Travelog - A travel guide to Vietnam

The pieu headscarf is one of the typical features of the Thai women’s costume. It is made delicately with colourfully embroidered patterns deeply imbued the wild nature. Pieu not only represents the beauty but also reveals the skillfulness and talent of Thai women.

On the black background material, Thai women weave pieu in different styles from various threads which are dyed by a substance extracted from trees’ barks or fruits’ seeds. The patterns on pieu headscarves are embroidered differently, much depending on weaver’s personality, feelings and tastes. Normally, it is made with complicated fringes and harmonious colours of red, yellow and indigo. Particularly, it is decorated with refined embroideries of lozenge-and- zigzag shapes, flowers, streams, etc.

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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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The family of Tien and Loan is the biggest lotus stamina supplier in Hanoi.

In one of his writings, Hai Thuong Lan Ong Le Huu - Trac, a well-known Vietnamese scholar and physician in the 18th century, described the lotus plant as follows: “Though it grows in mud, the lotus plant is never affected by the bad smell arising from the mud. Instead, it absorbs the fresh and pure air from nature that makes its stem, flowers and leaves valuable herbal medicines”.

Ngo Thi Trinh, a woman who owns a lotus scented tea shop named “Ninh Huong” at 22 Hang Dieu Street in Hanoi, is widely known to both Vietnamese and foreign tea lovers. Trinh has processed lotus tea for quite a while and her skill in this field is unparalleled. Talking with her about how she makes scented tea, one realizes the reason why her product is in so much demand by her devoted customers.

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