Ha Giang stallions come alive in oil paintings

Veteran painter Do Duc will again display his love for the rugged region of Ha Giang through his artworks, which are on display at his latest show opening on Friday.

 

Sacred beasts: Phieng Sa Slope, 2007 (right), and Selecting horse, 2007, are among the 50 oil paintings on display at artist Do Duc’s latest exhibition in Ha Noi.

This follows last year’s exhibition, Cao Nguyen Da (Living on Rock), however, unlike his previous art show which focused on the imposing landscape and unique ethnic culture of this northern mountainous region, all his paintings in this year’s exhibition are about horses.

“During my first trips to the northern mountainous area, I noticed the important role the horse played there. This animal is a part of the ethnic culture. The Mong people treat their horses with love and regard them as family members. The horse accompanies its owner to the market, carrying many heavy packs on its back. On the way home, when all the goods are sold, the owner still walks aside his horse, like a friend,” the painter said.

All 50 oil paintings on display at the Rock Mountain Horse exhibition were made during and after Duc’s numerous trips to the region beginning in 1982.

Very different from the large, shining race horses the public often sees, the horses in Duc’s paintings look calm and quiet.

“I have been watching horses from many perspectives and I choose the most simple way to depict them. I want the horse to be displayed naturally in its environment.

“In my paintings, visitors can find the worrisome horse, the sustaining horse, the young and full-of-energy horse, the lonely horse, horses in couples, horse by the market, or the patient horse who has been physically and emotionally sharing ups and downs with his human friend. In some paintings of the vast blue mountains, there is a little dot of life, and that’s the horse,” Duc added.

A young exhibition visitor, Duc Vu, said he was impressed by the unexpected result of the artist’s simple depictions. “The horse is the common object in every painting, yet there are tens of different feelings among these horses. It likes I can touch the feelings of the horses that are represented in these inspirational paintings.”

The 68-year-old artist spent more than 10 years focused on woodblock paintings, some being selected to display at the Viet Nam National Museum of Fine Arts. He then moved to explore do (poonah) paper, and became one of the top artists using this material.

Fifteen years ago, Duc made another move back to traditional media–oil on canvas–and surprised art lovers with his Living on Rock exhibition last year, which was acclaimed by local art critics as “an epic sung with colours and strokes about the land where people were born on rocks, grown up and live their lives on rocks”.

After spending almost five decades intensively working with different materials, Duc’s inspirational artworks have shown a great love for ethnic people and their cultures.

“One of the reasons I want to introduce my most favourite paintings about horses in this show is that the upcoming lunar year will be the Year of the Horse. This is an early Happy New Year to everyone,” the painter said.

The Rock Mountain Horse exhibition continues until January 5 at 19 Ngo Quyen Street, Ha Noi.

Ha Giang stallions come alive in oil paintings

Clip: Living Vietnam in a day: Being a Shoe-shiner in the streets

While sitting and drinking a cup of coffee in Vietnam, you can easily spot a shoe-shiner walking by.

A new experience shared by a tourist foreigner. Just watch it!

Clip: Living Vietnam in a day: Being a Shoe-shiner in the streets

Vehicles stuck for days on snow-covered pass in Lao Cai

For the first time, the O Quy Ho Pass in the northern province of Lao Cai has been covered by snow for several days, making several hundreds of trucks and buses stuck. Drivers and passengers are experiencing unforgettable days on the snow mountain.

Traffic congestion on O Quy Ho Pass on the morning of December 18. Since snow appeared in Sapa on December 15, cars could not go through the pass connecting Sapa (Lao Cai) and Lai Chau due to the thick layer of snow which was formed a few days ago and the slippery ice layer formed when the snow melts. The O Quy Ho Pass is on Highway 4D – an important road between the two provinces of Lao Cai and Lai Chau. Due to thick snow, hundreds of trucks and buses were stuck on this pass for four days. The slippery surface makes all efforts to move unsuccessful. This car needs help to move forward. This tank truck has been on the pass for a few days. The O Quy Ho Pass has become a horrible road for all drivers these days. Even when the tank truck stands still, it is still hit by other vehicles. It is also very hard for pedestrians to climb up the steep snow-covered pass. Passengers have to spend the night on the snow-covered Hoang Lien Son Mountains. During the few days stuck on the pass, drivers and passengers buy food and water of the traders who come from the town of Sapa. The local government sends bulldozers to the rake snow on the pass. A bus driver makes a snowman while waiting for the road being cleared. Traffic police have stop vehicles to move to the pass. In the current weather, traffic on the pass is likely to be in congestion for several days more.

Vehicles stuck for days on snow-covered pass in Lao Cai

Vietnam in a Thai artist’s paintings

Direk Kingnok is a famous Thai painter. In 2010 he went to Vietnam and drew a series of water-color paintings depicting the daily life of Vietnamese people in the north, the south and the central regions. Below are some paintings by Direk.

 

 

 

 

Vietnam in a Thai artist’s paintings

Life of mountain people changed because of the record cold

The life of ethnic minority people in the mountainous area of Thanh Hoa province has been severely affected by the prolonged record cold spell.

