Vietnam Heritage Apr-May 2014

ISSN 1859-4123

3:4 APR-MA APR-MAY AY 2014

HUE: Misty memories

Mussel rice, and sacred paintings

content

No 3, Vol.4, April-May 2014 COVER STORY Destination: Hue 6 The spice must flow 8 Misty memories of the Hue we were 10 Gods of rock 12 Art made for burning 16 Hue resort rejuvenates in area where emperors came to rest

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Nature

18 Weaving houses of love Photography

20 Real faces

Conservation The 22 vanishing villas of Dalat Religion

24 ‘The enshrined stupa’

6

People

28 From peasant poet to man of letters Resort Advertorial

30 Nature forte at Mom Da Chim -Lazi Beach Resort Hotel Advertorial

32 Surf and turf and a lot more besides

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34 What the papers say 35 Asides 36 Events 39 Value for money 43 Directions 58 Laid back Cover photograph: Hue Imperial Citadel.

Photo: Pham Ba Thinh

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Published by the Cultural Heritage Association of Vietnam

Vietnam Heritage Editorial Office:

Publication licence No: 1648/GP-BTTTT from the Ministry of Information and Communications of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for the English-language edition of The Gioi Di San (The World of Heritage) magazine Editor-in-Chief: Le Thanh Hai; Public Relations Director: Bui Thi Hang; Managing Editor: Le Duc Tan; Sub-editing: Erik Johnson; Assistant: Kha Tu Anh; Production: Nguyen Hoang Kim Long; Contributing Photographers: Nguyen Ba Han, Hoang Quoc Tuan, Hoang The Nhiem, Huynh Van Nam, Le Hoai Phuong, Nguyen Anh Tuan; Ngo Nguyen Huynh Trung Tin; Tran Viet Duc Correspondent: Pip de Rouvray; Advertising and Circulation: Green Viet Advertising JSC Advertising Service: Hong Ngoc 099 747 1526 Email: ads.vietnamheritage@gmail.com; Subscriptions: Thuy Phuong 0166 79 70 706 Email: subs.vietnamheritage@gmail.com Hanoi Advertising and Subscription: Nguyen Huong 0988 424 395; Vietnam Heritage is published monthly, produced in Vietnam and printed at Army Printing House No 2. © All rights reserved.

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Binh Thuan Province, South-Central Vietnam, 2013

Binh Thuan Province has 192km of coast. This photo is taken at the Co Thach ancient rock area of Tuy Phong District, about 105km north of Phan Thiet City, Photo exhibited in the Vietnam Heritage Photo Awards 2013

Photo: Vu Ngoc Hoang

destination: hue

The spice must flow

By Hoang PHu ngoc Tuong

Mussel rice

Photo: Y Nhac

Discovering the secret ingredient in Hue’s signature dish

T

he people of Hue eat as if learning lessons on life.

They’ve got to taste it all: salty, bland, sour, spicy, sweet, and nutty. They disrelish no flavour and even take pleasure in two flavours that most of the world fears, spicy and bitter. In the gardens of the North, bitter melon is grown.

But there they just use the red melon and stuff it with meat to make a stew, whereas the green melon is used only to rub children’s fevered brows. Yet the people of Hue like to use the bitter melon when it is still green. To cook a soup, water from a boiling pot must be poured 6 • vietnam heritage - april-may 2014

over the bitter melon before it is dropped in, so as to ensure its bitterness. And then there’s the crushing of raw bitter melon to make a salad, which is fantastically bitter. One day, when the train stopped at Lang Co Station, I saw boletus mushrooms sold so cheap that it was as if they were giving them away for nothing. I ebulliently purchased an entire basket as a gift for my friend in Danang. Boletus mushroom porridge is ever so delicious, but only the people of Hue noisily slurp down the porridge with praise, whereas my Danang drinking buddies all abstain from it, because they cannot stand its bitterness. As it turns out, we may be separated merely by the Hai Van Pass, but the way in which Hue people eat and drink is just that peculiar!

But the strangest thing is Hue

people’s custom of eating food so spicy that I, myself, cannot fathom why it is so. The Hue people have sufficient linguistic tones for describing spicy flavours that include all sensations—mouth-burning hot, tongue-rending hot, deafening to the nose hot, tear-letting hot, sweating hot, deafening-to-the-ears hot, and brain-deafening hot. It can be said that the people of Hue begin their daily menu with a bowl of dreadfully spicy beef noodles.

Thereafter follows a day that’s spicy ‘all the way up to the eyes and nose’ that finishes with the cry ‘Compote (che) to eat, anyone?’—a saccharine cup before bedtime.

Allow me to introduce a day of ‘Heaven’s torturously (spicy) bliss’ for Hue people. I’ll start with mussel rice. Hue dishes like beef noodles and tripe porridge have now be-

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‘If you talk like that, then what’s there left of Hue?!’

come commonplace throughout the country (despite losing their original spicy character). Only this Hue dish of mussel rice doesn’t exist anywhere else. Hanoi and Saigon also have restaurants with mussel rice.

I’ve tried them, but they’re all finely sliced oyster. Where’s the mussels?

First of all, I’ll speak about the rice. Vietnamese people, however their rice is eaten, must always eat it hot. Only with mussel rice is it imperative that the rice is cool. It seems as if the Hue people want to express the notion that in life nothing should be discarded, so they present a cool dish of rice with little speckled mussels that render anticipation in those who cook this food called ‘mussel rice.’

Later on, in Hue, people additionally displayed a dish of mussel noodles that uses noodles instead of cool rice. I really detest such ways of sundry innovation. Moreover, the people of Hue (in the past, but not nowadays) are quite adamant about their culinary standpoint. I think that, on the issue of taste, conservatism is a cultural factor that is extremely important to preserve heritage. For me, a specialty dish resembles a cultural relic that must appear exactly as it did in ancient times, and all contrivances to improve upon them all bear a destructive character that merely fabricates fakes.

Allow me to continue this tale of mussel rice. Of the mussels in Hue, the tastiest are islet mussels. For this reason, the mound that emerges to occupy the eminently noble position of ‘Azure Dragon on the Left’ [A geomancy term for an auspicious land formation] from the Classic Book of Changes (Yijing, Vietnamese: Dich Kinh) as part of the capital citadel’s architecture, is referred to colloquially as ‘Con Hen’ (Mussel Islet). The bottom of the river around the islet has a deep layer of mud, which is a fertile environment for mussels. The remarkable thing about the mussels is that, despite lacking arms and legs, when the weather changes and causes the current to flow powerfully, they can dive deep down to the bottom of the mud in order to avoid being swept away.

The people on the islet, who make their trade by scooping up the mussels, every year hold a ceremony to worship mussels in the seventh month. On the boisterous bannered ferry-

boats, the beat of the drums echoes far. People boil the mussels and then bring them out to the river to regale in large baskets. They remove the shells and take just the meat of the mussels to measure out into bowls and sell to people who make mussel rice.

This mussel meat is the chief flavour of mussel rice. It is stir-fried and accompanied by cellophane noodles, dried bamboo shoots, and finely shredded pork. The third ingredient is fresh vegetables. It may be just a pinch, but these fresh vegetables are made of banana stems or banana buds that are sliced into thin strips and mixed with mint, star fruit, and finely cut fragrant herbs. Sometimes, the order calls for yellow marigold petals that look fresh to the eyes and add a fragrance of their own.

The broth used to boil mussels is ladled out from a steaming pot with a ladle made from a fine coconut shell. The water is poured to fill a bowl that has it all, including cold rice, stir-fried mussels, fresh vegetables, and the addition of all sorts of colourful flavours. The mussel broth has ground ginger added and is a murky white. Indeed, there’s an utmost infatuation with that murky colour. To eat mussel rice and complain that the broth is murky would be ludicrous!

The set of colours in mussel rice is the most sophisticated among all beneath the skies. Here’s a list of the spices that I have observed in one shoulder pole of mussel rice— surely it can be considered ideal: 1) chilli sauce, 2) colourful chilli and chilli pickled in fish sauce, 3) fresh shredded pork, 4) crumbled rice paper, 5) roasted salt, 6) coarsely ground peanuts roasted in lard, 7) roasted sesame, 8) crispy roasted pigskin, 9) lard and lard cracklings, and 10) monosodium glutamate. Everything is stored in bottlenecked glass jars and pots displayed in baskets. The aunties who sell mussel rice take it out with a small poon ladle. Their hands nimbly take a little bit of everything as if sifting holy water.

The fragrance redolent throughout these people’s lives is the smell of dried shredded pork, the aromatic scent of which rises

straight to the brain and the spiciness of which draws tears. Those enthused with mussel rice in their blood are not just satisfied with the dish’s ready-made spiciness and further demand the addition of a fresh hot pepper to bite on and exclaim ‘fiery hot!’

Tears pour down with effusive sweat in small beads into the bowl of rice, and yet they slurp, gasp and ejaculate, ‘Tasty! Delicious!’ When travelling afar, its recollection is compounded to the point of rending strands of hair. To have lived abroad and then fly out to Hue in order to eat, by any means, a bowl of mussel rice to one’s heart’s content is…just like that — oh heavens, Hue! I recall once, on a grey rainy afternoon in November, I was sitting eating mussel rice at a friend’s house on Hang Me Street. I had just come back from the West. Throughout the two weeks, I stayed in the hall for a writers’ congress. Every meal had nothing but meats, butter, and cheese to the point that I was dismayed. For many days, I just brought a bundle of fruit back to my room and ate it in lieu of a meal. For many weeks, I didn’t have a single grain of rice in my belly. When I heard the peddling of mussel rice, I was stirred down to my gums. That was the first time that I ate a bowl of mussel rice with the entirety of my soul. Seeing that the sister selling her wares had to put so many things in my little bowl, I felt pity for her and asked: ‘How much do you profit that you must go to such exaction? You just need three or four things. Wouldn’t that save you the effort?’ She looked at me with a pair of uncanny, irate eyes, ‘If you talk like that, then what’s there left of Hue?!’

She shouldered her wares away, her frame frail and slender, her ao dai black and over worn, her conical hat tattered; yet the voice with which she peddled her wares was resounding. At that moment, I finally discovered a fifteenth flavour; that is fire. Indeed, a nurturing hearth fire that fosters throughout the wintery rain, abidingly following after the footsteps of men.n The article is from the book Độc Đáo Ẩm Thực Huế (The Unique Cuisine of Hue), complied by Nguyen Nha, Thong Tan Publishing House, 2011

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Destination: hue

Nghinh Luong Pavilion, Hue, 2012.

Misty memories of the Hue we were

Photo from Vietnam Heritage Photo Awards 2012. Photo: Hoang Huu Tu

By Ho Dang THanH ngoc

I

n my youth were days in which dazzling white mist descended upon the village’s fields each summer morning. The sonorous voices of women amid the mist and the echoing chantey of some farmer punting his boat on the river could be heard, the latter rising like a jocund expression of love. The mist spread, rising from the surface of the river to enshroud everything. The chipper voices of young children could be heard, as well as the reverberant cries of crick8 • vietnam heritage - april-may 2014

ets, until I tracked one down in the brume and caught the fellow. In the village, I grew up following the seasons of mist that cast upon the Bo River like an ethereal veil and coalesced into ever so many sweet memories from the indigent village landscape. Then there were evenings in which I would punt my boat, carrying a lass after school across the river to pick corn, singing, ‘Evening after evening, picking corn along the river; the corn yet to bear fruit, picking flowers to take home…

’ Oh, those were the days!

I first encountered Hue through a bowl of mussel rice (com hen) on a misty morning, when the air was cold as the Lunar New Year approached. On that morning, I didn’t know whether I saw the mist emerge from the mussel rice or whether the mist took form as a bowl of mussel rice. I took my inquiries to the girl who sold the rice, but she looked at me askance.

‘You’re a pert one aren’t you?’ I said to her. Then I asked her why she did-

Destination: hue n’t remove her hat to lighten up. Her oblique eyes hidden, she retorted, ‘Mom instructed me that girls must not take off their hats when the weather is misty, or else our hair will get damp and there’d be nothing with which to profess our vows with to anyone anymore!’ [In the past, youths in love often used to cut off locks of hair as an object that pledged their faithful love]. Heavens, I don’t know whether it was she who had given rise to the mist so as to make it so dense or whether it was the mist that had engendered her so as to concoct a lover of steam flatrice wrapped in Phrynium leaves (banh nam) for me, the sole customer who had passed by the road.

The mist of Hue was for me, from that time on, a mist of dreams.

In Hue, there are two beauteous seasons of mist at the budding of summer and around the time Tet draws near, just as in human life the two

most beautiful times are those of a girl’s youth and those of ‘returning to springtime’ (at menopause)—magnanimous, benevolent, and very passionate. The mist early in the season is dulcet, like the breath of the young lass whom I had met at the most beautiful time on Gia Hoi Bridge around two in the morning.

The mist was white and thick like kapok suspended from the two rows of trees along the old quarter of Dinh Market, as if welcoming people to the Realm of the Immortals. That night, I looked out towards Huong River. The river current vanished in a veil of white brume. I was shaken, not knowing whether the river was still there or not. I desperately craved the echo of a line of chantey on the river or the sound of a swishing fish to reassure me. The mist of young women I would have the occasion to meet in the middle of the 12th lunar month. The most beautiful of mists

usually lay along the willow fibres in the park at the southern bank of the Huong River and Le Loi Street towards Hue Station Bridge. Once I met the mist, I could not forget it, like the longings of love. A girl far from Hue asked me, ‘Could it be that Hue is the mist?’

During a certain year, I had a friend who returned home at night and encountered the mist. He was exhilarated and rode his bicycle as if flying in the brume, singing Trinh Cong Son’s love song ‘Phoi Pha’ (Withering). That night, he did not sleep, but I know not whether it because of Hue’s mist or his designs for life. Now, when we meet again, as my old friend has been content living far away, we greet one another like strangers. I still know that the mist is ephemeral, but the mist is still a faithful lover, who returns every year. Yet I always affectedly pine, ‘How is it with you, oh mist?’n

KHANH HOA SALANGANES NEST COMPANY

SALANGANE NEST 

destination: hue

Gods of rock T text and photos by thai

Clockwise from left: Stone steles at Thien Tong Pagoda, Hai Cat Village, Hue and Phu Duong Commune, Phu Vang District, near Hue

Loc

he locals told us that the brownish stone stele with Chinese words carved into it that mean ‘Stone Deity’, sitting under a lone coral tree in Thuong Village, Nguyet Bieu Commune, Hue, has been there for a long, long time. ‘Our ancestors passed on [to us] that wild beasts used to come and disturb our peace.

The village invited a shaman to install the stone stele as a guard at the village entrance. Peace returned since then,’ Thuong Village elder Ho Huu Dinh relates.

Mr Dinh also said that because Nguyet Bieu Commune borders

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both a river and a forest, the stone has to be sacred and ascendant enough to protect the villagers from various dangers. Before each peaceseeking ritual or on New Year’s Eve at Thuong village, a village elder in ceremonial dress would bring offerings to ‘invite his sacredness’ to the village temple for a great feast.

Opposite from Nguyet Bieu, across the Perfume River, Hai Cat Commune also has a stone stele, with the carved words, ‘Thai Son Stone Deity’. Mr Tran Quang Nhon, who lives nearby, told us that this ‘deity’ was installed by their heroic ancestors from Thanh Hoa, who

followed Lord Nguyen in the great southward expansion (in 16th century) both to be a landmark and to protect the settlers in a newly conquered land.

Those are two among tens of sacred stones that we found alongside the roads in Hue and the adjacent villages in our field trip with cultural researcher Ho Tan Phan. Some of them, like the one on a sidewalk of Chua Ong road, bear a carving that states the mission of the deity is to fend off all harm.

Many stones, which are called ‘deity’ by villagers, are just to mark border lines, such as the ones in

destination: hue Nguyen Trai Road in Hue An Commune, on Hung Vuong Road in Eighth Commune, and on Thien Thai Road outside the Thien Tong Temple.

Some stones have no carving, but nevertheless do have an altar and a story passed down by word of mouth, like the ‘Stone Lady’ in My An Village, Phu Duong Commune, Phu Vang District, the ‘Sacred Stone’ at Cau Bazaar - Phu Luong, Quang Thanh Commune, Quang Dien District, and many others that are scattered around Hue. Early in the 20th century, priestscholar Léopold Cadière (18691955), the initiator of a Hue research project, had spent much time to study in and around Hue citadel.

He was quite surprised to have found that stone worship was very widespread. His research notes were published in the journals of the time.

He wrote, ‘One of the most widespread forms of worship, at least in certain areas, is stone worship and tree worship. The Vietnamese worship the rocks that may cause danger for those who travel on water, which means they beg the hostile deity nested in the stone not to harm them. They believe some stones are inhabited by a deity. That may be due to the special shape of the stone, or to its somewhat miraculous origin. But most of the stones are very ordinary.’* This scholar also noted, ‘It’s hard to say whether the worship is dedicated to a specific deity housed in the stone, or to the stone itself because it is believed to possess a supernatural power.’

Nowadays, as many elders remember, quite a number of ‘deities’ have been lost, especially because of urban development, digging and levelling of roads and the encroach-

ing of sidewalks. Perhaps, because of their shapes and the carved Chinese words, the stones become altars where people offer various things to those in the Ying world during the ending period of the lunar year. Around the stones, one can always see piles and piles of offerings to the lady and lord of the kitchen; thuribles, flower vases, and lime pots (for chewing with betel).

Cultural researcher Ho Tan Phan said, ‘It would be a pity if the stone system gets lost in the development process, because it has become evidence of the cultural and spiritual life of Vietnamese that the future generations should know about.’n *Văn hoá, tôn giáo, tín ngưỡng Việt Nam dưới nhãn quan học giả L.Cadière (Vietnamese Culture, Religion and Beliefs in the Eyes of L.Cadière), Do Trinh Hue, Thuan Hoa Publishing House, June, 2006

destination: hue

Art made for burning

By Trang Thanh hien*

A

mong the number of folk painting villages that still exist, Sinh Village is considered one where the craft of painting remains associated with the beliefbased activities of the common people. Sinh Village, also known as Lai An Village, belongs to Phu May Hamlet in Phu Vang District, about 9km east of the city of Hue. Lying at the confluence of the Bo and Huong Rivers, the village favourably facilitates commerce, and its Sinh Village paintings seem to command the market throughout the provinces of Central Vietnam. Nevertheless, the paintings are most prevalent in Hue, where they even appear in the Forbidden Palace and in the votive rituals for siring an heir among the folk populace that are discreetly organized by senior women alongside orthodox palace ceremonies. Sinh Village is not only renowned for the craft of painting, but it is also an ancient village with Sung Hoa Pagoda, which is famed for its records of history from the sixteenth century. The village is moreover well-known for

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wrestling festivals and the trades of making incense and roasted kernels as votive offerings. Perhaps it is because of these traditions that the craft of printing xylographic paintings in Sinh Village, right from the time of its inception several hundred years ago, has not been purely a tradition in service of refined amusement, but rather chiefly of the belief-based needs in which the paintings are used to worship, to burn in votive rituals for well-being, and to extricate people from unpropitious fates.

As for the subject matter of Sinh paintings, they are divided into three major genres: portraits of per-

sonages, animal paintings, and paintings of objects. The portraits of personages are usually those of people who sacrificed their lives for others or ‘destiny paintings’ of the venerable gentleman, gentlewoman, or cook—that is, the deities of fate who watch over the head of the family. This type of painting is usually affixed to walls and is not burned until the end of the year, whereas all the other paintings are burned as oblations along with gold and silver votive objects once the prayer offerings are complete. The animal paintings are those with printed images of the twelve worshipped zodiac animals

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or paintings of kinds of domestic animals like buffalos, cattle, swine, and horses that are hung in breeding pens so as to pray that the animals will avoid disease or will bring prosperity in business. Pictures of spiritual beasts like elephants and tigers are used as offerings in temples in order to pray that they will not bring calamities down upon humans. The paintings of objects are types of clothing, implements like bows and arrows, or offerings like the garbs of gentlemen, gentlewomen, and soldiers that are printed in decorative patterns.

In terms of technique and materials, Sinh paintings are similar to most ancient folk painting traditions like Dong Ho and Hang Trong in the North with their method of woodblock printing, which involves fairly sophisticated steps; carving the woodblock print, printing out the picture on ‘noble scallop paper’ (giấy điệp), and then painting in the

colour. Sinh Village was, in the olden days, also referred to as the village that made paper pasted with noble scallop shells, which were not only used in printing paintings, but also in other trades. To print in colour, mostly materials inherent in nature were utilized. After that, a strict treatment process was undergone so as to make sure the colours did not fade after application.

The obtaining of the dye materials, too, bears a characteristic semblance to Dong Ho paintings, but they also involve local products and folk experience in order to achieve various nuances. Whereas the colours of Dong Ho paintings generally only consist of a few basic colours that are overlapped with colours from different kinds of woodblocks so as to render the paintings’ colours multifarious, Sinh Village paintings resemble Hang Trong paintings in that only one woodblock is printed in black

lines, after which colouration is painted in in detail. The method of painting colouration is usually done in level layers and painted in monochrome; rarely are they painted in overlapping colours. They are also not painted in the manner of selecting dark and light hues by mixing added water so that the colours produce a pronounced sheen like in Hang Trong paintings. It is precisely this characteristic that ensures that the colours of Sinh Village paintings must be prepared with greater hues.

Take the colour yellow, for instance. Whereas Dong Ho paintings only have flamboyant yellow, Sinh paintings have, in addition, a yellow hue from Dung tree lll

Opposite:Painting at Sinh Village Photo: Pham Van Ty

Above: Drying paintings Photo: Trang Thanh Hien

Below: Woodblocks at Sinh Village Photo: Phan Thanh Binh

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destination: hue

A French student prints a painting at Sinh Village Photo: Trang Thanh Hien

leaves. These two hues are mixed together to create a yellow colour that is more sedate and also more solid. The colour red is made from the bark of willow trees and leaves of the tropical almond tree (Terminalia catappa) or myrtle wood, which are cooked in water until they condense down and thicken. The colour green is mixed from two kinds of juice that are extracted from star gooseberry leaves (Sauropus androgynus) and yanang leaves (tiliacora triandra).

