombstones, including Vinh Lang stone stele, Huu tomb of king Le Thai Tong and Chieu tomb of Le Thanh Tong. Situated in the north of the main palace, the Vinh Lang relic of the founder of the dynasty is famous for its delicate flowery decoration and farewell letters of famous cultural scholar Nguyen Trai.

This year's Lam Kinh festival promises to be a momentous event. It is the 590th anniversary of the Lam Son up rising, the 580th anniversary of the coronation of king Le Thai To, and the 575th death anniversary of the national hero Le Loi. The festival will take place from September 19 to 21 with many festive activities taking place in temples 4,5, and 6, in Xuan Lam Commune and in other venues around Thanh Hoa City. Martial art and wrestling competitions as well as traditional opera and folk song performances will take place in the Xuan Lam Commune, and the Lam Kinh Management Committee will house antiques from the Le dynasty, artistic pictures, and a food market. An impressive parade will be held at Le Lai temple to mark the occasion of the anniversary of the hero's death.

The festival will be broadcast live on Vietnam Television on September 21 in the morning.

Lifestyle in Brief 27/08

A festival for scooter-lovers to roll into Dong Nai

The first festival for scooter-lovers will be held over two days starting on Saturday at Vuon Xoai eco-tourist area in the southern province of Dong Nai.

Many kinds of scooters in Vietnam will be on display at the festival. Over 1,100 people with 800 classic scooters and cars have registered to join, according to Trieu To Hanh, an organiser of the event.

The organising board intends to hold the event regularly in future.

Cham ethnic group cultural centre gets approval

A project to build an exhibition centre of Cham ethnic culture has been approved, the People’s Committee in the central province of Binh Thuan recently announced.

With the aim of preserving Cham culture and serving tourists and researchers, the 768sq.m centre will be constructed with exhibition and demonstration areas showcasing weaving and pottery.

Many musical instruments and traditional dancing clothes are also being collected for display.

Construction is expected to be completed this year.

Hanoi children to test their encyclopaedia skills

Children in the country’s primary schools are invited to take part in a contest on basic knowledge at l’Espace tomorrow.

The contestants have to answer questions (in Vietnamese or French) that relate to science, jobs, inventions, discoveries and the big problems modern society faces.

The winners will be awarded books from the collection, My first Encyclopaedia Larousse.

According to Minh Nguyet, responsible for the centre’s media library, the contest aims to welcome the Vietnamese publication of some books from this collection.

The contest will be held at l’Espace, the French Cultural Centre, at 21 Trang Tien Str, Hanoi, at 5.30pm in the reception hall and media library on Thursday. All are welcome to participate.

Documentary film about handicrafts airs Saturday

A documentary film on Vietnam’s different handicrafts directed by Frenchman Patrick Moreau will be presented to the public in Hanoi this Saturday.

"I want to show in my film, different life aspects of people in the North of Vietnam: its artists, artisans and handicrafts. I chose the lacquer as the central theme of the film, which allows audiences to discover the materials that an artist needs to create lacquer works, including lacquer resin, gold leaves and do paper," said Patrick.

The 42-minute film, entitled L’Or du Dragon (Gold of the Dragon) will be presented at 6.30pm, at Cafe des Arts, located at 11B Bao Khanh Lane. The film is also expected to be presented at l’Espace in September or October. It will also be shown to the public in various locations including France, Belgium, Switzerland, and Quebec through the conference’s association, "Connaissances du Monde" (World Knowledge).

Sole sisters

T wo parallel and loving boats
With dragon bows and phoenix sterns
Double rows of nails
I carry five boy-lovers per boat
And ten per pair.
But, let you be reproved, you ingrate!
Profiting from me, and forgetting me
What am I?

The above riddle refers to a pair of clogs, footwear imbued with symbolic meaning in Vietnam. One popular legend tells of a pair of stone clogs passed down for generations by a family in Cao Bang, high in Vietnam's northern mountains.

Cao Bang was situated in what was then known as the Vu Dinh region of Van Lang - as the nation was then called. Vu Dinh was divided into nine zones, each of which was governed by a Po, or landlord. Highly competitive, the nine Po organized a contest to determine who was the most skillful.

One Po displayed his skill at planting rice seedlings, another his prowess at building boats, another his ability to grind a ploughshare into a needle in just one day. One was proud of his poetry, another of his skill at building citadels. The last Po showed off his proficiency at carving stone clogs. This Po managed to make a massive pair of stone clogs, which later generations used to span a stream in Ban Thanh village. This unusual bridge still exists today.

Given Vietnam's hot and humid climate and their days spent wading in wet rice paddies or fishing, Vietnamese people usually went barefoot.

At the end of the 10th century, King Le Dai Hanh often wore nothing but a loin-cloth, his feet bare. A Chinese Tong dynasty official, having been snubbed by King Le Dai Hanh, made a disdainful report about the rustic ways of the Vietnamese court. In fact, up until the Tran Dynasty (1225-1400AD), most Vietnamese people went barefoot.
Even in those early times, however, clogs were not unknown. Ancient Chinese books like Nam Viet Chi and Giao Chau Ky record that in the third century, the leader of a Vietnamese resistance movement, Ba Trieu, wore a pair of ivory clogs. "Lady Trieu Au with breasts three meters long never married," reports a surprising passage in Giao Chau Ky. "Walking on stilts, she used to wear a type of clogs called Kim De Kich."

Formerly, on cold days, men and women from rural areas would don clogs made from bamboo roots when attending festivals or visiting friends. At home they wrote wooden clogs with vertical straps to protect the toes.

In Phu Yen in south-central Vietnam, people generally made their own clogs. They favored thick soles with slightly turned-up tips. The traps, which attached through a hole in the front and a pair of holes on the sides, were braided from soft cloth. Because the sole was curved at the front, the knot of the front strap did not rub on the ground.

The soles of women's clogs were shaped like hour-glasses, while men's clogs -known as "sampan clogs"- had straight soles. Made of white wood, Phu Yen clogs were left unpainted, while those from the central city of Hue were often painted in black and brown with a pale colored triangle on the side of the sole. Only well-to-do men wore painted clogs. Some areas called clogs don, hence the saying "a foot with a shoe, a foot with a don" to indicate rich people who put on airs.

