Interesting culture and places in Hue, Vietnam; as featured in the 3rd episode of The Amazing Race Asia (TARA) season 3.
Hue City
Huế is a historic city in central Vietnam and was the imperial capital of Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945). Hue is located about 1100km from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s capital city. It took about 25 hours of bus ride to travel from HCMC to Hue.
Complex of Hue Monuments
The Complex of Hue Monuments is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Sites; the complex comprises of 16 historic monuments from the Nguyen Dynasty. Among the monuments that featured in The Amazing Race Asia were the Khai Dinh Tomb, Minh Mang Tomb and Hue Citadel (the pitstop).
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Bahnar Rong (Ba Na Rông) are communal houses of the Bahnar tribe from Central Highlands (Tây Nguyên) region of Vietnam.
The distinctive features of the traditional Bahnar Rong are the tall & steep roof and lifted platform which are built to adapt to the (often rainy) tropical weather; the houses are traditionally used for cultural, religion and gathering purposes for men.
These traditional Bahnar Rong are almost obsolete nowadays, as the people are replacing their communal houses with iron and cement instead.
The photos here were taken at the Museum of Ethnology in Hanoi where the Bahnar Rong, along with other traditional houses of various ethnic minorities, were built as an effort to preserve the fading Vietnamese culture and heritage.
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Interesting culture and places in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; as featured in the 2nd episode of The Amazing Race Asia (TARA) season 3.
Mae Kompong
Mae Kompong is a village in Chiang Mai Province. Once a poppy growing area, but now home to a small community of forest dwellers who cultivate tea and coffee plantations.
Mae Kompong is also home to the Treetop eco-tourism village where visitors can take an exhilarating flight (with zip line and slide) through a 1500 year-old rainforest in the “Flight of the Gibbon” adventure…
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Chand Baori is a famous stepwell in the village Abhaneri near Jaipur in Indian state of Rajasthan. This step well is located opposite Harshat Mata Temple and is one of the deepest and largest step wells in India. It was built in ninth century and has 3500 narrow steps and 13 stories and is 100 feet deep.
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The St Joseph’s Cathedral in Hanoi was opened in 1886, a year after the French colonial officially occupied the country of Vietnam. The cathedral still holds mass twice daily and is probably the most famous church in Hanoi.
The Beijing National Aquatics Centre, popularly known as the Water Cube, will host the swimming, diving and synchronised swimming events during Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
The Beijing National Aquatics Centre at night (Image by
Tzutzu)
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Some photos of Hoan Kiem District in Hanoi, taken during my July 2008 visit. The influence of former French colonial are pretty obvious when it comes to buildings’ structure and architecture…
Busy roundabout… with cars, motorbikes,
cyclos and pedestrians on the road
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The Beijing National Stadium, popularly known as the Bird’s Nest, is the main venue for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. It will host the track & field events, football matches, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies of the game.
The Beijing National Stadium aka the Bird’s Nest (Image by
Noel)
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