Purple is made from finely ground basella alba seeds that are pressed into alum water and mixed with kali alum in order to retain the colour. The colour indigo is made from cajuput leaves that are seeped in lime until they decompose. This is then beaten into a foamy pump, after which the foam is scooped out and finely filtered. Then water is added and condensed until it thickens. The colour grey is made from ramie leaves that are dried, finely ground, and simmered down into an extract. The colour black is a blend of tropical almond tree leaves that are pulverized and closely incubated with straw ash.

lll

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Even more peculiar are the brushes used to paint Sinh Village paintings. They, too, are among the local products. The brushes for slaking colours are usually made from rua roots that are cut at a certain time of the year. After that, they are set out to dry and peeled to leave only the inside part, which is just fibrous and soft enough to take up ink for applying colours as does a hair brush.

As for the Sinh Village paintings of old, although they were votive objects to be burned, their exquisite features were nevertheless clearly evident. In particular, the set of ‘Eight Tones’ paintings (tranh Bát âm), which was one of the rare painting genres that could be used to hang up for pleasure in this painting tradition, required exquisiteness to carve the woodblocks as well as to paint in colouration. We can see in the fine women’s clothing the sophistication in every detail, from flower buttons and hairpins, to the patterns on the coins, the character for ‘Longevity,’ the women’s shoes, and the musical instruments they hold in their hands.

When comparing the style and appearance of the clothing in paintings of the venerable gentlewoman to those in the painting tradition of the Mothers Cult in the North, we can gather the features that are similar in arrangement. However, in spirit, they are entirely different. The sophistication of the manner of bracelet jewellery and the embroidered laces of the ‘shoulder clouds’ that shroud the shoulders of these regal women are characteristic of two styles of clothing from two regions.

The headscarves that cover their heads, as well as those of the servants are also very sophisticated.

Nevertheless, in recent modern woodblock carvings of Sinh Village

paintings, due to the level of the artists as well as the obscuration of the trade village, these sophisticated details have been greatly simplified. And yet, echoes of the aesthetic style from the land of the capital still seem to linger.

Moreover, whereas in the Dong Ho and Hang Trong paintings, we can vividly see the features of Chinese cultural influence in a number of subjects or styles of painting, in Sinh Village paintings, these elements have, perhaps, become more pure. The sophisticated character and influence from the art of palace raiment is clear, but they are entirely extricated from the Chinese.

Especially in paintings of animals and objects, a wholly folk aesthetic style and vision is borne out. The boorishness in creating images is merely such that people are able to recognize what creatures they represent. They are not stylized or created to graphic standards.

Today, in the spiritual lives of the people of Hue, Sinh paintings remain present as if indispensable.

However, the former flavour and spirit of a time when they once flourished seems to no longer exist.

The ancient woodblock sets were lost with time and rotted away with the flood seasons every year. In addition is the appearance of many ostentatious paintings and sculptures among Chinese high-caliber votive objects that cause the dayby-day obscuration of the painting tradition. Furthermore, due to the provisional character of paintings that are just made for votive burning rather than being hung up for amusement the way Dong Ho and Hang Trong Tet paintings are, the generic and cheap character of the raw materials make for the increasing preference for such paintings.n * Phd Mrs Trang Thanh Hien from Hanoi is a researcher on Vietnamese ancient art

By PiP de RouvRay

W

here would you choose to place a new hotel in Hue? The prime place would be alongside the Perfume River, or at least a place with views over it. The area in or around the citadel might also be desirable.

Who would dream of the wooded area south of the city, on the road to the Nguyen dynasty Emperors’ mausoleums? Ten years ago, a family cleared land here and established ‘The Pilgrimage Village Boutique Resort and Spa.’ ‘They said my father was mad to plan a hotel at this place, which was remote, derelict land at the time’, said Director Le Thi Da Lam. ‘They all 16 • vietnam heritage - april-may 2014

laughed at Christopher Columbus’, I replied. She nodded with a smile.

From the outside, on Minh Mang Road, a fifteen-minute drive from Hue centre, the hotel does announce itself modestly; there is a short, grey wall with a porchway.

‘This is in accordance with feng shui (Chinese geomancy), which is everywhere in Hue,’ explained Miss Lam. ‘Traditionally, there is a small brick or concrete screen in front of a house, behind which is a much wider area. You have the effect of discovering a secret world’, continued my guide.

Once over the threshold, I found myself immersed in tropical verdure and the fragrance of tropi-

cal flowers. There before me was a ‘village’ shopping street. Each store showcased an aspect of Vietnamese culture. Actually, only the textile/clothing and ceramics ones were open. The others were undergoing renovation.

Further on, in the form of a village communal house, I found reception. It was the usual structure, with open-air sides, rounded columns, high beams and rafters with ceramic tiling roofing. However, the wood used was not the normal dark tropical hardwood. It was a refreshing light-brown in colour. It was, in fact, jackfruit wood. Usually, the Vietnamese complete buildings quickly. This

Photos: Pilgrimage Village Boutique Resort and Spa

Hue resort rejuvenates in area where emperors came to rest

advertorial resort

was three years in the making. Be sure to look up at the intricately carved rafters when you go. This architectural gem has almost cathedral-like qualities.

After being checked in by a smiling clerk, I was led to my room. It was secluded on a wooded slope overlooking a pond strewn with lotus in flower. Access was by a private stone stairway. Personal, hidden and cosy, I christened it, ‘The Birds Nest’. I had, in fact, been given the ‘Honeymoon Bungalow’. Anyhow, it provided every possible amenity for my comfort. Outside, there was a veranda, where I sat out at dusk supping on a sundowner and listening to cicadas singing and frogs croaking. The interior was tastefully decorated with genuine parquet flooring and slate, brick and bamboo walls.

In the corner, the TV was on top of a warm brick fireplace and the centrepiece was the splendid four-poster bed. As a fine touch, sprigs of small white flowers were placed on the

bed, on cushions and on mats. I had the choice of showering either indoors or outside in a small highwalled garden.

Miss Lam led me on a tour of the premises. This is a ‘resort hotel’ - a term much abused, I am afraid. I would call it a retreat resort. However, as it has two swimming pools, two restaurants, five bars and a spa area, they can justifiably call it a resort. It has ninety-nine accommodation units, so it is at the large end for a boutique hotel, but the tag is apt, as it offers great personal attention and is not a chain, but family-run, with operational standards equal to, or I would say surpassing, many a famous name in the hotel business.

Leading to the spa area is a path bisecting two pools and flanked by large glazed ceramic jars. There is a large Jacuzzi to froth and loll in and the usual sauna, steam bath and massage and beauty treatments.

What makes this special, though, is that there is a large meditation hall,

where yoga and the Japanese and Indian spiritual healing systems of Reiki and Chakra are taught and practiced.

I ate a three-course meal at the restaurant near reception. First, true to region, came the Hue specialty ‘Banh Khoai’, a deep fried pancake.

This was scrumptious, as was the main European course-sauteed chicken breast with green beans and carrot in mushroom sauce. Dessert was poached pear in Dalat wine with ginger and vanilla ice cream. This was all washed down by beer and French wine.

This hotel is a place to refresh both body and mind. It is a teaching and learning hotel. It also comes with an imperial approbation of a place to come to and rest.n

Pilgrimage Village Boutique Resort and Spa 130 Minh Mang Road, Hue Tel: (84_54) 3885 461; Fax (84_54) 3887 057 Email: info@pigrimagevillage.com www.pilgrimagevillage.com Published rate for Deluxe Room from VND3,381,000 per night. vietnam heritage - april-may 2014

• 17

nature

Weaving houses of love TexT and phoTos by Le hoai phuong*

C

him dòng dọc or weavers (Ploceidae) are a familiar sight from Central Vietnam down to the Mekong river delta.

During the breeding season the males of the three different species (Baya Weaver, Streaked Weaver and Asian Golden Weaver) present in Vietnam, have varying amounts of yellow on their heads and hind necks. The females are brownish-yellow.

They live in flocks and make nests on one tree. There are two kinds of nests, mistakenly called male and female nests. Actually, the weaver’s nest building is very complicated.

To conquer the female’s heart on the first date, the male builds her a nest that looks like a cute hat, with a tiny bridge, bent downward, for her to stand on. If the beautiful one is satisfied, their married life begins. The male will then build a new nest for his wife to lay eggs and feed the hatchlings.

The construction takes about two weeks, during 18 • vietnam heritage - april-may 2014

which only the male works. His wife will just contemplate his work or wander around. This nest will have a cone shape, which swells on one side, connected to a peculiar sleeve-like tube that flares downwards to serve as the doorway. From afar, their happy home looks like a question mark hanging in mid-air.

The nest finished, both of them will check its every detail. If satisfied, they will mate and lay eggs. If the nest is not sturdy enough, or its colour is not regular (made from many kinds of leaves), then the female will quickly bite off the stem to let the nest fall, and her man will have to patiently build another one.

It may happen sometimes, that while the nest is under construction, a neighbour lady sneaks in to ‘consign’ an egg. If the wife finds that out, she immediately commands her hubby to seal the nest and weave a new one!n *Le Hoai Phuong is a freelance wildlife researcher

Real faces

By NguyeN HuaN

20 • vietnam heritage - april-may 2014

B

eautiful landmarks and sceneries are not enough to attract Rehahn, a native French photographer, who released his first photo book, ‘Vietnam: Mosaic of Contrasts’ early this year. It’s the people, or to be more specific, it’s the elderly and young children, that Rehahn captures through his lens.

Born and raised in France, Rehahn Croquevielle has a passion for travelling.

He has visited many places around the world in his 34 years. However, it was only seven years ago, when he first set foot in Vietnam during a volunteer trip

to help needy children, that he felt this land could be his second home. He finally settled in Vietnam two years ago.

It’s normal for any foreigner wishing to reside in Vietnam to choose a large urban city such as Ho Chi Minh City, Danang, or Hanoi. Yet, for Rehahn, it’s Hoi An, a small town but one full of Vietnam’s culture, that has captured his heart. Rehahn’s decision to settle in Hoi An is mainly due to his love for the people here. To him, the slow pace of this town allows him to fully experience what it’s like to live authentically. As a result, Rehahn seeks truth out through his

photography

camera lens during his road-trips in the countryside of Vietnam. According to Rehahn, he is most fascinated when he is able to preserve the images of elders and young children. Looking at Rehahn’s new book, the majority of photos feature the very young and the very old, because Rehahn believes that the elders’ lines and wrinkles tell their life’s stories, while children bring out their innocence and honesty through their smiles. Moreover, the eyes of everyone in Rehahn’s photos help bring soul into the artwork.

Behind every photo are also memories and stories that the photographer has encountered during his interaction with each character. He cherishes the moment when he gets to meet people, have conversation with them, and learn about their lives. It’s only these interactions that make it possible for him to explore his subjects and extract the most truth out of every shot he takes. As a result, Rehahn’s photo book reflects many facets of the Vietnamese, some of which are unknown to most foreigners and even some natives.

Travelling to many places around Vietnam with his motorbike and camera, Rehahn captures what he feels is right and most accurately depicts the people of this country. It took the photographer a total of seven years of travelling around Vietnam to finally decide to release his first book. ‘It was the hardest decision because I have to pick and choose about 150 out of my 30,000 + photos I have taken so far since I’ve learned about Vietnam,’ said Rehahn. Finding the right printing company and coming up with layout for the book are also some of the tough decisions Rehahn has encountered, as he did

not know how and where to find the best or most suitable publisher.

Yet, with help from the Internet and friends around the world and in Vietnam, Rehahn finally was able to connect with the resources that he needed in order to make his book dreams come true. Fans and clients from Europe, North America, and Asia are all eager to receive a copy of Rehahn’s new book. He has also been interview by both national and international magazines such as Thanh Nien, Tuoi Tre and he has even been featured on National Geographic for his portrait style photography. Those who have travelled or lived in Vietnam are eager to see what the book is about, because it brings something different to viewers. It’s not the beautiful landscapes that everyone usually sees, or the landmarks, and or the war-torn photos. ‘Vietnam: Mosaic of Contrasts’ is purely a portrait of the people of Vietnam.n

Photos: Rehahn Croquevielle

‘Vietnam: Mosaic of Contrasts’ by Rehahn Croquevielle, published in January, 2014 $55 (VND1,155,000), at www.rehahnphotographer.com, Asian Gallery and Bookstore, 13 Nguyen Phuc Chu, Hoi An and all PNC bookstores nationwide. vietnam heritage - april-may 2014

• 21

conservation

The vanishing villas of Dalat I

By NguyeN HaNg TiNH

Dalat

n all of Vietnam, there is no other city that boasts a system of about 2,000 French villas like Dalat. But Dalat has failed not only to effectively exploit this huge asset, but even to preserve it.

Mr Nguyen Xuan Tien, now Chairman of the People’s Committee of Lam Dong Province, said when he was still a Vice Chairman: ‘Every time we pass the Tran Hung Dao Road or come to the Le Lai area, the wretched condition of the villas makes us feel guilty toward the country and the people for not being able to protect and effec-

22 • vietnam heritage - april-may 2014

tively market this asset of immense material and cultural value that belongs to the state. All of us – the administration of the province – are more anxious than ever to save the villas. We think now is not the time for blaming each other for the unfulfilled responsibility, and will do our best to solve the problem, once and for all, and quickly!’

I tried to find an ‘intact’ villa but failed miserably: all are so faded and saggy that I could not imagine the splendour and glamour of their glorious days. In many villas, people use the space to grow pigs and

chickens. Most of the valuable (both culturally and moneywise) French villas of Dalat have become makeshift condos. In the Le Lai area, some villas are shared by the first ‘invaders’ with all sorts of characters, including some prostitutes.

In other places, they sliced up the land to sell to vagabonds who settled in sneakily. It’s told that in the 1990’s, the villas on Le Lai Street were occupied only by a few lock breakers, and the population was less than 10 persons. But now they house over 60 households with a few hundred mouths. Strangely,

conservation

many of these invaders are officially registered as legal occupants of those very villas.

As for those villas that have legally become privately owned, they become monstrous patches of queer colours: blue, red, white and yellow, unmistakable signs of territorial marking. Of course, once people own part of a villa, they would not hesitate to paint it the way they choose, modify it, and perhaps even destroy it to build something new and utterly out of context, without thinking of the historical, cultural and artistic value of the old building.

I went to see the officials of Lam Dong Department of Construction, Housing Trade and Development Company of Lam Dong, the Peo-

ple’s Committee of Dalat City, Dalat Tourist. They all blame the past for the same reason: slack management for too long a time, and now the situation is too far gone to change.

1978 was the first time Lam Dong Province assigned nine villas on Le Lai Street to the Dalat Tourist for tourism development. These villas have been invaded by over 60 households, and none of the villas is intact; cracked walls, leaking and shattered roofs and dilapidation are seen everywhere. The 16 beautiful villas that the province authority assigned to this company in 1991 as capital for the DRI Joint Venture are now in ruins, with back cavities instead of doors and windows. The occupants are now birds, bats, snakes, centipedes, prostitutes and

drug addicts. 28 families have built houses in their territory or occupied the basement and annexes, and opened pass ways between them.

Mr Vo Linh, director of Dalat Tourist, and chair of the board of DRI Joint Venture, explained why these 16 villas are left untouched: ‘Our company has left these villas untouched because of the sudden death of the owner of the partner company, which led to financial difficulties, followed by the financial crisis in the region. There is another reason: although the province assigned these villas to us, but in reality until now we haven’t got the rights on the land. How can we call naked houses without premises villas? How can we do business with that? Who would dare to invest in that? And the reason we don’t have the rights yet is because the authorities were not determined to clear away the 28 households who live in the villas.’

At the same time, Mr Che Anh, director of Housing Trade and Development Company of Lam Dong said, ‘Many foreign customers proposed to rent a whole bunch of some villas, but we have no villa that satisfied the customers’ requirements.’ He added, ‘if only the villas were cleared to be owned by the state in the proper sense, and the infrastructure ready, then the customers would line up without us inviting.’

For a long time, many companies from Ho Chi Minh City also came to wake up Dalat’s villas, but for delicate reasons they all gave up.

Recently, many other companies in Ho Chi Minh City have also shared the opinion that if Lam Dong Province were more open, more brave and more determined in promoting and publicly auctioning for leasing or selling the villas, then only in a short time these architectural masterpieces could be saved.n

Opposite: An abandoned train station in Xuan Tho; Above: An abandoned villa on Nguyen Du; Below: A villa in Trai Ham

Photos: Nguyen Hang Tinh

vietnam heritage - april-may 2014

• 23

religion

‘The enshrined stupa’ TexT and phoTos by nguyen Manh ha

W

orshipped Buddhist stupas (burial mounds) in Vietnam are numerous, but as for stupas that belong to the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition, the only one is in Tay Thien. The thing that distinguishes a Vajrayana stupa from other Buddhist stupas is the enshrining of the stupa.

‘Mahayana Buddhism only bears the tradition of placing votive statues within the stupa. In Vajrayana Buddhism, ensconcing votive objects in the stupa is very important. People never worship empty statues or stupas,’ explained Ven. Thich Thanh Tinh, who resides at Tay Thien Phu Nghi Pagoda. ‘Yểm’ (enshrining apotropaic, votive, or sacred objects) sounds mystical, but actually it is just ‘ensconcing items into the heart of a stupa and sealing it tightly.’ The interesting thing is that not just eminent monks, but anyone can participate in enshrining objects in the stupa.

In early 2012, I joined the enshrining of the stupa in Tay Thien Phu Nghi Pagoda in Tay Thien of Vinh Phuc Province near Hanoi. The stupa had four levels made from concrete and a steel framework. The base of the stupa was round, with an area of about 1,600m2 and partitioned into many compartments. Sacks of cereals filled the compartments towards the east. Kinds of rice, corn, and beans were put into cloth sacks, which were heated in candle wax. Wheat flour, tea, cookies, and 24 • vietnam heritage - april-may 2014

cooking oil were placed individually in tightly sealed plastic jars. There were even jars containing nothing but money. Everything was ready to be enshrined. A wisp of cinnamon and anise propagated down towards the base, and incense permeated profusely.

Master Thanh Tinh elucidated, ‘Grain foods are ensconced in the east so that the Precious Stupa will bring sustenance and warmth to the people. Money is ensconced in the south so that everyone who comes to pray will have adequate money. The west is the realm of Amitabha Buddha, where gold, silver, precious stones, and jewelry are enshrined to pray for an abundance of resources in the country. In the north, work implements like plowshares and hoes are ensconced to develop all trades, weapons are stored away to prevent wars, and pipe tobacco (thuốc lào), cigarettes, and opium are hidden away to end all social evils.’

In particular, every compartment has one to two pale golden urns made of metal, which are the first to be enshrined. In the precious urns are kinds of cereals, the five medicines, and the Five Treasures: coral, agate, mother-of-pearl, gold, and silver, ‘[which] along with the heartfelt prayers of all people are placed inside.

When the precious urns are placed down, it all creates a power that allows the precious urns to fulfill all the prayers of sentient beings,’ the master explained.

The pagoda, along with thousands of pious Buddhists, had to spend over a month preparing everything that was needed to perform the enshrining ceremony.

The Great Precious Stupa (Dai Bao Thap) of Tay Thien, at that time (early 2012), was no different from a construction site. All the work was done by hand, including tasks that could have been done entirely by machine such as pulverizing clay. Therefore, a number of Buddhists brought with them hammers from home with them, and they didn’t neglect to bring face masks.

The clay powder was mixed with kinds of medicines, finely ground by the venerable monks. Then it was kneaded with water taken from the sacred lands of India, Bhutan, and Nepal, mixed with the tranquil waters drawn from the stream junction atop Tay Thien peak, and poured into molds to form miniature stupas called ‘tsa-tsa’ so as to be placed inside the Great Precious Stupa. From the center of the bottom of the tsatsa, people bore a hole in order to stick a sutra inside.

religion

There were approximately 20,000 tsa-tsa. On each tsatsa, 108 tiny stupa impressions stood out in relief.

Master Thanh Tinh said, ‘The tsa-tsa are enshrined so that a person who performs the ritual of the Great Precious Stupa will incur the merits of worshipping millions of stupas.’

Anyone can participate in all of the activities, except for the enshrining of the sutra scrolls, for which you must adhere to a prolonged vegetarian fast. Long strips of paper on which sutras are printed (in San-

skrit) are coated with a thick golden perfume and dried. Then they are tightly rolled, lacquered in vermillion, and put in a plastic jar to be enshrined at the top of the stupa. The top of the stupa will be enshrined with a Buddha statue from the time when Sakyamuni Buddha was still present in the world. This rare and precious Buddha statue was offered by the Ven. Dharma Lineage Patriarch Gyang Drukpa (an Indian).

The venerable himself came all the way onsite to carry out the crucial initial stages back when the place lll

Opposite: Placing sutra scroll containers in the Great Precious Stupa (Dai Bao Thap) in Tay Thien. Clockwise from top: Moving tsa-tsa to be placed in the stupa; A dragon dance in celebration of the stupa project; Inside the stupa

vietnam heritage - april-may 2014

• 25

religion

Top: Plastic jars containing sutra scrolls Left and right: Pouding earth to make tsa-tsa housing the Great Precious Stupa was still a vacant plot of land.

The second level of the Great Precious Stupa will house a crystalline Tree of Life. On it is ensconced over 100 Buddha statues (each one being about 50cm high).

The level close to the worshipped earth will have statues that are two meters tall. Around the Great Precious Stupa, rows of bronze cylinders that enshrine sutras within them are installed. Everyone will simultaneously circumambulate, chant incantations, and spin the cylinders, immediately stirring ever so many incanta-

lll

26 • vietnam heritage - april-may 2014

tions along. ‘When they are thus spun, they produce waves of energy that pervade expansively and continuously, bringing peaceful well-being and good fortune,’ described Master Thanh Tinh.

