1st Vietnam – Japan piano festival organizes

Some young Vietnamese and Japanese pianists has participated into three performances at the first Vietnam – Japan Piano Festival in Hanoi from November 27-29.

The festival consists of a pianist Nguyen Le Binh Anh, along with the Japanese artist Airi Katada, under the supervision of Japanese piano talent Ayuko Higuchi who has held more than 40 charity concerts to support disadvantaged Vietnamese children. The 16-year-old pianist Nguyen Le Binh Anh, one of the most talented classical young pianists in Vietnam, has got many international awards including International Hanoi Piano Competition in 2010, Steinway Piano Competition Youth in Hanoi in 2011 and Steinway Piano Competition Youth in Singapore in 2012. As scheduled, the pianists will perform at Chu Van An high hchool on November 27, at the Vietnam National Academy of Music on November 28 and at the Hanoi Children’s Palace on November 29. The festival aims to promote friendship and mutual understanding between the two countries and two peoples through musical exchange.

1st Vietnam – Japan piano festival organizes

Hue Sour Shrimp

Sour Shrimp is one of the most sought-after specialities of the old capital of Vietnam. When they first come to Hue and taste this dish, visitors from other regions must be really amazed and surprised.

The right Sour Shrimp dish must be made from fresh shrimps living in brackish water (most delicious if they are from Hai Bridge!). The shrimps must be equally big and round-shaped. To start preparing the dish, the cook removes the heads of the shrimps, cleans and dips them in wine. The shrimps are then dried and mixed with many other ingredients such as galingales, garlics, chilies, bamboos, fish sauces and rice. Among all of these, galingale is most important. The garlics are sliced; the chilies are cut into long and thin pieces; bamboo is also cut into thin slices. The cook keeps the shrimps in glazed terra-cotta jar until they are fully fermented. He will then add honey to the shrimps before putting them into separate bottles. In a bottle of Sour Shrimps, we can see all types of colors: whites, yellows, pink, red, etc. and taste all types of flavor such as sweet, buttery, sour, spicy, etc. These entire elements combine together to create an attractive fragrance.

To savor the flavor of Sour Shrimp, you have to eat this dish with 2 other food: sliced boiled pork sides and fresh veggies (green bananas, star fruits, cinnamons, and chilies). These vegetables give the meal a good look implying the balance of Yin and Yang in the dish. People love Sour Shrimps since they look at it and their love grows continuously when they taste the buttery meat, the sweet and sour shrimps and the hot, spicy veggies!

Hue Sour Shrimp

Ninh Hoa Grilled Meatball

Many people know about Ninh Hoa District (Khanh Hoa Province) through its famous Sour Meatball. However, there is another type of meatball that is by no mean sour but has also become a well-known food.

Called Grill Meatball, it is an inevitable dish of local people as well as of visitors from outside the regions. Eating Ninh Hoa grilled meatball in Nha Trang is no different from having it in the district located 34 km away from the city as the cuisine and the sauce are still the same. In general, Ninh Hoa meatball is made of pig’s leg. The meat is grinded before mixing with garlic, chili and sliced pork skin. The mixture is then divided into small pieces, each of which can be wrapped in a special type of leaf to make Sour Meatball or grilled to make Grilled Meatball.

On any table of a Ninh Hoa restaurant, beside the grilled meatball ordered, there is a plate of sour meatballs to eat as appetizer. We eat all kinds of meatball with fresh vegetables and chili sauce to get the most delicious taste.

You can also wrap the meatball with rice paper to make a summer roll. If you decide to do so, remember that each type of veggie adds a different flavor to the roll. The last thing to do is to follow your creativity and enjoy the delicious food!

Ninh Hoa Grilled Meatball

Truc Bach Lake in Hanoi

Truc Bach Lake is a lake of Ba Dinh District, Hanoi, Vietnam, which is a part of West Lake. Previously, it is the west lake. Ye Hoa residents and Yen Quang residents make a small embankment for easier fishing. After that, Trinh Lord made embankment broaden and called ‘Co Ngu’ embankment. Now, it is Thanh Nien road.

The corner of the lake, there has a place for Trinh Doanh Lord, then it became where palace ladies were detained because of crime. They grew mulberry and made silk so that the place was called ‘Truc’ village and they named ‘Truc Bach’ Lake. In the Trinh Lord reign, Truc Bach Lake planted lotus, which burst into fragrant one region. Truc Bach Lake is not large; standing here can see the looming shadow at the far edge.

Going around Truc Bach Lake, turn on Ngu Xa peninsula, visiting ancient pagoda and the statue of Amida, tourists will have strange feeling. There have some structures, historic relic, and cultural relic around Truc Bach Lake. On the western angle, it is Quan Thanh temple to worship Saint Tran Vu.

On the eastern lake, it has Chau Long pagoda, linking to Princess of Tran reign “Khiet Co”. This Pagoda is located on the mountain with dragon shape releasing the jade so that people named “Chau Long”. It was built from Ly-Tran reign. Chau Long, pagoda is a valuable sculpture, which was classified by the State. On the north, there has Than Quang, where has the biggest bronze Buddha statue in Vietnam. The statue has 4 meters height and 14 tons weight. It is the valuable sculpture not only in Vietnam but also on the world. Most tourists come to Hanoi visiting around Truc Bach Lake because there have many historic relics and unique architecture. Truc Bach Lake along with Ly Tu Trong Park and West Lake makes a harmonious nature and a beautiful landscape of Hanoi capital. Currently, Truc Bach Lake is one of the ideal destinations for domestic and foreign tourists to Hanoi.

