Wanderlust Tips Team, Author at WANDERLUST TIPS • Page 142 of 197

8 must-see places in The Mekong Delta in the afternoon

Travel to The Mekong Delta in the afternoon, where to go and what to do to have the most enjoyable experiences? Here are eight suggestions from Wanderlust Tips.

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LONG TUYEN ANCIENT VILLAGE – TYPICAL BEAUTY OF SOUTHERN VILLAGE

Far from Can Tho’s city centre about 5 kilometres is Long Tuyen Ancient Village, which is considered as a place of convergence of cultural values, symbolising the beauty of the waterland, and it is one of the five Vietnam ancient villages recorgnised by Vietnam Record Association. Although over 100 years old, surviving the test of time, Long Tuyen Village still retain its ancient beauty and unique cultural identity.

Long Tuyen’s scenery is as beautiful as a painting with a crossing river called Binh Thuy. Binh Thuy River is 15 kilometres long, seperating the village into two symmetrical halves and from the village it is divided into 30 interlacing canals. To this day, Long Tuyen Ancient Village has preserved many old architectural works bearing historical and cultural values: Binh Thuy Ancient house, Binh Thuy Communal house, Nam Nha Pagoda, Hoi Linh Pagoda, Long Quang Pagoda.

Must see: Bui Huu Nghia Historical Monument.

Cuisine: The ancient village has many cafés such as Hong Nhung, Khanh Ly, Loc, Pho Xua, Tuyet Hang Anh My …

MY KHANH TOURIST VILLAGE – AN ATTRACTIVE ECO-TOURISM SITE

Located between Cai Rang and Phong Dien Floating markets, My Khanh Tourist Village with an area of 8ha belongs to My Khanh Commune, Phong Dien District, Can Tho City. This ecotourism site attracts visitors with its beautiful gardens in the waterland and a variety of exciting entertainment activities.

Top tips:

Coming here, visitors can explore, and learn about the local life when visiting Southern ancient houses, enjoying “Don Ca Tai Tu” show, working as a farmer for one day, visiting the traditional cultural village, visiting fruit gardens, travelling by horse-drawn carriage or electric taxi, boat rowing, watching pig and dog racing, monkey shows and crocodile fishing. In My Khanh Village, you can find homestays with fully equipped bungalow for guests. Admission fee: VND50,000 per adult and VND30,000 per child.

Cuisine: The restaurants in the tourist village: Da Da, Luc Giac, Ancient House, Nha Xua, Bat Giac, Thuy Ta, My Khanh.

CAN THO GARDENS – ENJOY THE FRUITS OF THE MEKONG DELTA

One of the experiences that can not be missed while visiting the Mekong delta is to visit the orchards. The gardens often have an area of a few hectares, with luxuriant orchards with a variety of fruit: mango, rambutan, mutant coconut, green skin pomelo, dragon fruit, mangosteen, … Here, visitors to the garden can enjoy fruit all year round. In addition, visitors can also try working as a farmer when fish catching at the canal or harvesting fruit. Through these activities, visitors will somewhat learn more about the idle working life of the locals.

Top tips:

Can Tho has a lot of fruit gardens for tourists to visit such as Lung Cot Cau Tourism Site (Nhon Nghia Commune, Phong Dien District), Con Son (Binh Thuy Ward, Binh Thuy District) Vam Xang Orchard (My Khanh Commune, Phong Dien District), Muu Cuong Tourist Garden (My Khanh Commune, Phong Dien District), Bao Gia Trang Vien Eco-Park (Thang Thach Ward, Cai Rang District).

Cuisine: Enjoy the specialties of the Mekong delta Vietnam in the garden.

SA DEC FLOWER VILLAGE – A TOURIST ATTRACTION IN DONG THAP

Sa Dec Flower Village is located in Tan Qui Dong Commune, Sa Dec City, Dong Thap Province. This village is windy, fertile, and full of sunshine all year round and is home to hundreds of exotic species of flowers. The flower village has an area of about 60 hectares, with 600 households and 3,600 workers specialising in growing flowers and ornamental plants. In every month of the year, visitors can admire a forest of flowers, mire ysillage a forest of flowers featuring various colours and aroma. Along with typical plants, such as starfruit, areca nut, carmona retusa, cluster fig trees, banyan, and apricot, there are rare plants over a hundred years old.

Top tips: From Can Tho’s inner city, follow National Highway 1A, then cross National Highway 80 to Tan Qui Dong Commune, Sa Dec City, Dong Thap Province. The distance is more than 60 kilometres.

Must see: Sa Dec Flower Village Park.

Cuisine: Restaurants in Sa Dec City: Sadec Riverside Restaurant (397 Tran Hung Dao), Hai Lua Restaurant (Ton Duc Thang Street), and the Sa Dec Flower Village Café.

PHUONG NAM ZEN MONASTERY – THE LARGEST MONASTERY IN THE MEKONG DELTA

Located in Lo Vong Cung Historical Site, Phuong Nam Zen Monastery was inaugurated on 17th May 2014 in My Khanh Commune, Phong Dien District, Can Tho City. The monastery was built on an area of nearly 4 hectares, with a total construction cost of VND145 billion. The building of the monastery restored the monastery of Buddhist Monk Tran Nhan Tong.The main hall and ancestral house were built in the cultural architectural style of the Ly and Tran dynasties. The bell tower and drum tower resemble the bell tower of the Keo Pagoda in Thai Binh. In particular, these four structures are made of ironwood, from about 1,000 logs imported from South Africa. The Shakyamuni Buddha statue in the main hall is made of bronze, weighing 3.5 tons; the great bell weighs 1.5 tons. The statue of Bodhisattva and Patriarch of Zen Buddhism is carved from 800-year-old coniferous evergreen wood. The interior is well-proportioned with Guanyin Hall, Maitreya Buddha Hall, One Pillar Pagoda, Lecture Hall, Guest House, a prayer hall, a library, and the Oriental medicine room.

Cuisine: Along Province Road 923 in Phong Dien District, there are restaurants such as Ha Chau Restaurant, Riverside Café, and SaKe Garden Café.

ONG PAGODA – 100-YEAR-OLD PAGODA CHARACTERISTIC OF THE CHINESE ARCHITECTURAL STYLE

Ong Pagoda was built by the Chinese community of Guangzhou and Zhaoqing (Guangdong Province, China) in Can Tho from 1894 to 1896 on an area of over 500m² for religional purposes. Therefore, the pagoda is also called Quang Trieu Hoi Quan. The pagoda boasts a unique Chinese architectural style.

Top tips:

The pagoda is located at 32 Hai Ba Trung, Ninh Kieu District, Can Tho City. Ong Pagoda has three main ceremonies of worshipping Guan Gong (on the 24th of the 6th Lunar month), Holy Mother (on the 23rd of the 3rd Lunar month), and the most quintessential activity of Ong Pagoda Festival: the lantern auction ceremony (auction of six-sided lanterns) that takes place every 10 years with the belief that the lantern will bring luck and success to the owner.

Cuisine: Southern Restaurant (1 Ngo Quyen), Royal Palace Restaurant (55 Phan Dinh Phung), Hoa Cau Café (4 Hai Ba Trung), and V18 Club (Hai Ba Trung Street).

CAN THO’S KHAM LON PRISON – NATIONAL HISTORIC RELIC SITE

Kham Lon Prison is also known as the Prison Provinciale, built by French colonialists in 1878-1886 for the colonial government. Surviving more than a hundred years, it is evidence of cololonial and imperial crimes, as well as honourable evidence for the indomitable spirit of the Vietnamese people.Can Tho’s Kham Lon Prison is divided into two locations, with 21 collective cells (with a capacity for 30 people but in fact there were more than 100 people kept in each cell) and many small cells for solitary confinement. In addition, there are other structures such as pagodas, churches, kitchens, a supervisors’ department and vocational hall. Additionally, there are also displays of torture tools, artifacts made by prisoners, pictures, and precious documentation.

