The ""say cheese!"" culture of Vietnam

Editor’s Note: Stivi Cooke, an Australian expat, has lived in Hoi An Ancient Town in central Vietnam for five years. If you are a regular reader of the City Diary page, you might have noticed some of his contributions last year. Starting today, Cooke will join columnists Scott Duke Harris in Hanoi and Derek Milroy in Ho Chi Minh City in writing about their life experiences in Vietnam every week. Cooke will please you with his humorous style of writing in comparison to contemplative lines by Harris and fast-written but informative articles by Milroy.

My Vietnamese friends and I chat a lot on Facebook or the phone. It’s a mix of jokes, discussions, emoticons and of course, the never ending flood of cute photos. Just one problem, they are truly horrible. I struggle to smile and it’s awkward when you have no idea of what you are looking at and it raises the question: when is a photo in Vietnam’s photo culture good or appropriate? When we go out for coffee, it’s inevitable that they’ll pull out the smartphone and start showing me photos. Now this requires I should be very, very careful with my words…

“Do you like it? It’s us at the park!” I squint and make silly faces with my eyes as I buy time to work out where the heck they were as the photo offers no clues from the grey background and blurred colors.

“Oh, it’s…um.. great! That’s you, isn’t it?” I hope they say yes…

Chat on the phone or Facebook with your Vietnamese friends and you get these grey, washed out, out of focus, over-exposed shots that look run over by a truck shoved as close to your nose as is possible and that all too tragic question, “Great shot huh?”

It does get weird on Facebook and the local forums with a million ‘selfies’ (photos of yourself) floating around. Sure, you get the cute but fuzzy shots of girls standing next to flowers or holding babies but then it gets really strange. Girl standing next to garage can. Boy selfie next to empty table. Couple posing next to dead tree. Wedding couples posing next to buffalo. Student asleep on desk…face down. Is there no shame?

Banning parents from photographing their kids until they are at least two years old might be advisable. Does anyone really want their dad or mum to show the neighbors that picture of you, naked, in the kitchen sink taking a bath? Or that day the family dog kissed you and you cried and cried? Plain embarrassing. And these days, millions of people can see them online. Quick! Hide yourself in a hole. The era of the selfie also seems to go with hand signals which must be a new language about going to the hospital. “V” fingers under chin, called ‘duck fingers’. One finger next to ear. Two fingers above eye and she looks like she’s in pain. Puffed cheeks and folded arms… what? Is she upset? Cute? Or having trouble breathing?

What I often find too funny is the need to take a photo anywhere yet the background isn’t considered as part of the photo. Him next to the laundry hanging in his room. Her next to a dead cat food stall or my personal favorite, the love pose in a restaurant with a pile of dirty, empty plates all around them. Please… look behind you before you show those pics!

Karaoke photos show a particular lack of photographic talent. Oh, look! Here’s me singing! It’s so dark you can barely see the microphone… Hey, aren’t we having fun? Five unsmiling faces caught at the wrong moment are trying to read the words on the screen and another favorite, the girlfriend asleep on the sofa. Oh really? Good luck posting that one on Facebook. Interestingly, there are incredibly expensive cameras here, but somehow the bigger the camera, the worst the picture. It’s great fun to sit in a coffee shop and watch the locals taking ‘snaps’.

This is even more fun around Tet (Vietnam’s Lunar New Year) time, the mid-year festival or national days. The family’s nominated cameraman spends twenty minutes shuffling people, moving elbows and arms, pushing the grandparents, grabbing the kids and generally looking like he’s setting a firing squad rather than a family portrait. And guaranteed, the one on the end of the line is looking down at his mobile phone. Mind you, it looks great when grandma does the ‘duck fingers’! Grandma’s such a teenager. By the way, why do parents always look so uncomfortable in photos? They are happy their kids are getting married, right? I love weddings; everyone looks paralyzed and really angry after being asked “Mot, hai, ba, yo!” (One, two, three, cheers!) for the twentieth time. You gotta love the status symbol of a big camera. There’s power in that thing! Around this time of year, engaged couples trudge around the rice fields with a manic photographer who seems determined to kill them in the summer heat, full wedding gown, groom in a three-piece suit, and both of them dying in the heat. Now it’s time to show his huge camera because it can take pictures of the moon.