Up until the 1940s, young pupils at public schools in the southern province of Ben Tre wore clogs. Before the August Revolution in 1945, clogs produced in Hue were called "capital clogs" or guoc kinh. These clogs had soles made from coconut shells or light wood, painted white and gold with embroidered straps. An advertisement from a Hanoi newspaper in the 1940s reads:

"Like finding a needle at the bottom of the sea, now, Flying Horse clogs have been discovered!"

In the 1950s and 1960s, wooden clogs produced in Dong Do village in the Thanh Tri district of Hanoi and Ke Giay in Ha Tay province were taken to 12 Hang Ga street or Bach Mai street in Hanoi to be painted and sold. As the following poem reveals, clogs were considered extremely romantic by young girls of the time:

Clogs long unheard
On the tree-lined streets
And spring comes, apples fall,
I remember your zither sounds.
To Huu

By the 1970s, plastic clogs rivaled wooden clogs in popularity. Considered stylish and comfortable, clogs could offer other, more unusual, benefits. Travelers would sometimes bore holes in the wooden soles to hide gold or jewels.

While countless Vietnamese poets have waxed lyrical about the conical hat and traditional ao dai tunic, clogs have been all but ignored by the nation's bards. One exception is the following Ca Dao poem:

Stone clogs passed down for generations by a family in Cao Bang

"A walk in clogs round the garden in the morning,
Herons are singing and crying
Half for fate, half for their destiny.
Ca dao poem from south-central Vietnam
On the other hand, clogs are often the subject of riddles:
Two females in colored dresses Each carrying five males on their backs On the way, talk and chat, And left alone at home: fed up! What is this?
From Ba Trieu's ivory clogs to clogs made of bamboo, wood and plastic, this humble footwear has covered a lot of ground on Vietnam.

Ao yem and its history

Images of graceful girls in national charming long dress have been a symbol of Vietnam. However, looking back the historic development of national dress, Vietnam not only has ao dai but also ao yem – the indispensable dress of ancient girls.

In the old days, ao yem was called yem. It is an age-old dress which is maintained until today. Ao yem was used by all levels of society from working class to upper class. It also was used widely in traditional festivals therefore it was the national traditional clothes of ancient ladies.

Ao yem appeared in Vietnamese life in a very old day but until Ly dynasty it was basically in shaped. Through the stream of history, ao yem was changing incessantly and improving its design. However the revolutions of ao yem only happended at the beginning of the last century while western trouser and skirt were entering Vietnam. In 17 century, ao yem did not have any big change of model. In 19 century, ao yem has a square piece is cloth with one corner cut away to fit under the woman’s throat. This scrap of fabric is secured across the chest and stomach with thin strings. There were three common models of ao yem: ao yem co xay, ao yem co xe, ao yem co canh nhan.

Entering 20 century, ao yem was used widespread with many of rich designs and models. Ao yem which has brown color and was weaved by rude cloth was for labor. Urban women favored white, pink or red ones, while women in the countryside wore ao yem in brown or beige, colors suited to their rustic environment. On special occasions, like the Lunar New Year or festivals, rural women would also wear brightly colored ao yem.

There is one kind of ao yem which was often wore by ancient ladies was called “yem deo bua”. The name was “yem deo bua” because it has a small pocket of musk beside and it was an advantage weapon of ancient ladies…furthermore, ao yem made many original love stories.In the old day when a girl had a date with her darling, she usually put a piece of betel inside her ao yem; it was called “khau trau dai yem” and maybe there is no kind of betel more supernatural than this kind of betel.

Today, the ao yem is appreciated for its cultural and artistic values. And on festive occasions, women throughout Vietnam are embracing the ao yem and other traditional clothes with renewed enthusiasm.

Conical Hat (or Non La)

Take a peasant's common conical hat, add a touch of this and a little of that, and you will have the idea, but not quite an authentic Non Bai Tho or "Poetical Leaf" from Central Vietnam. Just a few simple arrangements added to the conical form are enough to give the Vietnamese leaf-covered hat unique features found nowhere else among Asia’s various types of conical hats.

The legend of the conical hat is related to maternal love and the history of rice growing in Vietnam.

Once upon a time, the legend says, when a deluge of rain was falling there descended from the sky a giant woman wearing on her head four huge round leaves as large as the sky itself and stitched together by bamboo sticks. The leaves protected humankind, then still naked, from the rain. The giant messenger from the sky twirled round the leaves on her head to dispel clouds and rains. Those who followed her were taught by her how to grow crops. One day mankind dozed off as they listened to stories narrated by her. When they woke up the goddess was gone. The Vietnamese built a temple in her memory and honored her as the Rain-shielding Goddess. Following her example, people went into the forests to fetch broad and round leaves (palm) which they stitched together on a bamboo frame. This was to become an indispensable headwear for the farmers on the fields, boatwomen carrying passengers across rivers, travelers under the blazing sun...

However, Vietnamese girls do not like just any conical hat they come upon. The dearest to them is inevitably the one called the "Poetical Leaf "for they become milder, more elegant and more delicate when once they put on a hat, which gives shelter to their blushing cheeks like a crowing bud protected from sun, rain or rough wind. Vietnamese women also use the conical hat to fan off the heat of summer, as a container for a bunch of vegetables, and even as a bowl to relieve the thirst when passing by a well, etc. Romantically, young couples can veil their kisses behind this traditional conical hat during their dates.

The shape as well as the size of the conical hat has evolved greatly. As a rule, the broad-rimmed hat was reserved for women while men wore hats with a higher cone and smaller rims. Then, there were hats made specifically for wealthy and powerful people, hats for children, hats to equip the army, hats for the Buddhist clergy, for the mourners..., more than 50 types in all. Undoubtedly, the two best known and best liked are the conical hat of Chuong village in Ha Tay province, north of Hanoi, and the "Bai Tho", hat of Hue, the old imperial city.

The prototype of Lang Chuong hat is a large disk-like bamboo frame covered with palm leaves and perpendicularly bent on its rim to form a band of about four inches. At the centre is placed a small bamboo frame to fit the head. The strap is usually very elaborately made of silk, adorned with yellow tassels also made of silk. This hat used to be worn by upper-crust families during visits to pagodas or festive occasions.

