Vietnam Holidays

Phung Nghi village, in Hanoi’s Hoang Mai District, is famous for their tradition of making incense sticks.

 Incense a large part of spiritual life 

For years, incense sticks have been an important part of Vietnamese Tet holiday, in addition to chung cake and a tray of five fruits, which are supposed to represent the harmony between heaven and earth.

In Phung Nghi, science acts as a bridge between past and present. Ho Duc Hai, a researcher, busies himself by studying and testing fragrances for different types of incense designed for several cultural areas across Vietnam, in order to gather a database on the natural ingredients used for the manufacture of incense. Tram incense, which comes from Hanoi, Bai incense-sticks from the Northeast, Dan incense-sticks from Ho Chi Minh City, Tram incense sticks from Kinh Bac and Long Xeng incense, from San Chair Village, in Lao Cai  have been the focus of his studies.

Bui Quoc Vinh, a craftman in Phung Nghi, said the most difficult and complicated part of producing incense is the kneading of incense powder, which must be handled by skillful crafmen.

“Some types of incense are even made with a combination of dozens of herbs in exact proportions. It requires a lot of effort to knead incense powder and to make an incense stick.”

It often takes between one and two years for an apprentice to learn how to properly make incense sticks, said Dao Van Phat, another craftsman from Phung Nghi.

“The process of making high-quality incense can take up to nine hours, before putting the sticks out to dry in the sun. This preserves their odor,” Nguyen Van Chien, a local craftman shared.

Craftsmen in Phung Nghi are usually around 52 years of age. Some of them are as old as 80. Their work requires devotion and adds to the spiritual life and culture of the country.

Researcher is testing fragrances

Kneading takes great skill and effort

A meticulous job

Apprenticeship usually lasts from one to two years

Phung Nghi incense hang in the sun to dry

Skill and effort required

Old craftsmen

The mountainous district of Moc Chau in Son La Province has been an ideal destination for those who seek for peace or romantic getaways.

Surrounded by hills planted with tea, Moc Chau, which is 190 kilometres northwest of Hanoi, looks charming in the fog and the cold of the forest.

Many believe that this is the best time of year to visit the area, with the Tet holiday soon to come and favourable conditions.

Napa cabbage flowers along side peach trees

Immense fields of napa cabbage flowers

Mong people’s houses dwarfed amid boundless fields of flowers

Path to Thong Cuong High School

‘Little house on the plateau’

Visitors marvel at the mountains

Inspired by romantic scene

Thong Cuong Village surrounded by immense fields of napa cabbage

A stop at a pristine site

Mong children surprised to see visitors

Early blossoms on a plum tree

Little girl from Hanoi happy with a new ‘playground’

White plum flowers

Peach trees add colour to mountains in Long Luong

You may now enjoy the serenity and beauty of Vietnam without making a hole in your pocket by booking airline tickets from reputed online travel companies to get the best airfare discount.

Lively images of the historic Long Bien Bridge, dating from past to present, have been put on display at an on-going exhibition near Hoan Kiem Lake.

Tranquil: Cau Long Bien Mot Thoi Binh Yen (Long Bien Bridge in Peace), oil on canvas by Pham Kim Binh.

Abstract: Song Song Hong (The Hong River Waves) by Nguyen Thu Thuy.

Through 169 watercolours, oil paintings, pastel drawings, lacquer and wood carvings and sculptures, the city’s young and senior artists have depicted the 100-year-old bridge, particularly through wartime. Their works tell of heroic deeds carried out in the struggle against foreign invaders alongside tales of daily life, as connected to the bridge that spans the Hong (Red) River.

Mat Dat Bau Troi Thang Chap (The Earth and Sky in December), a large-scale oil painting by Nguyen The Huu, depicts the bridge with American aircraft gliding in the sky and soldiers keeping their adversaries on the back foot.

Artist Trinh Quoc Thu uses the image of a dragon hovering in the sky, breathing fire on the enemy warplanes to protect the bridge and people on the ground through his oil-on-canvas Cau Long Bien – Cay Cau Chung Nhan Lich Su (Long Bien Bridge – Historical Witness). Truong Trung also symbolises the bridge with an image of a flying dragon, holding a fire ball in its mouth with his Vuot Song Song Hong (Crossing the Red River Waves) on acrylic.

The bridge is presented mostly in hot colours such as red brown, yellow, orange and deep blue to describe a life full of energy of not only the bridge itself, but also of the people by its river banks.

Images of a peaceful life appear through one painting after another, illustrating a banana market, farming in rice fields, fishing boats in the early morning, traffic, a parade of cyclos involved in an engagement party and images of children with kites.

“Through these paintings, I got to understand a little more about the history of the bridge,” said a 10th grader from the Ly Thuong Kiet High School while viewing Song Song Hong (The Hong River Waves) by painter-journalist Nguyen Thu Thuy.

Creator of the Hanoi mosaic mural, Thuy utilised tiny, square ceramic pieces of red brown, orange and turquoise on a base of lacquer to give her work life.

The bridge has always been an inspiration to writers, poets, musicians and painters, said a member of the organising board and the Hanoi Fine Arts Association at the opening of the exhibition on Monday.

Designed by Gustave Eiffel, Long Bien Bridge was built in 1898 by the Dayde and Pille Company, and inaugurated in 1903. At the time, it was the longest bridge in Indochina and one of the four longest bridges in the world.

With a length of 1,682m including 19 steel spans, the bridge is a fine example of the engineering featured in the Paris Eiffel Tower. The bridge, having survived countless bombings, stands as a symbol of Vietnam’s courageous fight for liberty and serves as a connection between Hanoi’s past and present.

The event opened on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the day late President Ho Chi Minh sent a letter to artists during an exhibition in the northern battle field in 1951 and the 65th anniversary of the nationwide war of resistance against French, December 19, 1946.

The exhibition, Cau Long Bien – Ky Uc va Hien Tai (Long Bien Bridge – Memory and Present), will run until next Thursday at 93 Dinh Tien Hoang and 19 Hang Buom, Hanoi.

Gardeners in Hanoi’s famous flower and apricot village of Nhat Tan are in a hurry to cultivate trees to prepare for the lunar New Year (Tet holiday), which is coming in over a month.

A gardener is pruning to urge the tree to have buds early

This year the winter is not very cold so some trees have blossomed.