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Truc Bach Lake in Hanoi

Enjoy Sa Dec Flower Gardens

Enjoying an excursion to Sa Dec Flower Gardens, you will surely admire the vast lotus and bonsai in here. A forest of flowers of all colors and aroma are always available…

Being one of flower centers of South Vietnam, Sa Dec Flower Garden is specialized in growing flowers and ornamental plants. Located in Tan Qui Dong Commune, Sa Dec Town, the garden occupies 60 hectares with 3,600 laborers.

When Spring comes, Sa Dec bonsai village also starts its festival. Cars from everywhere come in crowds. All type of flowers and bonsai hasten to go to Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring provinces to boast their beauty in Tet Holiday. Situatated by the bank of annually windy Tien River of fertility and sun, flower village of Sa Dec is the homeland of hundreds “uncanny flowers and strange herbs”. Here, you can see scarce and priceless bonsai of hundreds of years old. There are simple trees close to life of laborers like thistle, areca, fig, benjamine fig, ochna atropurpurea and so on.

However, through skillful, industrious, talent hands of artisan-artists, they became priceless bonsai with beautiful and uncanny forms. In this village, you will have an opportunity to contemplate at any moment a forest of flowers of all colors and aroma.

Especially, here keep about 50 kinds of roses: velvety rose, lotus violet Grada roses, pink Cleopatre roses, Bridibat roses of dark brick color, Fortini rose – which are red inside and yellow outside, Elizabet flesh-colored roses, orange maccaras roses, Metsai roses of white color, etc. Ornamental flowers not only give colors and aroma, but also are used to decorate interior, to make landscape of parks, offices, cultural constructions, and dwelling house. Besides, some of them are used for treatment.

Sa Dec flower village, one of attractive tourist attraction, indefinitely satisfy tourists when you visit Dong Thap Province, which is also very famous for lotus – a kind of flower with pure beauty.

Enjoy Sa Dec Flower Gardens

The beaty of birds in Bac Lieu Bird Sanctuary

Bac Lieu Province, around 100 km from the southernmost tip of Vietnam, is home to a popular bird sanctuary located in Hiep Thanh Commune of Bac Lieu Town. The sanctuary is one of the most attractive ecological tourist spots in the Mekong River Delta.

The Bac Lieu Bird Sanctuary is the vestige of a forest which ran along the East Sea coast and came into existence over a century ago. The sanctuary is just around five kilometers from the town center. It covers some 107 hectares and lies within the remaining 385 hectares of forest area. The sanctuary is now home to 46 bird species, 60 fish species, seven frog species, 10 species of mammals, eight reptile species, and 100 species of plants. On the ground are a massive number of eggs, and in the air, you can spot some species with 2 m wing-spans.

Over nearly one century, the Sanctuary is the place where generations of birds are born, usually in the rainy season, and developed. There are currently some 40,000 birds and 5,000 nests, according to preliminary statistics. Birds mostly gather here during the rainy season between May and October. In August and September, flocks of birds gather at the sanctuary to build nests and breed. The forest comes alive with the singing of various kinds of birds and trees overflow with hundreds of birds’ nests. The Sanctuary is also the important home of several water birds, mainly teal, stork, heron, night heron and cormorant. According to documentation of Bac Lieu Bird Sanctuary Nature Reserve, in the first, it was a coastal rich and diversified salt forest floor with the natural salt-marsh ecosystem. As a part of the remaining forest floor along the East Sea, it is increasingly far from the sea due to alluvial deposits. In 1962, it was looked after, protected and controlled by a household. Then, the local authority realized that it is a precious natural property, so they have a step by step investment.

The best time to visit Bac Lieu Bird Sanctuary is in the early morning when most birds leave their nests to begin a day of feeding. Alternatively, at sunset the birds can also be seen more easily as they return to their nests to sleep, flocks of bird fly one after another. This is the moment of enjoying the most spectacular sight the sanctuary. Moreover, the rich flora and fauna of the enclosure gives the lush, natural area a feeling of wonder and enchantment. Bac Lieu Bird Sanctuary is a favorite destination of both nature lovers and researchers and visitors will easily find several types of birds listed in Vietnam’s “Red Book” of endangered species of plants and animals. The area is also popular amongst photographers who come to the sanctuary for one-of-a-kind shots of the breathtakingly beautiful birds.

Although it has potential for further development, the Bac Lieu Bird Sanctuary remains off the radar of most large tourist companies and thus, tourists wishing to visit the area must organize travel themselves or seek out a local guide.

Traveling to Bac Lieu, you should not forget to visit Bac Lieu bird sanctuary, the area of nature conservation with over 40 species of inhabiting bird, especially the species rare and valuable.

The beaty of birds in Bac Lieu Bird Sanctuary

Bánh Bèo (water fern cake)

It is merely a thin steamed rice cake with its top stuffed with minced shrimp mingled with scallions, green bean paste, and crispy fried shallots. But with addictive sour and spicy sauce, an eye catching color mixture of fish sauce, sugar, garlic, chili and fresh small shrimps, watery grease, the cake is certain to whet appetite of anyone.

The cake is not wrapped in leaves but served in “chen” ( a small condiment size bowl) or stacked on a “dia” (a plate).

It is not surprised when guests smile with satisfaction after leaving a pile of more than 10 empty bowls but still crave for more.

After a day of sightseeing, sitting in a small vendor stall, savoring sweet, spicy and refined flavor of Bèo cakes is really a great experience.

Bánh Bèo (water fern cake)