The present conical hat is, however, patterned on the "Bai Tho" hat originating in the old capital city of Hue and the birthplace of many eminent literary men. It is true that the place where the hat comes from has been romantically famous with its peaceful Huong (Perfume) River and its majestic Ngu Binh (Peace) mountain. Moreover, Hue has been famous for her attractively sentimental, soft-voiced and long-haired girls who often gave inspiration to poets whose creative works have been handed down to the present day. And the "Poetical Leaf" has a prominent place in all that poetical, dreamy and yet scholarly diet of the ancient city. It is so called because the artisan takes great pains to cut the characters of a verse out of a palm leaf and insert them between two layers of palm leaves before stitching them together. The characters will be easily readable when the hat is seen against sunlight. Nowadays the characters are usually replaced by a decorative figure such as a flower, a dragon or even a landscape.

The making of a conical hat is a one-hundred-percent handicraft. The leaves used to cover the hat are brought from the forest. Then they are exposed to the dew for one night to soften them. When the leaves become dry but still soft they are flattened either by hand or by ironing. Only young leaves are selected. Old or dark ones are discarded. A hat usually consists of 16 to 18 rims made from a special kind of bamboo. In order to have a well-made hat, it must be knitted together with a peculiar kind of thread called "doac" made from the leaves of a special kind of reed. Finally, the hat is trimmed and painted with a coat of attar oil to keep it clean and smooth.

The skill of the craftsman (who in this case is more likely a woman) can be judged by the regularity of the leaves arranged on the hat. The roundness of the rim and particularly the fineness of the stitches which must be so done as to reveal no knot.

Although the conical hat is no longer the cities women's everyday costume, it remains the ubiquitous headwear in the countryside. And a young girl with her conical hat, quite charming in her four-flapped long dress, is always a popular image of Vietnam and the Vietnamese people.

Human chess(co nguoi)

“Human chess” (co nguoi) is a popular game at village and temple festival. The game follows the general rules of Chinese chess. The concept is recognizably similar to Western chess, but with a different-sized board and different pieces, including cannons and guards, each of them marked with a distinct Chinese character.

In human chess, however, the pieces are all people: 32 people in all. One side consists of 16 boys and the other of 16 girls. Each team wears a different colour.

The chessboard is marked by paint on flat ground. Village festivals usually use the yard in front of a communal house or pagoda or a nearby field. Organisers select players plus a referee well in advance. All should be children of families with a good reputation. The referee and the two generals should come from wealthier families so they can treat their players to food. As the selection finishes, the referee convenes the 32 people, describes the costumes, and tells each person how to move as a chess piece. Players may sit on chairs and wear hats if it is sunny. They either wear boards with the Chinese names of their pieces or carry sign poles with the characters. The generals wear traditional costumes. The two contestants who direct the pieces have their own seats outside the board.

In contrast to some other games practiced at festivals, human chess is known for its quietude and delicacy.

Battle of the Chickens(Choi ga)

Cock fighting, a long-standing form of popular entertainment, is organised during traditional festivals throughout Vietnam.

Raising roosters for cockfighting requires heavy investments in time and labour. Professional trainers choose young chickens carefully, individually preparing their food and drink, bathing them, separating them from hens, and training them in fighting positions. A fighting cock must be so acquainted with its owner that it will allow only the owner to hold him. Fighting cocks, which come from three main species, are colloquially called "sacred chickens" or "combat roosters". Black roosters with a red comb and a long neck are full of stamina and will fight to the bitter end. White roosters with ivory-coloured feet and round yellow eyes are hot-tempered and perform "lightning battles". Also popular are "five-coloured cocks" coated with black, yellow, brown, red and blackish blue feathers. They fight with flexibility and often run away if they lose.

The owners prepare a 1.5m-wide ring walled by a 20cm-high bamboo screen. Spectators stand outside the screen. Only the owners of the fighting cocks are allowed to enter the area to care for their animals. A rooster loses if it leaves the ring twice and does not return.

Before a cockfight begins, owners agree on the terms among themselves. They compare the size, weight and combat achievements of their roosters. If one rooster has longer spurs, its rival is allowed to wear artificial spurs. After the discussion and agreement, the owners bring their birds into the ring. The cocks are kept in two separate halves of the ring until a signal is given to start the fight. Cocks usually attempt some trial feints to gauge their competitor's reactions before giving mortal thrashings: a double kick against the rival's body, a cut to the neck using spurs, or pecking out the rival's eyes.

The fight continues until one bird is defeated. Contestants time the rounds by burning an incense slick or draining water can with a hole in it.

Vietnamese cockfights have two forms of compensation. In one version, the loser pays an agreed-upon sum lo the winner; in the other, the loser forfeits both money and the defeated bird.

Blind Man's Buff( bit mat bat de)

Children between ages six and 15 enjoy playing bit mat bat de (“catching a goat while blindfolded”). One participant volunteers to play the “goat” and another, the “goat catcher”. Other players form a circle around the players.

The goat and goat catcher are blindfolded with handkerchiefs. The game begins when the catcher yells, “Done!” The goat can move wherever he or she likes but must occasionally bleat. The catcher listens for the bleats and grapples to find the goat. In turn, the goat must move quietly to avoid being trapped. Since both players are blindfolded, the goat and goat catcher must use both their ears and wits to win.

The other players distract the goat and goat catcher to make them turn in the wrong direction. This creates hilarious moments and prolongs the game. A new round begins once the goat has been caught. Other players who want to join the game may ask to play the goat or goat catcher.

The pull of natural forces(keo co)

Villagers across Vietnam play various forms of tug of war (keo co). The game is always symbolically linked to the seasons, weather and crops. Tug of war is a popular game for both children and adults since it requires no particular skill or training.

However, the moment a competition begins, the viewers' noisy acclaim inspires the participants, increasing their zest to win.

Players divide into two teams and stand face to face along a bamboo cord. A red piece of cloth marks the middle of the cord, which is above a line drawn with lime in the dirt. After a signal from the referee, players tug the cord as hard as possible to pull the red cloth towards their side. Eventually one team loses strength and let’s go of the cord; the audience cheers the other team as winners.

Tug of war has become a sport, but in many regions it still reflects traditional Vietnamese beliefs. For example, in Tich Son Village, Vinh Phuc Province, tug of war fur men only is held on the third day of the first lunar month after Tet . Organizers arrange the cord in an east-west direction, evoking the trajectory of the sun. Older men stand to the east, younger men to the west. After three matches, the team that compels the other group to take three steps forward is the winner. According to traditional belief, if the eastern (older) team wins, the villagers will have bumper crops throughout the year.