Top tips: Address: No. 8 Ngo Gia Tu Street, Tan An Ward, Ninh Kieu District, Can Tho.

Cuisine: Ninh Kieu Restaurant and Ninh Kieu Sky Bar (2A Hai Ba Trung), Rooftop Bar (16 Tran Quoc Toan), and Senior Coffee (36 Ngo Gia Tu).

CAN THO BEACH – RELAX WITH THE WAVES AND ESCAPE HEAT IN CAN THO

In fact, Can Tho Beach is an artificial beach by Hau River in Bai Cat Area (Ninh Kieu District, Can Tho City). About 400 metres of the riverbank were covered with 1 million cubic metres of sand to create an artificial beach. From here, visitors can admire Can Tho Bridge nearby.

Top tips:

The ideal time to visit Can Tho Beach is about 14:30pm – 10pm because it is cool, mild and not intensely sunny. Entrance fee: VND20,000 per person. Here, visitors can swim in the cool water and participate in many exciting underwater games such as water motorbike, kayaking, banana floats and high speed boat trips along the beach. Especially, by Can Tho Beach, there are magic shows, exciting dances.

Cuisine: Prince Restaurant and beverages stalls by the beach.

Wanderlust Tips

8 must-see places in The Mekong Delta in the morning

Travel to The Mekong Delta in the morning, where to go and what to do to have the most enjoyable experiences? Here are eight suggestions from Wanderlust Tips.

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CAI RANG FLOATING MARKET – GOING TO THE MARKET ON THE RIVER

Cai Rang Floating Market is located in Cai Rang District, Can Tho, about 30 minutes by boat from Ninh Kieu Quay. There are many floating markets in the Mekong delta, and Cai Rang is the largest and most famous one. The market specialises in the sale of local fruits and agricultural products. In the morning, hundreds of boats are in close proximity to one another. The seller hangs the products on poles from the nose of the boat, so buyers would know what kinds of products they sell.

Top tips:

Cai Rang Floating Market is often open fairly early in the morning until about 8 or 9am. Due to the needs of the buyers, besides fruit and agricultural products, many other things are offered: noodle, hu tieu (noodle with seasoned and sautéed beef), coffee, and floating pubs. Guests rent boats to explore floating market with prices from VND350,000/boat.

Must see: Take a boat trip to visit the floating market, fruit garden or hu tieu factory.

Cuisine: Enjoy local specialties on the boat in the market.

BANG LANG STORK GARDEN – THE LARGEST BIRD SANCTUARY IN NINE DRAGON RIVER DELTA

About 60 kilometres away from Can Tho’s city centre, Bang Lang Stork Gardens is located in Thoi Thuan Ward, Thot Not District, Can Tho City. This place attracts hundreds of thousands of storks (white storks, gray storks, black storks, little cormorants) from many regions migrating to find places to nest. They land on the mid-sized bamboo branches, swinging with the wind, calling for each other. Visitors have the opportunity to explore the interesting living habits of crowded storks amidst the peaceful countryside of the Mekong Delta.

Top tips:

To see the vibrant living rhythm of the garden, visitors should go from August to January according to the lunar calendar. Especially, if you want to admire the cattle migrate, you should come here from February to April according to the lunar calendar. From 5am to 6am, the flocks will fly away to find food; at about 5pm, they will fly back. These are ideal times of the day to visit the stork garden, enjoy the moment of beautiful stork wings in the dawn or sunset. Ticket price: VND10,000 per person. Opening hours: 5am-7pm daily.

Cuisine: Along the National Road 91, in Thot Not District, there are many restaurants such as Phuong Nam (Thuan An Ward), Loc Phat (Long Thanh Ward).

TRA SU CAJEPUT FOREST – BEAUTIFUL PAINTINGS OF GREEN NATURE

Tra Su Cajeput Forest is located in Van Giao Commune, Tinh Bien District, An Giang Province, about 20 kilometres from Chau Doc City and 130 kilometres from Can Tho City. This is a typical riparian forest in the Mekong delta area of the Hau River, home to many waterbirds, wild animals and aquatic species in Vietnam’s special-use forest. Moreover, visiting cajeput forest, you have chance to learn about the unique cultural value of the Khmer and Kinh communities living along the forest with many traditional handicrafts such as brocade weaving, jaggery making, cajeput essential oil distillation and beekeeping.

Top tips:

To explore cajeput forest, visitors can rent tandems to ride around the forest or travel on small boats or canoes threading through the canals. The green of cajeput covers the space, and dozens of singing birds will make visitors feel like they are getting lost in the wonderland.

Cuisine:

Enjoy specialties: roasted siamese mud carp, snakehead fish steamed with gourd, rice field crab served with tamarind fish souce, tamarind sauce, sesban flowers salad … at the restaurants in the residential area along cajeput forest.

TRAM CHIM NATIONAL PARK – EXPLORE THE DIVERSE ECOSYSTEMS OF WETLAND

Tram Chim National Park is located in 7 communes of Tam Nong District, Dong Thap Province. The national park has an area of 7,588 hectares, home to many species of flora and fauna, of which there are nearly 200 species of waterfowl, accounting for about a quarter of all bird species in Vietnam. Visiting Tram Chim National Park, visitors will be guided through waterways on the lagoons, passing through the Melaleuca forests and immense grasslands, experiencing firsthand the beauty and interesting activities of the birds.

Top tips: From Can Tho’s inner city, go along National Highway 1A then turn left, and then follow the National Highway 30 to Tram Chim National Park. The distance from Can Tho to Tram Chim is about 120 kilometres.

Must see: If you have a lot of time, you can visit the attractions of Cao Lanh District, Dong Thap Province: Xeo Quyt Relic (Hamlet 4, My Hiep) and Gao Giong Ecotourism Park (Hamlet 6, Gao Giong Commune) are located on the road from Can Tho to Tram Chim National Park.

Cuisine: Enjoy country-style dishes with authentic flavours at the food court in the national park.

TAN LAP FLOATING VILLAGE ECO – TOURISM SITE – IMMERSE YOURSELF INTO THE NATURE

Located in the centre of Dong Thap Muoi, Tan Lap Floating Village (Tan Lap Commune, Moc Hoa District, Long An Province) is a wetland with a typical cajeput forest, lotus, water lilies, water hyacinth, and wild rice lakes. It is home to many kinds of animals (birds, storks, fishes, etc.). The forest canal runs through Tan Lap Floating Village, in front of which, there is the gentle river called Vam Co Tay. Here, visitors can stroll on the path through the forest, or sail through the forest canal, enjoy a panoramic view of the vast forest from the observation tower, explore the cultural identity of local residents with traditional handicraft, the art of Don Ca Tai Tu (music of talented amateurs), and special festivals.

Top tips:

From Can Tho’s inner city, tourists can follow National Highway 1A, cross Can Tho Bridge and go straight. Then you will pass through Vinh Long City (Vinh Long Province) and Cai Lay Town (Tien Giang Province) to Long An Province. Continue to drive along National Highway 62 to Tan Lap Floating Village. The distance is about 120 kilometres. Ticket price: VND55,000 per person.

Cuisine: Bring food to the eco-tourism site or enjoy specialty food in the Tan Lap dining area.

VINH TRANG PAGODA – A COMBINATION OF ASIAN AND EUROPEAN ARCHITECTURE

Vinh Trang Pagoda is located on Nguyen Trung Truc Street, My Phong Commune, My Tho City, Tien Giang Province. This is the largest Buddhist temple in Tien Giang Province, and it was also ranked a national historical-cultural relic in 1984. Vinh Trang Pagoda was built in the shape of “Nation”, a Chinese character that resembles a pagoda. The temple also includes elements of the Renaissance, a Romanesque style, French decorative flowers, and Japanese enameled tile. Chinese characters are written in the ancient style, but the national language is written in Gothic characters. On the exterior, the architecture of the pagoda is an unusual yet harmonious combination of Asian and European aesthetics. However, the internal architecture of the temple still features the traditional Vietnamese sculptural style.