His positioning of the hapless couple is great to watch. “Here!  Over…HERE! Now, over there! Not there, THERE! Oh! That dirt patch is perfect next to that really skinny cow! Now I want you to smile… SMILE! Now go back… back…BACK!” They are now half a kilometer away, the bride looks ready to kill him and the groom has lost interest and is busy on his mobile phone. Maybe someone should give all young Vietnamese photography courses in high school, since this is where the ‘selfie’ love affair begins. Boys in particular seem to have no idea of what a romantic or handsome photograph of themselves should look like.

Guys, ‘selfies’ taken in the shower, wash tub or just woken up are big no-no’s. And check your backgrounds again, your buddies are very likely to be checking for pimples, nose hair and bald spots just behind your right shoulder. Girls, super close-ups with eyes the size of motorbike wheels are not cool, ‘duck fingers’ under your chin is not going to make you stand out from the crowd and over-sized glasses make you look like an extremely young accountant, not cute.  I’m kidding, of course. It’s a very funny reflection of what interests young Vietnamese and the growing gap between traditional Vietnamese ways and modern technology. But I warn you, if you show me your grainy, dark, odd photos…I’ll bore you to death of my photos from my childhood.

The ""say cheese!"" culture of Vietnam

Strolling along Xuan Dieu street for eating experiences

Hanoi’s Xuan Dieu Street is a popular stretch with expats, but that doesn’t mean it should be crossed off your travel exploration list. It has a good range of dining and drinking venues, unmatched in Old Quarter, as well as shops selling Western goods and clothes that you may be after. Here are a few of our favourite eating spots.

Xuan Dieu is located at the northern edge of West Lake, in Tay Ho District. Coming from Hoan Kiem or Ba Dinh Districts you’ll join it from Au Co Street

(aka the dyke road). On the initial stretch you will first come across long-

standing Vine Restaurant which serves good quality international cuisine and wine to the slightly better-off expats and tourists — the Sheraton and Intercontinental are nearby.

We’re a fan of the pizzas and the lunchtime selections, both of which are reasonably good value. Watch out for the bottled water though — it’ll burn a hole in your pocket. Next door is Saint Honore, a bakery, deli and restaurant. An instant hit when it opened, the bread

and cakes continue to please and the eat-in menu makes it a good choice for lunch and dinner — although quality of eat-in does seem to have declined slightly recently. It gets busy around

midday so opt for a late lunch to beat the crowds or buy some cakes to take-away and enjoy later.

Another bakery can be found 100 metres or so further on — Nguyen Son is a Vietnamese chain with more Vietnamese-style cakes and they also

sell a reasonable range of bread. Eat-in is also available here. And all spelt correctly. Newcomer BlueBird sits next to Saint Honore in the shop once occupied by Vine’s Wine Cellar. We’ve

yet to try it out but hear good things about the food, particularly the pork belly. It’s at the upper end of the price spectrum for Hanoi, but good value for what you get. Turn left by Exotissimo down towards the entrance to the Sheraton and then right onto the stretch that runs next to West Lake. Here you’ll find Dieu’s Cuisine, a lovely lakeside spot for some decent Vietnamese at reasonable prices. At the end of this

road, and back up towards Xuan Dieu proper, is Victoria’s, which dishes up some very tasty pasta dishes, as well as burgers, pizza and chips and kebabs. We tend to sit outside but if it’s too hot or noisy for you — it is on a lively junction but that’s part of the charm — choose an inside seat. Most dishes come in at around 140,000 VND.

Back up on Xuan Dieu, just round the corner from Victoria’s, is fine dining restaurant Halia. The weekday lunch deal is fantastic value and the weekend brunch a real treat — we love the Eggs

Benedict which comes with salmon and bacon. Yum. Staff is fantastic too. Next door is longstanding Highway 4, which has branches across Hanoi. The upstairs dining room is spacious and comfortable and the Vietnamese food

innovative. Don’t leave without trying one of the Son Tinh liquors. Double back slightly and on the other side of the road is a branch of the Al Fresco’s chain, if you have a hankering for thick crust pizza or ribs.

Further back towards Vine are a couple of local places worth knowing about: next to Tracey’s bar — great burgers — is a decent pho shop and opposite is a large place serving noodles and com binh dan at all hours, perfect for after-drinking munchies. The list goes on … Further up the street, just before

Serena Towers (look up) is Linh and Ben’s, a lovely garden cafe serving up tasty paninis, crepes and pasta. Three street food-style places sit alongside, serving bun cha, com binh dan, pho and bun bo nam bo and and you’ll usually find a kebab stand along this stretch as well. A healthy lunch.