In distinction from most stupas in countries that follow the Vajrayana Buddhist tradition and are esoteric and hermetic, the Tay Thien Great Precious Stupa shall leave open the greater portion of the space inside.

[Pious Buddhists frequently haunt a stupa, circumambulating clockwise in order to express their devout veneration.]n

people

From peasant poet to ma

O

n a gentle, sunny afternoon, at the headInrasara followed his father to raise buffalos from one quarters of the Tay Ninh Province Literavillage to the next. He played football, participated in ture and Arts Society, a crowd of the cockfighting, fought with young children in the villages, province’s familiar belletrists were assemand rode a bicycle all over Cham villages selling ice bled. Everyone was confabulating as they waited the cream. He grew up to be a grape grower and veterinarlifting of the curtain on the Tang Poetry stage when ian. He transported and traded goods from afar, opened suddenly, an odd figure appeared. He had a medium a grocery store, and did embroidery business. However, build and bore a bulging brocade bag on his shoulders.

I wanted to identify the Inrasara from the point he The crown of his balding head displayed a broad forestarted on his journey to become the poet and scholar head, creating a powerful impression with his long, that would become renowned in the future. loose hair that fell behind his head to By the third grade, Inrasara already just cover the length of his neck. His knew how to cull folk songs from the image called to mind images of the Whenever the old village women argued, book Literary Writing Practice in order Inrasara would run over, not to intercede, but scholars and erudites whom I often to assemble verses with rhyme and rather to hear ‘the resonance of words.’ From saw in books and periodicals. commit them to memory. Then, when the mouths of the old women, folk ditties, sayI knew of Inrasara through his fifth grade teacher showed him how to ings, and proverbs flowed. works along with the awards he won write six - eight verse, poetry, words, in country and abroad, but this was and meaning merged inseparably with One folk saying — one line of a folk ditty, the first time I met him in person. He his destiny. In secondary school, he Half a children’s song — a page from an old had come without invitation, causing lived in a school dormitory in the small poem, quite a stir. town of Phan Rang ten kilometres I sought and culled, Inrasara always engenders surprise away from his village. On weekends, Like a child looking to gather little pebbles, for everyone with such unpredictabilrather than return home, Inrasara (The pebbles upon which adults idly ity. The writer Nguyen Vinh Nguyen wandered through Cham villages in trample) relates, ‘Inrasara emerged on the litersearch of Cham elders and enjoyed To build a castle just for me to abide, ary scene in Vietnam like a legend.’ their intellectual discourse and borThe castle where someday they’ll stop by to Some people call him a multifaceted rowed ancient Cham manuscripts to take shelter from the rain — I’m sure! cultural phenomenon, an uncanny copy. He even copied all of Aymonier’s (Sunny Tower, 1996) character, or a top-notch poet. As for voluminous Cham-French Dictionary. me, when I comprehend him, I think Infatuated with books, after finishof his arrival in the mundane world ing his freshman year at the Ho Chi and the world of letters as a benedicMinh City Pedagogy University, Intion. rasara quit, returned to his home village, and became a In 1957, during a great drought in Ninh Thuan, hired field hand in order to earn money to buy books.

South Central Province, trees withered and livestock After a year in this way, he ultimately amassed a bookdied from thirst. It was precisely in that year that Incase of five thousand books of all sorts. His hunger for rasara greeted the world beneath the thatched roof of learning was extraordinary. During the most impovera poor Cham peasant family in the traditional embroiished period in his family life (when he had three sons), dery village of Chakleng. Chakleng is the only village to he still invited intellectuals and village elders along with have had its name inscribed on ancient steles and is the Cham dignitaries to come to Chakleng once every quarbirthplace of the greatest king in Champa history, Po ter to talk. Inrasara merely evoked ideas, while it was Klaung Girai. Perhaps that is the destiny that propelled the elders who did the speaking. In the afternoon, he Inrasara’s life to be associated with the best. treated them to a coarse meal and, in the moonlight of Despite being poor peasants, Inrasara’s parents still evening, he spread out sedge mats on the courtyard managed for he and his four siblings to get an educaand, with a few teapots and several bunches of bananas, tion. Inrasara was always at the top of the class throughthe ‘conference’ would come to an end. out his years. He was impertinent and audacious.

Regardless, so much of the knowledge he gleaned 28 • vietnam heritage - april-may 2014

n of letters

By Kieu Maily

from these ‘conferences’ assisted Inrasara in completing Cham Literature: A General Outline and Anthology in three hefty volumes and a thousand pages, over a period of fifteen years.

Having borrowed the words and wisdom of the elders, Inrasara returned these words and wisdom to the people of his generation and those to follow. In the summer of 1975, in his village, Inrasara inaugurated a Cham language class for seventy brothers and sisters of all ages. Mr Quang Dai Thinh, the principle of Phuoc Hai Elementary School, said that it was the first Cham language course since the Vietnam War ended in April that year. Inrasara was only eighteen years old at the time.

For a long time, Cham literature had only been known through the tens of collected legends and some epics that were translated into Vietnamese and printed here and there. ‘Cham Literature: A General Outline and Anthology was an unprecedented, thorough and systematic project on the literary heritage of this ethnicity,’ assessed professor and Cham scholar Bui Khanh The, PhD. Precisely because it recognized the significance of this endeavour, The Centre for Indochinese History and Civilization under Sorbonne University (France), presented Inrasara with an award in 1995.

As a peasant farmer, the province invited him to do language research at the Committee for Compiling Cham Language Books in Ninh Thuan. Four years later, he resigned and returned to being an agrarian peasant.

As he opened a grocery store in his village, the General University invited him to compile the Cham-Vietnamese Dictionary and lecture on Cham culture. After six years, he retired. During his time ‘bound’ to the lectern, he brought into the world the Cham-Vietnamese, Vietnamese-Cham Dictionary and the valuable book Teaching Oneself the Cham Language.

Then Inrasara renounced everything in order to become a freelance writer. His work reaped honours on top of honours. From the moment that he emerged in the capacity of a poet (although he had written poems since he was 13-14 years old, Inrasara never sent any of his poems to be published), his seminal poetry collection Sunny Tower (1996) won the Vietnamese Literature Society Award. Six years later, with his poetry collection The April Purification Ceremony (2002), he won this honour for the second time, and then this col-

Inrasara: Photo: Nguyen A lection led him to win the Southeast Asian Literature Award. Finally and most recently, he won the Phan Chau Trinh Culture Award in 2009 (in the field of scholarly research), which brought him into standing with the ranks of the top scholars in the country.

‘A poet in a line of verse, a scholar in a poem, a philosopher in an anthology of poems,’ the paper Hanoians (Nguoi Ha Noi) thus epitomized the portrait of Inrasara the poet. Then Inrasara continued to astound readers with a new surprise: since 2005, he emerged as a critic in a series of keen, erudite essays with his unique, captivating style of criticism.

He didn’t stop there; he couldn’t. When speaking of Cham literature, would people forever recall only the name Inrasara? He wished otherwise! Thus, Inrasara along with several friends gave birth to Tagalau, An Anthology of Poetry: Creations, Collections, and Research on Cham Culture. That these ten editions of Tagalau came to pass over nine years is a marvellous feat. Tagalau was the only ethnic minority periodical in Vietnam.

Ever novel and always unpredictable, from life to art, from research to writing poems and prose, from creativity to criticism, Inrasara yet remains, like the Cham towers that continue to survive through the travails of time, and the vagaries of the human heart. He may be old, yet remains anew.n

vietnam heritage - april-may 2014

• 29

Nature forte at Mom Da Chim Lazi Beach Resort

By Nathalie SokolovSkaya

I

Lagi

settled in with a prime view of the ultramarine sea 20 metres behind a thin veil of slim-bodied casuarinaceae trees growing right from blinding white sands on Mom Da Chim – Lazibeach Resort premises, still remembering my ride on a local bus through the wilder spaces of Southwestern Phan Thiet. The long but entertaining trip reminded me more of a journey on a creaky long boat with salty, thick wind from the high sea on the port side and hot and dry khamsin from sand dunes on the starboard.

The peaceful scenes of coastal village life - the groups of locals taking a bite under the cool shadows of

30 • vietnam heritage - april-may 2014

trees, rural houses lamed in white with their inhabitants taking siesta in their hammocks or watching the highway with occasional buses and trucks, hotels and resorts sparsely scattered here and there along the sandy shoreline with spaces of blue ocean in the background - were akin to fragments of some old documentary on how Phan Thiet used to be when it was untouched by the tourism industry.

I hopped off the bus and raced across the sizzling hot road into the saving shade of the Mom Da Chim – Lazibeach Resort premises. The spacious two-level lobby of the main building with modern archi-

tecture, so surprising to find within rustic naturescapes, is a gateway to an impressive property with tropical garden at full bloom stretching out to the sandy beach and serving as green dome for lines of white bungalows, all built in the inspiring shape of birds with their wings spread wide and overlooking the sea.

As the porter guided me through the verdant spaces with two swimming pools to the sea view bungalow, I caught sight of brightly coloured colibri sailing in the air, birds’ nests on exotic trees’ trunks swinging in the sea-breeze and a crane strolling on the green-grass

Photo: Mom Da Chim – Lazibeach Resort

resort advertorial

advertorial resort carpet of the garden.

The ocean front bungalow suite I finally installed myself in impressed one with an open-air veranda spacious enough to contain a coffee table with cozy beach beds and boasted a cozy separate sitting area, high ceilings beautifully framed with jesting beams and hazelnut-coloured furniture. The prime vista of peaceful surroundings and the immense body of the sea rolling and toying a few steps away seduced one to give oneself immediately to all kinds of meditation-spiritual and otherwise.

The resort’s Ocean Terrace Restaurant, covered in the shade of beach pines with indoor and open-air sitting areas, also featured an inspiring design of several dining decks, with an expansive menu embracing the culinary expanses of Asia and Europe, starting from local must-try specialties like ‘lau tha hot pot’, Phan Thiet raw fish salad and all the seafood galore one can expect from a seaside region.

Step out of the resort garden made on the

sandy beach and the uninterrupted spaces of the ocean and the shoreline running both sides till the very horizon are at one’s full sight.

On both sides, as far as the eye can reach, not a single human silhouette can be seen; only the small fishing fleet of round basket boats parked on the sand and the rocks standing out of water and growing from the sand spectacularly at a distance.

Next morning, I headed to the Ke Ga Lighthouse, first of its kind in the country, built in 1899 by the French. It’s perched on a small island with the stunning sandy headland on its back. The islet with lighthouse just asks to be painted and to be reached immediately by swimming or by whisking to in the basket boats parked in plenty on the shore. It is divided from the mainland with a picturesque bay animated by small sea vessels of all kinds. Here, the peaceful images of coastal life can be observed at their full beauty; sun-andsea-breeze- beaten sailors dragging their cockleshells with a good take of squid out on the shore. Once on the shore, the catch is

Hotline: 0917288211 (Mr. Quang)

sorted out and bought up in minutes by the owners of small eateries scattered along the seashore. By travelling further south along the highway, one can enjoy the spectacular coastal sights full of rustic charm, mixed with colourful dragon fruit plantations, juicy green rice fields and ‘snowdrifts’ of salt-licks stretching till the Ta Ku mountain with a splendid Buddha concrete statue on its top.

Located amidst truly spectacular nature surroundings away (but within reach, if needed) from a broad path well-trodden by tourists, Mom Da Chim – Lazibeach Resort features four-star resort accommodations, from casually elegant standard rooms with balconies to bungalows and suites, allowing enjoyment of alluring beauty and sweet solitude of the yet wilder coastal area in complete comfort.n Mom Da Chim - Lazibeach Resort Ly Thai To St, Tan Tien, Lagi, Binh Thuan Province. Tel: (062) 3874-458 www.lazibeachresort.com

Surf and turf and a lot more besides

By PiP de RouvRay

T

he ‘Duxton’ is not to be missed. It is the beigeand-white hotel toward the harbour end of Saigon’s chic and famous Nguyen Hue boulevard. Behind the huge black screen with Chinese characters at the end of the bright and airy lobby, there lies quite a culinary experience. If you hanker for a banquet that features luxury food from both land and ocean 32 • vietnam heritage - april-may 2014

and at an affordable price, then here is where you will find it. The stars of this dinner banquet are undoubtedly the succulent beef raised on the prairies of the United States and the lobster sourced mainly from Maine. The restaurant which also offers an ‘a la carte’ menu is simply called ‘The Grill’.

For the diner, the buffet is not as easy as it looks. All the deci-

sions are yours. In the past, I have always followed the golden rule taken from the rubric of examinations-‘Attempt all’. This is particularly appropriate in Vietnam, where in Vietnamese, the word ‘mon’ but with slightly different diacriticals, means both dish and school subject. But now, in middle age, the questions of what combines with what and what is best for the health becomes more diffi-

Photos: Duxton Hotel Saigon

eating out advertorial

advertorial eating out cult. I started with a traditional bread roll and butter, together with Japanese sushi and sashimi. I chose morsels of herring, salmon

on how tasty they were had me add some chips to all this. On to the salad section I chose the baby octopus salad. In an area of its own, I took some melt-inthe-mouth slices of roast beef and served myself from a whole steamed fish.

The grill station is in a separate but close-tohand area. There are pork cuts, chicken breasts and sausages pork cuts. You can have your lobster cooked in a number of ways: baked with garlic butter, in Singapore chilli and egg sauce, stir- fried with tamarind sauce or cooked in Cajun spices.

We had it in the first- mentioned manner. Oh what fun we had cracking open the legs with the nutcrackers provided! After the finger dips had arrived, I asked my daughter what she thought of lobster, as this was her first time to enjoy it. ‘Quite nice, but I prefer crab’, came the answer. I did not get to taste such things until well into adulthood. The nearest I got was prawn cocktail.

There were plenty of cakes, pastries, and fresh fruits to choose from for dessert. I personally went for soft creamy French cheese with crackers, but I got vicarious pleasure from watching my teenager stuff herself with mint and chocolate ice cream encrusted with peanuts.

Here a confession. My daughter could not find room for the apple pie she had picked put so I polished it off for her. I still have the taste of cloves and cinnamon on my lips.

I know there are many great places in Saigon to enjoy a family or business meal for much less

If you hanker for a banquet that features luxury food from both land and ocean and at an affordable price, then here is where you will find it and egg, which was not a bad kick off. It was not only tasty, but it sparked off the taste buds.

Ours was a party of four. Sales and Marketing Manager Mr Dang Di Hieu was at the table with his assistant Miss Bach Hoa Tranh. I had brought along my teenage daughter. Mr Hieu explained a little bit about the hotel, which is part of a Singaporean chain. He told us the buffet was available throughout the day, so it is suitable for late breakfasters. Also, with a hundred and twenty dining places, it can accommodate large groups.

One interesting fact we learned is that the hotel featured in the American Viet Kieu film ‘Cyclo’.

The dining hall is large, but the buffet is arranged centrally, so we had to make only short trips to refill our plates. There is an attractive display of sea food on a bed of ice at the entrance, from which I took a pair of raw oysters; you can also have this delicacy baked in cheese. A line of chafing dishes contain chicken, pork, fried rice, and vegetable dishes. I stocked up on broccoli, cauliflower and my favourite veggie, courgettes (zucchinis). My daughter remarking

money, but if you are the mood for a splurge and want to eat food that you do not normally indulge in, the Duxton Hotel Saigon buffet is a great choice. I hope this has whetted your appetite and perhaps you too will be able to enjoy wondrous fruit of the ocean and the finest meat from the grassland cooked and presented with care and style.n

Duxton Hotel Saigon 63 Nguyen Hue Boulevard, District One, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3822-2999 www.duxtonhotels.com

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what the papers say

Russia to help with new reactor www.thanhniennews.com, 31 March Deputy Prime Minister Vu Van Ninh has asked central authorities to consider Lam Dong Province’s proposal to relocate the site of a future nuclear reactor outside the resort town of Dalat, following years of protest by local agencies.

The National Atomic Energy Institute currently plans to build the new reactor – 30 times larger than Dalat’s current reactor – and a new ‘nuclear centre’ near the Dalat Nuclear Research Centre, which is home to the old reactor inside the city limits of Dalat.

Since the central government announced the plan in 2012, the province has repeatedly asked that the location of the newer, larger reactor be moved to a different location 27 kilometers from Dalat.

Russia will provide $500 million in aid to build the new centre in Dalat and a theory research establishment in Hanoi. The new centre in Dalat is scheduled to break ground in 2015 and complete in 2020.

Corruption in railway project vietnamnews.vn, 27 March The Ministry of Transport has decided to launch inspections into railway projects contracted to Japan 34 • vietnam heritage - april-may 2014

Transportation Consultants, Inc (JTC) following alleged misuse of Japanese government aid.

Bidding for the projects was organised by the Vietnam Railway Corporation and the Vietnam Railway Authority.

The move follows a report in Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun , which said that JTC had admitted to paying about $780,000 to win a $41 million railway project in Vietnam funded by Japanese official development assistance (ODA).

The accused firm was involved in the ongoing Hanoi City Urban Railway Construction Project (Line 1).

Stricter controls on media www.thanhniennews.com, 11 March The government has ordered the Ministry of Information and Communications to stop issuing new media licenses and revoke the licenses of those found flouting media regulations.

Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Bac Son said that his ministry is working on a media master plan for the period until 2020, which would be submitted to the Politburo for approval next month.

There are 838 media agencies, including 199 printed newspapers and 67 TV and radio agencies in the country.

Do no harm vietnamnews.vn, 15 March A project approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung will see upgrades to more than 70 traditional medicine hospitals across the country, from now until 2020.

The project aims to deliver a nationwide upgrade in hospital infrastructure and ensure the use of modern medical equipment. The project would also see oriental and western methodologies combined to enhance treatments and reduce overcrowding.

A child’s garden of English vietnamnews.vn, 20 March The Ministry of Education and Training has allowed standard kindergartens to teach foreign languages, based on demands from parents.

The move was made following public concern with the ministry's decision last month to ban nursery schools nationwide from teaching foreign languages.

Small workers vietnamnews.vn, 15 March Vietnam had 1.75 million child labourers aged between five and 17, equal to 9.6 per cent of that age group in the country, according to the first National Child Labour Survey.

The survey said that two out of every five of them were under 15 and worked in bars, construction sites, workshops and quarries.

Findings from the survey showed that about one-third of child labourers had to work an average of more than 42 hours per week.

This meant most of them did not attend school.

US-VN casino project www.thanhniennews.com, 19 March Vietnam’s leading asset management group, VinaCapital, said it has made the Iowa-based Pacific Peninsula Group its new partner for a $4billion casino project near the historic town of Hoi An. Work at the South Hoi An casino had been delayed after Malaysia’s hospitality investor Genting backed out in September 2012.

Bad news for business www.thanhniennews.com, 31 March As many as 16,745 businesses have closed down or suspended operations in the first quarter of this year, a 9.6 percent increase over lasr year, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

asides

Saigon in 1935. A photo from the postcard collection of Mr Philippe Chaplain

The weight Each Vietnamese is carrying a public debt of $887, according to The Economist. The total public debt is $80 billion or 48 per cent of the GDP.

Island getaway easier Foreign tourists flying to Phu Quoc for stays of 30 days or less are now exempt from needing visas to do so.

Information superhighway stats vietnamnews.vn, 29 March Only 20 per cent of 500,000 companies in Vietnam have their own website with registered domain names.

Vietnam's internet penetration is at 35.6 per cent, and 40 per cent of the country's online population is between 15 and 24.

The number of internet users is expected to reach 60 million by 2018, and total revenue from internet services and content is expected to climb to $4.7 billion.

Art book published vietnamnews.vn, 31 March A book featuring the entire collection of painter Nguyen Cao Thuong has hit bookshelves in an effort by a Thai collector, Tira Vanichtheeranon, to showcase important works by well-known Vietnamese artists.

The book, presenting 270 sketches and paintings, was printed by Vietnam News Agency's Publishing House.

In 2012, Vanichtheeranont displayed rare works by Thuong, who had been granted a State Award on Literature and Art, and other veteran Vietnamese artists in an exhibition at

the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum in Hanoi.

Born in 1918 in the Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu, Thuong was one of the students in the first course of the Fine Arts College Indochina in Hanoi and later, he studied at the Suricov Art University, Moscow, Soviet Union.

His art works, mostly oil, had not been widely known apart from those preserved at the HCM City's Fine Arts Museum and the Southern Women's Museum. Before he died at the age of 83, he had won many awards and prizes.

All the lovely bones vietnamnews.vn, 25 March Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Ha Cong Tuan said that his ministry was considering the destruction of Vietnam's stockpiles of rhino horn, ivory and tiger bone.

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events HANOI TRADITIONAL PERFORMANCES Cheo singing performances Cheo, a kind of popular opera / traditional music, is shown at 8 p.m. every Friday at the Kim Ma Theater, 71 Kim Ma St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi. English interpretation offered.

Price: VND150,000 per person. Tel: (04) 3764-8079/ 0904549-579 (Ms Ngoan)

Hát xẩm is a Vietnamese blues from the 13th century. It is making a comeback, after several decades.

Artists at the Centre for Research on and Development of Vietnamese Music now perform xẩm at Dong Xuan Market, in the Old Quarter of Hanoi, every Saturday night. Free.

Ca truø

Ancient folk form

Water puppets Every Saturday and Sunday Water puppet performances take place at 10 a.m., 11.30 a.m., 2.30 p.m. and 4 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday at the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology, Nguyen Van Huyen Road, Cau Giay Dist., Hanoi, tel: (04) 3756-2193. Email: vme18@hn.vnn.vn, www.vme.org.vn/index.asp.

Tickets: VND40,000 ($1.90) for adults, VND10,000 to VND15,000 ($0.48 to $0.71) for children.

EXHIBITIONS Mirror to society?

18 to 23 April

Quan họ is a folk song form that originated in the northern province of Bac Ninh in the 13th century. The form took on elements of other genres as it spread throughout the country, incorporating a dialogue style of singing in the 18th century, the period when Vietnamese literature blossomed. As a folk art with a highly collective nature, Quan họ songs alternate from group to group with singers keeping up the conversation by exchanging songs.

