The beautiful flowers of Vietnam

Flower production has always been a traditional activity of the Vietnamese and cut flowers are mainly produced by small holders in their garden plots.  

An old lady chooses flowers at a street vendor in HCM City

The tropical flowers are grown in the southern part of the country while the more delicate blooms require the temperate climate of the mountain region of Dalat.

The Vietnamese people love flowers and no festival or celebration is complete without them, if you are lucky enough to be invited into a Vietnamese home you will see vases of beautiful arrangements in the rooms.  In hotel lobbies the works of art that are produced by highly skilled and imaginative florists are a wonderful first impression for the overseas tourists, fuelling the notion of exotic Vietnam.

The markets traditionally have an area dedicated to flowers and bucket loads of wonderful blooms adorn the streets adding color and vibrancy to the street scene.  Whether buying or sightseeing it is a therapeutic experience to wander through narrow alleyways lined with a multiplicity of color, softness and above all, perfume.  The best time is in the earlier part of the morning when the flowers are at their freshest and before the heat and humidity overpower the fragrances.

Those wanting to view the wonderful array of flowers available should make a trip to the street market in Ho Thi Ky in District 10.  The stalls are loaded with varieties of every type of bloom, the lotus flowers are in abundance as are buckets of roses and chrysanthemums, the orchids come in every color of the rainbow and the gladioli stand majestically, the most valued being the deep red.  A large bouquet of flowers can be selected for a very reasonable price.  It seems that flowers bloom everywhere in Ho Chi Minh City along the streets of the city and suburbs, the subtle shades of the classical orchid, the piquant purple pansy and the boldly wild sunflower.

Dalat (the name is derived from the pine woods for which it is famous) is the place to visit if you want to see more of the magnificence of Vietnam’s plant life and blooms and the best time to go is in the early spring, during the Flower Festival which is held in early January. The blues and pinks of the hydrangeas in season are startling. The peach trees, in blossom near Xuan Huong Lake, are a particularly beautiful sight. They used to grow in forests around the city but, unfortunately, most of them have now been cut down. Then there is the yellow Mimosa from Australia and the flamboyant purple of the Brazilian Jacaranda trees.

For people who live and work in the City it is uplifting to see the natural beauty of flowers decorating the streets and markets, take time to see beyond the stress of the man-made environment. Enjoy the fragrances, the color, the shapes and the delicacy, your soul will be more content for the rest of the day.

By Ann Wheaton 

Pictures of Vietnam cuisines on American magazine

The American Journal - Martha Stewart Living - a famous magazine dedicated to American women, has published a series of pictures of Vietnamese cuisine.

Soup with consomme pouredfrom a caremic pot.

Salad with minced pork, shrimp and grapefruit.

Salad with chicken.

Salad with vermicelli and grilled pork.

A table with many Vietnamese dishes.

 

Vietnamese bread.

Martha StewartLiving introduces many different kinds of bread. 

The difference is in the stuffing with a variety of materials.

Beef steak and asparagus salad.

 

A cup of coffee in Vietnam style.

Vietnamese cuisines are impressive because each dish goes with different sauce.

Vietnam has many kinds of spring rolls.

Beef vermicelli.

Beef noodle.

Shaved ice, litchi syrup mixed with ginger juice, served with sesame cakes.

Grilled shrimp with herbs, added with crushed peanuts and a little of lemon juice.

Grilled pork.

Fried vermicelli served with saute shrimp and mint leaves.

Grilled pork served with watermelon and cucumber salad.

 

Rice noodle with salad for hot summer days.

Crispy spring roll.

Chau Doc (Mekog Delta)

Chau Doc on the edge of the Mekong Delta is the stepping stone to Vietnam for travellers arriving from Cambodia. We arrived on the back of motorbikes that had collected us at the Cambodia/Vietnam border near the town of Tinh Bien which is 30km from Chau Doc (see Vietnam-Cambodia border crossings).

They dropped us at the very nice Trung Nguyen Hotel which overlooks the main market in the town centre. Nice, clean rooms with very helpful receptionist at just $10 a night. Another good budget option is the Thuan Loi Hotel which is right on the river where the ferry from Phnom Penh docks. The Song Sao Hotel is a good mid-range option located almost next to a small bookshop called 'the English Bookstore'. The charming owner loves to practice his English and will take you on private tours of the river.

Instead we chose to take a tour with the owner of the 'English Bookstore'. We met at his shop at 7am and walked down to the river where his friend's boat was waiting for us. First of all we headed south east along the river beyond the Victoria Hotel and met up with the approaching floating market. Our boat got right into the action and we were able to step onto one of the trader's boats as they sold all manner of fresh fruits and vegetables.

From here we crossed the river and went to see the floating fish farm houses which have fish cages under the living area. We then visited a Cham village and its mosque before returning to Chau Doc. This 2.5 hour private tour cost us just $7 for the two of us.

Sam Mountain

The other main tourist attraction of Chau Doc is Sam Mountain which is 6km from town so you'll need some transport. On our first night we were 'stalked' by one of the cyclo riders who seemed to pop up no matter which street we were on. He wanted $5 to take us to the mountain so we agreed to meet him the next afternoon and head there for sunset.

The cyclo rider picked us up at 3.30pm arriving with his wife and Downs syndrome daughter. The poor bloke works 24 hours a day to support his family as as his wife has to stay at home to look after their child. They could put her in a government school but then they'd never see her again. The cyclo man just puts his situation down to Lord Buddha and just gets on with it with a big smile on his face. A lesson to us all!

A couple of moped riders gave us a push on the way to the base of Sam Mountain then our man showed us around Tay An Pagoda, the Temple of Lady Xu and the Tomb of Thoai Ngoc Hau. The moped drivers then took us to the top of Sam Mountain (for a small fee) then waited for us so that we could watch the sunset over the endless padi fields with Cambodia in the distance.

It was a hard cycle back in the dark without the help of the mopeds, even more so when we got a puncture. When we paid the rider more than he'd asked for and paid for his puncture to be repaired ($7.50 in total) he seemed quite concerned and informed us that we'd given him more than we'd agreed and wanted to be sure that we were aware of it!

Sword Lake(HoGuom) overflowed, many Hanoi streets flooded

Heavy rain all day long on August 8 flooded Dinh Tien Hoang and Le Thai To, the streets around the Hoan Kiem (Sword) Lake. The other "black spots" such as Dien Bien Phu, Le Duan, Nguyen Khuyen ... were also 40-50 cm deep.

Owing to heavy rain all day long, the Sword Lake overflowed.

Dinh Tien Hoang and Le Thai To streets were also flooded.

Workers were mobilized to prevent flooding in the city center.

Water flooded the sidewalk...

...making Dien Bien Phu Street more immense.

Nguyen Khuyen Street.

Part of Tho Nhuom Street was blocked to enable faster drainage.

Tran Hung Dao Street.

Flooding made many vehicle break down...

Prolonged congestion at Cua Nam.

Nguyen Xien Road was 40 cm deep.

A bus stop on Nguyen Xien Road.

A foreign tourist at the Sword Lake (photo VOV).

Police vehicles carry motorcycles through flooded road
Rain stopped but at noon August 9 the Road 70 in Ha Dong District, Hanoi, was still heavily flooded. The authorities sent vehicles to the site to help people.