Therefore, the western team often "volunteers" to lose. Spectators cheer their favorite team from outside a circle drawn with lime. They toss into the air and pass around over their shoulders any villager-old or young-who steps over the line, whether inadvertently or from pushing.

In Huu Chap Village, Bac Ninh Province, the tug of war takes place on the fourth day of Tet. Players form two teams of unmarried boys and girls. The boys represent the duong force (yang) and the dry season, while the girls represent am (yin) and the rainy season. Although the boys are frequently stronger than the girls, the girls often "win" the tug of war so that the rainy season can outdo the dry season and the harvests that year will be plentiful. The ritual meaning of the tug of war is even clearer among the Thai ethnic minority.

Not long ago, Thai people in Con Cuong District, Nghe An Province still performed a ritual called "pulling the dragon's tail" as part of a prayer for rain. Thai people believe that drought occurs because the dragon has overslept or is trapped underground. Thus, they must extract the dragon by pulling its tail.

To this end, villagers bury rice plants and an areca branch, which represents the dragon's tail, in a 50-deep hole. Then they place a hollow section of the areca branch over a neighboring hole to serve as a drum. Since the dragon is a female, the person officiating is a woman and should be a widow as the bearer of the rice plant's soul. The moment surrounding villagers beat the drum, which symbolises thunder, the woman tugs on an areca leaf to make the rice grow. One after another, young girls come to help her, forming a long row. Finally, they liberate the areca branch from the earth for an omen of good harvest

Releasing pigeons( tha chim)

A long with other traditional festival games, releasing pigeons has attracted numerous participants since the distant past. Some villages including Tam Giang and Hoan Son villages in Bac Ninh Province still maintain the tradition.

Every year, Hoan Son and Tam Giang villagers organise bird-releasing festivals in the early summer and mid autumn during the third and the eighth lunar months. Each family raises two or three flocks of pigeons. Judges stipulate that each flock in the spring contest may have ten pigeons but only eight in the autumn. The contests are open to anyone-not just Bac Ninh residents. Bird lovers use these occasions to exchange experiences and learn from each other.

The Judges consist of the trich ha, who distributes numbers to participants and then call the numbers for the birds' release, and the trich thuong, who observes the arrangement of birds in the sky to determine the winner, a flock of birds flies beautifully when all their heads huddle together. Seen from the ground, they look like an arrow disappearing on the horizon.

"Before the contest every trainer practises releasing his birds so that the pigeons are familiar with the flight direction. All the birds return unless they lose their way in a heavy storm. Intelligent pigeons can return to their owner seven days or even two years later".

The bird owner should pay attention to the pigeons' eyes, nostrils and wings to have birds that fly both high and well. Good birds usually have eyes with small, round pupils. Birds with translucent, dry eyes do best at the hot summer festival, and those with wet eyes are best for the dry autumn contest. Birds with small nostrils are better than those with big ones because they can withstand windy conditions and fly higher. Large wings, short tails and narrow shoulders also enable birds to be strong, skilful fliers.

Releasing pigeons is considered a refined form of entertainment. As a traditional saying goes, "Men enjoy many kinds of games, but nothing is as pleasurable as releasing birds".

Chanting while sawing wood( keo cua xe lua)

Both boys and girls play the game of keo cua lua xe. Two children sit opposite each other, holding each other’s hands tightly. While reciting a song, they push and pull each other’s arms and pretend as if they are sawing a piece of wood between them. They say each word as they push or pull. The song goes as follows: Keo cua lua xe (Keo cua means “to ‘pull’ a saw”; lua xe means “to adjust the saw to the wood grain) Ong tho nao khoe (The worker who is strong) Ve an com vua (Returns to eat the king’s rice) Ong tho nao thua (The worker who cannot catch up) Ve bu ti me (Returns to suck his mother’s milk) Or, an alternate version: Keo cua lua xe Lam it an nhieu (Work a little, eat a lot) Nam dau ngu day (Sleep wherever we lie down) No lay mat cua (They steal the saw) Lay gi ma keo (How will we saw?)

Na Na Nu Nong

This is a girls’ chanting game. Several girls sit side by side with their legs stretched out. The head of the game recites a song; at each word, she uses her hand to touch another girl’s leg or foot. There are several variations of the song, all of which start with the alliterative nonsense phrase nu na nu nong. One example goes as follows: Nu na nu nong Danh trong phat co (Beat the drums and raises the flags) Mo hoi thi dua (Open the festival to compete) Chan ai sach se (The ones whose feet are clean) Got do hong hao (Their heels are pink) Khong ban ti nao (And have no dirt) Duoc vao danh trong (Are allowed to beat the drums) As she sings the last word, the girl whose leg is hit must withdraw it. Normally, the leader recites the song slowly as it is about to end, so that the other girls feel anxious about whose leg will be hit. The game resumes until every child has withdrawn her legs. The girl who withdraws both her legs first wins and the last one with legs in the game loses.

The game of the Dragon- Snake

A large group plays the children's game Rong ran (dragon-snake). In one person sits on a small hill or some location above the other players; he or she acts as the doctor. The other children stand in a line, holding each other's belts to form the body of the dragon-snake.

The dragon-snake approaches the doctor. The following dialogue occurs between the doctor and the head of the line:

- Where are you going, dragon-snake?
- I’m searching for medicine for my son.
- How old is he, your son?
- He is one year old. - The doctor is not well.
- He is (two, three, four, five... repeated each time) years old.
- The doctor is not well.

The dialogue continues until the dragon-snake says:

- He is ten years old.

Then the doctor answers:

- All right, the doctor is well.

With this, the doctor stands up and says:

- Give me your head
- Nothing but the bones

Responds the dragon-snake

- Give me the body.
- Nothing but the blood.
- Give me the tail.
- Pursue at will!

At this, the doctor flies into a rage and attempts lo catch the child who represents the tail of the dragon-snake. The head of the line stretches his or her arms to bar the doctor while the dragon-snake tries to make a circle. If the dragon-snake succeeds in rolling into a circle before the physician can touch the tail, it wins. On the contrary, if the doctor catches the tail of the dragon-snake, the entire group loses the game. All losers must stretch out their hands, palms downwards, to the winner, who slaps them one after another.

