Tradition of pack-horse races in northeast Vietnam  

Bac Ha District in the mountain province of Lao Cai in northeastern Vietnam is famous for its specialty food as well as its tradition of racing pack-horses.   

Participants in the horse-racing are the local farmers. Although they aren’t professional horsemen, they are experienced in the art and select good horses and care for them as they prepare for the races.

Thao Seo Lenh, who has participated four times, said that any rider expecting to enter the races needs to choose the right horse that is good in both tilling and as a pack-horse.

The best horses are of age five to eight with great height, tapering legs, white teeth, smooth backs and thick manes.

Riders usually rest their horses for three to four days, isolate and feed them with nutritious paddy, corn and soybean before an upcoming race.

According to Lenh, a rider often sits near the horses’ shoulders in order to allow greater speed and coordinates well with the horse at every gallop.   

Not just the riders, many other inhabitants of Bac Ha are very knowledgeable about horses. Giang A Vang, for example, can not only predict exactly the achievements of the horses in the race but also knows many traditional remedies to cure sick horses.

“Horses often get pneumonia. They need to drink a mixture of crushed dried cardamom and spring water three to four times a day to recover,” said Vang.  

Equipment used in the races is simple. Riders wear normal helmets and a piece of brocade cloth is laid on each shoulder of the horse, instead of a harness.

The riders control their horses with long leather bands fastened to the horses’ jaws, instead of whips.

These races are not just an exciting sport but hold a deep traditional meaning. They are an occasion for local people to demonstrate sportsmanship and gather together to show off their colorful brocade cloth, drink corn wine and eat their specialty dish, made from horse meat.

Japan helps Vietnam preserve ancient villages

Vietnamese and Japanese experts have gathered for a two-day seminar in Phuoc Tich in the central province of Thua Thien - Hue on measures to develop tourism in that ancient village and promote its traditional craft.

They are discussing measures to preserve the village, train local residents in serving tourists, and promote the traditional pottery craft.

The seminar is being held under a program called “Promoting Self-sustainable Community Development in Vietnam through Heritage Tourism” launched by the Japan International Cooperation Agency to develop tourism in traditional craft villages.

The Japanese delegates are professors at the Showa Women's University in the tourism and cultural heritage faculties.

The program also seeks to develop tourism in Duong Lam village in Hanoi and Dong Hoa Hiep village in Tien Giang Province by 2014.

Food safety to be boosted for festival

Six food safety inspector missions have been set up to ensure the quality of products for the Mid-Autumn Festival which begins next month.

Deputy Minister of Health Trinh Quan Huan's decision to randomly inspect food production will take place between August 22 and September 22, and comes in light of widespread violations of food safety last year.

Director of the Ministry of Health's Vietnam Food Administration Nguyen Cong Khan said the inspectors will take between 10 and 40 random samples from large enterprises and supermarkets, and small and medium-sized businesses and markets will be checked by inspectors at the district level.

"If the inspectors detect any serious violation, they must report to the VFA within two days thus the VFA can submit the case to the Prime Minister," Khan said.

Inspection results must be reported to the VFA before September 25 and offending enterprises will be fined up to 100 million VND (4,870 USD) based on their levels of violation, he said.

The missions will include inspectors from a number of ministries including health, industry and trade, agriculture and rural development, and will check the quality of ingredients, materials, working conditions and advertising in a range of products.

Moon cakes, sweets, liquor, soft drink and meat are among the popular products inspectors will target in towns and provinces across the country including Hanoi , HCM City , Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Tay Ninh and Bac Giang.

Officials in HCM City suspended 21 out of 97 moon cake producers in 2010 for violating food safety regulations in the lead up to the festival.

Violator Pham Nguyen Confectionary Joint-stock Company in Binh Tan district did not have any food safety certification for their materials, health certificates for workers or food safety training certification.

Hanoi theatre experiments with English

The Chuong Vang (Golden Bell) Cai Luong Theatre in Hanoi put on stage its first folk opera accompanied by a special service for foreign tourists last Saturday night.

