Festivals take place throughout the year in Vietnam, however January to March according to our lunar calendar is the period when there are more festivals and traditional activities than other months. We call this time "the festive season". Right after we celebrate the lunar New Year, all the pagodas and temples are the popular destinations, as people want to pray for good luck and prosperity for their families in the new year. In northern Vietnam, the Perfume Pagoda (Chùa Hương) and Yên Tử mountain are the must-go places of pilgrimage for many people. As a result, it's alway [View Full Entry]

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Hanoi, Friday 30 January 2009 - the 5th day of the lunar New Year - Tết 2009, the Year of the Buffalo. Myself, sister and her friends rented a taxi and we went to the Museum of Ethnology. From 29 January to 1 February, there were many activities and traditional games at the Museum for celebrating the lunar New Year. They were performed by Vietnamese and ethnic minority people who came from other provinces in Vietnam. Some activities and games were bamboo-stick dancing (the Thai), swinging (the Viet), tug of war (the Viet), Đông Hồ woodblock paintings (the Viet), water puppetry [View Full Entry]

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Central Vietnam, Tuesday 27 January 2009 - At 6:30am, a mini bus came to pick me up at my guest house in Lao Bảo town. As I was back in Vietnam via the Lao - Viet border crossing too late the day before, I decided to stay overnight in Lao Bảo border town and next day I would get a bus from Lao Bảo - Khe Sanh - Đông Hà - Đồng Hới, where I would fly back home in Hanoi. It was the second day of the lunar New Year (Tết) and still early, so we saw only two people [View Full Entry]

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Five years ago on my first trip to northern Laos, I visited Vientiane - Luang Prabang - Phonsavan (the Plain of Jars). This time I decided to visit Savannakhet province in southern Laos. My route on the 6-day trip was as follows: flight Hanoi - Huế city, bus Huế city - Savannakhet, back in Vietnam by bus, then flight Đồng Hới city - Hanoi. My wish on this trip was to see southern Laos, as I'd not been there yet, plus National Highway No. 9 which was the famous site in the former Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) during the American war. From [View Full Entry]

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Huế city - Friday 23 January 2009: The plane landed at Phú Bài airport at 11:30am and I took an airport bus to Nguyễn Tri Phương hotel. When I left Hanoi in the morning, it was raining and chilly. Fortunately, the monsoon had not affected Huế city yet, so it was still warm and sunny there. I walked for 3 hours from my hotel along Trường Tiền bridge across the Perfume river toward the citadel. I stopped at Lạc Thiện restaurant to enjoy my favorite food and continued walking to Đông Ba market. This was my 23rd visit to Huế city, [View Full Entry]

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Another Tết (Vietnamese lunar new year) is coming. While Chinese people call their lunar new year 2009 "the Year of the Ox", we Vietnamese choose "the Year of the Buffalo". Vietnam is still very much an agricultural country despite the changes in our economy in recent years. The buffalo plays an important role on Vietnamese farms. A buffalo would do most of the work on Vietnamese farms while in developed countries farmers would use a tractor. The buffalo is even considered a good friend by our farmers. In my blog last year about , I explained our traditional customs dur [View Full Entry]

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Happy New Year 2009! This is my first blog in the new year. Despite my busy work on the construction site, 2008 was an interesting year for me with 14 trips to 20 places in Vietnam and abroad, as well as 63 blogs. I look forward to traveling again in the new year and meeting with new friends. Thank you for reading my blogs and I wish you all the best in 2009. So here is the blog about our new year celebration in Hanoi. From 31 December 2008 to 4 January 2009, the Hanoi Flower Festival is held along Đinh [View Full Entry]

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Christmas is not a big event in Vietnam and Hanoi in particular, but it’s getting more attention nowadays, especially from the young people. The only place in Hanoi where you can feel Christmas atmosphere is the St Joseph’s Cathedral (built in 1886). A few days before the event, the cathedral is beautifully decorated. In the evening on 24 December, the streets around the cathedral are blocked off, so we only can walk into the area. It’s very crowded by mid night, as many people try to get inside the cathedral. The 5-star hotels in Hanoi also organize Christmas parties. At som [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday afternoon, 11 November 2008 - My trip to Bái Đính pagoda was an interesting adventure. The new pagoda is being built on the mountain at Gia Sinh commune, Gia Viễn district, Ninh Bình province (108km south of Hanoi). The name “Bái Đính” was chosen in memory of the old pagoda at this area and also the name of the mountain. The new pagoda is the biggest pagoda in Vietnam at present, also one of the works in order to celebrate the Millennium Year in Hanoi. You may wonder what the relationship is between Hanoi and Ninh Bình in this event. [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday morning, 11 November 2008 - I traveled with my parents and their friends to Phát Diệm stone cathedral and Bái Đính pagoda in Ninh Bình province on a one-day trip. This is my 4th visit to Phát Diệm cathedral, which is located in Ninh Bình province, 130km south of Hanoi. It has been long known as one of the most attractive religious and tourist sites in Ninh Bình province. The 4-roofed cathedral was designed by priest Trần Lục (Father Sáu) and built in 1891 with stone in an area also abounding in ponds, grottoes and structures imbued with Oriental religious [View Full Entry]

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