Xoan Singing of Vietnam - Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

24November2011, Xoan Singing of Phu Tho Province of Vietnam was inscribed by the UNESCO to the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity which is in need of urgent Safeguarding. The inscription was made at the Sixth Session of the Intergovernmental Committee Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Heritage, which is to take place in Bali (Indonesia) from 22November2011 to 29November2011.

As defined by the Intergovernmental Committee, the Intangible Cultural Heritage includes traditions or living expressions inherited from one generation to the next, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills required to produce traditional crafts.

At the current session, seventy nine intangible heritage dossiers are to be examined, which include: 18 for inscription on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in need of Urgent Safeguarding; 39 for inscription on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity; 12 proposals of programmes for the Register of Best Safeguarding Practices; 4 for financial assistance; and 6 periodic reports on the implementation of the Convention.

Xoan singing (or Hat Xoan in Vietnamese) is practiced in the first two months of lunar year in Phu Tho Province, Vietnam. It is a kind of performing art relating to rituals and beliefs. Besides the function of singing for worshiping Hùng Kings, Xoan Singing also expresses dreams about happiness and prays for good crops, good health and luck, etc. Xoan Folk Artists are organized into different music guilds known as Phường. Each music guild is headed by a leader, who is referred to as trùm. Male instrumentalists are called kép and female singers are called đào. There are three phrases in Xoan singing procedure: worship singing and ritual singing performed by Xoan guilds and festive singing including the participation of villagers in love-exchange singing. Xoan singing is accompanied by dancing and musical instrument. Up to now, teaching and learning Xoan singing have based on oral transmission. Xoan singing used to be in danger of suffering loss but for recent twenty years, it has been gradually restored according to the wish and active participation of Xoan bearers in Phú Thọ province.

Halong Bay Vietnam - A New World Natural Wonder

Halong Bay Vietnam was named among the Provisional New Seven Wonders of Nature after the
first count of vote results on 11/11/11 by the New7Wonders
Foundation.The bay stretches in an area of 1553 square kilometers in the

north-east of Vietnam, 165km from Hanoi. Halong Bay includes 1,969
rocky islands and islets jutting out of the emerald water of the East
Vietnam Sea.

The others on the provisional list are the Amazon rain-forest
(stretching over nine countries' territories: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia,
Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela), Argentina's
Iguazu Falls, South Korea's Jeju Island, Indonesia's Komodo, the
Philippines' Puerto Princesa Underground River and South Africa's Table
Mountain.

Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City still called Saigon by the locals is the biggest city and the economic center of Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh City spreads its way on the banks of the Saigon River and has always been busy with trade since its formation. The areas more interesting to the travellers include the riverside, the city center and China Town.

The center and the riverside of Ho Chi Minh City boast the glittering skyscrapers which are home to deluxe apartments, offices and luxury hotels. The riverside can best be viewed from a boat cruising on the Saigon River at night. The city center is where many of the city’s tourist attractions, hotels, fine-dining restaurants and buzzing night life are found. There are some rooftop restaurants and bars in the center which can offer the panoramic view of the city from above. Cho Lon (China Town) is home to the biggest Chinese Community in Vietnam with Chinese-styled temples and pagodas full of atmosphere.

Ho Chi Minh City Hall

The good time to travel to Saigon is all year round; the sun shines everyday in this city. But the better time is from December to April as it’s less humid and more pleasant temperature. From May to December it’s more humid and it rains about 1 hour everyday. There’s hardly any storm or typhoon in Ho Chi Minh City.

Yen Bai Vietnam - Hidden gem for photography travel

It was Thursday and I was getting funky again. The weather seemed to have changed last night with new rounds of monsoons which made temperatures drop and the air fresh. The breezes were so gentle and the air was dry. This kind of breezes is called “Heo May” in Vietnamese. Normally “Heo May” appears mostly in the time between autumn and winter in northern Vietnam. “Heo May” breezes make the air a bit chilly, dry and fresh; on a day of “Heo May”, the sun shines gently which makes us feel very comfortable. “Heo May” comes along with beautiful weather that has come into Vietnamese literature and poetry...