Top tips: From Can Tho’s inner city, tourists can travel along National Highway 1A through Vinh Long Province, Tien Giang Province to My Tho City. The distance is over 100 kilometres.
Must see: Along the way from Can Tho City to Vinh Trang Pagoda, tourists can visit Dong Tam Snake farm in Binh Duc Commune, My Tho City.

Cuisine: Right on Nguyen Trung Truc Street, there are many restaurants such as: Bo De, Sy Gia, and Ta Hien Restaurant.

THE FAMOUS PAGODAS IN SOC TRANG – PRESERVING TRADITIONAL CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL VALUES

Soc Trang Province is home to more than 200 pagodas of three ethnic groups: Kinh, Khmer, and Chinese (the Khmer ethnic group accounts for nearly 29%). Therefore, it is not strange to see, in almost every district and commune, the presence of different pagodas, creating a beautiful and holy architectural complex honouring traditional cultural and historical values of Soc Trang in particular and the Mekong Delta in general.

Top tips:

From Can Tho’s inner city, follow the National Highway 1A to Hau Giang Province, passing through Nga Bay Town (Hau Giang Province) to Soc Trang Province. The distance is about 60 kilometres. Soc Trang Province has many pagodas, but top the four must-see pagodas are: Doi Pagoda, Dat Set Pagoda, Kh’leng Pagoda (in Soc Trang City) and Chen Kieu Pagoda (My Xuyen District, 10 kilometres from Soc Trang city centre).

Cuisine: Enjoy famous Soc Trang cuisine: fish broth with rice vermicelli, da salad vermicelli, coóng cakes, blotched snakehead porridge, Vietnamese pancakes, grilled beef, grilled pork skewer, and hu tieu noodle.

PRINCE OF BAC LIEU’S HOUSE – THE MOST PROMINENT HOUSE IN SOUTHERN VIETNAM IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Prince of Bac Lieu’s House was built in 1919. The two-storey building is distinguished by its luxurious white colour and magnificent French architecture. This place is associated with the Prince of Bac Lieu, Tran Trinh Huy, the most famous male patrician of Southern Vietnam in the early 20th century.

Top tips:

The house is located at 13 Dien Bien Phu, Ward 3, Bac Lieu City, Bac Lieu Province, near Bac Lieu river bank. From Can Tho’s inner city, follow National Highway 1A through Can Tho Bridge, then go straight and pass Nga Bay Town (Hau Giang Province) and Soc Trang City (Soc Trang Province). Exiting Soc Trang Province, you will arrive in Bac Lieu Province. The distance is over 100 kilometres.

Must see: Visitors can visit the famous sites of Bac Lieu City, such as Xiem Can Pagoda which has typical Khmer architecture, the Bac Lieu wind farm, Bac Lieu Beach, and the Bac Lieu Salt Field.

Cuisine:

Enjoy Bac Lieu’s specialties such as fish sauce hot pot, Ngan Dua thick noodles and creamy coconut milk, Pungent rice vermicelli with beef, Vietnamese pancake, xa bau (salted and sweetened radish), bulrush, seafood, etc.

Wanderlust Tips

Share the love: Voluntourism

Discover the feelings of travellers and volunteers from the United States, Belgium and Vietnam when participating in community activities in Vietnam, Malaysia and Korea.

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SCOTT ELLIS, 31, BELGIUM

Through workaway.info, I found interesting projects where I could be useful. I paid only 20USD for me and my partner for 1 year of registration. And we’ve done volunteering in Malaysia on an organic farm and another in South Korea in an exchange language café. Our job was to talk English with locals.

My experience in Malaysia wasn’t good because the manager was annoying. And most of all, I was expecting to be learning some stuff. But I spent 10 days cutting bamboo and my partner spent 10 days on her knees taking out all the weeds. My experience in South Korea was, in contradiction, very good. I had a good time talking with local people. They were so nice and showed me around. And by that way I now know more about their local culture and lifestyle.

For both of the volunteering experiences, we had free food and free accommodation. Most of the places offer that (in exchange for 4-5 hours of work). But some places don’t offer anything and people have to pay for everything.

Yes, for some people, they are willing to pay a lot of money to join a trip. And bad people can use this good will to make profit. I hardly join such kind of trips because I don’t like the idea of making profit on the back of poor people or kind-hearted tourists.

But for me as I travelled 43 months, it’s just a break during travelling. For me my travel wasn’t holidays, but it was a way of life.

TRAN DUC BAO, 21, VIETNAM

I volunteer every year because when I attended a religions school in Boston, there were always volunteer trips for students. We also distributed food to the poor and homeless people and in our spare time we went around exploring the destination. It was a bit interesting but I did not feel very excited about these trips.

But the trip to Lo Lo Chai (Ha Giang Province) in July was the first tour I booked myself. And indeed, the trip was so great that it brought me unforgettable feelings. Probably because we were all Vietnamese, so I felt a sense of empathy and I deeply connected with the people here. And that made me more inspired to do volunteer work and help people in Lo Lo Chai.

My job was teaching English to young children, and every month there is a volunteer groups that comes here to do this work periodically. I had the chance to meet local people and stayed at a homestay, and walking a lot helped me to be familiar with the streets. At a cost of just over VND 1.6 million for a trip of 2 days 3 nights, it is also very cheap and worth your money compared to what I had experienced here.

Next summer I am planning to attend a longer volunteer program for about two weeks to a month, teaching in Lao Cai Province. Learning, connecting and giving is the best way to make me feel life is more meaningful and help me grow.

DIYA HEBLE, 22, UNITED STATE

I’ve never had a volunteering experience like this before. It was my first time volunteering in this capacity outside of my home country. I worked on business development with a partner organisation called Hoa Ban Plus, supporting a group of disadvantaged women in a rural district called Mai Chau. I was very excited to help them develop their own handicrafts so that they can earn their living and be financially independent. I was able to watch with my own eyes how our hands can help other people’s life, how we can play a little role in the journey to make an unfortunate persons’ future brighter.

Since that moment, I have felt so engaged with volunteer work that I decided to contribute to Volunteer For Education in any way I could by being an intern. During the time of my internship at this organisation, my main responsibility was to encourage more foreigners/expats to partake in the volunteer programs. So I helped with a lot of marketing efforts, formed partnerships with other organisations/businesses, and did some photography for content creation. I hope more and more people can partake in such meaningful trips to help people in need.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time outside of the office as well, in Hanoi. I had never been to Vietnam before, and I love travelling, so it was a pleasure to gain an understanding of Vietnamese culture and experience a different lifestyle.

ALEX PIKE, 26, UNITED STATES

I heard about “All Hands” from a friend that I met when I was travelling in Vietnam. I applied to work in Nepal while I was in Thailand.

We would go to a beneficiary’s property and help them to clear out rubble and remains of their old homes so that we could have a clean area for building a new house. I was on site for 6 weeks during March and April of 2016. We slept in dormitories for free and all of the meals were included on days that we worked. We worked from early morning until mid-afternoon. When we got back to base, we could relax, swim in the river, and hang out with each other.

When I finished my 6 weeks, I went trekking for 6 weeks to Mount Everest and some other breath-taking mountains. Nepal is an amazing country. I can’t wait to go back someday. I’d love to do the exact same thing again!

I loved volunteering. I made so many great friends and it felt great being able to help people every day. Handing over a new home to people in need is an amazing feeling. I didn’t have a lot of money to share, but I did have time, youthful energy, and positivity, and I think that sometimes, that’s the best thing to share anyways.

I think everybody can benefit from volunteering. I also got a lot stronger and gained some leadership skills. So, while I was helping others, I was able to grow as well.

