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Among other things, it was once a quiet, dark, dangerous neighborhood. Its story began soon after the trans-national railway stopped serving colonial functions in 1954, following the defeat of the French in the famous battle at Dien Bien Phu. In 1956, the Vietnam Railway Authority built a dormitory just a few feet away on either side of the tracks to house employees working in the sector. Starting from Tran Phu Street, the dormitory ran parallel to Phung Hung Street on a section of some two kilometers (1.24 miles) long. It consisted of mud houses just high enough that people would not bump their heads going in. An afternoon in late 1967, Bui Thi Loan, a railway worker, took her children who were around five and three back then, to one of such house on Tran Phu Street. The house measured around eight square meters looked onto the tracks where wild grass had almost reached her height. The most valuable asset Loan had along with her, aside from a bed, was a vacuum flask, which was a … [Read more...] about Following the tracks laid by Hanoi’s Train Street

Six suspected of poisoning large areas of pine trees in the Central Highlands Province of Lam Đồng have been arrested, Bao Lam District Police announced on Wednesday. Lam Dong orders investigation into tree poisoning Three arrested for poisoning pine forests in Lam Dong province Hundreds of pine trees poisoned in Lam Dong Pine trees were poisoned to death by chemicals. — VNA/VNS Photo The arrested include 42-year-old Pham Tat Hung, Huynh Xuan Thang, Nguyen Thanh Phong, Tran Nguyen Long Thanh, Nguyen Duy and Nguyen Phuoc Truong. According to initial findings, Hung, a former banker in Bao Lam District, hired the other defendants to destroy nearly 6,500sq.m of 30-year-old pine forest, planted in 1986 in sub-area no.460, Loc Ngai Commune, Bao Lam District, in order to encroach upon the forestry land. Earlier, in July, some 600 pine trees were found poisoned. Their trunks had been cut open and the trees' branches were drilled with holes, which were then filled with … [Read more...] about Men arrested over pine trees poisoning in an attempt to take over forestry land

After Vietnam’s legendary Pho Thin Lo Duc proved popular among customers in Tokyo, Japan, Banh Mi Phuong Hoi An (Ms Phuong Baguette in Hoi An) recently debuted in Seoul, South Korea.  Dao Duc Loc, who designed the interior for the Bánh Mì Phượng Baguette shop in Seoul, speaks with Bui Quynh Hoa about his passion for Vietnamese cuisine and his desire to take Vietnamese specialities worldwide. Hanoians find pride in promoting Vietnamese food Vietnamese girl aspires to promote Vietnamese cuisines PASSION FOR FOOD: Dao Duc Loc, founder of the AFOOD Ltd Co. Can you tell us a bit about yourself? I’m the founder and director of the AFOOD Ltd Co, specialising in design, setup, operation and marketing in the food and beverage field in Vietnam. I love Vietnamese culture, so I decided to devote myself to promoting Vietnamese cuisine. My target is to set up new models in the field. I dream about telling stories about our … [Read more...] about Putting Vietnamese specialities on the world cuisine map

At midnight on a weekday a couple walks out of a convenience store on Hang Bong Street in Hanoi’s Old Quarter. Nearby, three people are eating ice cream and yogurt they had just bought at the store. Hang Bong is one of the capital’s most crowded shopping streets, but at midnight, when it is time for businesses to shut down, it goes quiet. Only three 24/7 convenience stores and a few hotels remain open afterward. Some 200 meters from the convenience store, Quoc Huy, a hotel receptionist is at his desk waiting for two Filipino guests. The hotel car has picked them up at the airport and is headed back. Huy will help them check in at around 3 a.m. Guests arriving at 2 or 3 a.m. is pretty common in October, the peak tourist season. "It’s like we don’t want our guests if we close at midnight," the 24-year-old said. Working along with Huy are three other receptionists of similar age. The bar where Masayoshi Kimoto works continues to take orders from customers at … [Read more...] about Working the graveyard shift in Hanoi

A vast array of companies are getting involved with foreign markets, especially Europe (Photo Le Toan) With years of experience in exporting produce to the EU, Phan Van Thuong, director of G.O.C Food Processing Export JSC, a private company located in the northern province of Bac Giang, said that his company is investing a large amount of money in expanding its operations. Over the years, the company’s export turnover of foods like pineapples, baby cucumbers, and asparagus to the EU has seen rapid growth. “Our company once had to refuse an order of 35 containers to Germany, and was able to accept 20 instead, because we didn’t have enough material,” Thuong said. According to him, since the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) was signed in late June, some EU companies have contacted his company seeking co-operation. “They’re interested in typical Vietnamese products,” he said. In another case, at the Nafoods factory in the Mekong Delta … [Read more...] about Agri-trade to blossom through EVFTA