Travelog - A travel guide to Vietnam

Undoubtedly, Son La Prison is one of the most famous historic relics in Son La Province and a large number of tourists visit \”the hell on earth\” during French colonialism to listen to the stories about the struggle and bravery of communists.

The French colonialists built the prison on the initial area of 500m² on the top of Khau Ca Hill in the center of the town of Son La in 1908, mainly for confining common criminals.

Frightened by the ever-surging movement, the French expanded the prison by 1,500m² in 1930 and a further 170m² in 1940 to detain more revolutionary soldiers.

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Almost all the hamlets in the Central Highlands have gong teams in service of rituals and festivals

On November 25, 2005, Vietnam’s cong chieng (gong) culture of Tay Nguyen (the Central Highlands) was officially recognised by UNESCO as a masterpiece of the oral and intangible culture of humanity after the court music of Hue. This affirms that Vietnam has an age-old culture with many traditional art-forms that should be protected, preserved and developed.

Nobody knows when the gongs appear on the sunny and windy land of Central Highlands. Many people guessed that the gong culture originated from the Dong Son Civilization (3,500-4,000 years ago) with its bronze drums being well known.

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Water puppet performance of Thang Long Water Puppetry Theatre always attracting a lot of foreign visitors

My dear fellow-countrymen, do I have to introduce myself when coming here?” This is the greeting of buffoon character Teu, who enters onto the water stage from the tormentor to the beat of drums and exciting rhythms of percussion music, starting a water puppet play.

Originating from effigies made to keep birds or mice from destroying crops plus their habits of wet rice cultivation, farmers created the art of water puppetry. The water surface of lakes or ponds serves as the stage while spectators sit at Read the rest of this entry »

Apart from Hoi An, Hanoi is Vietnam’s only city where ancient streets can be found. These streets still keep the same appearance that they had at the end of 19th century. According to historical sources, they have been the true core of Thang Long since its foundation about a thousand years ago.

The area occupied by these ancient streets forms a triangle with its top at Hang Than street and its base at the axis of Hang Bong - Hang Gai - Cau Go street, the eastern side being a section of the Red River Dyke and the eastern side being Hang Cot, Hang Dieu, and Hang Da streets.

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Tay Phuong Pagoda’s
foundation built of laterite.

Red houses built of laterite are seen concentrated in ancient villages dotting stretches of highway measuring hundreds of kilometers in the northern hilly region. Raw as it is, the material is still braving the erosion by time and harsh weather conditions and preferred by locals.

A layer of laterite, hundreds of metres thick, is found deep underground in the basaltic northern hilly region. From time immemorial, Vietnamese people have been using laterite to build their houses which are warm in the cold winter and cool in the hot summer under the tropical weather conditions.

Thach That (literally meaning rock houses) District in Ha Tay Province is described as one of the major concentrations of laterite. Laterite has been long associated to the life and sentiment of locals here for generations now, evidenced by the use of hundreds of laterite blocks as the foundation of and the 237 steps leading to Tay Phuong Pagoda (865-873). Read the rest of this entry »

“Catching tortoises”,a traditional dance
of the Red Dao.

Over thousands of years of national construction and defence, the ethnic people along the northern border areas have created a rich and diverse cultural tradition, of which festivals are considered an important factor in their spiritual life with unique and distinctive features. One of them is “Seeking Fortune” feast by the Red Dao

The Red Dao in Ho Thau Commune, Hoang Su Phi District, Ha Giang Province holds a feast to seek fortune in the beginning of the year, from the first to the 15th day of lunar January.

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Location: Quang Tri, Vietnam
Quang Tri Citadel is situated in the central of Quang Tri Town. Quang Tri Citadel was a military bastion and it was also an administrative head office of Nguyen Dynasty in Quang Tri Province (1809 -1945).

Quang Tri Citadel was built in 1824, during the 4th year of the reign of Minh Mang. The citadel is approximately 60km north of Hue.

The citadel had a style of Vo-bang architecture with its circuit of 2.160 metres – one door each side. There were four fortressed jutting out from each four corners to control the four citadel gates.

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Do people call it physical and non-physical culture? Whether they think of it this way or dream of it another way, they have to recognize it when staying in the heart of the ancient town of Hoi An, day and night.

In the late afternoon, Hoi An brightens with a golden sunshine. As an old seaport, just like so many other harbours in the world, Hoi An always becomes animated in the afternoon, which is the transition from day to night, and the harmony between the mainland and the sea, between reality and imagination.

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The ancient Do tunes have
attracted more young people
in Liep Tuyet Commune.

Do singing—an ancient art genre that used to be performed for kings, lords and mandarins in the feudal regime – is now being revived thanks to its simple and close to the life lyrics and joint efforts of locals in Liep Tuyet Commune, Quoc Oai District, Ha Tay Province.

The legend goes Do singing with its 36 tunes was handed down to villagers in Ha Tay by Saint Cao Son (Son Tinh) – one of the most sacred Saints in Vietnam. According to the villagers’ old custom, a Do singing festival was held once every 36 years so that only at that time villagers just had a chance to sing and listen to the joyful and witty songs, and the number of artists who know all 36 tunes, can be counted on the finger tips. It was one of the reasons that made the artistry fall into oblivion for a long time.

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Sweep through Hue and the classic grace of women clad in ao dai will surely to make a lasting impression on you. But behind the beauty is a rich history, brimming with cultural significance.

Most Hue women have at least one ao dai of violet colour, a specific characteristic for this ancient capital. Ao dai have been an indispensable part of life for Nguyen Thi Duyen Sanh for 35 years. The 52-year-old former schoolteacher wore an ao dai for the first time at age 16, shortly after Hue was battered by war.

Her ao dai, made of a milky-white raw cloth with a short collar, dangling waist, long sleeves and broad wide flaps, was sewn by hand by her elder sister. It had, of course, all the elements to make it terribly en vogue with girls at her high school.

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