Next up is La Salsa, whose original branch remains on Nha Tho in Old Quarter. The garden area here is a lovely spot for a drink but reviews of the food are mixed. We love the donuts and pastries they sell in the upstairs bakery.

Bobby Chinn’s is another block up and from here to the end of the street you’ll find a number of Japanese restaurants. We like Sushi Dokoro, although it gets quite smoky. A final place worth mentioning is steak restaurant El Gaucho, which serves up very tender fillets. Expect to spend a fair bit, by the time you’ve added on the irresistible sides, but it’s so worth it. Book in advance — it’s one of the only busy restaurants on Xuan Dieu.

Vine Restaurant & Wine Bar 1A Xuan Dieu

T: (04) 3719 8000

Saint Honore 5 Xuan Dieu

T: (04) 3933 2355

Bluebird 7 Xuan Dieu

T: (04) 3722 4165 Dieu’s 25 Xuan DieuT: (0987) 346 843

Victoria’s 29/27 Xuan Dieu

(0903) 280 293

Halia 29 Xuan Dieu

T: (04) 3946 0121

Highway 4 31 Xuan Dieu

T: (04) 3718 6377

Al Fresco’s 98 Xuan Dieu

T: (04) 3719 5322

Linh and Ben’s 45 Xuan Dieu

T: (04) 6681 1418

La Salsa 53 Xuan Dieu

T: (04) 3718 5656

Restaurant Bobby Chinn 77 Xuan Dieu

T: (04) 3719 2460

Sushi Dokoro 95 Xuan Dieu

T: (04) 3718 6344

El Gaucho 99 Xuan Dieu

T: (04) 3718 6991

Strolling along Xuan Dieu street for eating experiences

"Bo Bia Ngot" - attractively sweet rolls on Hanoi streets

You’d be forgiven for assuming that bo bia ngot has something to do with beer, but it doesn’t: it’s a delicious sweet snack worth interrupting your Hanoi sightseeing for.

The snack is made to order, streetside. First, two very thin and small pancakes are laid flat, then a sheet of honeycomb is placed on top, and sprinkled with desiccated coconut and sesame seeds. It’s then rolled up and handed over — it’s really that simple. You won’t even need (or get) a tissue with which to wipe your fingers.

While it may seem like this is just an excuse to put two sweet substances together, thought has clearly gone into the compilation of this snack. The combination of soft, slightly moist pancake with crunchy honeycomb and chewy coconut deliver an enticing textural sensation and the flavours work

perfectly together.

How to find bo bia ngot? One good location is along Thanh Nien Street, which runs between Truc Bach and West Lakes and is home to both Tran Quoc and Quan Thanh temples; it’s also near to the Ho Chi Minh Complex and the Botanical Gardens. Chances are you’ll make your way here at some point, so be prepared. Look out for the bicycles parked at the side of the road with white boxes on the back marked “bo bia” in red. These aren’t mobile beer trucks; these are where you’ll find your sugar high. Of course her hands are clean … Some of the bikes also advertise keo keo, another sweet treat of pulled sugar formed into a crispy

stick.

Traditionally the dish was just sugar, but nowadays it’s often filled with peanuts. Another option, “keo nha”, is like a hard caramel with peanuts and sesame seeds. Health conscious, just in case

we need to point it out, these are not! One portion of bo bia ngot, keo keo or keo nha costs 5,000 VND. If you have a sweet tooth but this isn’t doing it for you, Kem Tay Ho is also along Thanh Nien Street; other sweet snacks to be found around the city include popcorn and “banh ran” – deep-fried balls of green bean and sticky rice coated in sugar, honey or sesame seeds. Popcorn runs to around 10,000 VND a bag and banh ran are about 2,000 each — and you’ll want more than one.

Bo bia ngot is not confined to Thanh Nien Street and you may see and hear the vendors calling from their bikes as they cycle around Hanoi. Make sure you stop one of the vendors and try their specialty!