Rice field and palm forest at Doan Hung Phu To

I felt so pleasant and called my buddy to see how things were going. He was ready. We went out for some coffee without being in a hurry. It'd be such a waste to be in a hurry on such a beautiful day. We started to get rolling out of the city in late morning, around 09:30 A.M or something. The air was fresh, so we turned down the car windows to let the fresh air in while leaving Ha Noi. It was a bit cooler as we were out of the city. The scene was just so beautiful with green rice paddies and dark blue mountains. The city seemed to be hugged by 2 ranges of mountains: one is called Ba Vi and the other is called Tam Dao, both are hill stations and home to amazing national parks. I'd write more about these two national parks at another time...

It was always exciting to travel again. We had been working on a special trip for 10 photographers who wanted to capture the most beautiful scenes of Vietnam. North-West of Vietnam was an indispensable part of the trip, but 6 photographers in the group had taken the North West of Vietnam with us already and they wanted something new, off-the-beaten track. Normally traveling in the North-West of Vietnam would mean to take the route via Road No. 6 via Hoa Binh Mai Chau, Son La – Dien Bien Phu and the from Dien Bien Phu – Lai Chau – Sapa – Yen Bai – Ha Noi. So it was easy, we'd take a different North-West of Vietnam then, this time we'd focus more on the beauty of Yen Bai Province. I asked one of my buddies, Thanh, to come along on our inspection trip to Yen Bai. Thanh is an amateur photographer and he had got many adventures to the far-flung regions of the country. He was surely to know what would be best for a photographer.

Out of Yen Bai City, the road get winding and hills covered with tea plantations are the norm...

We followed Road No. 32 from Hanoi to Phu Tho and Yen Bai Province via Road No. 32. The road was in excellent conditions and traveling on the road had never been such easy. After passing Trung Ha Bridge linking the former Ha Tay Province and Phu Tho Province, we took the route along the Red River to Yen Bai. The scenery along the river was so spectacular with orchards of bananas, papayas...Local farmers set up stalls all along the road to sell seasonal fruits to passers-by...

Phu Tho is basically part of the Red River Delta and the scenery is similar to other areas near Hanoi: vast green paddy fields dotted with white conical hats. We didn't stop much for photos as we wanted to save time for Yen Bai. As we traveled closer to Yen Bai, the scene changed quickly. The roads amid villages and paddy fields turned out to be traveling through low-hill areas flanked by thin forests. There were narrow valleys of rice paddies and palm forests alternated by eucalyptus forests. There was lots of logging going on in the area. They were planted forests after all and they needed materials for the paper factories somewhere I guessed. Still there was a weird feeling about logging in me: I was wondering how the government could administer the logging efficiently then?

Idyllic landscape at Van Chan Yen Bai in late afternoon

After brief lunch at Cat Lem Town of Doan Hung District, the road branched out and we took the one to Yen Bai. I felt sleepy on the road which seemed to me in great shape. There road system in Vietnam has been improved a lot in the last 10 years. It's just a good thing for developing the economy and it's great for travelers to come and see the country. Many communities are benefiting from this...

When we had passed Yen Bai City the road was more uphill and we found hills covered with green tea terraces all along the way. There were not many villages along the road. I felt a bit cool and was awaken...We stopped and got out of the car for stretching our legs. It was so quiet and fresh outside. The road had hardly any traffic on it for most of our journey from Yen Bai to Nghia Lo. The gradients were steep sometimes, but all were in good conditions and the driver found no difficulties navigating the way.

Rice field at Nghia Lo Town, Yen Bai

We entered Van Chan District in late afternoon and the road started to get flat. There were more tea plantations and tea factories along the way. There were more communities in the area, so there were more economic activities here. Basically people of Yen Bai earn their money from the forests, from the tea plantations and the tea factories. There are a few tea factories that provide quite famous tea brands in Vietnam which are based here.

