Ancient & Handicraft Villages Around Ha Noi

Bat Trang Pottery Village

Among the most famous Ancient & Handicraft Villages Around Ha Noi, Bat Trang Village, in Gia Lam District, on the outskirts of Ha Noi, by the banks of the Red River, is a well-known traditional professional handicraft village, specializing in making all kinds of pottery and porcelain.
Bat Trang pottery is made from a particular type of white clay. With this kind of clay, the potter's wheel is used to mould the items, which are then put out to dry, then decorated with designs, enamelled, and baked in small clay ovens. The temperature of the oven influences the final colour of the pieces. The models created include a variety of bowls, plates, cups, vases, and incense-burners. Bat Trang pottery is unique thanks to its high-quality, glossy, deep, fine, even enamel. The decorations and designs on these works are also very special.
When visiting Bat Trang pottery village during the day, travellers will discover that this village is constantly busy with vans transporting raw materials to the village and taking finished pieces away. 

More on Bat Trang Traditionnal Pottery Village

 

Quat Dong Embroidery Village

The village is located in Quat Dong Commune, Thuong Tin District, about 20km south of Ha Noi's centre. Quat Dong Village is considered to be historical home of embroidery in Vietnam. A local resident, Le Cong Hanh (1606-1661) was a member of King Le's envoy to China where he learned the craft of embroidery. After returning to his homeland, he taught this craft to the poor of Quat Dong. Ever since then, he has been regarded as the master and patriarch of Vietnamese embroidery.
For many Quat Dong villagers, embroidery is considered a long-standing tradition. The art of embroidery is taught within the family. In order to successfully complete a detailed and intricate scene, artisans have to first capture the image they wish to convey. Next is to stretch and test the fabric. This is followed by making a detailed sketch on the fabric and selecting the perfect thread colours to convey the desired contrasts and shadows. Once the needle work begins, the most time-con-suming challenges the artisans must face are to form gently curving edge lines while presenting the most intricate and minute details. The artisans must flawlessly combine and mingle the chosen threads with a steady hand for hours on end.
Now Quat Dong's products such as tablecloths, bedspreads, sheets and pillowcases are exported to many countries including, Japan, US, and EU countries, etc. 

 

Silk Village of Van Phuc

Van Phuc is situated on the bank of the Nhue River, 10km from the centre of Ha Noi, in Ha Dong District. The people of this village excel in the traditional skill of weaving silk. In the village, there is a temple that was built for the ancestor who taught the weaving profession to the people of the village and to the apprentices from other provinces who worked at the weaving looms.
The silk of Van Phuc is famous for being very fine. Today, the inhabitants of the village practice this traditional profession on an even larger scale. The silk of Van Phuc is not only used in Vietnam, but it is also exported to many other countries all over the world. 

 

Nhi Khe Village

Nhi Khe Village is located 20km south of Ha Noi in Thuong Tin District, along National Highway 1. There are several monuments of historical interest in Nhi Khe Village. Among them, there is the Temple worshipping Nguyen Trai, a well-known politician, diplomat and strategist. There is Trai Oi (Guava Farm), where Nguyen Phi Khanh (Nguyen Trai's father) organized classes as well as the lotus pond where he and his disciples used to walk and look at flowers.
Nhi Khe Village is also the native land of Duong Ba Cung, the collector of the works of Nguyen Trai after the Le Chi Vien tragedy. The stele for Duong Ba Cung is now in the Bai Seu field in Nhi Khe. From Nhi Khe, one can visit the Mui and Dau Pagodas.

 

Ancient village in Duong Lam

Duong Lam Commune consists of five ancient villages is located approximately 4km from Son Tay Town. This place was the homeland of Kings Phung Hung and Ngo Quyen. Two temples, Hum and Guom Hills, are dedicated to both monarchs. They are located near the site where the kings practised their martial arts and kept their elephants and horses. There is also Da grave, which is said to be the grave of Man Thien, the mother of the Trung Sisters.
Mong Phu is an ancient village of  Duong Lam that preserves nearly 45 ancient houses which have an age of 100 - 200 years old.
Duong Lam also features Mia Pagoda, which is listed as a national monument. This pagoda contains more than one hundred Buddha statues, including the most beautiful one of all, Tantrayana.