"Bo Bia Ngot" - attractively sweet rolls on Hanoi streets

""Hello Vietnam"" - love from an overseas Vietnamese

I was born in 1987. Already 20 years growing up in Belgium, studying, having fun and, most important to me, learning music! My parents both come from Vietnam but they didn’t know each other until they arrived in Belgium. I sometimes think about what my life would have been like if they had met in Vietnam. But it isn’t so and I wouldn’t wish my life to be different. All the same I do know a bit about Vietnam. Cooking at home is still Vietnamese most of the time. I can understand a few words in Vietnamese and my family used to perform traditional songs and folk dances at Chinese New Year. At the same time, I live and think more like a Belgian. For example, I like to eat chocolate (a bit more than I should…) or to have a beer with my friends. Anyway these two cultures are integral parts of my personality. The more time goes by, the more certain I am it was destiny. And I’m also sure that singing is my way. True, so far I’ve always been lucky in my career.

It all began when I won a song contest on TV. I met my manager there. He guided me to my producer, who then made my duet with Marc Lavoine possible. Then with “J’espere”, I followed Marc Lavoine on tour around France, Belgium and even Switzerland. It is really incredible for a young artist to have such an experience. But he didn’t stop there and wrote me my first songs, including “Bonjour Vietnam”. Actually this song already has its own story. By mistake, the unfinished version of the song got put on the internet. A few days later, Vietnamese people around the world heard “Bonjour Vietnam” and were quite touched by its message, I suppose. Well, I hope all this will go on and lead me to other places, other people. Perhaps it will guide me to meet you… I hope so. (Quynh Anh/Ramona Shelby). It is the english version of the track however that will be released as her first single. The song, in an english adaptation by Guy Balbaert, is called ” Hello Vietnam”.

""Hello Vietnam"" - love from an overseas Vietnamese

Nostalgia about hanoi peddled wares

For people living away from home, it sure no one country one breed. When someone referred to his memory, they image to customs, customs, festivals … remember that the landscape, where they were born and raised. Hanoian’s own, when memory of the homeland, many of them remember to taste sweeter, simple peddled wares, of empty. Born in Hanoi, they grew up with the herald of the hawker. The retail hours that not simply as the herald, it has become a tone, a part of life where they have lived the childhood.

 

 

 

 

 

If anyone lived in the surely have used the last good bridesmaid – shrimp paste. On the summer , streets shade of Sau trees, the sound of cicada the rich as a summer with the broken rice, Simple carry soft noodle , succinct. Under the original plans of selling her goods with broken rice, noodle place rattan or bamboo frame. A side of mud, beans, shrimp paste, aromatic vegetables, a side of the pan, bowls, spoons small. Just a few thousand now you have a lunch appetite, to eat. The short white thread broken rice, noodle, flexible software with the paste to squessze lemon juice, chilli scented very difficult forgotten. Fry bridesmaid pieces to the outside to the gold the bowel top, soft and fat. Just a cheap food, just delicious but full of nutrition.

Who has the age of poetry in Hanoi still sure you buy your candy sweeter drag. I also remember the small, I often supplication for his father spit hair deep prize cents to buy candy. Every hear the herald’s first medical candy drag street children is flood radiate coil, be in an eager bustle. Many request, requiring 10 is but the child may only have 2 child is money to buy candy. Taste of the delicious candy new, attractive young flood us how! Now every time I think to feel the sweetness of the sugar, circuit house, fragrance of ginger in the candy.

Then the summer. Lotus flowers bloom all over the lake surface. The smooth leaves of green lotus spread across the lake. When it is time to Cốm season. Perhaps the individual, the character of Ha Thanh is carry cốm. Rattan or bamboo frame sometimes with a few flounder on the mix of her and bring her cốm fragrant incense go across 36 wards uproarious city. The seeds cốm flat, flat. He that color, smooth cốm by those who look like gems makes it difficult to forget the dishes cốm Hanoi. Government’s green cốm have a concept of color, blue com. Cốm appetite and want to be long packages in lotus leaves picked fresh from the morning. Now that the leaves are closed the morning dew grain glitter, reagent of heaven. Cốm packages in lotus leaves 2 times and the external force in the fiber straw yellow sticky him. Cốm is not only a gift but dissipated into a gift to bring the full flavor of the very individual Hanoi.

The Hanoi still wandering outside the city and then to the marijuana to carouse simple. To winter, the cold – frozen to the bone. Until now I still remember the long cold last winter in Hanoi. The cold cut the skin, cut meat. But the Hanoi still wandering outside the city and then to the marijuana to carouse simple. Only a small table, two chairs, three things, a few cups and a jug of that you have a warm tea. Tea were raped to be to the average, in my skin with water only straw should always hot. The heat has just enough moisture to enjoy but do water and only in comparison. Clothes, caps, towels, two hand embracing the tea cup for moisture, slot whimper as the cold, find the sweet-fat candy bar at last, all the animals that drink the tea cup.