After passing 5-7km of tea-covered low hills, we traveled further into the central area of Muong Lo Valley, the second biggest flat valley in the North West of Vietnam (after Muong Thanh Valley of Dien Bien Phu). Before entering Nghia Lo Town located right in the central of the valley, we stopped for a rest in the middle of the rice field. All was quiet and it started getting cold. The wind was blowing stronger and the air was so fresh. All around Muong Lo Valley, the mountains were becoming more and more of a dark green color. The rice was recently transplanted and by looking at the colors of the rice plants, I could tell that the roots were starting to develop. The farmers here would get their bumper crop in the next 5 months...

Spectacular rice field at Muong Lo Valley, Yen Bai

Arriving at Nghia Lo, I asked the driver to make a circle around the town. Things didn't change much compared to my last trip here last year, no new hotels. It took us some five minutes to have a complete tour of Nghia Lo Town before arriving at our hotel, supposed to be the best one available. It's claimed to be a 3-star hotel, but it'd think it's a decent hotel of 1-star one. We were in the one of the most far-flung areas of the country anyway and the important thing was that it was clean. So it was good.

In the evening, Thanh and I went out for dinner and had a walk around the town. It was quiet and people seemed to go to bed early here. There were a couple of cafes with dim colorful light, but we decided to go back to the room and had an early night. The night passed by peacefully...

I woke up at 4 or 5 A.M by the noise from down the street. It was amazing that the sun woke up very early in this town so did the people. Back in Hanoi it had to be dark still. But it made sense to me, they went to bed early and got up early...I tried to find back my sleep, but it had gone far away I thought, so I put on the shoes and had a walk around town. After a little while, I stopped at a local cafe which looked simple
but spotless-clean cafe. The gentleman made beautiful hot black coffee and I thought it was even better than most in Hanoi...Amazing!

Breathtaking rice terraces at Tu Le, Yen Bai

When I went back to the hotel, Thanh was in the restaurant and was enjoying his coffee too. We got some time chatting about the program of the day and got back to the room for the check-out. Leaving the hotel at 09:00 A.M, we made our way to Tu Le, 50km from Nghia Lo Town and it took us 1 hour to get there. Tu Le is similar to Lao Chai and Ta Van of Sapa, except that the rice terraces are so beautiful that photographers from Hanoi travel a few hundred kilometers to get here only to take photos of the rice terraces!

Arriving at Tu Le at 10:15 A.M, we had to leave the car and used the motorbike of our friend in town to travel around into the villages. Thanh was busy looking for the right point with best angles to take photos while I was thinking that the photos of the rice terraces are so amazing here. We visited the area at the right time, right after the rice transplanting and the colors of the terraces were just stunning. It took us three hours around the area and it was nearly 13:30. We pulled ourselves to one of the local restaurants and got a simple lunch. The restaurant got a lot of specialty dishes of the town, but we only asked for simple food. We were worn out...

Rice terraces of Tu Le from Khau Pha Pass

At 14:00, we got into the car and off we made our way out of Tu Le. After some 10 kilometers from Tu Le, we found ourselves climbing the Khau Pha Pass. The Pass is over 2000m above sea level and always covered in fog. Dangerous it may be, but it also offers breathtaking view of the surroundings. Thanh cast a glance back and asked the driver to stop. Looking back at Tu Le Valley, we were dump-founded by the mesmerizing beauty of the fresh nature and of men's works. The rice terraces of Tu Le were so spectacular...Different patches offered different kinds of green colors, they lined side by side and looked so soft just like sheets of water colors! We thought we'd make it to Mu Cang Chai early, but actually spent 3 hours on the road with stop every 3-5 minutes for adoring the the magnificent beauty!

Rice terraces of Tu Le from Khau Pha Pass

Arriving at Mu Cang Chai at twilight, we got straight to the guest house and got early dinner before getting the room. We knew the local people normally had early nights here and didn't want to miss our dinner! After dinner, there was a power failure which gave us a good reason to go to bed early...It was so quiet outside and having enjoyed life so much during the day, I slept straight away...