There is no accompanying instrumental music. Bac Ninh Quan Ho folk music company offers Quan họ performances on request; an hour costs around VND30 million. Performance venues can also be requested.

Contact Mr Quy Trang, head of Bac Ninh Quan Ho folk music company, at mobile 0913-073-326.

Street songs of the poor and blind Every Saturday night Hát xẩm is a minimalist style of Vietnamese singing, traditionally performed by the poor and the blind and especially wanderers, usually accompanied with a simple đàn nhị (two-string violin) or đàn bầu (single-string zither).

Ca trù, an ancient Vietnamese musical form with a singer accompanied by threestring đàn đáy and other instruments, is performed at 87 Ma May Street, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi, at 8 p.m. every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, by artists from Ca Tru Thang Long Club, www.catruvietnam.net. Price: $10 (VND210,000).

Reservation is necessary.

Tel: 01 223 266 897 Ancient Vietnamese songs

‘Thing Asian Press’ most recent book of photography ‘Lost & Found Hanoi’ captures the ‘joy and the sadness at the end of the alley in the heart of Hanoi’. To celebrate the book launch, the Goethe-Institut and the photo artists will exhibit a selection of the pictures from 15 to 30 April, at Goethe Institut Hanoi, 56-58 Nguyen Thai Hoc St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi. Free admission.

Visitors will enter living spaces tucked away in alleys; enjoy art installations that expose Hanoi’s natural world; study the architecture that has developed over the centuries, and the graphic design that has become an integral part of the urban landscape; watch people who are savouring a sidewalk meal, rushing off to work in a wild river of traffic, working at jobs that have existed forever and at new occupations that will change the city.

MUSIC Jazz concert 8p.m.,19 April

A painting exhibition of artist Nguyen Trong Minh will be held at Vietnam Fine Arts Museum from 8.30 a.m. to5 p.m. from 18 to 23 April. His paintings are a mix of reality and pop art that criticize society.

Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, 66 Nguyen Thai Hoc St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi. Tel: (04) 37332131.

‘Lost &Found Hanoi’ 15 to 30 April Through five different viewpoints and five different cameras,

Gasandji will perform modern jazzy melodies inspired by traditional African music at 8p.m. on 19 April. Gasandji has appeared as a guest star for artists

QUANG BINH A Ca Trù, an ancient Vietnamese song form, is performed

by Hanoi Ca Tru Club at Kim Ngan Temple, 42-44 Hang Bac St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi, at 8 p.m. every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Tickets $10 (VND210,000).

Contact: Ms Le Bach Van at 0913544876, Email: bachvancatru.vn@gmail.com

36 • vietnam heritage - april-may 2014

Important milestone 27 April There will be many activities to celebrate the 410th anniversary of the founding of Quang Binh Province on 27 April. The programmes start at 7.45 p.m. in Dong Hoi City: lanterns will be floated down the Nhat Le River, a grand meeting, parade and lion dance will be held at Dong Hoi Museum, Hung Vuong St. Music performances will be given at the cultural centre of Dong Hoi City, Hung Vuong St. Also, there will be a fireworks show at 9.25 p.m. on Nhat Le Bridge.

events such as Lokua, Keziah Jones and Imany. She released her self-titled album in 2013, which was awarded ‘Coup de Coeur Francophone 2013’ by the Charles Cros Academy. Tickets are VND120,000, L’Espace members and students: VND60,000, available at L’Espace, 24 Trang Tien St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi.

Classical gas 17 and 18 April A two-night concert, with conductor Dorian Wilson, piano soloist Henry Sigfridsson and artists of Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra, will be held at 8 p.m. on 17 and 18 April at Hanoi Opera House. The program includes symphony No.5 by Franz Schubert, piano concerto No.3 and the Vietnam premiere of Bartok Bela and Totentanz and the Vietnam premiere of Franz Liszt.

Ticket: VND200 000 to VND500,000. All Tickets available at Hanoi Opera House, 1 Trang Tien St, Hanoi or can book over ticketvn@gmail.com. For free delivery call: 0913489858, 0983067996.

Thus do they all 25 April Artists of the Vietnam National Opera and Ballet will perform the opera ‘Cosi fan Tutte’ (‘Thus do they all’), by W. Mozart with conductor Thanh Duong and the classical ballet ‘Graduation Ball’ with choreographer Colin Peasley at 8 p.m., 25 April at Hanoi Opera House, 1 Trang Tien St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi.

Ticket: VND 200,000, VND350,000, VND500,000. All tickets are available at Hanoi Opera House or book at www.ticketvn.com for free delivery.

days of running. For full details, visit www.vietnammountainmarathon.com

NHA TRANG

Dien Bien Phu 7 and 8 May A two-night concert, ‘Dien Bien Phu’ will be shown at 8 p.m. on 7 and 8 May at Hanoi Opera House, with conductor Honna Tetsuji, violin soloist Bui Cong Duy and artists of the Vietnam National Symphony Orchestra.

Programs include Op.25 by Ernest Chausson, the world premiere music of Nguyen Thien Dao and Symphony no.3 in Eb major ‘Eroica’ by Beethoven. Tickets: VND 200,000, VND350,000, VND500,000. Tickets are available at Hanoi Opera House, 1 Trang Tien St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi or book over www.ticketvn.com for free delivery.

OTHER Run for the hills 15-18 May & 20 September Vietnam Mountain Marathon will take place on 20 September.

The organising team have put together a running camp to help get participants in shape for the hills.

From 15 to 18 May, runners will hit new trails around Sapa with an option to conquer Vietnam’s highest peak, Mount Fansipan, in just one day. The full package is $400 (VND8,400,000) and includes return train to Sapa, bungalow accommodations at Topas Ecolodge, all meals, and three

He got the beat 7 p.m., Wednesday through Saturaday Every Wednesday through Saturday night from 7 p.m., American DJ Justin Murta will perform at Altitude Bar, at the Sheraton Nha Trang Hotel & Spa. Creating his unique grooves from several styles, including Old Skool, Hip/Hop, R&B, House, Electro and Eclectic, Justin has performed in 34 countries for over eight years.

Sheraton Nha Trang Hotel & Spa 26- 28 Tran Phu St, Nha Trang. Tel: (058) 3880-000

HO CHI MINH CITY TRADITIONAL PERFORMANCES Water puppets

Dragon Water Puppet Theatre, 55B Nguyen Thi Minh Khai St, D.1, Ho Chi Minh City.

Tickets: VND160,000 ($7.62).

Call (08) 3930-2196, 0989370873 to buy tickets, as seating is limited.

Water puppets Everyday Water puppet shows are on every day from 5 p.m. to 5.45 p.m. and 6.15 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Lang Viet Restaurant, 36 Pham Ngoc Thach St, Ward.6, Dist.3, Ho Chi Minh City. Tel: 0903 955 634 (Mr Khang). Ticket: VND150,000 Morning Music Every Saturday There is a music performance at 8 a.m. every Saturday at the facade of the Opera House, 7 Cong Truong Lam Son, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City, by artists from the Ho Chi Minh City Conservatory of Music.

EXHIBITIONS Everything under the sun Until 26 April

The Youth Theatre Company presents a 45-minute-water puppet show at 5 p.m., 6.30 p.m. and 7.45 p.m. every day at the Golden

HUE Hue Festival 12 to 20 April Hue Festival 2014 will take place from 12 to 20 April in Hue, with the following programmes: lGrand Opening Ceremony, at 20 p.m. 12 April at Ngo Mon Square l‘Imperial Night’, 7 p.m. 15 and 19 April at Hue Citadel l‘Ao dai Shows’, 8 p.m. 14 and 17 April at Ngo Mon Square lHue folk music, 8 p.m. 16 April at Nghinh Luong Pavilion l‘Oriental Night’ costume shows, 9 p.m. 13, 15, 16 and 18 April at Thai Hoa Palace, Hue Citadel l‘Fire installation’ by Carabosse Company from France in the

evenings of 18 and 20 April at Truong Tien Bridge lCarnivals themed ‘Heritage and Cultural Colours’ by art troupes from East Asia and Latin America every afternoon on 13 to 19 April in the main streets of Hue. Closing Ceremony at 8 p.m. 20 April at Gia Hoi Park Also, from 13 to 16 April, a rural market festival will be held at Thanh Toan Bridge, Huong Thuy Commnue, Thua Thien Hue Province, with many agricultural products from all over the country.

Visitors have an opportunity to play folk games and join the activities in the countryside, including rice grinding, rice pounding, fish-trapping and knitting.

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events Galerie Quynh is displaying artworks of 17 artists at its De Tham and Dong Khoi galleries until 26 April. The exhibition, titled ‘Onward and Upward’, defines and shapes the contemporary art landscape in Vietnam through abstraction, whimsical drawings, trompe l’oeil sculpture, digitally woven photography and kitsch motorbike decal collage. Historical memory and loss, cultural difference, urban space, nature and humanity, identity, power and rebellion are among the varied themes in the show.

Galerie Quynh: Level 2, 151/3 Dong Khoi St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City, 10 a.m.

– 7 p.m., Tuesday to Saturday, tel: (08) 3824-8284.

65 De Tham St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., Tuesday to Saturday, tel: (08) 38368019 Unconditional belief Until 2 May

Renaissance couple Until 28 April ‘Companion-Chairs and Wind’ is the title of the painting exhibition by Swiss artists Jean Luc Mello and Siu Pham. Jean Luc Mello is an actor, director and writer who has lectured at Ecal Fine Arts University in Lausanne.

He has painted since he was 18 and his paintings exhibited in Paris, Geneva, Lausanne and Neuchatel (Switzerland). In 2009, he and Siu Pham returned to Vietnam to live in Hoi An. Siu Pham is a painter, writer and film director. Her paintings exhibited in Genève, Paris, Washington DC, Saint-Julien (France). Luc and Siu Pham also co-operated to make two films in Switzerland and Vietnam. This exhibition displays 31 paintings, including 18 ink on paper paintings by Jean Luc Mello & 13 acrylic on canvas

by Siu Pham, until 28 April at Tu Do Gallery, 53 Ho Tung Mau St, D.1, Ho Chi Minh City. Tel: (08) 3821-0966. Open: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Net Xua Until further notice

Chung and Nguyen Sang. The paintings include water-colour on paper, water-colour on paper sticker, gouache on paper, silk painting, pencil drawing on paper and lacquer. Every five or six months, the City Star Cellar will change the subject of exhibition.

City Star Cellar, 13 Bui Thi Xuan St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City.

Open: 9 a.m. to midnight.

MUSIC Don’t let this singer ‘Pass You By’ Every Tuesdays through Sundays until 4 May Mary Ancheta, a Canadian singer, composer, vocalist and pianist will perform at Boudoir Lounge every Tuesday to Sunday until 4 May. Mary has inspired people by her unique melodies, intuitively mixing and matching musical components. She has entertained audiences in Asia, the Middle East, across North America, and Europe.

Boudoir Lounge, Sofitel Saigon Hotel, 17 Le Duan St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City. Tel: (08) 3824-1555 THEATRE From the creators of A O 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28 April

music. The show was created in 2005, in Hanoi, by the same creators of A O Show. My Village toured around the world from 2009 to 2012, with over 300 shows in France, Holland, Spain, Belgium, Greece, Switzerland, Germany, Hong Kong. The show is on 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28 April. Performances from Monday to Friday at 6 p.m. and Saturday to Sunday at 8 p.m.

Tickets are from VND599,000 VND1,399,000 at the Opera House, 7 Lam Son Square, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City. Tel: (08) 3829-9976 Cham show 7 p.m. every Wednesday The Champa Journey Show is performed at 7 p.m. every Wednesday at the Theatre of Youth World, 1st Floor, 125 Cong Quynh St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City. The show features Cham dances accompanied with the sound of Cham musical instruments. The show aims to introduce highlights of festivals and culture of the Cham people.

Currently, the show is performing dances in the Rija Nưgar Festival, which is held to celebrate Cham New Year (late March to early April).

Ticket: VND700,000 including a snack at 6 p.m. Contact 0903 348 718 to buy ticket.

MEKONG DELTA ‘Unconditional Belief’ is an exhibition by the collective ‘Art Labour’, including three artists Truong Cong Tung, Phan Thao Nguyen and Arlette Quynh Anh Tran - who imaginatively explore the concept of ‘belief’ in Vietnam by examining particular sites and historical account. The exhibition surveys different layers of belief from human dependence on spiritual power or sacred objects in healing sickness, to the usage of education to disseminate religious ideas. The exhibition is on till 2 May at Sàn Art, 3 Me Linh St, Binh Thanh Dist., Ho Chi Minh City. Tel: (08) 3840-0183.

Open: Tuesday to Saturday, 10.30 a.m.to 6.30 p.m.

City Star Cellar is displaying over 200 antique objects and over 30 paintings in an exhibition called ‘Net Xua’. The objects are from many civilizations such as Dong Son, Champa and Dong Nai, and ceramic objects are from the period of Ly, Tran, Le, Nguyen and Mac Dynasties. The paintings are by Nguyen Phan Chanh, Nguyen Tu Nghiem, Luu Cong Nhan, Ta Ty, Trinh Huu Ngoc, Nguyen Gia Tri, Nguyen Tien Chinh, Bui Xuan Phai, Tran Trung Tin, Luu Van Sin, Nguyen Duc Nung, Hoang Anh, Nguyen Viet, Thai Van Ngon, Truong Van Y, Nguyen Van Anh, Nguyen Tien

38 • vietnam heritage - april-may 2014

A O show will present ‘My Village’ or ‘Làng Tôi’, a delicate merger of tradition and innovation, where the poetic beauty of Northern Vietnam’s village life is presented with a new cirque approach. Farming, building activities, traditional games, and the lifestyle of Northern villagers are recreated by bamboo props, breath-taking cirque and rhythmic dance, juggling and acrobatic movements to distinct folk

Southern folk music Festival 24 to 29 April The first Don Ca Tai Tu festival will be organized from 24 to 29 April at the Ho Nam Tourism Eco Park, Bac Lieu Province, to celebrate ‘Don Ca Tai Tu’ recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. The festival will attract troupes from 21 neighboring cities and provinces throughout the country to join.

The festival will offer don ca tai tu performances, exhibitions of traditional musical instruments, a food festival and a trade and tourism fair.

Ho Nam Tourism Eco Park, 2 Tran Quang Dieu St, Ward 1, Bac Lieu Province. Tel: (0781) 3896-896

value for money HOTELS Best Western Premier Indochine Palace Hue 105A Hung Vuong St, Hue Tel: (054) 3936-666 www.bwp-indochinepalace.com

Tel: (062) 2220-225 Email: salesOV@sealinks.vn www.sealinkscity.com Ocean Vista, of the Sea Links City, in Phan Thiet, is running a ‘Hot Summer’ until 31 May. The prices start from VND1,500,000++ per night in a one-bedroom apartment, VND2,800,000++ per night in a two-bedroom apartment and VND4,000,000++ per night in a three-bedroom apartment. The prices include breakfast, buggy, swimming pool, gym, sauna, steam bath, tennis court, a 10 per cent discount on spa services and 20 per cent discount on tour ticket to RD Wine Castle.

Movenpick Hotel Saigon Best Western Premier Indochine Palace Hue is running a honeymoon package till 31 December. VND5,289,000 per night in a Palace Deluxe with a romantic dinner, a bottle of Champagne in room and an hour spa treatment. The price includes service charge and VAT.

253 Nguyen Van Troi St, Phu Nhuan Dist., Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3844-9222

Century Riverside Hotel Hue

Novotel Danang Premier Han River Tel: (0511) 3929-999 36 Bach Dang St., Hai Chau District, Danang City www.novotel-danang-premier.com This April, at In Balance Spa at the Novotel Danang Premier Han River, those who book a facial treatment will get a free 30-minutes foot massage.

Ana Mandara Hue Thuan An Town, Phu Vang Dist., Hue Tel: (054) 3983-333 www.anamandarahue-resort.com Ana Mandara Hue has a special package for those who book at least three nights from 10 to 22 April. The price starts from VND2,800,000 per night in a Deluxe Room to VND6,500,000 per night in a Beachfront Pool Villa. The package includes two-way airport transfers, breakfast, a traditional Hue set menu lunch or dinner, a 60-minute spa treatment, a ticket for watching one of performances at Hue Festival 2014 and a 30 per cent discount on laundry service.

Sandy Beach Non Nuoc Resort Danang Vietnam, Managed by Centara

49 Le Loi St, Hue Tel: (054) 3823-390 www.centuryriversidehue.com Movenpick Hotel Saigon offers a special for those who stay Saturdays and Sundays in April and May. It costs VND2,900,000++ per room per night with breakfast, seafood buffet dinner, two cocktails and a 20 per cent discount on spa treatment.

255 Huyen Tran Cong Chua St, Ngu Hanh Son Dist., Danang Tel: (0511) 3961-777 www.centarahotelsresorts.com/cdv

RESORTS AND SPAS Pullman Danang Beach Resort Century Riverside Hotel Hue has a twonight package from 1 May to 30 September. It costs VND1,299,000 per person, including accommodation in a Deluxe River View Room, buffet breakfast, a Hue-traditional set dinner and one-way pick-up or drop-off at Phu Bai Hue Airport.

Vo Nguyen Giap St, Khue My Ward, Ngu Hanh Son Dist., Danang Tel: (0511) 3958-888 www.pullman-danang.com

Hanoi Emotion Hotel 26 Hang Bot St, Dong Da Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3848-9848 www.hanoi-emotion.com Hanoi Emotion Hotel is offering a complimentary meeting room for those who book at least five rooms (the prices starts VND840,000 per room per night). Offer extends to guests to use the hotel for a tea-break, meetings, lunch or dinner.

Ocean Vista Km 9, Nguyen Thong Road, Phu Hai, Phan Thiet, Binh Thuan Province

Pullman Danang Beach Resort is offering a two-night stay for VND10,500,000, including accommodation in a Deluxe Room, breakfast, a voucher for VND600,000 at resort outlets and airport transfer. The price includes service charge and VAT.

Sandy Beach Non Nuoc Resort Danang Vietnam, Managed by Centara, is running a ‘Golf Vacation Package’ until 31 December. For those who book for weekdays, it costs VND3,900,000 per person per room, applicable to twin occupancy and VND5,900,000 per person per room, applicable to single occupancy. For those who book for weekend and public holidays, it costs VND4,900,000 per person per room, applicable to twin occupancy and VND6,900,000 per person per room, applicable to single occupancy. The prices include two nights’ stay in a Superior Ocean View Room and 18 holes at Montgomerie Links or Danang Golf Club.

Palm Garden Beach Resort & Spa Lac Long Quan St, Cua Dai Beach, Hoi An, Quang Nam Province vietnam heritage -april-may 2014

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value for money Tel: (0510) 3927-927 www.palmgardenresort.com.vn Palm Garden Beach Resort & Spa has a two-night package, until 20 December, for VND6,899,000++ including stays in a Superior Garden View Room, breakfast, round-trip airport transfers, a choice of a thirty-minute head, back or foot massage or a Vietnamese lunch or dinner and half-day use of a bicycle.

Surcharge is VND420,000++ per room per night on 30 April and 1 May.

Six Senses Con Dao Dat Doc Beach, Con Dao Dist., Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province Tel: (064) 3831-222 Email: reservations-condao@sixsenses.com www.sixsenses.com/resorts/con-dao/destination

Pandanus Resort Quarter 5, Mui Ne, Phan Thiet, Binh Thuan Province Tel: (062) 3849-849 www.pandanusresort.com

Ana Mandara Villas Dalat Resort & Spa Le Lai St, Dalat, Lam Dong Province Tel: (063) 3555-888 www.anamandara-resort.com

Ana Mandara Villas Dalat Resort & Spa has a ‘Highland Escape’ package for those who book at least two nights until 31 July. The prices start from VND2,690,000 per room per night with breakfast, a Vietnamese dinner or a 60-minute massage, a 10 per cent discount on food and beverage and a 20 per cent discount on spa. The price includes service charge and VAT. 40 • vietnam heritage - april-may 2014

Sunrise Hoi An Beach Resort Cua Dai Beach, Hoi An Town, Quang Nam Province Tel: (0510) 3937-777 Email: resa@sunrisehoian.vn www.sunrisehoian.vn Givral Bar at the Sunrise Hoi An Beach Resort offers free canapés from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on 30 April. Also, there will be a complimentary cocktail for those who wear a red Tshirt with yellow star.

Best Western Premier Havana Nha Trang Hotel Six Senses Con Dao has a promotion, from 5 May to 30 September, including a 20 per cent discount on spa services, Vietnamese cooking classes, yoga classes and nightly movie screenings. May to September is turtle season, so guests can see turtles’ nests on the beach. The prices start from VND8,000,000++ per room per night for local residence and VND12,180,000++ per room per night for foreigners.

Pandanus Resort has a ‘Summer Getaway Package 2014’ till 31 October. It costs VND4,800,000++ for two night’s stay in a Superior Room for two with dinner, lunch, shuttle bus from Ho Chi Minh City to Phan Thiet on schedule, a 40-minute massage and a walking tour to a fish market in Mui Ne. The promotion is not available for public holidays.

FOOD PROMOTIONS

38 Tran Phu St, Nha Trang Tel: (058) 3889-999

Beauty De Siam 320 Tran Hung Dao, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3920-7188 Beauty De Siam launched in March, with spa treatments in the Thailand style and using natural cosmetics. The spa has a Thai souvenir shop and training classes for learners. It is running an ‘up to 60 per cent discount’ till June.

OTHER New World Saigon Hotel 76 Le Lai St, Ben Thanh Ward, Dist 1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08)3822-8888

‘Saigon Soul Pool Parties’ are held from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. every Saturday until 31 May at Splash Bar in New World Saigon Hotel.

Guests can enjoy views of the city from the hotel, a giant swimming pool, DJ music, massage, drinks and food. Entry fee: VND100,000.

Free for hotel guests.

