The floating village is a cultural heritage and tourist attraction in Halong Bay, Vietnam. People have been living in these houses for hundred of years with fishing as the main income activity. Some photos below, taken during my trip in July 2008…
Quan Com Pho is a Vietnamese restaurant in Hanoi. Found this place via a travel guidebook during my Hanoi visit in July 2008, and the restaurant seemed pretty promising on some online reviews… thus giving it a try.
Their menu was quite different from what I had at other Hanoi restaurants; their food was kinda like a fusion of traditional Vietnamese cuisine with some new cooking ideas.
Sticky rice rolls with roast meat… quite a gem
Halong Bay (Vịnh Hạ Long, lit. Bay of the Descending Dragons) is a UNESCO World Heritage site in Quang Ninh province of northern Vietnam, famous for its scenic landscape with thousands of limestone isles in various sizes and shapes.
Halong Bay has become an international travel hotspot in recent years; there must be more than 200-300 junks and cruises that depart daily from the port, with thousands of travellers visiting the destination each day.
The weather was perfect during my July 2008 visit. My guide told me that the clear blue sky are normally seen only for two-three weeks in one whole year. Sounds exaggerated, but my Hanoi friends later reaffirmed the statement… one of them had been to Halong for five times and had never seen such a clear weather. Lucky me :)
Some photos from the seaport and first glimpse of Halong Bay…
Hue Food is a restaurant that sells Hue cuisine in Hanoi, Vietnam. The restaurant is located at 6, Lý Thường Kiệt Street; found this via a local newspaper’s food column during my Hanoi visit in July 2008.
Hue is a historic city in central Vietnam and was the imperial capital of Nguyễn Dynasty (1802-1945). Vietnamese food in general can be divided into three categories… the northern food, southern food and central food (which is often referred as Hue food).
One of the distinctive difference between Hue food and other Vietnamese food is the popularity of roundish vermicelli (bún) instead of the flat rice noodle (phở) in other Vietnamese region. Hue food also tends to be a bit spicier, but still mild in relative to Malaysian or Indian food.
There is a popular Hue dish called the bún bò Huế (Hue beef soup noodle), but I am not quite sure if the noodle soup I had at the restaurant was what I hope it was…
One of the most bizarre things in I learned of Hanoi during my July 2008 visit was the complexity of the wires and cables which hang around every corner of the streets; which actually looks kinda cool…
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).
Bahnar Rong (Ba Na Rông) are communal houses of the Bahnar tribe from Central Highlands (Tây Nguyên) region in Vietnam.
The distinctive features of traditional Bahnar Rong are its tall and steep roof, and also its 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.
Photos below were taken at 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 traditions and heritage.
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…