Capturing the dramatic life of the Empress Ly Chieu Hoang of Vietnam’s 11-13th Ly Dynasty, the opera, called “Menh de vuong” or “The fate of Kingship,” gave foreign audience, most of them tourists, simultaneous English translation through headphones during its entire performance.

Although only two dozen tourists attended the show, Tran Quang Hung, the theatre’s head and director of the opera, said it was experimenting to find a way out for cai luong.

A form of modern Vietnamese folk opera that traces its origin to the southern traditional chamber music don ca tai tu and hat tuong, a classical theatre form, cai luong has lost most of its popularity among the young generation in Vietnam.

With most of its cai luong fans today concentrated among the elderly and the working class, seats during cai luong shows are barely half filled.

This, Hung said, has prompted the theatre to take inventive action to attract more audience to their shows.

Situated inside Hanoi’s Old Quarter, a major hub for tourists visiting the city, the theatre had often seen foreign faces among its audience even before it came up with the idea.

There were shows when more than 60% of the attendees were tourists, Hung said.

Some stayed for ten or fifteen minutes, others remained until the end although the language must have been incomprehensible to them. “This is what has given us the courage to experiment.”

Incorporating English into their programs to broaden their reach to foreigners is not entirely new to many Hanoi stages, as the Hanoi Cheo Theatre (home to hat cheo, a northern satirical musical theatre form) has tried to become more ‘tourist-friendly’ by printing their programs in English and providing summaries of their musicals’ content.

However, by providing its foreign audience with direct translation throughout the 1 hour 45 minutes long opera, dubbed by two English speakers, Chuong Vang Cai Luong Theatre has placed itself at the head of the game.

“A middle-aged tourist said he liked the costumes and actors, but not the opera itself while two other young men said they were excited with the experience,” Hung said, adding that these feedbacks would be carefully analyzed for a more sustainable plan in the future.

The theatre also considers cooperating with travel agencies to reach more tourists.

Local artists to sing Hunchback of Notre-Dame songs  
   
A concert where songs of the famous opera - The Hunchback of Notre-Dame - are sung in Vietnamese will be performed for the second time in Ho Chi Minh City on August 19 and 20 at the "We" cafe in Ho Chi Minh City.

The concert was held for the first time in April this year.

This time, there will be seven more songs than the previous performance and a change in singers.

Besides famous singer Doan Trang  who will sing as Esmeralda, the performance stars Ygaria, Nam Khanh, Trieu Loc, Trong Bac, and Ho Trung Dung.

"We" cafe is located at 172H Nguyen Dinh Chieu, District 3, Ho Chi Minh city.

My Style fashion show in Designers House

To celebrate the first anniversary of HCMC Vietnamese Designers House there will be a My Style fashion show at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

The show will feature over 200 products from hot designers with many various styles, covering office fashion to wedding dresses. There will be 3D cube technology which takes advantage of solid geometry mentality to create costumes with lively structures, which help conceal the body’s shortcomings.

There will be a number of male and female models taking part such as Thuy Huong, Ha Dang, Hong Que, Thu Phuong and Binh Minh. Also joining in the fun will be two winners from Vietnam’s Next Top Model Contest.

Miss Vietnam 2008 Tran Thi Thuy Dung and Miss Vietnam 2010 Dang Thi Ngoc Han will dazzle the audience, Han will also debut her fashion collection at 161A Hai Ba Trung Street in District 3.

Hanoi to mark National Day with various activities

The Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to organise a wide range of cultural and arts activities to celebrate the 66th anniversary of the August Revolution (August 19) and the National Day (September 2).

About 60 arts programmes with the performance of professional and amateur art troupes will be held in many places across the city on both days, praising patriotism, the leadership of the Party and Uncle Ho in national liberation, and the achievements of the Doi Moi (renewal) process.

On the occasion, the Exhibition and Information Centre has also compiled documents on the historical significance of the August Revolution and National Independence Day.

In addition, cultural and historical sites including the Temple of Literature, Hanoi Museum, Hoa Lo prison and the Van Mieu – Quoc Tu Giam Science and Culture Centre will be open extra hours for visitors.

PV