Best Western Premier Havana Nha Trang Hotel has a gala dinner buffet, starting at 6.30 p.m. on 30 April, including a variety of Vietnamese and International dishes served at an open kitchen at Spice Restaurant, then sipping wines, cocktails and dessert with city views full of lights at Skybar. There will be music and a series of entertainment performances such as Hip Hop, belly dance and ‘sexy dances.’ VND1,000,000 for adults and VND 650,000 for children.

Hotel Nikko Hanoi 84 Tran Nhan Tong Street, Hai Ba Trung District, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3822-3535

On the occasion of Japanese Children’s Day, Hotel Nikko Hanoi will have a kid’s menu for children from 26 April to 4 May at VND50,000 for lunch and VND100,000 for dinner. Dishes are made in a shape of a train and include fried chicken, chips, egg, shrimp, potato salad, orange, pudding flan and yo-

value for money gurt. Also, La Brasserie Restaurant at the hotel offers a 20 per cent discount on lunch buffet for adults.

Melia Hanoi Hotel

Reflections Restaurant, at the Caravelle Hotel, will bring wine lovers a four-course dinner paired with the wines of Bodegas Arzuaga Navarro, in Spain. The dinner includes La Planta Tempranillo served with home-smoked salmon red wine risotto, salmon caviar and crème fraiche; Arzuaga Tino Crianza with slow-cooked pork cheek; sous vide lamb leg with roast romaine lettuce with Arzuaga Tinto Reserva and Arzuaga Tinto Gran Reserva; and a dark chocolate mousse and white chocolate rosemary sorbet with a choice of coffee or tea. VND1,480,000, 7.30 p.m. on 10 April.

44B Ly Thuong Kiet St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3934-3343 From 21 to 25 April, El Oriental Restaurant of the Meliá Hanoi Hotel has a seven-course Asian set menu for VND360,000 ++, lunch 11.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m. and dinner 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Also, El Patio Restaurant has a lunch buffet, 11.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m., for VND475,000++.

There will be a 15 per cent discount for all secretaries who present their business card upon arrival at the restaurants.

Pullman Saigon Centre

Movenpick Hotel Hanoi

148 Tran Hung Dao St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh CityTel: (08) 3838-8686

p.m. on 20 April, including roast beef prime rib with Yorkshire pudding, roast Easter lamb, crispy suckling pig, seafood, coloured Easter eggs and a large chocolate buffet. There will also be a kid’s activity area. VND1,400,000++ including free flowing champagne, house wine, cocktails, and fresh fruit juices.

Windsor Plaza Hotel 18 An Duong Vuong St, Dist.5, Ho Chi Minh City. Tel: (08)3833-6688

83A Ly Thuong Kiet St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3822-2800

Movenpick Hotel Hanoi serves Easter Brunch on 20 April including rack of spring lamb, poached salmon and a wide selection of traditional chocolate Easter Eggs on the dessert buffet. Many activities are for children.

VND920,000++ including a signature chocolate martini, free flow of sparkling wine, draft beer and soft drinks.

Caravelle Hotel 19-23 Cong Truong Lam Son St, Dist 1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3823-4999

Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers

Café Central An Dong, at the Windsor Plaza Hotel, has a selection of Thai dishes in April. On 30 April, the restaurant serves Vietnamese and Western dishes. Every Sunday in April, except on Easter Day 20 April, the restaurant offers a 50 per cent discount for guests from 60 years old and free for two children under 10 in each family. Lunch, Monday to Friday, 11.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m., VND318,000++ and Saturday, Sunday and holidays, VND338,000++. Dinner, Monday to Friday, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., VND488,000++ and Saturday, Sunday and holidays, VND545,000++. Also, on 20 April, the restaurant also serves Easter brunch including roast pig, lamb, hot cross buns, Krombacher beer, Henkell Trocken sparkling wine and activities for kids. VND498,000++

88 Dong Khoi St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3827-2828 Saigon Café, at the Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers, serves Easter Brunch, 11.30 a.m. to 3

Rates may be subject to 5-per-cent service charge and 10-per-cent VAT if there is no statement to the contrary.

Food ConneXion Restaurant, at the Pullman Saigon Centre, serves Easter Brunch, 11.30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on 20 April, including over 80 Asian and Western dishes, grilled seafood, traditional egg dishes and ‘bunny chocolate’.

The hotel has also prepared some games for kids such as a chocolate egg hunt.

VND1,290,000++including champagne, wine, soft drink and beer.

vietnam heritage - april-may 2014

• 41

buyable

Kathmandu necklace, made of Siam wood, agate and pearl, $80 (VND1,680,000)

bangkok necklace, made of horn, amber and amethyst, $75 (VND1,575,000)

Paris necklace, made of horn, sterling silver and leather, $200 (VND4,200,000)

Hongkong necklace, made of sterling silver and leather, $280 (VND5,880,000)

Hongkong necklace, made of lacquer and amethyst, $250 (VND5,250,000)

ulanbator necklace, made of jade, silver and leather, $100 (VND2,100,000)

Harmony necklaces

The handmade necklaces, crafted by Vietnamese, could be purchased in big cities and tourist spots within Vietnam such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Danang. www.harmonynecklaces.com 42 • VieTNaM HeriTage - aPril-May 2014

directiOnS Sapa, halOng, haiphOng EMERGENCIES Police: 113 Fire: 114 Ambulance: 115

SAPA

(TELEPHONE CODE: 020) Sapa is a former French hill station in northwestern Vietnam, in Lao Cai Province, near the Chinese border.

A number of minority cultures including the H’mong, Dao and Tay live in villages in the countryside around Sapa.

HOTELS, RESORTS Note: Prices at many hotels depend on occupancy and change daily Cat Cat View Hotel 46 Fan Xi Pang St, Sapa, Lao Cai Province Tel: (020) 3871-946 www.catcathotel.com VND735,000 to VND3,780,000 ($35 to $180) Cha Pa Garden Boutique Hotel & Spa 23B Cau May St, Sapa, Lao Cai Province Tel: (020) 3872-907 Email: hotelchapagarden@gmail.com

www.chapagarden.com From VND1,470,000 ($70) Chau Long Sapa Hotel

Topas Ecolodge Thanh Kim Ward, Sapa, Lao Cai Province Tel: (04) 3715-1005 Email: reservation@topasecolodge.com www.topasecolodge.com From VND2,300,000 ($110) Victoria Sapa Resort and Spa Xuan Vien St, Sapa, Lao Cai Province Tel: (020) 3871-522 Email: resa.sapa@victoriahotels.asia

www.victoriahotels.asia From VND3,657,000 ($172) RESTAURANTS Buffalo Bell Restaurant 25 Cau May St, Sapa, Lao Cai Province Tel: (020) 3873-455 Delta Restaurant 33 Cau May St, Sapa, Lao Cai Province Tel: (020) 3871-799 Fansipan Restaurant 23 Cau May St, Sapa, Lao Cai Province Tel: (020) 3871-556

HALONG

(TELEPHONE CODE: 033) With around 1,600 islands and islets in the Gulf of Tonkin, Halong Bay, about 170 km east of Hanoi, is well known for its limestone seascape.

Overnight boat trips out of Halong City are a popular way to see it.

HOSPITALS Bai Chay Hospital Gieng Day Ward, Halong Tel: (033) 3846-557 www.benhvienbaichay.vn

24 Dong Loi St, Sapa, Lao Cai Province Tel: (020) 3871-245 Email: resa@chaulonghotel.com.vn www.chaulonghotel.com.vn From VND700,000 ($33) Holiday Sapa Hotel 16 Muong Hoa, Sapa, Lao Cai Province Tel: (020) 3873-874 Email: info@holidaysapa.com www.holidaysapa.com VND588,000 to VND2,100,000 ($28 to $100) Mường Thanh Sapa Hotel No 044, Ngu Chi Son, Sapa, Lao Cai Province Tel: (020) 3887-766 Email: sales@sapa.muongthanh.vn www.sapa.muongthanh.vn Royal Hotel 54B Cau May St, Sapa, Lao Cai Province Tel: (020) 3771-131 Email: hoanggiasapa@gmail.com www.royalsapahotel.com From VND340,000 ($17)

Traditional Medicine Hospital Cot 8, Hong Ha Ward, Halong Tel: (033) 3838-113 Vietnam-Sweden Hospital Thanh Son Ward, Uong Bi Commune, Halong Tel: (033) 3854-037 www.bvubqn.tk TRAVEL Halong Tourism 1 Halong St, Halong Tel: (033) 3846-272 Quang Ninh Tourism Company Ha Long St, Bai Chay Ward, Halong Tel: (033) 3846-350 Syrena Cruises Hung Thang new urban area, Bai Chay, Halong Tel: (033) 3847-043 Hanoi Sales Office: Syrena Tower, 3th Floor, 51 Xuan Dieu St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3719-7214 Email: se@syrenacruises.com www.syrenacruises.com HOTELS, RESORTS

Note: Prices at many hotels depend on occupancy and change daily Asean Halong Hotel Hau Can St, Bai Chay Ward, Halong Tel: (033) 3640-034 Email: sm@aseanhalonghotel.com www.aseanhalonghotel.com Halong Hidden Charm Hotel Block 22D, Tuan Chau Villas, Halong Tel: (033) 3842-360 Email: infor.halonghiddencharmhotel@gmail.com

www.hiddencharmhotel.com.vn From VND600,000 ($29) Halong Palace Hotel 1, Block 20 Dong Hung Thang, Hoang Quoc Viet St, Bai Chay Ward, Halong Tel: (033) 3619-819 Email: info@halongpalacehotel.com www.halongpalacehotel.com From VND3,800,000 ($181) Halong Plaza Hotel 8 Ha Long St, Bai Chay Ward, Halong Tel: (033) 3845-810 Email: info@halongplaza.com www.halongplaza.com VND1,500,000 to VND3,800,000 ($71 to $179) Heritage Halong Hotel 88 Ha Long St, Bai Chay Ward, Halong Tel: (033) 3846-888 Email: saleheritagehl@gmail.com www.heritagehalonghotel.com.vn VND1,200,000 ($57) Mường Thanh Halong Hotel No.7, Block 20, East of Hung Thang, Bai Chay Ward, Halong Tel: (033) 3812-468/ (033) 3819-777 Email: info@halong.muongthanhhotel.vn www.muongthanhhotel.vn From VND1,400,000 ($67) Novotel Ha Long Bay Ha Long St, Bai Chay Ward, Halong Tel: (033) 3848-108 Email: info@novotelhalong.com.vn www.novotelhalongbay.com From VND2,772,000 ($132) Saigon Halong Hotel Ha Long St, Bai Chay Ward, Halong Tel: (033) 3845-845 info@saigonhalonghotel.com www.saigonhalonghotel.com From VND700,000 ($35) StarCity Halong Bay Hotel

equipped rooms, with many breathtaking views of Halong Bay RESTAURANTS Co Ngu Restaurant Halong St, Halong Tel: (033) 3511-363 Jumbo Vietnam Floating Restaurant 119 Le Thanh Tong St, Halong Tel: (033) 3624-888 Sea Food Restaurant Halong St, Halong Tel: (033) 3845-822

Thu Huong Restaurant Halong St, Halong Tel: (033) 3845-142 BARS & CAFÉS Emeraude Café Royal Park, Ha Long St, Halong Tel: (033) 3849-266 www.emeraude-cruises.com Royal International Gaming Club and Villa Bai Chay, Halong Tel: (033) 3848-777

HAI PHONG CITY (TELEPHONE CODE: 031) HOTELS, RESORTS Note: Prices at many hotels depend on occupancy and change daily Catba Princes Hotel

303 Nui Ngoc, Cat Ba Island, Hai Phong City Tel: (031) 3888-899 Email: sale@catbaprinceshotel.com www.catbaprinceshotel.com From VND527,500 ($25) Catba Sunrise Resort Cat Ba Island, Hai Phong City Tel: (031) 3887-360 Email: info@catbasunriseresort.com www.catbasunriseresort.com From VND3,520,000 ($168) Harbour View Hotel 12 Tran Phu St, Ngo Quyen Dist., Hai Phong Tel: (031) 3827-827 Email: info@harbourviewvietnam.com www.harbourviewvietnam.com From VND2,772,000 ($132)

Halong St, Bai Chay Ward, Halong Tel: (033) 3846-058 Email: sm1.north@och.vn www.starcitysuoimo.com In the centre of Halong, StarCity Halong Bay Hotel offers 152 well-

ENTERTAINMENT Do Son Casino Zone 3, Do Son town, Hai Phong City Tel: (031) 3864-888

vietnam heritage - april-may 2014

• 43

CENTRE O

B

A

C

1 Asean International Hotel 2 Capital Garden Hotel 3 Daewoo Hotel

1

4 De Syloia Hotel 5 Fortuna Hotel Hanoi 6 Green Mango 7 Hanoi Horison Hotel 8 Hilton Hanoi Opera Hotel 9 Joseph’ Joseph’ss Hotel 10 1 0 Little Hanoi 11 1 1 MAison d’Hanoi Hanova Hotel

3

2

12 1 2 Melia Hanoi Hotel 13 1 3 Movenpick Hotel Hanoi 14 1 4 Nikko Hanoi Hotel 15 1 5 Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi 16 1 6 Sunway Hotel Hanoi 17 1 7 Hanoi Emotion Hotel

3

5

2

4

STREET GUIDE Ba Trieu...................E3, E4 Bac Son.........................D1 Bach Dang.....................F2 Bach Mai........................E4 Bat Dan..........................E2 Bich Cau........................C2 Buoi................................A1 Cat Linh..........................C2 Cha Ca....................E1, E2 Cua Bac.........................D1 Cua Dong.......................D2

Da Tuong.......................E3 Dang Tat.........................D1 Dao Duy Anh.................D4 Dao Duy Tu.............E1, E2 Dien Bien Phu................D2 Doc Ngu.........................A1 Doi Can.............A1, B2, C2 Duong Thanh.................E2 Gam Cau........................E1 Giai Phong.....................D4 Giang Vo.....A3 ,B3 ,B2,C2

Hai Ba Trung.....E2, E3, F3 Ham Long......................E3 Han Thuyen....................F3 Hang Bac.......................E2 Hang Bo.........................E2 Hang Bong.....................E2 Hang Buom....................E2 Hang Can.......................E2 Hang Chuoi....................F3 Hang Cot........................E1 Hang Da.........................E2 Hang Dao.......................E2

Hang Dau.......................E1 Hang Ga.........................E2 Hang Gai........................E2 Hang Khay.....................E2 Hang Khoai....................E1 Hang Ma.........................E1 Hang Quat......................E2 Hang Trong....................E2 Hang Chieu....................E1 Hang Luoc......................E1 Hao Nam........................C2 Hoa Ma...........................F3

Hoang Dieu.............D1, D2 Hoang Hoa Tham............... ....................A1, B1, C1, D1 Hoang Van Thu..............D1 Hoe Nhai........................E1 Hung Vuong............D1, D2 Huynh Thuc Khang........A3 Kham Thien.............C3, D3 Kim Ma..............A2, B2, C2 La Thanh.................B3, C3 Lang Ha..........................B3 Nguyen Chi Thanh.........A3

Le Dai Hanh...................E4 Le Duan............D2, D3, D4 Le Hong Phong.............D2 Le Lai..............................F2 Le Thai To.......................E2 Le Thanh Tong...............F3 Le Van Huu....................E3 Lieu Giai........................A2 Lo Duc......................F3, F4 Lo Su..............................F2 Luong Ngoc Quyen.......E2 Luong Van Can..............E2

OF HA NOI D

E

F

6 10

11 9 17 15 13

12 8 4

14 16

Ly Nam De..............E1, E2 Ly Quoc Su....................E2 Ly Thai To.......................F2 Ly Thuong Kiet........E3, F3 Mai Hac De..............E3, E4 Ngo Quyen.....................F3 Ngo Si Lien....................D2 Ngo Thi Nham................E3 Ngoc Ha.........................C1 Ngoc Khanh...................B2 Nguyen Canh Chan......D1 Nguyen Cong Hoa.........B2

Nguyen Dinh Chieu............ .................................E3, E4 Nguyen Du..............D3, E3 Nguyen Huu Huan........ F2 Nguyen Khuyen.............D2 Nguyen Luong Bang.....C3 Nguyen Thai Hoc....C2, D2 Nguyen Thuong Hien......... ........................................D3 Nguyen Van To..............E2 Nha Chung.....................E2 Nha Tho.........................E2

Nui Truc..........................B2 Pham Dinh Ho................F3 Pham Ngu Lao...............F3 Phan Boi Chau.......D2, D3 Phan Chu Trinh..............F3 Phan Dinh Phung..........D1 Phan Huy Chu................F3 Pho Duc Chinh...............F3 Pho Hue...................E3, E4 Phu Doan.......................E2 Phung Hung............E1, E2 Quan Su..................E2, E3

Quan Thanh...................D1 Quang Trung...........E2, E3 Quoc Tu Giam...............D2 Son Tay..........................C2 Thai Phien......................E4 Thanh Cong...................B3 Thanh Nien....................D1 Tho Nhuom.............E2, E3 Thuy Khue.......................... ....................A1, B1, C1, D1 To Hien Thanh...............E4 Tong Dan........................F2

Ton Duc Thang..............C3 Tran Hung Dao................... ...........................D3, E3, F3 Tran Huy Lieu................B2 Tran Khanh Du...............F3 Tran Khat Chan..............F4 Tran Nguyen Han..........F2 Tran Nhan Tong......D3, E3 Tran Nhat Duat..............E1 Tran Phu........................D2 Tran Quang Khai............F2 Tran Qui Cap.................D2

Tran Quoc Toan......D3, E3 Tran Thanh Tong............F3 Tran Xuan Soan................. .................................E3, E4 Trang Thi........................E2 Trang Tien................E2, F3 Trieu Viet Vuong......E3, E4 Trinh Hoai Duc...............C2 Tue Tinh.........................E3 Yen Phu..........................E1 Yersin..............................F4 Yet Kieu..........................D3

directiONS haNOi HANOI

(TELEPHONE CODE: 04) EMBASSIES

Finland 31 Hai Ba Trung St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3826-6788

Algeria 13 Phan Chu Trinh St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3825-3865

France 57 Tran Hung Dao St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3944-5782

Argentina 41A Ly Thai To St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3831-5263

Germany 29 Tran Phu St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3845-3836

Australia 8 Dao Tan St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3831-7755 Austria 53 Quang Trung St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3943-3050 Bangladesh Villa D6B 5 – Khu Vuon Dao Ngo 675, Lac Long Quan St, Tay Ho Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3771-6625 Belarus 52 Ho Tay St, Tay Ho Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3829-0494 Belgium Hanoi Tower, 49 Hai Ba Trung St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3934-6179 Brazil T72-14 Thuy Khue St, Tay Ho Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3843-2544 Brunei Villa 8-9 No 44/8-44, 9 Van Bao St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3726-0001 Bulgaria 5 Nui Truc St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3845-2908 Cambodia 71A Tran Hung Dao St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3942-7636 Canada 31 Hung Vuong St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3823-5500 China 46 Hoang Dieu St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi.

Tel: (04) 3845-3736 Cuba 65 Ly Thuong Kiet St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3942-4775 Czech Republic 13 Chu Van An St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi; Tel: (04) 3845-4131 Denmark 19 Dien Bien Phu St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3823-1888 Egypt 63 To Ngoc Van St, Tay Ho Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3829-4999

Hungary 12th floor of Deaha Building, 360 Kim Ma St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3771-5714 India 58-60 Tran Hung Dao St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3824-4990 Indonesia 50 Ngo Quyen St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3825-3353 Iran 54 Tran Phu St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3823-2068 Iraq 66 Tran Hung Dao St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3942-4141 Ireland 8th floor of Vincom Tower B, 191 Ba Trieu St, Ha Dong Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3974-3291 Israel 68 Nguyen Thai Hoc St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3843-3141 Italy 9 Le Phung Hieu St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3825-6256 Japan 27 Lieu Giai St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3846-3000 Laos 22 Tran Binh Trong St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3942-4576 Libya 298B Kim Ma St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3845-3379 Malaysia 43-45 Dien Bien Phu St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3734-3836 Mexico Coco Villa T-11, 14 Thuy Khue St, Tay Ho Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3847-0948 Mongolia 5 Van Phuc, Kim Ma St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3845-3009 Myanmar 298A Kim Ma St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3845-3369

46 • vietNam heritage - april-may 2014

Netherlands 6th floor of Deaha Building, 360 Kim Ma St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3831-5650 New Zealand 63 Ly Thai To St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3824-1481 North Korea 25 Cao Ba Quat St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3845-3008 Norway 8th Floor, Hanoi Tower, 49 Hai Ba Trung St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3974-8900 Nigeria 44/1 Van Bao St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3726-3610 Palestine 6 Dang Van Ngu St, Dong Da Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3852-4013 Philippines 27B Tran Hung Dao St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3943-7948 Poland 3 Chua Mot Cot St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3845-2027 Romania 5 Le Hong Phong St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3845-2014 Russia 191 La Thanh St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: 3833-6991 South Africa 31 Hai Ba Trung St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3936-2000 South Korea 4th floor of Deaha Building, 360 Kim Ma St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3831-5111 Spain 15th floor of Deaha Building, 360 Kim Ma St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3771-5207 Sweden 2 Nui Truc St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3726-0400 Thailand 63-65 Hoang Dieu St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3823-5092 Turkey 14th Floor, HCO Building, 44B Ly Thuong Kiet St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Tel: (04) 3822-2460 United Kingdom 31 Hai Ba Trung St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3936-0500 United States 7 Lang Ha St, Dong Da Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3772-1500

MEDICAL CENTRES Acupuncture Institute 49 Thai Thinh St, Dong Da Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3563-1069 Hanoi French Hospital 1 Phuong Mai St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3577-1100 International SOS Clinic 1 Dang Thai May St, Tay Ho Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3934-0666 Vinmec international hospital 458 Minh Khai St, Hai Ba Trung Dist, Hanoi, Tel: (04) 3974-3556 AIRLINES Air France 1 Ba Trieu St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3825-3484 Qatar Airways Hilton Hanoi Opera Building, M floor, 1 Le Thanh Tong St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3933-6767 www.qatarairways.com Singapore Airlines 17 Ngo Quyen St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi.