Wanderlust Tips

Voluntourism: Travelling for a good cause

Some consider travelling a way to escape from reality or to get away from familiar places to sunbathe or sightsee. For others, travelling doesn’t need to be a holiday, but another way of living, learning new skills, experiencing different cultures first-hand and helping others. From this point of view, voluntourism has room to grow. From an economic view: a billion-dollar market.

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According to an article posted in 2014 on Washington D.C based National Public Radio, voluntourism is one of the fastest growing trends in travel today with more than 1.6 million volunteer tourists spending about USD2 billion each year.“Already, the industry is worth USD173 billion per year, and it is estimated that emerging markets will surpass advanced economies in international arrivals,” stated the Tourism and Hospitality Research 2014.

Thousands of organisations providing volunteer vacations grant people a chance to travel for a good cause. Among these, Africa has the most organisations, nearly 500, offering more individual programs and products than any other region (over 2,000). Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, and Uganda are some of the most popular destinations for volunteer programs, as revealed in the above-mentioned research.

This trend has drawn great attention from millenials who expect life experience and personal growth while still looking for a chance to give back to the host community. And voluntourism provides them with exactly what they are seeking. According to a survey released by Marriott Rewards Credit Card, 84 per cent of millennials say they would travel abroad to participate in volunteer activities, and 32 per cent of millennials are interested in taking a charitable trip.

FROM A TOURISM VIEW: A TRIP OF A LIFETIME

The numbers mentioned above are impressive enough. Yet besides from a commercial aspect, we may also find it more amazing to see the motivation that urges people to join and how they feel after a trip. That would explain why more and more people are willing to spend their vacation and even money on this kind of travel. “It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life,” said K. Wulfers from Texas who volunteered in Kenya with an organisation called Love Volunteers. She said that she enjoyed meeting people and went on excursions to discover the local life during her free time.

Africa seems to leave exceptional experience. Like K. Wulfers, Sabrina Colombo felt so engaged with the job that she decided to become a long-term employee of LEO Africa after joining a lion and black rhino volunteer monitoring programme based in a private game reserve of 33.000 hectares. The main job of the 2 game drives was to monitor the lions, but also elephants, leopards, hyenas, cheetahs and some birds and mammals of interest. The volunteers help collect data in the field and then enter it into a computer as the staff has to provide weekly, monthly and annual reports for the reserve, to help make the correct decisions to keep the balance in the reserve. The volunteers come from all over the world. In addition bush walks, koppie climbing, sleeping outside and night drives are planned and the participants share their time with people from all around the world. “I fell in love so much with this place that I ended up doing everything I could to come back! I got back to Italy after volunteering for 2 months, saved money to do a course to become a field guide and now here I am! My dream came true!!!” she said excitedly.

A little bit different, Mai Huong, a 24-year-old Vietnamese travel enthusiast, finds voluntourism to be a way to travel more on a little budget. She found her chance with WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms). With this organisation, the young writer experienced being a farmer in Mongolia, Thailand and Myanmar. “I did farming work at organic farms and found it interesting to cultivate, breed and do many other things I have never done before. I worked 4-5 hours per day from Monday to Friday, and in return the farms provided me with food and a place to stay,” said Hương. Hương was also very excited to try a different living lifestyle: “I lived with many other voluntourists and we took turns to cook traditional dishes from each nation. It was really fun as we now know more about different cultures and cuisine.”

Actually, compared to the normal way of travel, voluntourism can help save money. Another voluntourist shared that, she took part in a programme to teach English in Chile for 8 months with WorldTeach and the program cost was about USD4,000, including airfare, visa, training, housing and meals, and a stipend to cover basic costs.

Whether you aim is to broaden your experience, to learn new skills or to take a dive into a new culture, when you travel on a budget on a volunteer vacation you get all of it by contributing to the local community, which adds meaning to your trip. Wearing and McGehee (2013), in a book analysing this trend, concluded that, ‘‘international volunteer tourism often focuses on humanitarian and environmental projects with the intention of serving the communities in need.’’

Volunteer For Education (V.E.O), which has been established in 2013 in Hanoi now provides many volunteer tours to remote regions of Vietnam such as Lao Cai, Phu Tho, Yen Bai and Ha Giang. “There have been around 10,000 people joining our tours since they were established,” said Thuong, a member of V.E.O. “The volunteering work includes teaching English and soft skills, renovating roads and maintaining or building schools. We run this social business to improve living standards, education and infrastructure in remote regions of Vietnam. Bringing people to lesser-known places, we hope to raise people’s awareness about poor conditions in the regions and even sometimes in places that are located in famous tourists destination.”

In 2014, National Geographic listed the volunteer programme in Vietnam operated by Global Volunteers in their 50 Tours of a Lifetime.

THE FLIPSIDE

Even though many people feel that the voluntary trips they take are exceptional, and fantastic and some even wish to experience the same trip again, that does not mean that there aren’t any negative things about this kind of travel. For tourists, the complaints are normally about being overcharged, poor accommodation and many other issues relating to the gap between expectation and reality. One shared with Wanderlust Tips, that he was so disappointed as he was expected to learn some stuff, but he had to spend 10 days cutting bamboo and his partner spent 10 days on her knees taking out weeds. Another voluntourist was expecting to teach English to children but when he arrived, all the children had finished school.

Many people pour thousands of bucks to sign up for this kind of tour but they, for some reason, do not really take part in the trip, but are still charged. And then, a question arises about whether the money they spent went to the people in need or to the organiser’s pocket. Being asked about the financial transparency, V.E.O, who turned from a NGO to a social business, reveals that they re-invest the income in the social projects but cannot make clear to voluntourists how much they allocate in what way to the local projects. With an average 9 people signing up for a tour with V.E.O per day, many will have questions about this issue, especially when their experience from the trip is not what they expected. This situation is likely to happen. In fact even the organisations with good reviews can be doubted of being a scam if involved in such financial disputes.

From another point of view, short-term voluntourists can do more harm than good for the host community, especially in the specialised fields such as health or childcare. That is not to mention the question of whether or not a community is comfortable with strangers in their midst and how they make sure that local culture is protected and respected. According to a journal on CNN, in the case of orphanage tours to places like Siem Reap in Cambodia, the presence of wealthy foreigners wanting to play with parentless kids has actually had the perverse effect of creating a market for orphans in the town. A system has emerged in which parents will rent their children out for the day to play with gullible backpackers, creating fraudulent orphanages in response to visitors’ demand for them. Lumos, a charity by J.K.Rowling, proved that 90 per cent of the eight million children in institutions worldwide are not orphans and have families at home which want to care for them but cannot because they are pushed into institutions because of poverty and discrimination on the basis of disability or ethnicity. “Voluntourism is one of drivers of family break up in very poor countries. It incentivises ‘orphanages’ that are run as businesses,” she tweeted and this is the reason why Lumos does not support voluntourism.

It sounds terrible enough for any kind-hearted human being, but even if there is no such conspiracy, some argue that the orphans are vulnerable and they need stability instead of a momentary commiseration.

Wanderlust Tips

How to survive a desert or semi-desert drive

Here is some brand-new advice from the road-trip experiences of Tran Dang Dang Khoa – the young man travelling around the world on a motorcycle.

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During these past few weeks, I have crossed through the deserts and semi-deserts of Balochistan Province, Pakistan and Sistan, Baluchistan Province (Iran), which are famous for harsh weather, arid climate, and extreme vastness.

Heat from the sun, road surface, sand, and blowing wind will wear you out very quickly. On road trips with self-driving vehicles in foreign countries, you will sometimes encounter the following situation, especially if travelling in countries with similar terrain and climate. In addition, if you drive long distances in a hot season with high temperatures in Vietnam, it is important to make sure that your journey is safe and favourable, so that you can enjoy exciting experiences along the way.