I woke up at 05:45 A.M thanks to cock a doodle doo sounds. They seemed to be having a race this early morning which blew up the quietness of the mountains. I put on some warm clothes and got my shoes on for a walk around the town. Yes, there were only some ten houses lining one street which ran along a stream. That was Mu Cang Chai Town. The town is over 1000m above sea level and is surrounded by mountains. One the one side, the mountains are covered with beautiful pine forests, on the other side they were stunning rice terraces. I was sure I knew the reason for which so many photographers had made their way on the bad roads and past through high mountains and passes for this little town a few years ago...

Stunning rice terraces at Mu Cang Chai, Yen Bai, Vietnam

Arriving back at the hotel at around 07:30, my buddy got up and was having breakfast. I joined him and talked about the plan for the day. At 08:30 we got a motorbike from the guest house and made our way to the surrounding terraces of Mu Cang Chai. Those at Che Cu Nha, Ze Xu Phinh and La Pan Tan Communes were just stunning. We had to leave to motorbikes sometimes to climb uphill for the best angles. The landscape here was so beautiful that we spend most of the morning making our way amid the terraces. I was thinking that our photographers would have some best pictures of Vietnam from the terraces here...

We got back to the guest house when it was almost 14:00. Our stomach started roaring asking for food. Yes, we deserved some after hard work then. The rest of the afternoon was easy chit-chatting with the ladies in town and coffee. It was a peaceful town, but given the beauty it possessed, I was wondering for how long it would be this peaceful?

From the cloudy Khau Pha Pass (2100m above sea level)

The final day was a long one as we traveled via the Hoang Lien Mountain Range via Sa Pa and made our way back to Ha Noi late in the evening. We were a bit tired, but I was sure I'd come back when the rice ripened to take in the golden rice terraces...

Traveling on the Hoang Lien Mountain Range of Sa Pa, it was so cold and foggy...

Hanoi Vietnam

The Charming Ha Noi of Vietnam

Hanoi is the elegant capital city of Vietnam sprawling its way along the Red River banks. There are many lakes, parks and leafy quarters which make the city just freshly green all year round. Ha Noi was first built in 1010 by King Ly Thai To who checked and found out that Feng-shui here was exceptionally good for the prosperity of the kingdom that time; Ha Noi was called Thanh Long meaning "the city of ascending dragons" then. Ha Noi is among the top lists of destinations for those who long for Vietnam vacations.

Hanoi's architecture is the blend of Vietnamese, Chinese and French. The city is known to the locals as three main areas: The Ancient Citadel Area (11th century) which was home to the Royal Family; The Old Quarter (Ancient Business Area) dated back from the 11th century was the business quarter of Old Hanoi; The Frech Quarter with French architure dated back from the 19th century were home to the French residents of Hanoi during their time here.

My family moved into Hanoi when I was 10 years old. The city was too overwhelmed for a boy who had been brought up amid wild and green mountains in the far-northern area of Vietnam. I had been more used to wild buffaloes plowing the green terraces than weaving chaotic traffic always full of mopeds and noise. Our new house was just by the airy and breezy West Lake which offered me a few free dips every summer morning. Every day, after school, I went to Bach Thao Park to seek new adventures with a few newly-made friends. My carefree childhood in Hanoi was full of fun and adventures.

Autumn in Ha Noi is like no others. It was here that autumn changed my life! I found myself waking up one morning caressed by the soothing breeze of fall with the news that I got admission to university! I ran for my bike and flew like a crazy boy down Thanh Nien Road to meet with other buddies for the coffee of celebration. That morning never fades out in my memory...

Seasons after seasons, I grew up with Ha Noi. The city seems to share the same rhythms with my heart and soul: be in when gathering with friends in the city parks; be it when mulling over my favorite hot coffee amid the old Town; be it the late nights I tumbled my way back home from the heavy Bia Hoi Stuff (draft beer)....

