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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28 and 29 October 2008 - My 3rd visit to the Mekong Delta. I made the first trip to the area 9 years ago on a 3-day tour to 6 provinces with Sinh cafe. Unfortunately, on that trip I used a camera with roll films and it didn't work due to some technical problems. I ended up having no photos on the trip. Some years later, I joined a 1-day tour to Mỹ Tho and Bến Tre. This time I was back in the Mekong Delta, but I chose a 2-day tour to visit 4 provinces Long An, Vĩnh Long, Cần [View Full Entry]

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26 and 27 October 2008 - I traveled by Sinh cafe bus from Sài Gòn to Mũi Né. Sinh cafe is a famous company in Vietnam, which provides various services for the backpackers at reasonable prices. Although the distance is only 220km, it took us 4 and half hours to get to Mũi Né. Our bus had to drive slowly, as the speed limit is 50 km per hour and the police check traffic speeds and impose heavy fines on drivers who break the speed limit. This is my second visit to Mũi Né, which is a lovely beach town with [View Full Entry]

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Vietnam Airlines has promotion air fare for the autumn flights, only US$130 round trip between Hà Nội and Sài Gòn instead of US$200 as usual, so I decided to take office leave and travel in southern Vietnam for a week from 24 to 30 October. I've been to Sài Gòn (aka Hồ Chí Minh city) more than 10 times over the past 15 years, sometimes on business, but mostly I traveled for fun. In 1993 when I visited the city for the first time, I didn't hear much northern accent, but now everywhere I could hear northern, central and southern accents. [View Full Entry]

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Phở noodle soup first appeared in the 1920s, ie it’s less than 100 years old. However, it developed incredibly fast. First, there was only beef noodle soup and it was hawked around the streets. During the 1940s, when there was a shortage of beef, people started making Phở with chicken as they had become addicted to it. And now Phở is so popular that almost no street in Hanoi is without a Phở restaurant. In some areas, there are even 3-4 restaurants, from luxurious to simple ones inside alleys, but not every restaurant can satisfy the strict requirements of Hanoian [View Full Entry]

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Saturday 18 October 2008 - Myself and a friend rented a taxi and traveled 30 km from Hanoi's center to Chuông village, which has been famous over several centuries for making traditional hats. After an hour and a half, we arrived at the village and visited a couple of houses, where the locals were making hats. At the first house, we saw 3 women sitting on the front side of the house, while some children were running around. The grandmother and mother were sewing conical hats, while the daughter was placing the leaves over a frame and tying them with small [View Full Entry]

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During the French rule in Vietnam from 1858 to 1954, many cathedrals, government offices, hotels and villas of French architecture were built. You can see them in different cities of Vietnam, such as Hanoi, Hải Phòng, Sapa, Đà Lạt and Sài Gòn. Some areas of Hanoi city are called "French quarters", as many old French buildings are still preserved there. They are now used as government offices, embassies, Hanoi post office, schools, shops, hospitals or museums. My secondary school also is an old French building near Hanoi Opera House. I studied there for 3 years and my mother [View Full Entry]

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Weekend 20 - 21 September 2008 - I joined my parents and their friends to Kim Bôi hot spring (suối khoáng Kim Bôi). The site is located at Mớ Đá village, Hạ Bì commune, Kim Bôi district, Hòa Bình province, 80km away from Hanoi. Its mineral water is suitable for drinking, bathing and useful in medical treatments. Kim Bôi hot spring is a popular destination for north Vietnamese from September to December, when the weather is cooler. It’s not an open air stream, the mineral water is pumped into public or private pools and you choose the pool. A ticket for [View Full Entry]

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The Mid-Autumn Festival (Tết trung thu) is a special day for Vietnamese children. It’s celebrated on the 15th day of August based on the lunar calendar. On this day, the moon is considered the brightest during the year. The festival involves the customs of moon looking, procession of lights (parading with lanterns shaped as moon and stars), lion dance, as well as eating moon cakes and fruits at the party. This year the Mid-Autumn Festival falls on 14 September of the Solar / Gregorian calendar. On Sunday 7 September, I went to Hàng Mã street in the Old Quarter of Hanoi [View Full Entry]

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