CHECK THE MOTORBIKE CAREFULLY BEFORE DEPARTING

Extreme environments often have very few residents living along the road, so you may only find a low number of repair shops, or none at all. If any damage occurs along the way, it will be very dangerous and you will waste a lot of energy to repair it yourself. Before departing, you need to change the lubricating oil, check the amount of water, and fill up the water for the engine cooling system. If the temperature is too high, the engine can get very hot, and if the engine doesn’t have enough oil, it can also get hot and easily damaged. In addition, it is necessary to check the tire pressure. When travelling paved roads, it should be pumped moderately, but when driving across a sandy area, it is recommended to let the air out of the tires to increase the tire’s footprint (You should carry a hand air pump to fill up the tires when you return to driving on paved roads).

BRING PLENTY OF WATER, FOOD, AND GASOLINE IF YOU GO FOR DAYS

Driving under the hot sun, you will soon be dehydrated, so bring plenty of water and pack it carefully into various bags and containers so that even if your motorbike falls, the bags and containers will not be broken. Gasoline reserves are equally important; you should carry a suitable amount of gasoline for the distance that you will travel. Also, it is recommended to carry 1.5 times the capacity of your motorbike tank. Petrol containers should be especially designed to prevent collisions and leakage, and to withstand high temperature. At the gas station, after filling the tank, make sure you fill up the reserve containers, as you may not know whether the road ahead has any gas stations.

WEAR CLOTHES THAT COVER THE WHOLE BODY

There are many misconceptions about dressing when driving through desert, such as wearing shorts and short-sleeved shirts. This is not right. You should follow the Arabs, who have lived in the desert for thousands of years: cover the whole body. The sunlight in the desert and semi-desert has extremely high radiant emissivity, which causes bad effects for the skin. Continuously exposing your skin to sunlight will cause injuries to the body and wear you out quickly. It is recommended that you wear long-sleeved clothes, shoes, gloves, sunglasses, and a full helmet to protect your body and minimise physical damage when accidents happen. Some people, especially motorcyclists, even dip their clothes in water before entering the desert, to reduce the heat and keep body’s moist.

MOVE ON THE ROAD

Keep a steady speed and curb the amount that you increase and decrease your speed, so that the engine is not forced to work too much. This also optimises the fuel consumption of the motorbike. There are very few vehicles in the desert, but you still need to pay attention to vehicles in the same or opposite direction. When driving through thick sandy areas, your motorbike may tilt and continuously lose balance; if this happens, prop your legs up in the sand to keep balance and push the motorbike if it sinks in the sand and cannot move.

It is recommended that you locate your centre of gravity at the centre of the motorbike. Do not lean forward or backward, otherwise the centre of mass of the motorbike will be distorted. When changing direction, this could cause difficulties, such as the motorbike sinking in the sand. When travelling through the thick sand, you should shift down to a lower gear and drive at a steady speed. Avoid increasing the speed, as your motorcycle may lose balance easily.

SOME OTHER NOTES

Notify your family or friends about your planned destination and arrival date so that if you get lost or your motorcycle is damaged along the way, someone will know and call for help if necessary. Bring a thin tarpaulin (if you ride a motorbike) to use as a sun-shading tool when taking a break along the road or stopping to repair your motorbike, as it will be very hard for you to find any shade.

After getting out of the desert, wash your vehicle and thoroughly clean the gears and drive chain, as the sand can erode them very quickly and cause other damage for the motorbike. You should travel in a group and have tow rope or winch to support each other when driving on the sand. Avoid going alone if you do not know where you are going. If camping in the desert, be sure to bring sturdy tents, blankets, and pads because the temperatures in these areas grow quite cold at night. Other necessary items are flashlights, cooking utensils, and other basic camping gear.

Wanderlust Tips

Conversation with Ray Pu-lei Kuan: General Manager of Vietnam’s Air Macau representative office

Mr Ray from Vietnam’s Air Macau representative office shared with Wanderlust Tips some interesting information about Macau’s only carrier and a new image for the country they are presenting to the world.

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How long have you been working for Air Macau?

I am Taiwanese and have been working for Air Macau for over 20 years. During this time, I worked for many different offices of Air Macau but mostly places in China such as Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Zhuhai. I have mostly been in charge of sales departments.

And because outbound tourism from Vietnam increased 10 per cent last year, Air Macau’s leaders came up with the idea of launching a representative office in Vietnam. In the same year, I was sent to Vietnam to do market research multiple times. And that’s why I am here: to set up things for the Vietnam office. In the past six months, we have undertaken all the office set-up work including the office license application, legal procedures, and developed the local sales teams.

Why has Air Macau decided to open a representative office in Vietnam after four years flying here?

After a long time flying to Vietnam, we recognised Vietnam’s market potential. Air Macau is very small, but we are intending to expand our flight network in Vietnam including Hanoi, Danang, and Ho Chi Minh City. We would also like to increase our flights to Hanoi from one to two or three daily flights. Danang is also very popular with Taiwanese, Korean, and Japanese tourists. And we are aiming to go to Ho Chi Minh City – a modern city with a large market and many beautiful places close by especially islands. Vietnam has so many attractive destinations stretching from North through the Centre to the South.

Vietnam is witnessing fast-growing outbound tourism as I mentioned before. Besides, there are around 15,000 Vietnamese people living and working in Macau. And the number increases 8 per cent per year. If each person comes home once per year, that means more than 40 people fly a day. All of this ensures our chances to expand as we are aiming to cater to both labourers and transfer passengers. Because of that, we prefer to fly to existing popular destinations rather than add new ones to our flight network.

Vietnam is developing very fast now. When I fly, it is not hard to recognise many Vietnamese people in the business lounge or business class on board. Vietnamese people now are willing and able to pay for good or even classy services.

What are the challenges Air Macau has in developing the Vietnamese market?

Firstly, visas are one of the biggest issues now. We hope in the future, the visa scheme will be loosened for Vietnamese people who want to travel to Macau. At the moment the visa to Macau takes time and Vietnamese people have to prove financial capability and many other conditions to apply for a visa to Macau. But the change may take some time as it involves legal policies.

Secondly, I see that in Southeast Asia, people don’t know much about Macau; they know more about Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. But once they get there people will realise that Macau is worth a visit. It can be called the little “Europe” of Asia without exaggeration. You will not see chaos or crowds like in many other emerging parts of Asia. Everything here is tidy and well arranged. We hope to bring the new and fresh image of Macau to people in Vietnam.

What does Air Macau have to offer to its visitors?

Macau is the added value we give our passengers. We don’t sell plane tickets only. Macau is of course a place of gambling. The income from casinos in Macau exceeds even Las Vegas, but Macau’s authorities are trying to change its image worldwide, because there are so many other things to enjoy here besides casinos.

Macau is a family destination, it is a place of heritage, shopping centres selling everything from high-end to middle-class brands, big hotels with great views and family space, and many leisure activities to enjoy with your loved ones. For those who love historical and cultural heritage, please note that Macau has both. Comprising over 20 ancient monuments and urban squares interwoven with the heart of the city, the historic district is collectively known as “The Historic Centre of Macau” and has been on the World Heritage List since 2005.

With an Air Macau boarding pass you receive many preferential rates for accommodation in Macau. As the only carrier in Macau, we get the great support from all the authorities and partners in Macau.

Personally, what has been your difficulty when moving to work in Vietnam?

Actually, moving to Vietnam for work is a challenge for me because most of the time I have been working in China – the same language, the same culture. Now I am trying to adapt to a new living and working environment.

Lucky for me, living in Hanoi is quite easy. When my wife, my mother or my brother’s family came here, I took them to lunch or dinner with plenty of choice, which surprised them. I asked: “What would you like? Vietnamese food, Korean food, Japanese food, Chinese food or Italian food?” Even though I am super busy right at the moment, it is not hard to find many kinds of food just several steps from my office. Sometimes I have fried spring roll, or pho bo, sometimes I eat Hue food nearby, or Southern Vietnamese food such as banh xeo.