Tel: (04) 3826-8888 Vietnam Airlines 25 Trang Thi St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3823-0320 TRAVEL Amega Travel No 2606 Thang Long International Village, Tran Dang Ninh St, Cau Giay Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3783-3570 www.amegatravelvietnam.com Buffalo Tours 94 Ma May St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3828-0702 www.buffalotours.com Emeraude Classic Cruises 46 Le Thai To St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3935-1888 www.emeraude-cruises.com Email: info@buffalotours.com Exotissmo 26 Tran Nhat Duat St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3828-2150 www.exotissimo.com Email: go.vietnam@exotissimo.com Oriental Sails 16A Ly Nam De St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3926-4009 Email: sales@orientalsails.com www.orientalsails.com Topas Travel 52 To Ngoc Van St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3715-1005 Email: sales@topastravel.vn www.topastravel.vn

directiONS haNOi HOTELS Note: Prices at many hotels depend on occupancy and change daily Baoson International Hotel 50 Nguyen Chi Thanh St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3835-3536 Email: sales@baosonhotels.com www.baosonhotels.com From VND1,570,000 ($75) De Syloia Hotel 17A Tran Hung Dao St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3824-5346 Email: desyloia@hn.vnn.vn www.desyloia.com From VND1,806,000 ($86) Fortuna Hotel Hanoi 6B Lang Ha St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3831-3333 Email: fortunahanoi@fortuna.vn www.fortuna.vn From VND1,920,000 ($91) Hanoi Daewoo Hotel 360 Kim Ma St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3831-5000 Email: sales@daewoohotel.com www.daewoohotel.com Hanoi Emotion Hotel 26 – 28 Hang Bot St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3848-9848 Email: info@hanoi-emotion.com www.hanoi-emotion.com The hotel also provides Vietnamese, Japanese and International cuisine Hilton Hanoi Opera Hotel 1 Le Thanh Tong St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3933-0500 Email: hanoi.opera@hilton.com www.hanoi.hilton.com Hotel de l’Opera 29 Trang Tien St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 6282-5555 Email: contact@hoteldelopera.com www.hoteldelopera.com From VND4,140,000 ($197) Melia Hanoi Hotel 44B Ly Thuong Kiet St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3934-3343 Email: melia.hanoi@melia.com www.melia.com Mövenpick Hotel Hanoi 83A Ly Thuong Kiet St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3822-2800 Email: hotel.hanoi@moevenpick.com www.moevenpickhotels.com/hanoi From VND3,139,500 ($149.50) Nikko Hanoi Hotel 84 Tran Nhan Tong St, Hanoi Tel.: (04) 3822-3535 reservation@hotelnikkohanoi.com.vn www.hotelnikkohanoi.com.vn From VND6,762,000 ($322) Pullman Hanoi 40 Cat Linh St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3733-0808

Email: getcloser@pullman-hanoi.com www.pullmanhotels.com From VND2,448,600 ($115.50) Prestige Hotel Hanoi 17 Pham Dinh Ho St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 6299-9888 Email: sales@prestigehotels.com.vn www.prestigehotels.com.vn A new four-star international standard hotel, on a tree-lined street in the heart of Hanoi, 15 minutes walk from the Old Quarter and Hoan Kiem Lake.

Modern luxuries, impeccable service and excellent value for the business or pleasure traveller.

80 rooms including elegant suites and an executive apartment, conference facilities, business centre, a restaurant, a fitness centre, a rooftop swimming pool and a cocktail bar.

Silk Path Hotel Hanoi 195-199 Hang Bong St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3266-5555 Email: info@silkpathhotel.com www.silkpathhotel.com From VND2,289,000 ($109) Sheraton Hanoi Hotel 11 Xuan Dieu St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3719-9000 reservations.hanoi@sheraton.com www.sheraton.com/hanoi From VND4,956,000 ($236) As a ‘resort within the city’, Sheraton Hanoi Hotel is on the West Lake.

Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi 15 Ngo Quyen St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3826-6919 Email: h1555@sofitel.com www.sofitel.com From VND6,090,000 ($290) Sunway Hotel Hanoi 19 Pham Dinh Ho St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3971-3888 Email: reservation@sunwayhotel.com.vn www.hanoi.sunwayhotels.com APARTMENTS Fraser Suites Hanoi 51 Xuan Dieu St, Quang An Ward, Tay Ho Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3719-8877 sales.hanoi@frasershospitality.com hanoi.frasershospitality.com Somerset Serviced Residence Vietnam 49 Hai Ba Trung St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3934-2342 www.somerset.com Luxurious apartments and properties for hiring RESTAURANTS Com Chay Nang Tam Restaurant 79A Tran Hung Dao St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3942-4140

Green Tangerine 48 Hang Be St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3825-1286 www.greentangerinehanoi.com Serving French food with a Vietnamese cuisine Hoa Vien Brauhaus 1A Tang Bat Ho St, Hai Ba Trung Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3972-5088 www.hoavien.vn The restaurant has been famous for its production of Czech beer Le Tonkin Restaurant 14 Ngo Van So St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3943-3457 www.letonkinrestaurant.vn Serves Vietnamese food BOOK STORE Infostones Bookshop 41 Trang Tien St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3826-2993 Email: sach41trangtien@gmail.com Thousands of magazines and books by hundreds of publishing houses worldwide SHOPS Craft Link 43 and 51 Van Mieu St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3843-7710 Email: craftlink@hn.vnn.vn Ha Dong Silk 102 Hang Gai St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3928-5056 Tan My Embroidery 66 Hang Gai St, Hanoi Email: tanmyhuong@fpt.vn Tel: (04) 3825-1579 Viet Culture 1 Trang Thi St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3934-7417 Vietnam Quilts 13 Hang Bac St, Hoan Kiem Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3926-4831 www.vietnam-quilts.org Traditional embroidery and other handicraft cloth products FURNITURE/ INTERIOR Dome Au Co 9 Au Co St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3718-5866 Email: sales@dome.com.vn

MUSEUMS Ho Chi Minh Museum 19 Ngoc Ha St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3846-3752 www.baotanghochiminh.vn Open: 8 a.m. to noon (Monday and Friday), 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (other days) Entry fee: VND25,000 Imperial Citadel of Thang Long 12 Nguyen Tri Phuong St/ 9 Hoang Dieu St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 37345427 hoangthanhthanglong@gmail.com www.hoangthanhthanhlong.vn Open: 8.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. (Closed on Mondays) Entry fee: VND30,000 Vietnam National Museum of History 1 Trang Tien St, Hanoi 216 Tran Quang Khai St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3824-1384 www.baotanglichsu.vn Open 8 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.Closed every first Monday of months Entry fee VND 20,000 ($0.95) for adults and VND10,000 ($0.48) for children Vietnam Fine Arts Museum 66 Nguyen Thai Hoc St, Ba Dinh Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3733-2131 www.vnfineartsmuseum.org.vn Open 8.30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Entry fee VND20,000 ($0.95) Vietnam Military History Museum 28A Dien Bien Phu St, Hanoi www.btlsqsvn.org.vn Open 8 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 4.30 p.m.

Closed on Mondays Entry fee VND30,000 ($1.43) Vietnam Museum of Ethnology Nguyen Van Huyen St, Cau Giay Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3756-2193, www.vme.org.vn Open 8.30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Closed on Mondays Entry fee VND25,000 ($1.19) Women’s Museum 36 Ly Thuong Kiet, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3825-9936 www.womenmuseum.org.vn Open 8 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.

Closed on Mondays Entry fee VND30,000 ($1.43) SPA

Dome Yen The 10 Yen The St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3843-6036 STORE Annam Gourmet 51 Xuan Dieu St, Quang An Ward, Tay Ho Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3718-4487 www.annam-gourmet.com Annam Gourmet’s motivation is to “Enjoy Life. Eat and Drink well.”

Elite Fitness & Spa 51 Xuan Dieu St, Tay Ho Dist., Hanoi Tel: (04) 3718-6281 Email: info@elitefitness.com.vn www.elitefitness.com.vn Spa de Palace Fortuna Hotel Hanoi, 6B Lang Ha St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3831-3333

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directiOnS ninh Binh, hue, danang, hOi an NINH BINH

(TELEPHONE CODE: 030) Cuc Phuong Resort & Spa Village of Dong Tam, Nho Quan, Ninh Binh Province Tel: (030) 3848-888 Email: cucphuongresort@gmail.com www.cucphuongresort.com From VND1,500,000 ($71) Emeralda Ninh Binh Van Long Reserve, Gia Van Commune, Gia Vien Dist., Ninh Binh Province Tel: (030) 3658-333 Email: info@emeraldaresort.com www.emeraldaresort.com Ninh Binh Legend Hotel Tien Dong Zone, Ninh Khanh Ward, Ninh Binh City Tel: (030) 3899-880 Email: info@ninhbinhlegendhotel.com

www.ninhbinhlegendhotel.com From VND1,575,000 ($75) A four-star hotel that features an elegant building in the French style.

NearTrang An Ecological Area, Tam Coc-Bich Dong River Landscape, Hoa Lu Ancient Citadel and Bai Dinh Pagoda.

NGHE AN

(TELEPHONE CODE: 038) Mường Thanh Song Lam Hotel 13 Quang Trung St, Quang Trung Ward, Vinh, Nghe An Province Tel: (038) 3737-666 Email: sales@songlam.muongthanh.vn

www.songlam.muongthanh.vn

HA TINH

(Telephone code: 039) White Palace Hotel 139 Ha Huy Tap St, Ha Tinh City Tel: (039) 6269-999 info.wh@hatinhtourist.com.vn www.whitepalacehotel.com.vn A three-star hotel in the heart of Ha Tinh City, Central Vietnam, near tourist sites. 50 rooms designed in the French style, VIP dining rooms and two international-standard meeting rooms which can seat up to 500 people

QUANG BINH

(TELEPHONE CODE: 052) HOTELS, RESORTS Note: Prices at many hotels depend on occupancy and change daily Bao Ninh Beach Resort Ha Duong, Bao Ninh, Dong Hoi City, Quang Binh Province Tel: (052) 3854-866 Email: sales@baoninhbeachresort.com.vn www.baoninhbeachresort.com.vn From VND1,120,000 ($53) Sun Spa Resort My Canh, Bao Ninh Commune, Dong Hoi City, Quang Binh Province Tel: (052) 3842-999 Email: info@sunsparesortvietnam.com www.sunsparesortvietnam.com From VND1,870,000 ($89)

TRAVEL

Hue Riverside Boutique Resort & Spa

Oxalis Adventure Tours Phong Nha Commune, Son Trach Village, Bo Trach Dist., Quang Binh Province Tel: (052)3677-678 www.oxalis.com.vn

Caving and jungle trekking in Vietnam

HUE

(TELEPHONE CODE: 054) Hue is a city on the Perfume River in lowland central Vietnam and was the capital of the Nguyen dynasty from 1802 to 1945. Many imperial structures remain. They were named part of UNESCO World Heritage in 1993. Hue is also known for its particular cuisine.

HOTELS, RESORTS Note: Prices at many hotels depend on occupancy and change daily Ana Mandara Hue Thuan An Town, Phu Vang Dist., Hue Tel: (054) 3983-333 Email: sales@anamandarahue-resort.com www.anamandarahue-resort.com Banyan Tree Lang Co Hotel Cu Du village, Loc Vinh Commune, Phu Loc Dist., Thua Thien Hue Province. Tel: (054) 3695-888 reservations-langco@banyantree.com www.banyantree.com Best Western Premier Indochine Palace

588 Bui Thi Xuan St, Thuy Bieu Dist., Hue Tel: (054) 3978-484 Email: sales@hueriversideresort.com www.hueriversideresort.com Imperial Hotel 8 Hung Vuong St, Hue Tel: (054) 3882-222 Email: info@imperial-hotel.com.vn www.imperial-hotel.com.vn VND2,300,000 to VND29,400,000 ($110 to $1,400)

Hyatt Regency Danang Resort & Spa Hoa Hai Ward, Ngu Hanh Son Dist., Danang Tel: (0511) 3981-234 Email: danang.regency@hyatt.com www.danang.regency.hyatt.com From VND4,683,000 ($213) Pullman Danang Beach Resort Vo Nguyen Giap St, Khue My Ward, Ngu Hanh Son Dist., Danang Tel: (0511) 3958-888 Email: info@pullman-danang.com www.pullman-danang.com Sandy Beach Non Nuoc Resort Danang Vietnam, Managed by Centara

RESTAURANT Thien Tam Vegetarian Restaurant 110A Le Ngo Cat St, Thuy Xuan Ward, Hue Tel: (054) 3898-220 www.thientamrestaurant.com Thien Tam Vegetarian Restaurant features a Hue garden house with a simple design and a serene atmosphere. The restaurant serves a variety of Hue vegetarian food, from royal to local dishes, at a reasonable price. The menu has many choices, with prices starting from VND45,000 per dish. The restaurant also serves as an art playground for Hue artists. Guests have chance to get their portraits drawn by the owners at a reasonable price. Vegetarian cooking classes are also available. The restaurant is about 1-2 km from Tu Duc tomb

DANANG

(TELEPHONE CODE: 0511)

105A Hung Vuong St, Hue Tel: (054) 3936-666 Email: rsvn@bwp-indochinepalace.com www.bwp-indochinepalace.com From VND3,024,000 ($144) The hotel is surrounded by lush green gardens that make it an outstanding landmark in Hue and give the city the feel of a resort. This luxurious, international standard hotel is created to appeal to Vietnamese and international visitors to Hue.

Grand Mercure Danang Lot A1, Green Island, Hoa Cuong Bac, Hai Chau Dist., Danang Tel: (0511) 3797-777 Email: H7821@accor.com www.accorhotels.com/7821

Century Riverside Hotel Hue

Novotel Danang Premier Han River

HOTELS, RESORTS Note: Prices at many hotels depend on occupancy and change daily

255 Huyen Tran Cong Chua St, Ngu Hanh Son Dist., Danang Tel: (0511) 3961-777 Email: cdv@chr.co.th www.centarahotelsresorts.com/cdv VND1,785,000 to VND5,670,000 ($85 to $270) Ho Chi Minh sales office: 4th Floor, Ben Thanh TSC Building; 186-188 Le Thanh Ton St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3914-7940 Vinpearl Luxury Danang Truong Sa St, Hoa Hai Ward, Ngu Hanh Son Dist., Danang Tel: (0 511) 3968-888 Email: info@vinpearlluxury-danang.com www.vinpearl.com MUSEUM Danang Museum of Cham Sculpture 2, 2 Thang 9 St, Danang Tel: (0511) 3572-935 www.chammuseum.danang.vn Open 7.15 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Entry fee VND30,000 ($1.43)

HOI AN

(TELEPHONE CODE: 0510) A major port town from the 15th to 19th centuries, Hoi An has well preserved vestiges of Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese cultures. The buildings are now often used for tailor’s shops. The old town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Hoi An is a little over 30 km south of Danang, on the central coast.

HOTELS, RESORTS

49 Le Loi St, Hue Tel: (054) 3823-390 Email: info@centuryriversidehue.com www.centuryriversidehue.com

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36 Bach Dang St, Hai Chau Dist., Danang. Tel: (0511) 3929-999 Email: H8287@accor.com www.novotel-danang-premier.com

Note: Prices at many hotels depend on occupancy and change daily Anantara Hoi An Resort 1 Pham Hong Thai St, Hoi An, Quang Nam Province Tel: (0510) 3914-555 Email: hoian@anantara.com www.hoi-an.anantara.com

directiOnS quy nhOn, nha trang,phan rang Golf Hoi An Hotel

187 Ly Thuong Kiet St, Cam Pho Ward, Hoi An, Quang Nam Province Tel: (0510) 3861-171 Email: sales@golfhoianhotel.vn www.golfhoianhotel.vn

Hoi An Riverside Resort & Spa 175 Cua Dai St, Hoi An, Quang Nam Province Tel: (0510) 3864-800 Email: reservation@hoianriverresort.com.vn www.hoianriverresort.com From VND1,650,000 ($79) Sunrise Hoi An Beach Resort Au Co Road, Cua Dai Beach, Hoi An, Quang Nam Province Tel: (0510) 3937-777 Email: sm1.north@och.vn www.sunrisehoian.vn Palm Garden Beach Resort and Spa

Ancient House River Resort Hamlet 2, Cam Thanh Village, Hoi An, Quang Nam Province Tel: (0510) 3930-777 Email: sales@ancienthouseriver.com www.ancienthouseriver.com From VND2,656,500 ($126.50) Hoi An Beach Resort 1 Cua Dai St, Hoi An, Quang Nam Province Tel: (0510) 3927-011 Email: info@hoianbeachresort.com.vn www.hoianbeachresort.com.vn VND2,184,000 to VND2,772,000 ($104 to $132) Hoi An Historic Hotel

www.hoianheritage.net Open daily 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

QUY NHON

(TELEPHONE CODE: 056) HOTELS, RESORTS Note: Prices at many hotels depend on occupancy and change daily Avani Quy Nhon Resort & Spa Ghenh Rang, Bai Dai Beach, Quy Nhon, Binh Dinh Province Tel: (056) 3840-132 Email: quynhon@life-resorts.com www.life-resorts.com From VND1,995,000 ($95) Royal Hotel and Healthcare Resort Quy Nhon 1 Han Mac Tu St, Quy Nhon, Binh Dinh Province Tel: (056) 374-7100 Email: reservation@royalquynhon.com www.royalquynhon.com VND1,155,000 to VND1,365,000 ($55 to $65)

Lac Long Quan St, Cua Dai Beach, Hoi An, Quang Nam Province Tel: (0510) 3927-927 Email: info@pgr.com.vn www.palmgardenresort.com.vn From VND 4,158,000 ($198) River-Beach Resort & Residences Hoi An

MUSEUM Quang Trung Museum Block 1, Phu Phong town, Tay Son Dist., Binh Dinh Province Tel: (056) 3580-320 Open 7 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Entry fee VND10,500 ($0.50).

Free for children under six

PHU YEN

(TELEPHONE CODE: 057)

10 Tran Hung Dao St, Hoi An, Quang Nam Province Tel: (0510) 3861-445 Email: reservation@hoianhotel.com.vn www.hoianhotel.com.vn From VND2,127,500 ($101) Hoi An Pacific Hotel & Spa

5 Cua Dai St, Hoi An Tel: (0510) 3927-888 Email: saleshoian@river-beachresort.com www.river-beachresort.com From VND1,350,000 ($65) Golden Sand Resort & Spa Hoi An Thanh Nien Road, Cua Dai Beach Hoi An, Quang Nam Province Tel: (0510) 3927-555 info@goldensandresort-spa.com.vn

www.goldensandresort-spa.com.vn VND3,759,000 to VND7,644,000 ($179 to $364)TRAVEL 321 Cua Dai St, Hoi An, Quang Nam Province Tel: (0510) 3923-777 Email: info@hoianpacific.com www.hoianpacific.com From VND1,113,000 ($53) Le Belhamy Hoi An Resort & Spa Ha My Beach, Hoi An Tel: (0510) 3941-888 Email: reservations@belhamy.com www.belhamy.com From VND2,835,000 ($135)

Rose Travel Service co..ltd 37 - 39 Ly Thai To St, Cam Chau Ward, Hoi An, Quang Nam Province Tel: (0510) 3917-567 Email: sales@rosetravelservice.com www.rosetravelservice.com.vn MUSEUM Hoi An Centre for Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation 10B Tran Hung Dao St, Hoi An Tel: (0510) 3862-367

Viet Star Resort and Spa Núi Thơm, Tuy Hoa City, Phu Yen Province Tel: (057) 3789-999 Email: info@vietstarresort.com www.vietstarresort.com VND2,898,000 to VND18,112,500 ($138 to $862.50)

304 2/4 St, Vinh Phuoc, Nha Trang Email: sales@champaislandresort.vn www.champaisandresort.vn Hotline: 0123 6009 777 With architecture reflecting nearby Po Nagar temple, Champa Island Nha Trang offers exquisite cuisine and many entertainment services that promise a memorable stay in Nha Trang An Lam Ninh Van Bay Villas Hon Heo, Ninh Van Commune, Ninh Hoa Town, Khanh Hoa Province Tel: (08) 3920-6949 Email: info@anlamninhvanbay.com www.anlamninhvanbay.com VND9,660,000 to VND19,320,000 ($460 to $920) Diamond Bay Resort & Spa Song Lo, Phuoc Ha, Phuoc Dong Dist., Khanh Hoa Province Tel: (058) 3711-711 Email: info@diamondbayresort.vn www.diamondbayresort.vn Evason Ana Mandara Nha Trang Beachside Tran Phu St, Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province Tel: (058) 3524-705 reservations-nhatrang@evasonresorts.com

www.sixsenses.com/evasonresorts/ana-mandara/destination From VND7,728,000 ($368) Evason Ana Mandara has received the ‘Certificate of Excellence 2013’ by TripAdvisor Best Western Premier Havana Nha Trang Hotel

NHA TRANG

(TELEPHONE CODE: 058) On the central coast, Nha Trang is a city originally known for beautiful beaches but these have lately been found to suffer from pollution due to modern life, development and tourism, like other popular resort areas in Vietnam. It has large numbers of foreign tourists, island-hopping, scuba diving, sightseeing and lounging on the beach.