Cat and mouse game

Each game requires between seven and ten people. They stand in a circle, hold hands and raise their hands above their heads. Then they start singing the song. Please come over here Hand in hand Stand in a large circle The mouse will run through the hole The cat will run after it The mouse tries to run as fast as possible But it can't escape Then the mouse will act as the cat and chase the cat, which is now the mouse. How to play the game: Each game requires between seven and ten people. They stand in a circle, hold hands and raise their hands above their heads. Then they start singing the song above. One person is chosen as the cal and another as the mouse. These two stand in the middle of the circle and lean against each other. When the others sing the last sentence, the mouse starts to run, and the cat must run after it. However, the cat must run in exactly the same route and manner as the mouse. The cat wins the game when it catches the mouse. Then the two exchange roles. If the cal runs into the wrong hole, it will be dismissed from that round. If it fails to catch the mouse in a certain period of time (usually from three to five minutes for kindergarten-age children) it will exchange its role with the mouse. The game will then continue.

Boat racing

From time immemorial, boat racing has appeared in Vietnam. It is not only a competition but also a ritual in honour of the Water God, stemming from the act of praying for water among agriculture-based people.

In some places there are only two boats in competition (in Dao Xa, Phu Tho), a male boat with the figure of a bird at its head and a female one decorating with a figure of a fish. These two figures symbolize the yin-yang harmony (bird: in the sky – yang, fish: in the water – yin). The movements of the ores waken up the Water God. This kind of boat racing only takes place at night and ends at the crack of dawn. For fishermen boat racing conveys their wishes for bumper fish catches. In other places, boat racing is held to honour general who were good at navy operation.

At present boat racing constitutes an important part in the program of many festivals from the North to the South, especially the localities with rivers and lakes or near the sea. It has gone beyond a belief activity to become a fascinating sport event, which attracts a large number of participants. As such, boat racing has become an event to compete and display collective strength.

Throwing a sacred ball through the ring( nem con)

Each ethnic group in Vietnam has unique ways of celebrating Tet. The Tay people of Cao Bang and Lang Son Provinces have a special Tet game that not only ushers in the spring but also serves as a matchmaker.

According to Tay legend, Pia, an orphan, war poor and lonely. Discouraged with life, he went to the forest and gathered pieces of fruit to throw around. One time, he threw a fruit so hard it flew straight to heaven, where a fairy caught it. The fairy flew down to the earth to play with Pia. Before long, they fell in love and became husband and wife.

The people of the mountain village believed that the fruit had brought Pia happiness. To celebrate this story, young men and women toss balls (nem con) each year from the third day of Tet until the end of the first lunar month.

Players gather on a level field where villagers have planted a tall bamboo tree. A bamboo ring about 30-40 cm in diameter hangs from the tree. Gaudy fabric covers the balls, which the makers have stuffed with rice grains (representing food) and cotton seeds (clothing) along with their hidden desires. A multicoloured tassel decorates the balls.

According to tradition, before playing, the Tay people first prepare a tray of food, which they take to the field and offer to the Sky and Earth. Two balls and a bamboo ring on the tray represent vitality and virtue. The festival leader, who must have high status, prays to the Sky and Earth lo brings rain so that the community will have a good harvest. After this ceremony, the leader tosses the two balls high into the air. Everyone competes to catch them, signaling the beginning of festivities.

At that point, each family may throw its own household ball through the bamboo ring for good luck. Naturally, some balls do not make it through on the first try. The owners may try over and over until they are successful.

The festival leader closes with a prayer for a good planting season, then slashes the ball open and distributes seeds to everyone. These seeds bring good luck and will sprout quickly because they unite the forces of am and duong (yin and yang) in the warmth of women's and men's hands. Everyone receives the holy seeds of the Sky, the Earth and Humanity with the belief and hope that their crops will increase, people will prosper and the entire village will have sufficient food, clothing and happiness. For this reason, the ball game is a major feature of Tay tradition.

Rice cooking competitions

During Tet, a number of villages in northern and central Vietnam hold cooking contests that may sound simple, but follow strict and complex rules: Cooking in the wind and rain. Tu Trong Village, Thanh Hoa Province has a temple dedicated to the 11th century warrior Le Phung Hieu.

During the temple's weeklong festival the first week of Tet, villagers hold culinary competitions: cooking ordinary rice in water, steaming sticky rice and making rice cakes.

Contestants cook in the open air while in a bamboo boat floating on the village pond. Charcoal, the usual fuel, is prohibited. Instead, each competitor receives some dried sugar cane, which burns only with difficulty. The challenge increases if it is windy and raining. Each contestant must set her rice pot in exactly the right place to take advantage of the wind and avoid extinguishing the fire.

The competition begins precisely at dawn. Hundreds of boats are tied up along the pond bank since as many as 200 young women may participate.

After a salvo of drumbeats, competitors step into their boats, bringing along cooking tripods, rice pots, some damp straw and fuel. They row to the centre of the pond, make a fire and wash the rice.

A second salvo of drumbeats sounds, punctuated by three final beats, the competition starts. The cooking may be done in one pot after another or by using all pots al the same time. The tiny, light boat sways with the competitor's every movement, keeping the craft stable while cooking is like performing a circus act. The competitor who finishes first wins, but quality also counts. People from many villages watch from the pond bank, mothers who have trained their girls for months impatiently wait for the results of their efforts. Other women take advantage of the occasion to look for prospective daughters-in-law who are both good cooks and can also face difficulties with calmness.

Contests for boys and girls villagers in Chuong Village of Ha Tay Province organise similar competitions separately for boys and girls. Female participants must cook rice on the ground while simultaneously carrying a six-to seven-month-old baby from another family on her hip. She must console the infant when he or she cries. At the same time, she must prevent a toad from jumping out of a chalk circle drawn around her. The competition is all the more difficult because the spectators, especially children, take every opportunity to tease the baby.

The contest for boys is no less rigorous. Each boy must stand ready with all the necessary items (rice, water, matches and firewood) on a light boat moored the pond bank. At a given signal he paddles with his hands to the opposite bank, where a row of pots is placed on tripods. He must stay in his unmoored boat while cooking the rice on the bank. The least loss of balance tosses him over into the water.

In Tich Son Village of Vinh Phuc Province, a cooking competition takes place on the morning of the fourth day after Tet. The finished rice must meet particular criteria of taste and consistency. Contestants use two pots. First they boil the rice in a copper pot over the fire. Once the water boils, they pour both the rice and water into an earthen pot and cook the rice over charcoal until done.

The game of squares( O an quan)

As society becomes more developed, children become more intelligent. They have more opportunities to watch television shows and play new video games, which are often filled with sex and violence. Consequently, folk games, like o an quan (game of squares), and danh dao (coin toss), seem out-dated and now only adults remember them.