The most difficult thing for me is the language. I have been working in a Chinese-speaking environment for quite a long time. You can see many Vietnamese language self-studying books on my bookshelf (laughs) as I am trying to learn basic words for daily communication. It is also the way to learn the culture because I will stay here for at least three years in my position, but I expect it will be much longer maybe 5 to 7 years. Another thing is traffic, but luckily I don’t have to move around too much as I work and live in the same building.

What are the new destinations Air Macau is targeting?

Beside Ho Chi Minh City, we are also planning to open new routes to Chiang Mai (Thailand) and Singapore. As I said before, we would like to come into already-developed markets where the volume of passengers is stable at high levels, and not develop new ones.

In the future, we will try to develop more long-haul flights and hope that Macau will not be just a transit place for a couple of hours but a transfer destination where people wish to stay longer.

Thank you for sharing with us many interesting points. I wish you and Air Macau great success in the future.

Wanderlust Tips

Novotel Phu Quoc Resort has won “The Guide Awards 2016-2017”

Novotel Phu Quoc Resort is honoured to receive the award “Excellent resort of the year” at the ceremony of The Guide Awards 2016 – 2017 held at Novotel Phu Quoc Resort. After 2 years in operation, Novotel Phu Quoc Resort has won noble prizes which have recognized our great effort for building and developing the brand in domestic and international tourism market.

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This year, with remarkable criteria aiming to green value and sustainable development in tourism, The Guide Awards had made surveyed, evaluated, voted and honored 115 enterprises in Vietnam classified into 6 categories including: Resort (40 resorts), Hotel (37 hotels), Serviced Apartments (2 serviced apartments), Restaurant (18 Restaurants) tour operator (17 tour operators) and Shop & Healthcare Service (4 enterprises).

“On behalf of Tourism branch and Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, I congratulate enterprises winning the awards today. I’m also welcomed and appreciate highly Vietnam Economic Times during past 18 years making the effort to maintain this award”, Mr Nguyen Van Tuan had speech at The Guide Awards event, “Tourism needs contributions from community, and Vietnam Economic Times and The Guide has had practical activities to contribute to the development of Vietnam tourism”.

Mr Lee Pearce, General Manager of Novotel Phu Quoc Resort shared that the resort always makes effort to bring customers with high class service in the comfortable and luxurious space. “It’s the honour of all staff of Novotel Phu Quoc Resort to win The Guide Awards. And we will continue to improve quality of services better”, said Mr lee Pearce.

Sited on the Phu Quoc island – one of the most beautifully well-known islands in Vietnam for its naturally white sand and stretched beach where is only taken 10 minutes of driving from the Phu Quoc International Airport. Minimalism of contemporary vogue meets comfortable and elegant natural design in your own private hide-away. Around lush greenery garden accommodation or the beachfront bungalow are ideally placed to take advantage of spectacular scenery, either set turquoise sea over looking at the sunset. Enjoy three dining venues that each waking up your taste buds, three innovative bars and the ultimate chill-out lounge. Rest and rejuvenate with array of traditional and international treatments. Literally experiences will immerse you in a local culture heritage, cuisine and underwater discoveries that bring you to the tropical paradise.

Wanderlust Tips | Cinet

Monsoon Music Festival 2017 by Tuborg

Monsoon Music Festival 2017 by Tuborg is back. After 3 years with 3 successful multiple-day events, the festival has gradually become the ultimate icon of the city of Hanoi, which represents the modern and sophisticated young generations. This year, the event will take place at the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long from 10^th – 12^th November 2017, featuring 12 artists/bands from all over the world.

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As part of Hanoi’s long-term development plan implemented by the local authorities, Monsoon Music Festival in the long run will continue to expand to become one of the most prestigious international music festivals of the region. At the same time, Monsoon Music Festival will also drive tourism in Hanoi in effort to promote Hanoi as one of the appealing culture hubs for visitors nationwide as well as worldwide.

Monsoon Music Festival this year will continue to be sponsored by Tuborg – an international beer brand of Carlsberg Vietnam. The official name of the event is: Monsoon Music Festival 2017 by Tuborg. Sharing the same musical values and adopting CSR practices to raise awareness of “drink don’t drive” behavior and better traffic manners are the core pillars of the two brands. We truly believe that together we will bring tempting musical events where people can unwind with their loved ones, whilst committed to contributing to the betterment of the society.

HIGHLIGHTS OF MONSOON MUSIC FESTIVAL 2017 BY TUBORG

Monsoon Music Festival 2017 by Tuborg receives generous support from the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism, Hanoi Department of Culture and Sport, Municipal People’s Committee of Hanoi, Vietnam International Education Cooperation Department and The Department of Performing Arts.

Monsoon Music Festival 2017 by Tuborg this year will take place over the course of 3 days. International singers and bands invited to perform at the event come from all over the world, including Denmark, Belgium, Germany, The United Kingdom, Korea, Slovakia, Israel and Estonia. This would not have been possible without the support from the Embassy of Denmark in Vietnam, the Embassy of Israel in Vietnam, Goethe-Institut Vietnam, the British Council in Vietnam and MU:CON conference.

This year, the event will continue to provide festivalgoers with unique musical experiences. The audiences will get to enjoy live stage performances across various genres, including Pop, Rock, Jazz, Electronic from talented internationally established artists, including Lost Frequencies (Belgium), Ngot (Vietnam), Da LAB (Vietnam), Chris Minh Doky and the Electric Nomads (Denmark), Biuret (Korea), BUD (UK), I Wear*Experiment (Estonia), Garden City Movement (Israel), Lavagance (Slovakia), Lowly (Denmark), the other shi (Germany), and Lucky Duck: Dong Hung (Vietnam).

Monsoon Music Festival also cooperates with other festivals and international organizations to introduce local artists to each other. This is also the opportunity to bring Vietnamese artists to perform at numerous international music festivals worldwide.

Monsoon Music Festival 2017 by Tuborg will issue digital tickets only. These tickets will be redeemed for admission wristbands. The wristbands come in catchy colors and are very convenient for festivalgoers. And there are different types of tickets: VIP pass and regular pass (both single day and multiple-day). Prices will be set reasonably to suit every budget of the audiences.

From 25^th September – 1^st November: The price of Regular ticket is VND330,000 for single day admission pass, Regular multiple days ticket is VND660,000 for 3-day admission pass and VIP ticket is VND550,000 for Single day admission pass with an access to the VIP zone.

From 1^st– 12^th November: The price of Regular ticket is VND440,000 for single day admission pass, Regular multiple days ticket is VND880,000 for 3-day admission pass and VIP ticket is VND660,000 for Single day admission pass with an access to the VIP zone.

CSR THEME: TRAFFIC MANNERS

Monsoon Music Festival 2017 by Tuborg’s CSR theme this year is “Traffic manner” – which is set as the main theme over the period of 5 years from 2016 to 2020. The festival is committed to contributing to efforts that contribute to the betterment of the society through a series of ‘Traffic manners’- themed musical activities.

The aim of the theme is to raise awareness of better traffic manners and to ask people to join us on this project. Traffic manners can be defined as a collection of behaviors including: compliance with traffic laws, understand and follow driving etiquette rules, respect other people with polite behaviors, reflect on the basics of traffic safety and being careful to keep yourself and other drivers and pedestrians safe.

The festival will partner with Taxi Group to bring appealing offers to our festivalgoers. Guests of the event will receive promotional codes applicable on trips with Taxi Group so they can still enjoy the event to the utmost and still arrive home safely.

Monsoon Music Festival by Tuborg’s ultimate mission is to become a cultural icon of the city of Hanoi – something which inspires, encourages and empowers the local people to build a better society.

For more information, please visit:

Website: www.monsoonfestival.vn
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/monsoonfestivalvietnam
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/monsoonvietnam

Wanderlust Tips | Wanderlust Tips

Vegetarian cuisine: The Blissful tranquillity of the Ghost Festival

Lunar July is a time when many families have a vegetarian month to pray for their parents’ health. In our September issue, Wanderlust Tips introduces 4 famous vegetarian restaurants known for their exquisite cuisine and airy space in meditative architecture.