HOTELS, RESORTS Note: Prices at many hotels depend on occupancy and change daily Amiana Turtle Bay, Pham Van Dong St, Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province Tel: (058) 7305-555 Email: info@amiana.com.vn www.amiana.com.vn From VND8,001,000 ($381) Champa Island Nha Trang Resort & Spa

38 Tran Phu St, Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province Tel: (058) 3889-999 Email: info@havanahotel.vn www.havanahotel.vn Michelia Hotel 4 Pasteur St, Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province Tel: (058) 3820-820 Email: sales@michelia.vn www.michelia.vn From VND2,200,000 ($105) Mường Thanh Nha Trang Hotel 6 Duong Hien Quyen St, Vinh Hoa Ward, Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province Tel: (058) 3552-468 Email: info@nhatrang.muongthanh.vn

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directiOnS phan thiet www.nhatrang.muongthanh.vn From VND1,400,000 ($66) Novotel Nha Trang Hotel 50 Tran Phu St, Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province Tel: (058) 6256-900 Email: rsvn@novotel-nhatrang.com www.novotel-nhatrang.com VND2,415,000 to VND4,830,000 ($115 to $230) Six Senses Ninh Van Bay Ninh Van bay, Ninh Hoa, Khanh Hoa Province Tel: (058) 3524-268 Email: reservationsninhvan@sixsenses.com www.sixsenses.com/resorts/ninh-vanbay/destination From VND17,629,500 ($839.50) In 2013 Six Senses Ninh Van Bay has been included in the list of ‘The Best Hotels in Vietnam’, by prestigious Condé Nast Traveller Also, Six Senses Ninh Van Bay was recognized as ‘Vietnam’s Leading Spa Resort’ by the World Travel Awards in October, 2013 Sheraton Nha Trang Hotel & Spa 26-28 Tran Phu St, Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province Tel: (058) 3880-000 reservations.nhatrang@sheraton.com www.sheratonnhatrang.com From VND3,565,000 ($170) Some Days of Silence Resort & Spa Dong Hai, Ninh Hai, Ninh Hoa, Hon Khoi, Khanh Hoa Province Tel: (058) 3670-952 Email: generaldepartment@somedaysresort.com www.somedaysresort.com From VND2,310,000 ($110) Sunrise Nha Trang Beach Hotel & Spa 12-14 Tran Phu St, Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province Tel: (058) 3820-999 Email: info@sunrisenhatrang.com.vn www.sunrisenhatrang.com.vn VND2,520,000 to VND4,305,000 ($120 to $205) Vinpearl Luxury Nha Trang Hon Tre Island, Nha Trang,

Khanh Hoa Province Tel: (058) 3598-598 Email: info@vinpearlluxury-nhatrang.com www.vinpearl.com White Sand Doclet Resort & Spa

Email: sales@saigonninhchuhotel.com.vn www.saigonninhchuhotel.com.vn VND1,575,000 to VND4,200,000 ($75 to $200)

PHAN THIET

(TELEPHONE CODE: 062) Sitting on the coast about 200 km north of Ho Chi Minh City, Phan Thiet is a beach city with many resorts and hotels.

HOTELS, RESORTS Population group 9 Dong Cat, Ninh Hai Ward, Ninh Hoa Town, Khanh Hoa Province Tel: (058) 3670-670 Email: info@whitesandresort.com.vn www.whitesandresort.com.vn Vinpearl Resort Nha Trang Hon Tre Island, Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province Tel: (058) 3598-188 Email: info@vinpearlresort-nhatrang.com www.vinpearl.com

Note: Prices at many hotels depend on occupancy and change daily Allezboo Beach Resort & Spa 8 Nguyen Dinh Chieu St, Ham Tien, Phan Thiet, Binh Thuan Province Tel: (062) 3743-777 Email: info@allezbooresort.com www.allezbooresort.com From VND1,400,000 ($66)

SHOPPING

Anantara Mui Ne Resort & Spa 12A Nguyen Dinh Chieu St, Ham Tien Ward, Phan Thiet City, Binh Thuan Province Tel: (062) 3741-888 Email: res.amui@anantara.com www.mui-ne.anantara.com

Khanh Hoa Salanganes Nest Company 248 Thong Nhat St, Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province Tel: (058) 3822-472 Email: yensaokh@yensaokhanhhoa.com.vn www.yensaokhanhhoa.com.vn

DuParc Phan Thiet Ocean Dunes & Golf Resort 1 Ton Duc Thang St, Phan Thiet City, Binh Thuan Province Tel: (062) 3822-393 Email: reservation@phanthietresorts.com www.phanthietresorts.com From VND1,500,000 ($71)

MUSEUM

Bamboo Village Beach Resort & Spa

Alexandre Yersin Museum Pasteur Institute, 10 Tran Phu St, Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province Tel: (058) 3822-406

PHAN RANG

(TELEPHONE CODE: 068)

HOTEL, RESORT Note: Prices at many hotels depend on occupancy and change daily Saigon Ninh Chu Hotel & Resort Khanh Hai Town, Ninh Hai Dist., Ninh Thuan Province Tel: (068) 3876-011

38 Nguyen Dinh Chieu St, Ham Tien Ward, Phan Thiet City, Binh Thuan Province. Tel: (062) 3847-007 info@bamboovillageresortvn.com www.bamboovillageresortvn.com From VND2,200,000 ($105) Full Moon Village Suoi Nuoc Beach, Mui Ne, Phan Thiet City, Binh Thuan Province Tel: (062) 3836-099 Email: reservation@fullmoon-village.com www.fullmoon-village.com VND2,100,000 to VND6,300,000 ($100 to $300) Hoang Ngoc (Oriental Pearl) Beach Resort & Spa

152 Nguyen Dinh Chieu St, Ham Tien Ward, Phan Thiet City, Binh Thuan Province . Tel: (062) 3847-858 Email: info@hoangngoc-resort.com www.hoangngoc-resort.com VND1,600,000 to VND6,090,000 ($75 to $287) Mom Da Chim - Lazi Beach Resort Ly Thai To St, Tan Tien, Lagi, Binh Thuan Province Tel: (062) 3874-458 Email: contact@lazibeachresort.com www.lazibeachresort.com From VND1,900,000 ($90) Muine de Century Beach Resort & Spa 16 Huynh Thuc Khang St, Ham Tien Ward, Phan Thiet, Binh Thuan Province Tel: (062) 3743-668 Email: reservation@muinedecentury.vn www.muinedecentury.vn From VND1,550,000 ($74) Muine Ocean Resort & Spa 10 Nguyen Dinh Chieu St, Ham Tien Ward, Phan Thiet City, Binh Thuan Province Tel: (062) 3741-616 Email: sale.muineocean@gmail.com www.muineoceanresort.com From VND1,050,000 ($50) Muine Bay Resort

Quarter 14, Mui Ne Ward , Phan Thiet City, Binh Thuan Province Tel: (062) 2220-222 Email: info@muinebayresort.com www.muinebayresort.com VND2,205,000 to VND6,195,000 ($105 to $295) Pandanus Resort

Quarter 5, Mui Ne, Phan Thiet, Binh Thuan Province Tel: (062) 3849-849 Email: pandanus@pandanusresort.com www.pandanusresort.com From VND1,575,000 ($75) Park Diamond Hotel Nguyen Tat Thanh St, Hung Long Ward, Phan Thiet City, Binh Thuan Province Tel: (062) 3835-666 Email: reservations@parkdiamondhotel.vn www.parkdiamondhotel.vn From VND990,000 ($47)

50 • vietnam heritage - april-may 2014

directiOnS dalat, hO chi minh city Saigon - Suoi Nhum Resort Thuan Quy, Ham Thuan Nam Ward, Binh Thuan Province Tel: (062) 3683-240 info@saigonsuoinhumresort.com www.saigonsuoinhumresort.com From VND1,700,000 ($81) Sandhills Beach Resort & Spa Km6, Tien Binh hamlet, Tien Thanh Commune, Phan Thiet, Binh Thuan Province Tel: (062) 3846-789 Email: info@sandhillsresort.com.vn www.sandhillsresort.com.vn From VND2,520,000 ($120)

Tel: (062) 3719-111 Email: reservation@thecliffresort.com.vn www.thecliffresort.com.vn The Sailing Bay Beach Resort 107 Ho Xuan Huong St, Mui Ne, Phan Thiet Tel: (062) 3836-555 Email: resort@thesailingbay.com www.thesailingbay.com From VND2,571,000 ($122) Mui Ne Unique Resort

Seahorse Resort & Spa

MUSEUM Cham Culture Exhibition Centre Song Mao intersection, Phan Hiep Commune, Bac Binh Dist., Binh Thuan Province; Tel: (062) 3641-456 Open: 7.30 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday Free entrance

DALAT

(TELEPHONE CODE: 063) Dalat, founded in 1893, has Frencharchitecture, pine forests and a perpetually cool climate. It is in the southern Central Highlands, about 300 kilometres from Ho Chi Minh City.

HOTELS Note: Prices at many hotels depend on occupancy and change daily

Km 11, Ham Tien Ward, Phan Thiet City, Binh Thuan Province Tel: (062) 3847-507 Email: info@seahorseresortvn.com www.seahorseresortvn.com From VND1,440,000 ($68) Sea Links Beach Hotel Km 9, Nguyen Thong St, Phu Hai Ward, Phan Thiet City, Binh Thuan Province Tel: (062) 2220-088 Email: sales@sealinksbeachhotel.com www.sealinksbeachhotel.com From VND1,995,000 ($94) Sea Lion Beach Resort & Spa 12 Nguyen Dinh Chieu St, Ham Tien Ward, Phan Thiet, Binh Thuan Province Tel: (062) 3743-390 Email: info@sealionresort-muine.com www.sealionresort-muine.com

20B, Nguyen Dinh Chieu St, Ham Tien Ward, Phan Thiet, Binh Thuan Province Tel: (062) 3741-617 Email: info@muineuniqueresort.com www.muineuniqueresort.com Reservation contact in Ho Chi Minh City, 57 Pham Viet Chanh St, Nguyen Cu Trinh Ward, Dist.1 Tel: (08) 3925-4196 Email: sales@muineuniqueresort.com Victoria Phan Thiet Beach Resort & Spa Phu Hai Ward, Phan Thiet City, Binh Thuan Province Tel: (062) 3813-000 Email: resa.phanthiet@victoriahotels.asia www.victoriahotels.asia From VND3,633,000 ($171)

Ana Mandara Villas Dalat Resort & Spa Le Lai St, Dalat, Lam Dong Province Tel: (063) 3555-888 Email: reservation-dalat@anamandara-resort.com www.anamandara-resort.com From VND1,700,000 ($81) Dalat Edensee Resort Tuyen Lam Lake, Zone VII.2, Dalat, Lam Dong Province Tel: (063) 3831-515 Email: reservation@dalatedensee.com www.dalatedensee.com VND2,331,000 to VND4,662,000 ($111 to $222) Saigon-Dalat Hotel

Villa Aria Mui Ne

Sunny Beach Resort & Spa

60A Nguyen Dinh Chieu St, Ham Tien Ward, Phan Thiet City, Binh Thuan Province; Tel: (062) 3741-660 Email: info@villaariamuine.com www.villaariamuine.com From VND1,743,000 ($83) 64-66 Nguyen Dinh Chieu St, Ham Tien, Phan Thiet City, Binh Thuan Province Tel: (062) 3741-355 Email: info@sunnybeach.com.vn www.sunnybeach.com.vn From VND1,699,000 ($80) Saigon Mui Ne Resort 56 - 97 Nguyen Dinh Chieu St, Ham Tien Ward, Phan Thiet City, Binh Thuan Province Tel: (062) 3741-044 Email: saigonmuineresort@hcm.vnn.vn www.saigonmuineresort.com.vn From VND1,908,000 ($90) The Cliff Resort & Residences Zone 5, Phu Hai Ward, Phan Thiet City, Binh Thuan Province

White Sands Resort

02 Hoang Van Thu St, Dalat, Lam Dong Province Tel: (063) 3556-789 Email: hotel@saigondalat.com ; resvn@saigondalat.com www.saigondalathotel.com Located in the heart of Dalat, SaigonDalat Hotel is a four-star-standard hotel, comprised of 160 luxurious and comfortable rooms with air-conditioning throughout and other modern amenities. Four restaurants, two bars, one tennis court, one indoor swimming pool, one fitness centre and one beauty salon and spa help make your getaway experience complete.

HO CHI MINH CITY (TELEPHONE CODE: 08)

KM8, Nguyen Thong St, Phu Hai Ward, Phan Thiet City, Binh Thuan Province Tel: (062) 3741-175 Email: frontoffice@whitesandresort.com www.whitesandresort.com From VND1,344,000 VND ($64)

CONSULATES Australia 5B Ton Duc Thang St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3829-6035

Belgium 91 Nguyen Huu Canh St, Ward 22, Binh Thanh Dist., Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3512-7968 Cambodia 41 Phung Khac Khoan St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3829-2751 Canada Metropolitan, 235 Dong Khoi St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3827-9899 China 175 Hai Ba Trung St, Dist.3, Ho Chi Minh City. Tel: (08) 3829-2457 Cuba 45 Phung Khac Khoan St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3829-7350 France 27 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai St, Dist.3, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3829-7231 Germany 126 Nguyen Dinh Chieu St, Dist.3, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3829-2455 India 55 Nguyen Dinh Chieu St, Dist.3, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3822-7853 Indonesia 18 Phung Khac Khoan St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3825-1888 Japan 13-17 Nguyen Hue St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City; Tel: (08) 3822-5314 Kuwait 24 Phung Khac Khoan St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City, tel: (08) 3827-0555 Laos 93 Pasteur St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3829-7667 Mexico 11 Tra Khuc St, Tan Binh Dist., Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3848-6290 Netherlands 29 Le Duan St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3823-5932 New Zealand Metropolitan, 235 Dong Khoi St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3822-6907 Panama 7A Le Thanh Ton St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City. Tel: (08) 3825-0334 Russia 40 Ba Huyen Thanh Quan St, Dist.3, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3930-3936 Singapore Saigon Centre, 65 Le Loi St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3822-5173 South Korea 107 Nguyen Du St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3822-5757

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directiOnS dalat, hO chi minh city Switzerland 42 Giang Van Minh St, Dist.2, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3744-6996 Thailand 77 Tran Quoc Thao St, Dist.3, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3932-7637 United Kingdom 25 Le Duan St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3825-1380, (08) 3829-8433 United States 4 Le Duan St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3822-9433 HOSPITALS Columbia Asia Gia Dinh International Hospital 1 No Trang Long St, Binh Thanh Dist., Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3803-0678 FV Hospital 6 Nguyen Luong Bang St, Dist.7, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 5411-3500 Stamford Skin Centre 254 Dien Bien Phu St, Dist.3, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3932-1090 Email: info@stamfordskin.com www.stamfordskin.com AIRLINES Air France 130 Dong Khoi St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3829-0981 All Nippon Airways 115 Nguyen Hue St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3821-9612 American Airlines 69 Ba Huyen Thanh Quan St, Dist.3, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3933-0330 Asiana Airlines 39 Le Duan St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3822-8710, (08) 3829-3038 British Airways 170-172 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia St, Dist.3, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3930-2933

Cathay Pacific Airways 72-74 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3822-3203 Emirates Airlines 170-172 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia St, Dist.3, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3930-2939 Japan Airlines 88 Dong Khoi St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3821-9098 Jetstar Pacific Airlines 112 Hong Ha St, Tan Binh Dist., Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3955-0550 Philippine Airlines 2nd Floor Saigon Royal Building 91 Pasteur St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3827-2105 Qatar Airways 1-5 Le Duan St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3827-3888 Royal Brunei Airlines 787 Tran Hung Dao St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh CityTel: (08) 3924-5100 Singapore Airlines 29 Le Duan St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3823-1588 Thai Airways International 29 Le Duan St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3829-2809 Turkish Airlines 76A Le Lai St, Room 4, 8th Floor, AB Tower, Dist. 1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3936-0360 - Ext 121 Email: saigon@thy.com.vn www.turkishairlines.com United Airlines Suite 708 Sun Wah Tower, 115 Nguyen Hue St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3823-4755 Vietnam Airlines 115 Nguyen Hue St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3832-0320 Vietjet Air 8Bis Cong Truong Quoc Te, Dist.3, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3827-0123 www.vietjetair.com

TRAVEL Asiana Travel Mate 113C Bui Vien St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City. Tel: (08) 3838-6678 Buffalo Tours 81 Mac Thi Buoi, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3827-9168 Email: travelagency@buffalotours.com www.buffalotours.com.vn Buffalo Tours operates in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.

The Buffalo Tours portfolio caters to all types of tours.

Exotissimo 80-82 Phan Xich Long St, Phu Nhuan Dist., Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3995-9898 www.exotissimo.com Saigon Tourist 45 Le Thanh Ton St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3827-9279 www.saigon-tourist.com Trails of Indochina 10/8 Phan Dinh Giot St, Tan Binh Dist., Ho Chi Minh City; Tel: (08) 3844-1005 Email: dosm@trailsofindochina.com www.trailsofindochina.com Transviet Travel Travel House, 170-172 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia St, Dist.3, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3933-0777 www.transviet.com.vn HOTELS Note: Prices at many hotels depend on occupancy and change daily Catina Saigon Hotel 109 Dong Khoi St, Ben Nghe Ward, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3829-6296 www.hotelcatina.com.vn From VND1,690,500 ($80.50) Caravelle Hotel 19-23 Cong Truong Lam Son St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3823-4999 www.caravellehotel.com

Hotel Nikko Saigon 235 Nguyen Van Cu St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City, tel: (08) 3925-7777 reservation@hotelnikkosaigon.com.vn www.hotelnikkosaigon.com.vn From VND4,830,000 ($230) Grand Hotel Saigon

8 Dong Khoi St, Ben Nghe Ward, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City. Tel: (08) 3823-0163 Email: info@grandhotel.vn www.grandhotel.vn Built in 1930, the Ancient Wing of Grand Hotel Saigon offers a cozy and elegant atmosphere. The Luxury Wing, opened in November 2011, adds a modern style. 230 rooms and suites, a ballroom, recreation area, VIP Lounge, Western & Asian restaurants, Bars & Grand Café at Roof Garden.

InterContinental Asiana Saigon Corner Hai Ba TrungSt. & Le Duan Blvd, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3520-9999 Email: saigon@ihg.com www.intercontinental.com/Saigon From VND5,845,455 ($278) Kelly Hotel 42-44 Thu Khoa Huan St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City. Tel: (08) 3823-3364 Email: info@kellyhotel.com.vn www.kellyhotel.com.vn From VND966,000 ($46) An elegant and cosy hotel with good service. Within walking distance to Ben Thanh market, Independence Palace and several museums.

Vietnamese food is served at reasonable prices.

Mövenpick Hotel Saigon

Duxton Hotel Saigon 63 Nguyen Hue Blvd, Ben Nghe Ward, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3822-2999 Email: enquires@saigon.duxton.com.vn www.duxtonhotels.com First Hotel

18 Hoang Viet St, Ward 4, Tan Binh Dist, Ho Chi Minh City

52 • vietnam heritage - april-may 2014

Tel: (08) 3844-1199 Email: first.hotel@hcm.vnn.vn www.firsthotel.com.vn

253 Nguyen Van Troi St, Phu Nhuan Dist., Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3844-9222 Email: hotel.saigon@moevenpick.com www.moevenpick-hotels.com Lotte Legend Hotel Saigon 2A-4A Ton Duc Thang St, Ben Nghe Ward, Dist 1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3823-333 Email: info@legendsaigon.com www.legendsaigon.com From VND4,221,000 ($201)

directiOnS dalat, hO chi minh city Liberty Central Hotels in Ho Chi Minh City 17 Ton Duc Thang St, Dist.1 Tel: (08) 3827-1717 177-179 Le Thanh Ton St, Dist.1 Tel: (08) 3823-9269 Email: frontdesk.lcc@libertyhotels.com.vn

www.libertycentralhotel.com New World Saigon Hotel 76 Le Lai St, Ben Thanh Ward, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3822-8888 Email: saigon@newworldhotels.com www.saigon.newworldhotels.com New Epoch Hotel 120 Cach Mang Thang 8 St, Dist.3, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3932-6169 Email: reservation@newepochhotel.com.vn www.newepochhotel.com.vn From VND1,155,000 ($55)

Email: info@ramanasaigon.com www.ramanasaigon.com From VND1,050,000 ($50) Renaissance Riverside Hotel Saigon 8-15 Ton Duc Thang St, Ben Nghe Ward, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3822-0033 Email: reservation@renaissancesaigon.com www.renaissance-saigon.com From VND4,105,500 ($195.50) Royal Hotel Saigon 133 Nguyen Hue St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3822-5915 Email: hotel@royalhotelsaigon.com www.royalhotelsaigon.com From VND1,932,000 ($92) Rex Hotel

Northern Hotel Saigon

11A Thi Sach St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3825-1751 Email: reservation@northernhotel.com.vn

www.northernhotel.com.vn From VND1,505,000 ($71) Three-star boutique hotel, 99 rooms in Superior, Deluxe and Suite categories, a short walk from major entertainment and shopping venues.

Novotel Saigon Centre 167 Hai Ba Trung St, Dist.3, Ho Chi Minh City. Tel: (08) 3822-4866 Email: H7965@accor.com www.novotel-saigon-centre.com From VND2,959,000 ($140) Palace Hotel Saigon 56-66 Nguyen Hue Blvd, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3829-2860 Email: sales@palacesaigon.com www.palacesaigon.com

enquiry.prsgn@parkroyalhotels.com

www.parkroyalhotels.com From VND2,173,500 ($103.50) Ramana Hotel Saigon 323 Le Van Sy St, Dist.3, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3843-9999

RESTAURANTS Kobe Teppanyaki Restaurant 13A Tu Xuong St, Ward 7, Dist 3, Ho Chi MInh City Tel: (08) 3932-0187 Lemongrass Restaurant 4 Nguyen Thiep St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3822-0496 www.bongsencorporation.com L-Lounge 47 Pham Viet Chanh St, Nguyen Cu Trinh Ward, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 6260-2555 www.l-lounge.com.vn Mam Son Restaurant 35 Ton That Thiep St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3915-3653 Vietnamese food

141 Nguyen Hue St, Ben Nghe Ward, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3829-2185 Email: rexhotel@rex.com.vn www.rexhotelvietnam.com From VND4,620,000 ($220) Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers 88 Dong Khoi St, Ben Nghe Ward, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3827-2828 Email: sheratonsaigon@sheraton.com www.sheraton.com/saigon From VND8,740,000 ($416)

Maxim Nam An Vietnamese Restaurant 13-15-17 Dong Khoi St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3829-6676 Vatel Saigon Bistronomique-Lounge 120 Bis Suong Nguyet Anh St, Ben Thanh Ward, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 5404-2220 www.vatelsaigon.com Vietnam House Restaurant

Silver Creek City Resort 112 An Phu Dong 11, Dist.12, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3719-9533 Email: reservation@silvercreek.com.vn www.silvercreek.com.vn From VND1,207,500 ($57.50)

Thao Nguyen Café Floor 7 and Rooftop of Restaurant Ngon 138 138 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia St, Ben Nghe Ward, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3827-9666 Open from 7 a.m. until 10.30 p.m.