Duong Lam Ancient Village has a history of about 1,200 years and is well-known for its surviving laterite brick houses, built three to four centuries ago. Laterite is red clay formed from weathered basalt found in northern Vietnam. The village is also famous nationwide as “the hometown of two kings”. 

 

Phu Vinh bamboo and rattan weaving village

To discover Ancient & Handicraft Villages Around Ha Noi, you sould not miss this tourist destination. Phu Vinh Village is located in Phu Nghia Commune, Chuong My District. Every family in the village weaves bamboo and rattan products for domestic use and export. Their products are diverse in variety and designs. For instance, some designs require high technical skill, such as portraits, landscapes, panels and couplets. Other designs require skills and expertise such as fruit baskets, trays, hand baskets, bags, hats and lampshades. Household products are usually large and require constant changes to meet the demands of customers.
The outstanding feature of the bamboo and rattan craft in Phu Vinh Village is the specialization of the products. Households manually make the basic shapes of the products. Then, the enterprises or companies take the final steps and complete the products. Phu Vinh bamboo and rattan-woven products are being liked by both domestic and foreign tourists coming from Russia, Great Britain, France, Japan, and United States...

www.vietnamtravelguidelines.com - Ancient & Handicraft Villages Around Ha Noi.

Ben Tre Green Skin Pomelo

For the past twenty years, special fruits that have become speciality on the island of Ben Tre, is green skin pomelo. Green skin pomelo is grown in My Thanh An commune, the commune of Ben Tre city, Chau Thanh district, Mo Cay Nam, Mo Cay Bac and Cho Lach district. Green skin pomelo of pink intestine has very few seeds, the segment of the doesn’t grapefruit taste bitter, sweet, the more eating the more craving green skin pomelo product has been exported too currently, green skin pomelo planting area around Ben Tre reached over 3,000 hectares.

Visitors to Ben Tre city should spare time to visit the garden of green skin pomelo of the Cooperative Agriculture of green skin pomelo in My Thanh An – where the National Office of Intellectual Property (MOST) issued certification of the brand green skin grapefruit since 2005 (No. 160, Hamlet 2, Phu Nhuan commune, at the foot of the bridge, about 3 km from Ben Tre  city. Tel: 0752.487838). This cooperative is on 70 hectares of pomelo tree giving fruit, a member of GAP (good production and consumption of products, safety).

Vietnamese Lessons - Lesson 1

In preparation for our adventure in Viet Nam the Capilano University's CBT Viet Nam team has been practicing our Vietnamese. So far, we have learnt the basics with the help of our tutor, Donna, from the Everyday Viet channel on Youtube. This week, we learnt how to count to 10, say hello, goodbye, you're welcome and much more!

I will definitely have to practice and work hard to learn more phrases and words but as people say “practice makes perfect!”

Next week the new team and some of the CBT Vietnam alums will be meeting at a local phở shop. Hopefully I can try and few of my new words there. 

It's a small world

I am very excited to be working with the CBT Vietnam team again, and cannot wait to show the world what a group of five girls can do. This year I am lucky enough to be chosen to actually travel to SaPa and work with the communities. All the memories from Vietnam are rushing in again like someone opened a floodgate!

Last year I wrote a blog about these memories (click here to view) and included some photos. One of the photos was my brother and me standing with some of the Red Dao women. I knew that this photo was full of people CBT Vietnam still work with today.

This semester, I learned that this picture hit closer to home than I thought. I took a class with Chris and was fortunate enough to meet Lo May, as she was also in the class. I showed her this picture and she was shocked to see her mom standing right behind me! This picture was taken when I was seven, and today I am a nineteen year old meeting the daughter of one of the women in this picture. 

Every day stories of a ‘small world’ experience come to light, yet it still shocks me just how small our world is. I believe there is a connection between everyone. All one must do is ask.