O an quan remains deservedly popular among older children since it requires good counting skills and forethought in order to win.

Either boys or girls, usually age’s seven to ten, play the two-person game of O an quan (literally "Mandarin's Box"). They draw a rectangle on the ground and divide it into ten small squares called "rice fields" or "fish ponds.

"They also draw two additional semi-circular boxes at the two ends of the rectangle, which are called "mandarin's boxes," hence the game's name. Each person has 25 small pebbles and a bigger stone.

Each player places the stone in one of the mandarin's boxes and five small pebbles in each of the other squares (see diagram above). Then the game begins. The first player takes up the contents of one square on his or her side of the board (but not a mandarin's box) and distributes the pebbles one by one, starting with the next square in either direction. (Since each square contains five pebbles at the beginning, the first move will distribute five pebbles to the left or right).

After the last pebble is distributed, the player takes the contents of the following square and repeats the distribution process. But if the following square is one of the mandarin's boxes, the turn ends and passes to the other player.

If the last pebble falls into a square that precedes one empty square, the player wins all the contents of the square following the empty square and removes these pebbles from the board. If this square is followed by another empty square, the player wins the contents of the square after that, and so on. However, if there are two or more empty squares in a row, the player loses his or her turn.

Once a player has taken pebbles from the board, the turn is handed to the other player. If all five squares on one player's side of the board are emptied at any time, that player must place one pebble he or she has aside back in each of the five squares so that the game can resume.

The game continues until the two mandarins' boxes have both been taken. At the end of the game, the player with more pebbles wins, with each of the large stones counting as ten points. If each player retrieves an equal number of points, then the game is a tie.

Bamboo Swings(Danh Du)

The game is most popular in the northern delta, especially along the banks of the Duong River in Bac Ninh Province. Residents in many villages around Hanoi, including the ancient capital of Co Loa, also set up swings during spring festivals.

Swings have been traditional game at village festivals for centuries. A Complete History of Dai Viet (Dai Viet su ky toan thu) states: "In the Ly Dynasty, in spring or the first lunar month, boys and girls get together and play this game".

Villagers usually build their swings on a dry, harvested rice paddy near a communal house. The area should be large enough for spectators to stand around all four sides.

Swings and the associated games come in many kinds and variations. However, the most common Vietnamese swings involve a wooden platform, not a seat. One or two people stand on the platform and swing themselves high in the air, even tens of meters, until their bodies are almost parallel to the ground. Their goal is a prize hanging from the top of the swing's frame.

The frame of the swing is constructed of solid bamboo. The handles are also made of bamboo that is straight, without knots and wide enough for a person's palm. The swing's platform must be close enough to the ground that players can jump on easily.

To ensure safety, builders must choose the right bamboo, for young bamboo is weak, while old bamboo is less elastic and tends to break. They seal their completed frame with paper and invite an elderly villager to check its quality. If the frame meets his standards, he will remove the seal. With that, someone beats a drum. He clasps both hands in front of his chest and bows to his fellow villagers. Then, on behalf of the community, he opens the game.

Players should dress smartly and neatly. Boys wear red purse-belts and girls greenish pulse-belts over traditional four-panel dresses (tu than) and then headscarves so their hair won't come loose. Often a boy and girl will swing together.

First, the couple steps onto the swing platform and stands face to face. Then they press their feet against platform floor and bend their knees. Gradually, the swing begins to move like a pendulum. The harder they press, the higher the swing flies, as described in a poem by the 19th-century woman poet Ho Xuan Huong:

The boy bends his knees The girl bends her back The four red panels of her skirt fly in the air Two parallel lines of stretched legs.

At the height or their swinging, the two almost lie on top of one another. The crowd cheers. As soon as the couple reaches the highest point, one of the two will stretch out a hand and try to snatch the prize. This is the most difficult part of the game, for it requires that both players be calm, clever and acts as a team. They lose if they drop the prize. The crowd is just as anxious, hoping the couple manages to secure the prize as a reward for their long days of practice.

This type of swinging is not for those who get dizzy!

Kites that make music (dieu sao)

The kites are built in a traditional Vietnamese style, known as dieu sao, with eight ovoid wings attached, plus five bamboo flutes in graduated sizes, which are mounted on top and make a pleasing drone when the kite is flying. The faster the kite swoops, the more magical the sound of the flutes is.

Kits are estimated to be 2,000 years old, and are popular across most Asian countries, where kite flying is seen as a sport, hobby and a religious custom. In Indonesia for example, kites are used for sport and also to catch fish.

Children's kites are often small, simple and covered with paper, while adults' kites may be more complex, cloth-covered, and feature one or more wind flutes that play melodies as the kites fly.

A typical adult's kite has four parts: the body, the steering string, the flying string and flutes. The frame is made of the smooth outer bamboo stalk and is well polished. Kite-makers shape bamboo straps into a crescent two to three metres long and one metre wide. After that, they cover the frame with pieces of cotton cloth or carefully glued paper. If one half of the kite is heavier than the other, the steering string will help balance it. This string also serves lo direct flight and protect the kite wings from breaking if the wind is too strong. The flying string is also made of bamboo and can be as long as 100m to 150m. Young bamboo straps the size of chopsticks are tied together, then boiled in water or even in traditional Chinese medicine and salt so that the string becomes soft and flexible.

Kites not only attract people by their shapes and colours but also by their flutes. Flutes of different sizes and materials can make the sound of birds, car horns, gongs or music. The mouth of the flute must be skillfully carved so that it can properly receive the wind and create the desired sound.

Today, villagers build more sophisticated kites in the shape of phoenixes, butterflies and dragons. They replace thick bamboo strings with thinner bamboo or plastic rope. Modern kites are very light and cost little since the materials to make them are readily available.

People often fly kites in the late afternoon as the sun begins to set. Normally, two people fly one kite. One person holds the flying string while the other takes the kite and runs into the wind until the wind lifts the kite.

The two may keep the kite high in the sky from day to day, even from summer to autumn.

Every year, kite-flying competitions take place in many northern and central provinces. The rules vary from place to place. In general, the most beautiful kite with the most interesting flute melodies wins. However, Quang Yen Townlet (Quang Ninh Province) holds a kite-fighting competition: regardless of design, kites that hit or break other kites win.