SHOPS IPA Nima 85 Pasteur St, Ben Nghe Ward, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3824-2701 IPA Nima is well-known for its bags.

Shin 122 Ly Tu Trong St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City 53A Nguyen Du St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: 0909352369 Shin is famous for fashion clothes and leather bags.

SPA V Spa 15B/25 Le Thanh Ton St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City. Tel: (08) 6291-8179 www.vspa.vn COOKING CLASSES Mint Culinary School 778/45 Nguyen Kiem St, Phu Nhuan Dist., Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3844-5500 Email: sales@vca.com.vn www.vca.com.vn

GALLERIES 93 - 95 Dong Khoi St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3829-1623 www.vietnamhousesaigon.com Established in 1992, Vietnam House is a charming restaurant inside a French-Vietnamese style colonial mansion on chic Dong Khoi Street.. The restaurant features over 200 Vietnamese dishes, piano and traditional music.

17 Le Duan St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3824-1555 Email: h2077@sofitel.com www.sofitel.com From VND3,864,000 ($184) Tan Son Nhat Hotel 200 Hoang Van Thu St, Ward 9, Phu Nhuan Dist, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3844-1039 Email: hotel@tsnhotel.com www.tsnhotel.com From VND785,400 ($37)

Sax N’ Art Jazz Club 28 Le Loi St, Dist 1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3822-8472 www.saxnart.com

Saigon Cooking Class 74/7 Hai Ba Trung St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3825-8485 www.saigoncookingclass.com

Sofitel Saigon Plaza

Park Hyatt Saigon 2 Lam Son Square, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3824-1234 Email: saigon.park@hyatt.com www.parkhyattsaigon.com From VND8,436,000 PARKROYAL Saigon 309B – 311 Nguyen Van Troi St,Tan Binh Dist., Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3842-1111

Windsor Plaza Hotel 18 An Duong Vuong, Dist.5, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3833-6688 services@windsorplazahotel.com www.windsorplazahotel.com

BARS & CAFÉS Elle Cafe 45 Ngo Duc Ke St, Bitexco Financial Tower, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 6291-8769 Caffe Molinari 5 Le Duan St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3910-6903 Email: molinari@vnn.vn www.caffemolinari.com

Artists Long & Ngoc Gallery Grand Hotel (at the lobby), 8 Dong Khoi, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City TeL: (08) 2246-6839 Mobile: 0908 229 708 Email: ngoclongfineart@yahoo.com Apricot Gallery 50 Mac Thi Buoi St, Ben Nghe Ward, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3822-7962 Cactus Contemporary Art 17/12 Nguen Huy Tuong St, Ward 6, Binh Thanh Dist., Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 7300-1270 Email: info@cactusartgallery.com www.cactusartgallery.com Craig Thomas Gallery 27i Tran Nhat Duat St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Mobile: 0903 888 431

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CENTRE OF HO

A

B

C

1 Duxton Hotel Saigon 2 Equatorial Hotel 3 Grand Hotel 4 Intercontinental Asiana Saigon Hotel 5 Kelly Hotel

1

6 Lotte Legend Hotel Saigon 7 Majestic Hotel 8 New W World orld Hotel 9 Oscar Hotel 1 0 Park Hyatt 10 1 1 Renaissance Riverside Hotel Saigon 11 12 1 2 Rex Hotel 1 3 Sheraton Saigon Hotel & TTowers 13 owers 14 1 4 New Epoch Hotel

2 1 4 14

15 1 5 Ngon 138 Restaurant 16 1 6 V Vietnam ietnam House Restaurant

1 7 V 17 -Spa V-Spa

3

4 2

STREET GUIDE 3 Thang 2..........A2, A3, B2 Alexandre De Rhodes........ ........................................E2 An Duong Vuong....A4, B4 Ba Le Chan....................D1 Ba Huyen Thanh Quan...... ........................................C2 Ban Co...........................B3 Ben Chuong Duong........... .................................D4, E4 Ben Van Don...........D4, E4

Bui Thi Xuan..................C3 Bui Vien...................C4, D4 Cach Mang Thang Tam..... ......A1, B1, B2, C2, C3, D3 Calmette.........................E4 Cao Thang.....................B3 Chu Manh Trinh.............F2 Co Bac.....................C4, D4 Co Giang............. ...C4, D4 Cong Quynh............C3, C4 De Tham........................D4

Dien Bien Phu.....................

A3, B2, C2, D1, D2, E1, F1 Dinh Tien Hoang............E1 Do Quang Dau...............C4 Do Thanh.......................B3 Doan Cong Buu.............C1 Doan Nhu Hai..........E4, F4 Dong Du.........................F3 Dong Khoi................E3, F3 Hai Ba Trung....................... ...........................D1, E2, F3 Hai Trieu.........................F4

Ham Nghi.................E4, F4 Han Thuyen....................E2 Ho Hao Hon...................C4 Ho Tung Mau...........E3, E4 Ho Xuan Huong.............C2 Hoa Hung.......................A2 Hung Vuong...................A4 Huyen Tran Cong Chua..... ........................................D3 Huynh Thuc Khang........E3 Huynh Tinh Cua.............D1 Ky Con.....................D4, E4

Ky Dong...................B2, C1 Le Duan...................E2, F2 Le Hong Phong.................. ...........................A2, A3, A4 Le Lai.......................C3, D3 Le Loi..............................E3 Le Quy Don....................D2 Le Thanh Ton...................... ...........................D3, E3, F2 Le Thi Hong Gam............... .................................D4, E4 Le Thi Rieng............C3, D3

Le Van Sy.......................B1 Luong Huu Khanh.........C3 Ly Chinh Thang.......C1, C2 Ly Thai To......................A3 Ly Tu Trong......................... ...........................D3, E3, F2 Ly Van Phuc...................E1 Mac Dinh Chi...........E1, E2 Mac Thi Buoi..................F3 Mai Thi Luu..............E1, F1 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia............ ...................C1, D1, D2, D3

CHI MINH CITY D

E

F

17

4

17

15 10 5

12

13 1

6

16 9 3

8

11

7

Ngo Duc Ke....................F3 Ngo Thoi Nhiem ....C2, D2 Ngo Van Nam.................F2 Nguyen Binh Khiem.............. .....................................F1, F2 Nguyen Cau...................D1 Nguyen Cong Tru............... .................................D4, E4 Nguyen Dinh Chieu............ ......B3, C2, C3, D2, E1, F1 Nguyen Du..............D3, E3 Nguyen Hue.............E3, F3

Nguyen Khac Nhu.............. .................................C4, D4 Nam Quoc Cang.....C3, C4 Nguyen Phi Khanh.........E1 Nguyen Sieu...................F3 Nguyen Son Tra................. .................................B3, C3 Nguyen Tat Thanh..........F4 Nguyen Thai Binh............... .................................D4, E4 Nguyen Thai Hoc....D3, D4 Nguyen Thanh Y............E1

Nguyen Thi Dieu............C2 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai........ .................................B3, C3 Nguyen Thien Thuat........... .................................A3, B3 Nguyen Thong........B2, C2 Nguyen Thuong Hien........ .................................B2, C3 Nguyen Trai.............B4, C4 Nguyen Trung Ngan......F2 Nguyen Trung Truc........E3 Nguyen Truong To.........E4

Nguyen Van Cu..............B4 Nguyen Van Thu......E1, F1 Pasteur................................ ...............D1, D2, E2, E3,E4 Pham Ngoc Thach.........D1 Pham Ngu Lao........C4, D4 Pham Viet Chanh...........B3 Phan Ke Binh..........E1, E2 Pho Duc Chinh...............E4 Phung Khac Khoan.......E2 Suong Nguyet Anh........C3 Thach Thi Thanh.....D1, E1

Thai Van Lung................F3 Thi Sach.........................F3 Thu Khoa Huan.......D3, E3 To Hien Thanh................A1 Ton That Dam..........E3, E4 Ton Duc Thang..............C3 Tran Binh Trong......A3, A4 Tran Cao Van.................E2 Tran Dinh Xu...........B4, C4 Tran Hung Dao.......C4, D4 Tran Minh Quyen...........A3 Tran Nhan Tong.......A3, A4

Tran Phu.........................A4 Tran Quang Dieu...........B1 Tran Quang Khai.....D1, E1 Tran Quoc Thao......C1, D2 Tran Quoc Toan......C1, D1 Truong Dinh............C1, C2 Tu Xuong.......................C2 Vinh Vien........................A3 Vo Thi Sau........C2, D1, E1 Vo Van Tan..............C3, B3 Vuon Chuoi..............B2, B3 Yersin..............................D4

directiOnS mekOng delta Email: cthomasgallery@gmail.com www.cthomasgallery.com Open: 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Closed Mondays and Sundays

Grand Hotel Vung Tau

Galerie Quynh 65 De Tham St, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3836-8019 www.galeriequynh.com Tu Do Gallery 53 Ho Tung Mau St, Ben Nghe Ward, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3821-0966 www.tudogallery.com Opening: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. everyday Sàn Art 3 Me Linh St, Ward 19, Binh Thanh Dist., Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3840-0183 www.san-art.org Opening: 10.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. every.

Closed on Sunday and Monday

2 Nguyen Du St, Ward.1, Vung Tau Tel: (064) 3856-888 Email: sales@grandhotel.com.vn www.grandhotel.com.vn From VND2,058,000 ($98) A four star hotel, 125 km from Saigon, built in 1890s with the French architecture, near the beach and few hundreds metres from Vung Tau Hydrofoil Terminal. 66 rooms and 17 apartments, three meeting rooms seated from 20 to 250 and wedding services.

Palace Hotel

MUSEUMS Fine Arts Museum of Ho Chi Minh City 97A Pho Duc Chinh St, Nguyen Thai Binh Ward, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3829-4441 www.baotangmythuattphcm.com Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Closed Mondays.

Ho Chi Minh City Museum 65 Ly Tu Trong St, Ben Nghe Ward, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3829-9741 www.hcmc-museum.edu.vn Open daily 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Independence Palace 135 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia St, Ben Thanh Ward, Dist.1, Ho Chi Minh City Tel: (08) 3822-3652 www.dinhdoclap.gov.vn Open daily, 7.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m., 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

War Remnants Museum 28 Vo Van Tan St, Ward 6, Dist.3, Ho Chi Minh City, Tel: (08) 3930-5587 Email: warrmhcm@gmail.com Open daily 7.30 a.m. to midday and 1.30 p.m. to 5 p.m.

A popular beach resort town for residents of Ho Chi Minh City, Vung Tau is about 128 km southeast of HCMC. It can be reached either by road or by a 90-minute hydrofoil boat from HCMC. Sitting on a peninsula that sticks out into the East Sea, Vung Tau does not have the most beautiful, or cleanest, beaches in Vietnam but can act as a quick getaway from the buzz of the city.

HOTELS, RESORTS Note: Prices at many hotels depend on occupancy and change daily

Petro House Hotel 63 Tran Hung Dao St, Ward 1, Vung Tau Tel: (064) 3852-014 Email: info@petrohousehotel.vn www.petrohousehotel.vn From VND1,260,000 ($60) Newly refurbished rooms conveniently located near Vung Tau ferry terminal.

Catering to Asian and European tastes with Malaysian cuisine specialty.

Vietsov Petro Resort

Mường Thanh Vung Tau Hotel No 09, Thong Nhat St, Ward 1, Vung Tau Tel: (064) 3835-567 Email: sales@vungtau.muongthanh.vn www.vungtau.muongthanh.vn From VND1,890,000 ($90) Petrosetco Hotel 12 Truong Cong Dinh St, Ward 2, Vung Tau Tel: (064) 3624-748 Email: sales@petrosetco.com.vn www.petrosetcohotel.vn From VND1,085,700 ($52)

CAN THO

(TELEPHONE CODE: 0710) Can Tho is the largest city in the Mekong Delta, about 170 km southwest of Ho Chi Minh City, and acts as the area’s economic, transportation and cultural centre. Sitting on the Mekong River, Can Tho is popular for its nearby floating markets, canals and rivers that can be explored by boat.

HOTELS, RESORTS

Phuoc Thuan Commune, Xuyen Moc Dist., Ba Ria-Vung Tau Tel: (064) 3782-266 Email: info@vietsovpetroresort.com www.vietsovpetroresort.com The Imperial Hotel & Residences Vung Tau 159 - 163 Thuy Van St, Vung Tau Tel: (064) 3628-888 Email: info@imperialhotel.vn www.imperialhotel.vn

1 Nguyen Trai St, Ward 1, Vung Tau Tel: (064) 3856-411 Email: sales@palacehotel.com.vn www.palacehotel.com.vn From VND2,062,000 ($97)

Tel : (064) 3831-222 reservations-condao@sixsenses.com www.sixsenses.com/resorts/ con-dao/destination From VND14,490,000 ($690) Six Senses Con Dao has been selected as one of 2013's 25 Best Ecolodges by National Geographic Traveler

MUSEUM White Palace 6 Tran Phu St, Ward.1, Vung Tau Tel: (064) 3852-605 Open daily 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

LONG HAI

Long Hai is a beach town, 30km northeast of Vung Tau and 124 km southeast of HCMC. Anoasis Beach Resort Domain Ky Van, Long Hai, Ba Ria – Vung Tau Province Tel: (064) 3868-227 Email: sales@anoasisresort.com.vn www.anoasisresort.com.vn From VND2,310,000 ($110) The Grand Ho Tram Strip

Romeliess Hotel

Note: Prices at many hotels depend on occupancy and change daily Golf Can Tho Hotel 2 Hai Ba Trung St, Tan An Ward, Ninh Kieu Dist., Can Tho Tel: (0710) 3812-210 Email: golf4.cantho@vinagolf.vn www.vinagolf.vn Victoria Can Tho Resort Cai Khe Ward, Ninh Kieu Dist., Can Tho Tel: (0710) 3810-111 Email: resa.cantho@victoriahotels.asia www.victoriahotels.asia From VND3,700,000 ($175) MUSEUM Can Tho Museum 1 Hoa Binh St, Tan An Ward, Can Tho Tel: (0710) 3820-955 Open: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.); Saturday and Sunday (8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 6.30 p.m. to 9 p.m.). Closed on Friday. Free admission

CHAU DOC

(TELEPHONE CODE: 076) HOTELS Note: Prices at many hotels depend on occupancy and change daily Victoria Chau Doc Hotel 1 Le Loi St, Chau Doc Town, An Giang Province Tel: (076) 3865-010 Email: resa.chaudoc@victoriahotels.asia www.victoriahotels.asia From VND3,169,000 ($149)

31 - 33 Thuy Van St, Vung Tau Tel: (064) 3613-366 Email: sales@romeliss.com www.romeliesshotel.com A new three-star hotel at the Back Beach, the ‘best beach in Vung Tau,’ with nearly 50 rooms overlooking the beach! Many promotions at www.romliess.com

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Phuoc Thuan, Xuyen Moc, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province Tel: (064) 3788-888 Email: info@thegrandhotramstrip.com www.thegrandhotramstrip.com

CON DAO

Six Senses Con Dao Dat Doc Beach, Con Dao Dist., Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province

Victoria Nui Sam Lodge Vinh Dong 1, Nui Sam, Chau Doc, An Giang Province Tel: (076) 3575-888 Email: resa.nuisam@victoriahotels.asia www.victoriahotels.asia MUSEUM An Giang Museum 11 Ton Duc Thang St, My Binh Ward,

directiOnS phu QuOc, OverSeaS Long Xuyen City, An Giang Province Tel: (076) 3956-248 Open hour 7a.m. to 11a.m. and 1.30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Closed on Monday Entrance fee: VND42,000 ($2)

PHU QUOC

(TELEPHONE CODE: 077) Phu Quoc Island, off the southern tip of Vietnam in the Gulf of Thailand, has some of the most beautiful beaches in the country.

White-sand beaches, scuba diving around coral reefs or exploring the protected jungle. Accessible by either the Rach Gia hydrofoil boat or a 50-minute flight from Ho Chi Minh City. Modest family-owned bungalows on the beach to fivestar resorts.

HOTELS, RESORTS Note: Prices at many hotels depend on occupancy and change daily Eden Resort Phu Quoc Cua Lap Hamlet, Duong To Ward, Phu Quoc District, Kien Giang Province Tel: (077) 3985-598 Email: reservations@edenresort.com.vn

www.edenresort.com.vn Chen Sea Resort & Spa Phu Quoc, Centara Boutique Collection Bai Xep, Ong Lang, Cua Duong, Phu Quoc Island Tel: (077) 3995-895 Email: cpv@chr.co.th www.centarahotelsresorts.com From VND3,381,000 ($161) La Veranda Resort Tran Hung Dao St, Ward 7, Duong Dong Town Phu Quoc Island Tel: (077) 3982-988 Email: contact@laverandaresorts.com www.laverandaresorts.com VND5,082,000 to VND8,694,000 ($242 to $414) Sai Gon Phu Quoc Resort 1 Tran Hung Dao St, Phu Quoc Island Tel: (077) 3846-999 Email: sgphuquocresort@hcm.vnn.vn www.sgphuquocresort.com.vn VND2,499,000 to VND4,011,000 ($119 to $191)

CANADA

(Telephone code: 1) Xe Lua 254 Spadina Ave, Tonronto, Ontario Canada M5T2C2 Tel: (1-416) 703-8330 Xe Lua has been open since 1996 and serves phở for $6 a bowl Open: 11.30 a.m. to 12 p.m Chau Kitchen and Bar 1500 Robson St. Vancouver, British Columbia Tel: (1-604) 682-8020 www.chaukitchenandbar.com Serves Vietnamese dishes with prices starting at $7 per dish.

FRANCE

(Telephone code: 33) CLEMONT-FERRAND Kim Anh 6 Bis r Elie Gintrac Tel: (33-4) 7391-9364 Serves traditional Vietnamese food, from €12.80 per dish Open 11.30 a.m. to 3 p.m. (closed on Sundays).

GRENOBLE Kim Ngan 22 r Nicolas Chrier Tel: (33-4) 7649-0847 Serves Vietnamese food with prices starting at €8 per dish

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

(Telephone code: 1) CALIFORNIA-CA Emerald Restaurant Pacific Gateway Plaza 3709 Convoy Street, Ste 101, San Diego, CA 92111 Tel: (1) 858-565-6888 Serves Vietnamese food

Kieu Nga Lemongrass Restaurant 514 12th Ave Seattle, WA 98122 Tel: (1) 206-860-8164 Moonlight Café 1919 S Jackson St Seattle, WA 98144 Tel: (1) 206-322-3378 Massachusetts-MA Saigon Hut 305-307 Meridian St. Boston, ] MA 02128; Tel: (1) 617-567-1944 Xinh Xinh 7 Beach St (Washington St.) Boston, MA 02111 Tel: (1) 617-422-0501

UNITED KINGDOM

(Telephone code: 44) Little Saigon Restaurant 6 Bigg Market, Newcastle upon Tyne, England Tel: 01912330766 Vietnamese dishes

AUSTRALIA

(Telephone code: 61) La Mint 62–64 Riley St, East Sydney NSW 2010 Tel: (61) 293-311-818 Email: service@lamint.com.au www.lamint.com.au Open: Wednesday to Friday, noon to 2:30 p.m., Monday to Saturday, 6 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. French and Vietnamese dishes

INDONESIA

(Telephone code: 62) Pho 24 Pondok Indah, Plaza I, Jln. Taman Duta 1Blok UA 35 Jakarta Selatan Tel: (62) 0217-505-909 JIn. Wolter Mongonsidi No. 71, Kebayyoran Baru, Jakarta Selatan Tel: (62) 0217-278-8411 Pacific Place Mall, 5th Floor, SCBD, JIn. Jendral Sudirman Kav. 52-53, Jakarta 12190 Tel: (62) 0215-140-0531

Hung Ky Mi Gia 5237 El Cajon Blvd, San Diego, CA 92115; Tel: (1) 619-229-2188 Serves noodle varieties with prices starting at $5 per dish Open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

International Restaurant 1 4444 – A University Ave, San Diego, CA 92115 Tel: (1) 619-281-9999 Little Saigon 7 Linden Ave (Railroad) South San Francisco, CA 94080 Tel: (1) 650-589-1398 New York-NY Saigon Grill 620 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10024 Tel: (1) 212-875-9072 Serves over 100 Vietnamese dishes including vegetarian options Open 11 a.m. to 12 a.m.

Mai Lan Vietnamese 505 N State St Syracuse, NY 13203 Tel: (1) 315-471-6740 www.mailanrestaurant.com L’Annam 121 University Pl New York, NY 10022 Tel: (1) 212-420-1414 VIRGINIA-VA Minh’s Vietnamese 2500 Wilson Blvd Arlington, VA 22201 Tel: (1) 703-525-2828 Prices start at $15 per dish Open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. (closed on Mondays) WASHINGTON-WC Ho Bac 1314 S Jackson St Seattle, WA 98144 Tel: (1) 206-860-8164

vietnam heritage - april-may 2014

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laid back

Clockwise from top: Border patrols of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia at Bo Y, Kon Tum Province, Central Highlands where three countries share border, May, 2013. Photo: Tran Phong; Co Tu women carry đót, which is used to make brooms. Traditionally in May Co Tu people in Nam Giang District, Quang Nam South Central Province go to forest to collect đót. Photo: Than Nguyen; A jet plane model at Dong Loc crossroad, Cam Loc, Ha Tinh Province, Central Vietnam.

The model is made of unexploded bombs. Tens of thousands of bombs were dropped at the crossroad by US planes in 1968 during the Vietnam War. Photo: Thanh Vuong 58 • vietnam heritage - april-may 2014