Of spring, growing fruit trees . Hanoi flowers bloom the same race, showing the flowers throughout the village along the lake west. At this town Hanoi as flaring with oddments load color. I would dare sure that one will not have a place in Vietnam and the world as a type of flower sales very poetic, very romantic as in Hanoi. Fresh flowers full color, all types hold loads at the end of carrying village girls, village like the full color butterflies flying around town eel crowded. And many, many of the items in the peddled wares. Each item has its attractive features of their own, but all create beautiful soft, ancient Hanoi in the eyes of people in Vietnam as well as international guests. Street, Hanoi people will know how sad you are missing out peddled wares.

Nostalgia about hanoi peddled wares

Hanoi daily life in Nha Tho Street

Both ancient and modern, the integration between the two cultural forms old make Nha Tho street that became extraordinary. Hanoi has long sinuous streets, but also the small street just a few hundred meters long and always seem to contain many interesting and unique things to remember. Nha Tho (Church) street also in the list of such streets. It is known as a place that contains many interesting and special.

 

 

Church Street is always busy foreign tourists visited

Streets located not far from Hoan Kiem lake, next to Hang Hanh street. Although street no words “Hang” on the head but people still ranks Nha Tho street in the old town of Hanoi. Short and small city, but never deserted. Here, we encounter more opposition between two very unique form of new and old culture, both conscious system Buddhist religion and Christianity. It is easy to know which is more than the contrast between two schools of Eastern and Western architecture. Besides the classical style house float waving moss odor of time, you will easily feel the squeeze of architecture and modern Western. The luxurious cafe or fast food restaurants serving foreign guests grew close together. The idea this would lose the historic character of this famous street, but it seems that the familiar harmony between two opposite styles that make distinctions of re Church Street.

 

Hanoi minster is ancient and grave

Called Nha Tho street because there’s Hanoi minster. The church was inaugurated on Christmas in 1887 and known for the most typical and characteristic of the art of medieval architecture with curved arches, wide, toward the top of heaven, get light. With the architecture, will certainly realize that the church was built in line with impressive Gothic architecture patterns, characteristic patterns. This architecture has always impressed on a solemn religious space. Each year when Christmas is here again to become more vibrant than ever. The christian believer come up here to welcome a new Christmas wish good prayer for life.

It also Ba Da pagoda, also known under the name Linh Tu pagoda. Ba Da pagoda is located at 3 Nha Tho street. Today, the temple is the headquarters of the Buddhist association of Hanoi City. Today, Nha Tho street youth also known as a place where there are many delicious and popular cuisine. The fermented pork roll fry (Vietnamese meaning: nem chua nướng) of Ms Thanh was 85-year-old . This place is always crowded at any time of day.

Do not know the shop of fermented pork roll fry appear here , the young of Ha Thanh just know that ten years living in Hanoi, they knew shop of fermented pork roll fry, and this place became gathering points often their stories with no beginning no end. Whenever sunset falls, the area around the church has become more robust. Despite sitting nestled between small cramped seats, nobody is sad, irritable or complain. Both the bustling streets by happy laughter, conversation, the call up … same idea as being a small Hanoi show up in your eyes …

Hanoi daily life in Nha Tho Street

Saigon, Vietnam - Saigon Seafood Stalls

 

You don’t need to go far to find food in Saigon. All you really have to do is stand and do a 360, and you’ll realize that it is actually the food that finds you. Pho was cooking on the left. Banh mi was being prepared on the right. But straight ahead, we were attracted to a small stand lit by the greenish, fluorescent lights that seem to be so prominent in Asia. Like moths in flight, we headed towards the light source.

 

 

There are many tough decisions you make in life, like friendships, relationships and careers. Add this seafood dilemma to the long list because there was just too much going on. I love extensive menus but when almost everything looks appetizing, I get very annoyed. So we picked a few, mainly rarities, and she asked if we wanted a choice of garlic, spicy garlic or sweet & sour tamarind sauce. We asked for one of each with our dishes.

 

Saigon, Vietnam - Saigon Seafood Stalls