I'm about for an new adventure of life when my new project calls for my presence half of the country away from Ha Noi. Amazingly Ha Noi is heading into fall earlier than usual. I just wanted to take in as much as I could before leaving...Morning started with a walk in the chaotic Old Quarter watching traffic weaving through the smoke of my dear hot coffee as always. I suddenly didn't want to do anything, just liked to keep it this way forever. The sudden rain just set in and stopped, just like to bid farewell.

Leaving Ha Noi this time I'm sure I'll be away for a while. I'm off back to the mountains researching the new Vietnam holiday experiences. I'll help to bring all Vietnam travel experiences be it savoring the fine cuisine, be it getting lost in the culture; be it a hardcode biking adventure.... a complete one!

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Vietnam Dien Bien Phu

DIEN BIEN PHU

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The French started attacking Vietnam in 1857 and managed to invade Sai Gon, southern Vietnam in 1858. From 1858 to 1865, the French marched northward and gradually invaded all of Vietnam. Along with its neighbors Laos and Cambodia, Vietnam was put into a French colony called Indochina.

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In 1940, the French surrendered to the Japanese and the Japanese used French to rule Indochina. In 1945, the Japanese lost in the World War II; before the allies moved into Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh and Viet Minh (Vietnam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi – The League for the Independence of Vietnam) had led the Vietnamese people throughout the country to seize power, established the Vietnamese authority and proclaimed independence on September 2nd, 1945.

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After series of events staged by big powers, the allies troops moved out of Vietnam leaving the country to the French troops' control. From the end of 1945 through the end of 1946, French troops came into constant clashes with the Viet Minh's troops over the control area. On the night of December 19th, 1946 Ho Chi Minh, on behalf of Viet Minh, declared war against the French after French artillery opened fire killing thousands of civilians in Hai Phong and Ha Noi: the Franco – Viet Minh War or the First Indochina War started. Viet Minh would take to the jungles in the northeast of Vietnam to conduct the war.

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Vietnam Propaganda Liberation Army, later renamed the People's Army of Vietnam, was founded on December 22nd, 1944 at a jungle in the north-east of Vietnam. Vietnam Propaganda Liberation Army at its early days was capable of conducting guerrilla warfares in the mountainous regions of north-east and north-west of Vietnam only.

By 1947, Vietnam Propaganda Liberation Army has evolved step-by-step into a conventionally-organized army; and for the first time, did it defeat the French troops in the French autumn-winter military operations of 1947 which were series of military expeditions of the French in attempts to crush down the Viet Minh' army, Viet Minh's headquarters and its liberated zone.

In 1950, through series of Viet Minh's military operations in the border regions between Vietnam and China, Viet Minh's Army started showing its maturity and its dominant capabilities over the French troops.

From 1950 through 1952, Viet Minh took the initiative to lead the French from one military operation to another throughout the country which caused heavy casualties to the French troops and confused the French military commanders about the next movements.

VIETNAM DMZ TRAVEL GUIDES

By mid 1954, the French had realized that it had lost the war to the Viet Minh and would not want to fight further. The Geneva Conference was held on the 20th and 21st of July 1954 to solve the problems in Indochina producing a number of agreements to settle the war. The set of agreements were called the Geneva Accord.vietnam travel

According to the Geneva Accord, Vietnam was temporarily divided into 2 zones with the provisional military demarcation line between North and South Vietnam was the vicinity of 17° N latitude from the mouth of the Ben Hai River (Cua Tung River) and the course of that river. The Demilitarized Zone was to be created on either side of the demarcation line to width of not more than 5 km to act as a buffer zone. Vietnam was to become an independent nation. Elections were to be held in July 1956, under international supervision, to choose a government for Vietnam. vietnam tours

The temporary division of Vietnam would mean 20 years; the Demilitarized Zone would be the most destroyed area during the war; the election would simply never come as planned in 1956. The Geneva Accord was simply meant to be on paper only. Voyage au Vietnam

Nowadays traveling in the DMZ, the visitor can still visit the live marks of the war and learn about the proccess of bringing the 2 pieces of this country together again.Vacances au Vietnam

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