Like people in the northern mountainous provinces, these days people in the mountainous districts of Thanh Hoa province – such as Quan Son and Muong Lat are suffering from the record cold spell. Temperatures in these districts drop to 3-5 degrees. According to the local authorities, such a cold spell has not happened for many years Fires are flamed up everywhere for heating and cooking. Sitting near a fire, Mrs. Ha Thi Ngan, 90 years old, said that for many years this region suffers from such an intense cold spell. “For many nights, children and the elderly in my village lost sleep because of the cold,” she said. Kids are covered by layers of clothing and blankets and put besides the fire. These kids are absent from school due to extreme weather. The cracked bare feet of children in a village in Muong Lat district. A H’mong boy plays with soil with begrimed, cold hands. This kid is over one year old only and she only wears very thin clothes. At noon, when the sun appears, Hmong women carry their children to the front yard to sunbathe and sew new clothes for the upcoming Tet. A baby sleeping on his sister’s back. Poor pupils in an empty boarding tent. Two H’mong girls playing in the sun to forget the cold.

Life of mountain people changed because of the record cold

A special class on Truong Sa Archipelago

There is only one teacher cum principal of the school having only one classroom for pupils from Grade 1 to Grade 4. But laughter and reading of the lessons by the pupils are heard everyday, making the class special on far-off Truong Sa Lon Island.

Before Bui Thi Nhung filled in the application form to volunteer to go and teach at the school on Truong Sa Lon (Big Spratly Island), she was a teacher at the Suoi Cat Primary School in Cam Hai Tay Commune, Cam Lam District of central Khanh Hoa Province.

Despite a lot of warnings from her friends and relatives of difficulties she might face at the new working place, Nhung was determined to go to the far-off island, with a thought in her mind that she would accept all the possible hardships ahead.

When we arrived at the school, Nhung was teaching a summer class for the pupils on the island. Due to a sore throat, her voice was a bit softer than normal, but we realized her efforts in explaining the lessons for her pupils with full devotion.

During break time, Nhung talked with us, recalling a series of interesting stories about her classes and pupils. “When preparing personal things for my trip to the islands, I did not pack in my luggage any nice clothes, including the traditional Ao dai (long dress) and high heel shoes, because I thought that the living conditions on the island were so poor, with small houses, no conveniences, no trees, and only rocks and corals,” Nhung recalled her first days on the island.

“On the first day of the new school year, however, the pupils and their parents wear nice clothes. The soldiers even asked me why I did not wear the Ao dai on this special day. Oh my God, I was so ashamed for my innocence that day,” Nhung said, smiling honestly.

Nhung said, another thing that surprised her that day was that the school had only seven pupils, from Grade 1 to Grade 4, who would learn in one small room located in the local cultural house.

As a result, she had to use three blackboards hung in three different places, along with rows of desks and chairs for different grades.

“Despite all those difficulties, we completed all curriculums assigned by the Ministry of Training and Education, the same as others have done on the mainland,” Nhung said.

Apart from the general education, Nhung held extra-curricular lessons for the pupils, including singing, painting, poem reciting, and information about the late President Ho Chi Minh, the country’s territorial waters and islands, life of the soldiers who are safeguarding the country, and more.

On national holidays, Nhung took her pupils to visit the martyrs’ monument, the memorial house for the late President Ho Chi Minh, and the war martyrs’ graves. Through those activities, the ties between teacher and pupils became stronger.

“The pupils are truly my friends, who I can share my joy with on the far-off island,” Nhung confided. Nhung also recalled special stories about her little pupil, Nguyen Trinh Si. This active, playful boy did not learn well in her class and always stood behind his class-mates. So she had to spend a lot of time helping him to catch up with his friends.

“But Si has a special memory,” Nhung said, adding that the boy can remember exactly all the names and jobs of all the soldiers on the islands.

“When asked what he would like to become, the boy always says that he wants to become a solder of this island. Knowing his desire, I told him: if you want to become a soldier, you have to learn well. If not, you will never be admitted to the army. In that way, I would encourage him to learn more, and he had remarkable improvement in study,” Nhung recalled.

The special class is loved not only by the teacher and her pupils, but also by local residents and soldiers. “Since it is open, with the pupils learning and playing around, the soldiers seem to be happier, as they feel at ease with their children at school, and also their nostalgia seems to be reduced,” Nhung said.

The special school that has only one teacher, one classroom sheltering seven pupils truly brings a new vitality to residents on the far-off island. Such a devoted teacher like Nhung and her lovely pupils would surely be so meaningful to life on the island, especially when the pupils grow up and become strong soldiers to follow their fathers in defending the country.

For five years, teacher Bui Thi Nhung has been attached to her students in the primary school on Truong Sa Lon Island. Bui Thi Nhung, the only teacher on the island and principal of the school, teaches a class for pupils from Grade 1 to Grade 4. During a lession in the only class on Truong Sa Lon Island. During a literature lesson on Friday, teacher Bui Thi Nhung teaches pupils a poem titled “Dong dao bien dao” (Children’s song about the sea) to promote the pride and love of children for the nation’s sea and islands. The children help eachother to study well. Although living far from the mainland with poor conditions, students on the island always get high results on exams. Nguyen Trinh Si, a boy of strong character, loves the sea and island so much. Children on the way to their school. The school now has an entertainment area for pupils. The peaceful residential area of pupils in the special class on Truong Sa Lon Island.

Nguyen Trinh Si is very happy when he receives a gift from the mainland.

A special class on Truong Sa Archipelago