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Although originating from religion, today practitioners, intellectuals and even many of the world’s greatest men such as Steve Jobs, Bill Clinton and Michael Jackson are all vegetarians. In Buddhism, there are two types of vegetarian diet: strict vegetarians who refrain from consuming animal products, and semi-vegetarian who occasionally eat meat.

In addition, in a Buddhist diet you also do not eat the five spices asafoetida, shallot, garlic, mountain leek and al-lium chinense, as they tend to excite the senses. Adopting a vegetarian diet during Ghost Festival or Yulan Month is to express gratitude for the parents, and to bless them with a healthy and peaceful life. In addition, it is believed that the vegetarian diet during Ghost Month can help avoid bad luck.

UU DAM RESTAURANT – HYPNOTISING DINERS WITH ETHEREAL FLAVOURS

Coming to Uu Dam Restaurant means to be cherished and nurtured like the Uu Dam flowers at the heart of Buddhism,” is what many customers say about this peaceful place. Located in one of the busiest streets in Hanoi and named after a kind of flower that appears once every three thousand years, Uu Dam restaurant always makes a strong impression in diners’ minds from the very first sight with its delicate space featuring Buddhist architecture. The three statues of the Buddhas of The Three Worlds, relief works, the atrium and the trees are arranged in harmony to create a tranquil and relaxed space.

Uu Dam’s dishes harmonise a modern and a traditional cooking style and they are not only beautifully presented but also very nutritious such as appetiser soup or lotus root salad or countryside salad. In addition to traditional Vietnamese dishes, Uu Dam has a lot of special dishes, combined with world cuisine such as fried rice with Macadamia and baked vegetables with olive dressing and cashew nuts for diners to choose from. The food menu of Uu Dam restaurant was built with the criteria of not using fake meat and the five spices that excite the senses.With its peaceful and cosy space and the essence cuisine of mother nature, Uu Dam is a place for you to forget all tribulations, setting aside the hustle and finding peace of mind.

♦ Address: 34 Hang Bai str., Hoan Kiem dist. , Hanoi
♦ Tel: 098 134 98 98
♦ Opening hours: 7am – 10pm

TINH NGHIEP RESTAURANT – THE FLAVOUR OF THE OLD CAPITAL’S CUISINE

Located in one of the most vibrant streets in Hanoi, Tinh Nghiep Restaurant with its quiet space separated from the noisy world outside and a beautiful garden with lots of green trees never fails to win customers’ hearts at first sight.

Due to the chef of Tinh Nghiep restaurant having been born in Hue, dishes from his hometown dominate the menu, which includes Vietnamese pancake, poached fern-shaped cake, lemongrass skewer and sweetened porridge. The food here is a combination of culinary and visual arts – it is not only frugal, delicious, cheap and good for your health, but also beautifully decorated. In addition, the restaurant has a number of other dishes with Hanoi flavours, such as noodles and sticky rice that can captivate even those who are not followers of a vegetarian cuisine.

Not only serving delicate vegetarian dishes, coming to Tinh Nghiep, diners can also read Buddhist prayer books or attend lectures and talks on Buddhism by Buddhist monks. Therefore, diners here not only feel comfortable when enjoying tranquil vegetarian dishes and hot green tea with scents of flowers, but also understand more about human life and find a getaway from the chaotic life to peace of mind.

♦ Address: 56A, Doi Can str., Ba Dinh dist., Hanoi
♦ Tel: 024 6259 3292
♦ Opening hours: 9am – 9:30pm

KHAI TUONG RESTAURANT – VEGETARIAN CUISINE WITH INTERNATIONAL INGREDIENTS

Open nearly 10 years, Khai Tuong Regetarian Restaurant has long become a familiar and ideal stopover place for both local diners and foreigners in Hanoi to enjoy delicious vegetarian cuisine.

The restaurant has a very rich menu with more than 200 recipes devised by the owner with fresh vegetables and fruit – she does not use any fake vegetarian meat. A special feature of this restaurant is that the chef uses a lot of foreign ingredients like fresh cream and cheese, so compared to other vegetarian restaurants, dishes here are more modern with flavours of the European cuisine. One of the signature dishes that make up the restaurant’s brand name and wins the hearts of many customers are the vegetarian hot pots such as porridge or mushroom with their unique flavours. A special recipe with pear, apple, Asian pear, sugar beets, sugar cane root, kohlrabi, carrots and luffa makes the porridge hotpot not only sweet, but also fragrant with scents of natural fruit and vegetables.

Not only does it focus on the taste of the food, the restaurant also has regular volunteer programs. Since being established, the restaurant always offers free meals for monks to express gratitude and create good luck.

♦ Address: 112 Kim Ma str., Giang Vo collective area, Ba Dinh dist., Hanoi
♦ Tel: 024 3726 4773
♦ Opening hours: 7am – 10pm

TIB VEGETARIAN – ENJOY VEGETARIAN FOOD, LISTEN TO TRINH’S SONGS

Tib Vegetarian is the only vegetarian restaurant in the Tib’s restaurant chain that was launched in 1998. The restaurant space, though laid out in a simple manner, still looks luxurious and nostalgic, breathing Hanoi’s ancient architecture style, unlike the hustle and bustle of Saigon.

Tib specialises in serving traditional Vietnamese vegetarian dishes, most of which are dishes originating from Hue. Most of the dishes are not cooked from dried ingredients like fake meat, but prepared from fresh vegetables, fruit and tofu. The dishes at Tib have four elements: scent, colour, taste and décor – from colourful hades rice, crispy tofu skin, and moreish jackfruit salad to potato hot pot. In particular, dishes here are not only diversified, but also decorated sophisticatedly and placed on unique plates. One of the things that diners enjoy about Tib Vegetarian is that they are always served hot dishes, whether it is on the 1st of the month, the full moon or the Ghost Festival. Moreover, diners who come to this place can relax with a hot cup of coffee or a glass of cool juice, and enjoy Trinh Cong Son’s beautiful music full of the philosophy of life.

♦ Address: 89 – 91 Phan Ke Binh str., Dist. 1, HCMC.
♦ Tel: 028 3911 5455
♦ Opening hours: 7am – 10pm

Thu Hoai | Wanderlust Tips

Mooncake Tales: The spirit of the Mid-autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival is approaching fast as is evident at every corner and it is time for people to set aside the chaos of life to enjoy time with their family, admire the full moon, eat a piece of cake, sip a cup of green tea and listen to the moon cake’s tales full of deep affection for long-passed and present life.

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FROM THE FLAVOUR OF MEMORIES

In my memory, when the melodies of children’s songs began to rise up from the lips of the kids in my village, it meant the Mid-Autumn Festival was about to arrive and we would soon enjoy the pale skinned sticky cake that filled the air with the faint smell of pomelo and fragrant brown baked mooncakes with mixed nuts.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is a holiday that dates back thousands of years. It is not only a day for farmers to rest and have fun after a hard working period, the Mid-Autumn Festival in traditional East Asian cultures is also a chance for relatives and friends to gather and reunite and it is time for people to prepare festive offerings and to give offerings to ancestors, to express their gratitude for a successful harvest and pray for a good future.

TO EAST ASIA’S ULTIMATE CUISINE

Just like Mid-Autumn Festival is the common holiday of many Asian countries, mooncake is not a unique cake of any country. Culinary culture has characteristics of fast resonance, inheritance and integration, so for a long time, mooncake has been a cake bearing the spirit of reunion and blessing of peace, representing the Mid-Autumn Festival of some countries like China, Vietnam, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Singapore and Myanmar.

Japanese mooncake is the most beautiful and exquisite. The mooncake of the land of the rising sun is a glutinous ricecake – the white round cake symbolises the moon and is called Tsukimi Dango. Sophisticatedly, they decorate the cake like a cute Moon Rabbit, then build a tower of cakes and place them in front of the porch, by the window or wherever they can see the most beautiful moon and enjoy Tsukimi Dango with tea, molasses and roasted soybean flour Kinako.