To He

The village of Xuan La in Phu Xuyen District. Ha Tay Province is well known for its skill in making delicate tò he toys, which are figurines fashioned from coloured rice dough. These simple toys still give children immense joy during the Mid-Autumn season.

Tò he makers do not teach the craft to women because the fathers fear their daughters will reveal precious trade secrets to their husbands" families.

According to an old man in Xuan La Village, the recipe for success in making Tò he lies in the preparation of the dough. The craftsman first grinds rice into fine powder, then pours water into the powder and mixes it until he achieves a sticky lump. He places the lump in a pot of water, brings the water to a boil, and cooks the paste for an hour. When the lump rises to the water's surface, dips, and rises again, the craftsman removes it from the pot. Then he applies seven colours: white. black, green, yellow, violet, pink, and red. Miraculously, the different colours never stain one another when he assembles the parts of a to lie figurine.

Many generations of Vietnamese children have been overjoyed when their mothers return from market with a Tò he. Children can even eat to he after playing with them. Each Xuan La craftsman embarking on the to he trade learns to humour customers, especially children. The lesson of humanity is the first one every Xuan La villager bears in mind. "If we love people, they will surely come to us," to he makers say.

Making Tò he doesn't bring much profit. The materials rice paste, bamboo-stick holders, colourings - are inexpensive and locally available. A craftsman only charges customers for his patience and care. A Tò he in a rural market costs between VND 500 and VND 1.000 (US$.03 -$.07). Makers who travel farther field to the larger cities can sell a Tò he for between VND 2.000 to VND 3.000 (US$.13 - $.20).

Customers can place their orders, watch the craftsman mould the toy, and be pleased with the results in minutes. A Tò he can depict a person, a famous general, a folk-tale character, an animal, or a flower. The makers remember the characteristics of every subject. They are experts in using exactly the right amount of paste to form each separate part of each kind of toy as if these skills were an inborn talent.

Mr. Dang Van To who is eighty-two, is the oldest Tò he maker in Xuan La. He talks proudly about his life and career. Mr. To's family has been making Tò he for ten generations. He learned the trade when he was six and is nationally known. The Ministry of Culture and Information often asks him to demonstrate to he making at festivals. Mr. To's passion and skill have not lessened despite his age. He can make every kind of Tò he. from kings and mandarins with elaborate imperial costumes to complicated dragons. He can finish an image of King Quang Trung. a national hero, in less than ten minutes.

Mr. To also likes to teach children about the underlying meaning of Id he. He explains that the lifeline of the Tò he trade is people's joy. not money. For example, as Mr. To creates a Tò he rat. he explains that rats have pointed noses and long tails, that they destroy farmers' crops, and that the children should help get rid of rats. The children are fascinated to listen to Mr. To as they watch the Tò he emerge in his hands.

Today, plastic and electronic toys flood city and countryside markets. Although Tò he cannot compete. Xuan La villagers still struggle to maintain their traditional trade. At present, about 300 villagers make Tò he. Chu Van Nghe. a war veteran who is sixty-seven, still pursues the craft. His four-year-old granddaughter has asked him to teach her to make Tò he. Nowadays, many women assist their husbands and families in preserving the village trade. Everyday. Xuan La villagers travel to different corners of the countryside - from hamlets to markets to parks - selling Tò he to children and to he lovers.

Xuan La villagers take pride that, nowadays, id he makers can be found nationwide and even abroad in China. Laos. Cambodia, and Thailand. This proves that the craft has not entirely disappeared. Although a tò he is small, it embodies a lot of the sentiment, honour, and industry that began with Xuan La villagers long, long ago.

Beyond remedy for Cai luong

The traditional art of Cai luong is falling into obscurity, despite efforts to save it.

Quoc Hung, Director of the HCM City-based Tran Huu Trang Cai Luong Theatre, said though the state is interested in resuming and developing Cai luong, this art will only just exist, never develop.

Minh Vuong – Le Thuy, the famous couple of cai luong artists, are trying to bring back Cai luong at the age of over 60, as it brought fame to them in previous decades.

“Many new forms of arts have appeared so the number of loyal customers of cai luong is falling,” Minh Vuong said.

Though they deeply understand that it is a dim hope to bring Cai luong back to the golden age, this couple established a cai luong club named “Golden Stage”. The club introduced the first Cai luong play, entitled “Long River”, which attracted the audience’s attention.

Minh Vuong said it is hard to arrange a Cai luong play at this time because besides difficulties in seeking funding, it is also difficult to find a script suitable to modern existence because the characteristic of Cai luong is “lengthiness”. Some Cai luong troupes were ashamed to perform the best extracts to draw audiences and not make them leave shows early. But this way was not approved of by Cai luong fans so Cai luong artists have to arrange new plays.

The Golden Stage is practicing a famous Cai luong play, named Durian leaf, hoping to lure more audiences. Minh Vuong said he sometimes has to play the role of a young person because it is difficult to find young cai luong artists.

Cai luong artist Vu Luan, with over ten years of experience, plans to arrange a famous Cai luong play entitled Loi Vu.

“I’m willing to personally invest in this project and to cope with any difficulty to bring this play to the stage to serve the remaining Cai luong lovers,” Vu Luan said.

Quoc Hung, Director of the Tran Huu Trang Cai Luong Theatre, said the theatre set up a cai luong club in 2000 to mobilise various resources to reintroduce Cai luong but the club had to close after arranging two plays because it couldn’t attract people.

The Theatre recently got fame for arranging two great cai luong plays, named Kim Van Kieu and Swan Coat. The two projects proved that Cai luong can fit in with the modern age.

However, Hung said: “After Kim Van Kieu and Swan Coat, we don’t dare to venture further. Luckily, we didn’t suffer a loss.”

Tran Huu Trang Theatre wishes to bring the two plays to Hanoi to serve northern audiences but it can’t afford to now.

Quoc Hung mentioned a sad fact: Young cai luong artists aren’t focusing on their profession but singing at bars and night clubs to earn their living. Many young artists forget lyrics while performing.

Besides the decline of young artists, Quoc Hung complained of the serious downgrade of equipment and facilities for cai luong.

Ca Tru class in communal house

The quiet night of Chanh Thon village in Van Nhan commune, former Ha Tay province was roused by the sounds of the dan day, trong chau, etc. For a long time, villagers have been familiar with these sounds, which come from the ca tru class held at the village communal house by old craftsmen.

Phuong, 7, was trying to sing a ca tru melody named Bac phan, which requires a high vocal range. Phuong and Oanh are the smallest singsong girls of the ca tru class in Chanh Thon, which is run by three ca tru craftsmen, Nguyen Thi Khuou, 82, Nguyen Thi Vuon, 84, and Nguyen Van Khoai, 83.

The craftsmen learnt ca tru from their elders and now they teach their descendants in the same way. The class gathers both children and adults of up to 50 years old.

“Our class has both old and young learners so we have to organise class in the evening, from 8-10pm,” said Mrs. Vuon.

The three craftsmen teach learners the words, then the melody and finally put everything together to music.

When the class just opened, villages didn’t understand ca tru songs so they didn’t like it, but gradually, villagers have come to understand and love ca tru. Ca tru performances have become an indispensable part of Chanh Thon’s festivals and offerings.

“It is very lucky that my village has three people who still preserve ca tru. If only I was alive now, this reputed profession would have been lost,” said Mrs. Khuou.

Mrs. Khuou learned her first ca tru melodies from her grandmother. When she started the career of a singsong girl, the war broke out and nobody paid attention to ca tru.

The craftsman showed a quire of old, smeared papers and said: “These papers record tens of ca tru songs. I and Vuon have preserved them for nearly 70 years like treasures.”

There were some songs that weren’t written down, but the three craftsmen have tried to remember them and write them down for posterity.

“Ca tru melodies are engrained on my mind so I’m not afraid of losing them. I consider them as my own treasures,” she said.

Before they opened the ca tru class, sometimes these craftsmen gathered to sing for each other and recorded songs on cassettes as a way to lessen their occupational wistfulness.

But Mrs. Khuou’s most valuable treasure at present is her ca tru learners, including her two paternal grandchildren.

“In the past, ca tru was only transferred to descendants but it is different now. I teach ca tru to everyone. I’m trying to pass everything I know to them,” Mrs. Khuou said.

She says she wants to live for three years more to give all of her knowledge of ca tru to the young. She said: “This art requires careful teaching method. I had to learn it for at least three years to be able to sing fairly well. Ca tru is different from cheo and is not as simple as hat xam.”

Ca tru is a strong hope to revive in Chanh Thon carpentry village.

Ca tru: (also known as hat a dao or hat noi) is an ancient genre of chamber music featuring female vocalists, with origins in northern Vietnam. For much of its history, it was associated with a geisha-like form of entertainment.

Ca trù, like many ancient and highly developed arts, has many forms. However, the most widely known and widely performed type of ca tru involves only three performers: the female vocalist, lute player and a spectator (who also takes part in the performance).

The female singer provides the vocals whilst playing her phach (small wooden sticks beaten on a small bamboo platform to serve as percussion). She is accompanied by a man who plays the dan day, a long-necked, 3-string lute used almost exclusively for the ca tru genre. Last is the spectator (often a scholar or connoisseur of the art) who strikes a trong chau (praise drum) in praise (or disapproval) of the singer’s performance, usually with every passage of the song. The way in which he strikes the drum shows whether he likes or dislikes the performance, but he always does it according to the beat provided by the vocalists’ phach percussion.

New observers to the art often comment on how strikingly odd the vocal technique sounds, but it is the vocals themselves that are essential in defining ca tru.

Ca tru started off like many of Vietnam’s arts as being a form of entertainment for the royal court. It was only later on that it branched out into being performed at small inns. Indeed, it was mainly scholars and other members of the elite who enjoyed the genre, which was somewhat inaccessible to the masses.

In the 20th century, ca trù nearly died out. As of now, extensive efforts are being made to invigorate the genre, including many festivals and events where several types of ca tru (among other related arts) are performed. Vietnam has also completed documents to have ca trù recognised by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage - Wikipedia.

InterContinental offerings from West Lake

The luxurious InterContinental Hanoi Westlake Hotel has launched a series of promotions and culinary specials for the upcoming holidays.

For this year’s Mid Autumn Festival, the hotel’s Le Gourmet Restaurant will present a range of mooncakes, including unique pumpkin and durian cakes, for US$15 per two-cake box or $25 for a four-cake box.

The offer, which runs from now until September 15, marks the festival, a traditional celebration of abundance and family which falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, September 14 this year.

On September 3, the Milan Restaurant will host a Venetian style dinner in association with Masi wines. Masi representative Alessandra Boscaini will share winemaking experiences with guests while they enjoy a five-course meal accompanied by premium wines for $100++ per person.

To celebrate the upcoming Vietnamese National Day on September 2, the hotel will launch the Vietnamese National Day Dinners program September 2-9 at Saigon Restaurant. The menu includes specialties from the three regions of Vietnam, including fresh crystal spring rolls with shrimp, pork, rice noodle and herbs as well as grilled sliced duck wrapped in Vietnamese vegetables. The meals will be made all the more enjoyable with free Vietnamese draught beer.

Cafe du Lac, the hotel’s contemporary French brasserie with a stunning lake view, is currently serving the best dishes from InterContinental hotels around the globe. Whether its Rio, Paris or Shanghai, guests will sample a different special from every corner of the globe each week.

Cafe du Lac also offers a special seafood buffet every Friday from 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. ($30++ per person with free drinks and wine) as well as Family Brunch every Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. For $40++ per person including free drinks plus a 50 percent-discount for children aged 6-12, parents can enjoy the brunch with a West Lake view and live jazz entertainment while their children use the playroom and are cared for by professional nannies.

For an outdoor dining experience, the Sunset Bar offers its Weekend Barbecue every Friday and Saturday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. The feast includes a variety of dishes including grilled German sausages and prawn skewers at just $5-12. One free draught Carlsberg beer accompanies every order.

For those with something more quiet in mind, afternoon tea at the Diplomat Lounge may be more fitting. Dammann Freres teas are accompanied by cakes and muffins at $14 for “tea for two.”

Through September, a special weekend retreat package offers single and double rooms at the West Lake hideaway for only $199++ per night (first night only) on Saturdays or Sundays.

The package includes breakfast at Cafe du Lac and a choice between a three-course dinner in Milan or Saigon restaurants (including one bottle of house wine) or a Sunday Brunch at Cafe du Lac.

InterContinental Hanoi Westlake

1A Nghi Tam St., Tay Ho Dist., Hanoi

For information on culinary programs, contact (04) 270 7048

For reservations, contact (04) 270 7035