Contrary to the belief of perfect roundness of the Japanese, Koreans believe the full moon can only wane and a crescent shape/half-moon will fill up, so it is the symbol of luck and growth. So during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Korean people make half-moon-shaped cakes known as Songpyeon. Besides using pure white sticky rice powder as the main colour, they also use green tea powder or wormwood leaf extract for green, pumpkin for yellow and strawberry juice for pink and then Songpyeon is steamed with some pine needles to add a specific and appetising aroma to the cake. Minh Ha who married into a family in Korea 10 years ago told me: “Making a Korean mooncake is not difficult. People here believe that any girl who can make a well-shaped and delicious Songpyeon will find a good, handsome spouse. Married women who are pregnant will give birth to a well-behaved and beautiful baby.”

And in China although mooncake here use the same basic ingredients such as crystallised winter melon, green beans, lotus seeds and salty eggs, each region has different flavours, colours and shapes. While the Suzhou mooncake is round, has a thin crust and is sweet with fatty filling made of green beans and salty egg, Guangdong mooncake has the same taste and texture as our mixed nuts baked mooncake. Taiwanese mooncake, the most distinctive mooncake I ever ate, is soft and shaped like a puff pastry. Filipino mooncake called Hopia has a rough crust, but is soft, creamy and sweet smelling inside. For a more special mooncake, you can taste Thailand’s durian mooncake.

VIETNAMESE MOONCAKE – JOURNEY FROM TRADITION TO MODERNITY

When we were little, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, we always competed to see which hamlet had the biggest star lantern, the most beautiful fruit offering and shared the desire of enjoying sweet mooncake we only tasted once a year.For Vietnamese people like my family, mooncake is not simply a kind of food it is also the symbol of reunion. So during the Mid-Autumn Festival, every family regardless if rich or poor, there is a pair of cakes to offer the ancestors and the gods. In the past, we only had two kinds of mooncake, the pale skin sticky cake and brown baked cake with mixed nuts. The filling of pale skin sticky cake is made of crystallised winter melon, melon seeds, lotus seeds, roasted sesame seeds and Chinese sausage. While the crust of pale skin sticky cake is soft and fine, the crust of baked cake is sweet smelling, greasy, crispy and spongy. The filling of the baked cake is bigger and has diced fat to add a more delicious and greasy flavour to each piece of cake. The distinctive taste of the baked cake is lemon leaf flavour. Pale skin sticky cake is always round and the baked cake is square, symbolising heaven and earth.

In today’s busy life, it seems the meaning of Mid-Autumn Festival has gradually faded away. I rarely see any children excited about eating slices of mooncake or families gathering to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival. Even the mooncake is changing; modern cuisine has produced many kinds of mooncakes with different types of special fillings and different designs. Today’s mooncakes are not only made with mixed nuts, but varied with many different flavours such as green tea, cheese, edible bird’s nest, cordyceps sinensis, abalone, ginseng and shark fin. If the modern mooncake is a glamorous, attractive western woman, then the traditional mooncake is like a gentle, delicate oriental woman. However it is shaped, the mooncake is made to bring joy and fullness to the Mid-Autumn Festival, that is the meaning we need to appreciate.

Since I am a nostalgic person, I felt regret that I won’t be able to find the scent of the past in the festival of today, but on one occasion I went out with my colleague, a native of Hanoi, wandered through the Old Quarter to buy a traditional mooncake and I realised that I was wrong. “The Hanoi locals aree loyal to the traditional mooncake. It’s not only quality, fragrant and more authentic, but it also recalls the memories of the traditional Autumn Festival,“she said.

Hiding in a world of colourful modern mooncakes, traditional mooncakes still have their own vitality like an underground stream never dry. Among the numerous modern bakeries, people still find small stalls with small signs in Hang Be, Ma May, Hang Than and Hang Duong Street where you can buy traditional pale skin sticky cake and brown baked cake to offer ancestors, the heaven and the earth. Because that small piece of cake is a silent yet sacred connection with the past and childhood memories.

My father said that in his memory, the Mid-Autumn Festival was so simple and warm. After hard days of harvesting, family members would gather together to celebrate the full moon. While trays of food were offered to the ancestors, the children were full of excitement, each group of children carried star lanterns around the villages. Followed by the drumbeat, the bustling laughter, every child tries its best to be careful with the lantern so that it does not catch fire from the candle inside. After finishing the lantern parade, we came to the tray, enjoyed fragrant grapefruit and tasted each piece of sweet cake and candy, which are gifts nourishing the soul of many Vietnamese generations, including me.

TRADITIONAL MOONCAKE SHOPS IN VIETNAM AND AROUND THE WORLD

1. NINH HUONG CAKE SHOP
♦ Address: 22 Hang Dieu, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi
♦ Phone: +8424 3825 1148
♦ Opening hours: 9am to 8pm
♦ Price: from VND40,000 per cake

2. MRS. DAN CAKE SHOP
♦ Address: 52 Hang Be, Hoan Kiem, 126 or 554 Lane, Truong Chinh.
♦ Phone: +8424 3926 1042
♦ Price: From VND45,000 per cake
♦ Website: http://banhtrungthubadan.vn/

3.PHUONG DIEM THUAN CAKE SHOP
♦ Address: 108-110 Pham Phu Thu St., Ward 3, District 6, Ho Chi Minh City
♦ Phone: +8428 3854 4599 – +8428 3967 0388
♦ Price: From VND52,000 per cake
♦ Website: http://phuongdiemthuan.com/mobile/#

4. DONG HUNG VIEN MOONCAKE SHOP
♦ Address: 176 – 177 Bai Say, Ward 4, District 6, Ho Chi Minh City
♦ Phone: +8428 3967 0988 -+8428 3967 0989
♦ Price: from VND55,000 per cake
♦ Website: http://donghungvien.com.vn/

5. XING HUA LOU – 杏花楼
♦ Address: 343 Fuzhou Lu, near Shandong Zhong Lu, Shanghai, China
♦ Phone: +86 21 6373 1777
♦ Web: www.xinghualou.org

6. JIANG MAI TANG (FORMERLY L’ATELIER)
♦ Address: No. 6, Tower 20, Central Park, 6 Chaoyangmen Wai Dajie, Beijing, China
♦ Phone:+86 010 6597 0724
♦ Opening hours: 8am – 7pm
♦ Website: http://jiangmaitang.com/

7. YU AI
♦ Address: Lot 6596, Kawasan Perindustrian Kampung Balakong, Jln KPB 12 / B, Balakong, 43300 Seri Kembangan, Selangor, Malaysia
♦ Phone: +603-8962 2233
♦ Email: customer.care@taithong.com.my.
♦ Website: http://www.yu-ai.com.my

8. FOH SAN
♦ Address: 51, Jalan Leong Sin Nam, 30300 Ipoh, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia.
♦ Website: www.princehotelkl.co
♦ Phone: +605 254 0308
♦ Opening hours: Wednesday to Monday from 6:30am – 2:30pm

9. THE BAKER’S COTTAGE
♦ Address: 24, Persiaran Ara Kiri, Lucky Garden, Bangsar, 59100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
♦ Phone: +603-7980 8086 / +603-2095 2293
♦ Opening hours: 9:30am – 10pm
♦ Email: tbcsales@thebakerscottage.com.my
♦ Website: http://www.thebakerscottage.com

10. BAKERZIN
♦ Address: 18 Marina Garden Drive # 03-03 Singapore 018953
♦ Phone: +65 6604 7370
♦ Price: From USD52.34 per box (about VND1,119,000)
♦ Opening hours: Monday to Friday from 10am – 9:30pm
♦ Website: https://www.bakerzin.com

Thu Hoai | Wanderlust Tips