Awakening a craft village Cam Thanh was one of the typical villages of Hoi An city, Quang Nam province, with products made from bamboo and coconut. Nestled under the green coconut forest in Bay Mau, Cam Thanh village had a great time. However, the development of modern life almost made the village seem lost. Fortunately, there are Cam Thanh people who are still concerned with the preservation of their traditional handicraft village and produce unique handicrafts to meet the market demand. Growing up in a traditional family of crafts people in Cam Thanh commune, from an early age, Vo Tan Tan made many things from bamboo and coconut. His father, Vo Tan Muoi, was a famous artist in Hoi An. As a result, Vo Tan Tan soon inherited skills on making products from bamboo and coconut. With his passion for creating handicrafts, he has launched many artistic products from the familiar tree of Vietnam. Taboo Bamboo shop of Tan’s family is located under a green bamboo canopy, known as not only … [Read more...] about Bringing new vitality for bamboo products
High water table under house
Crossing the street alone
Viet Nam News “So your aunt and I will be gone for a few weeks. You’ll take care of the shop. In the evening Vân will be home and review the day’s trade. Don’t worry about business. You’re better off here anyway, because you don’t have anything else to do while waiting for a job offer other than wandering around inhaling traffic smoke or sitting at cafes ogling unemployed girls in short skirts and high heels. It wouldn’t be fun. You’d better look after the shop for us, or else we’ll have to close it and lose customers. Look, we can’t let customers walk away. Is there any house on the street in this whole city that isn’t used as a shop? We have to sell things. Everything. This big market which is our city is perhaps one of a kind in the world. In other cities people set aside a little land for gardens and lawns and green trees. They sell things in separate zones. But here we’re filled with shops. Which is very … [Read more...] about Crossing the street alone
Mekong Delta on alert against swine flu
Patients with symptoms of A/H1N1 swine flu should receive treatment at hospitals and be segregated to prevent the spread of the virus (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Provinces in the Mekong Delta are taking measures to prevent the spread of swine flu A/H1N1 in the region. The rainy season is an ideal environment for many seasonal diseases and puts the region under high risk of a swine flu outbreak. Since the beginning of the year, the Mekong Delta has recorded four deaths from swine flu, including one in Vinh Long province, one in Ca Mau province and two in Ben Tre province. Many swine flu cases have also been recorded in Hau Giang province. Phan Thanh Tung, Deputy Director of Hau Giang province’s Department of Health, said in April it had launched a campaign to prevent and control A/H1N1 flu, providing treatment guidance to locals. Localities report weekly to the department and the province’s steering board for … [Read more...] about Mekong Delta on alert against swine flu
A scoop of holy water
Viet Nam News That summer I visited Varanasi for the first time. That city is considered a holy place because of its location on the sacred Ganges river. I had promised myself on this visit to that city I would visit the river. I was not traveling for pleasure. I’d be working. As a postgraduate student researching Oriental culture, I had accepted an offer to do some translations for the Indian railway ministry. Before I went to India to study, I had worked as an interpreter for diplomatic delegations for several years, so that work wasn’t unfamiliar to me. The only unfamiliar thing was that it was my first time interpreting for the railway industry, which required me to know about locomotives and diesel engines. For example, until then I only knew “solution” meant a way of solving something. Only when I visited the petrochemical factory of the Varanasi railway company did I learn that it had another meaning: a homogeneous, molecular … [Read more...] about A scoop of holy water
The truth about the lie of the land
An overview of the South Saigon urban area, HCM City. Illustration. — VNA/VNS Photo It was Mark Twain who inimitably said: “Buy land, they are not making it anymore.” Sound advice when land is turned into a commodity that is bought and sold in a “free market,” but this is a mythical entity for many people in Việt Nam, because they can only dream of owning a piece of land or a home in the nation’s urban areas. Theoretically, though, as per the nation’s charter, all of the country’s geographical features – land, water bodies, underground minerals as well as resources deep under the sea belong to “the people,” but the State represents the people in managing them – making the State the highest authority. It is but natural then that the State’s management of this most precious resource comes under close, critical scrutiny. The onus, then, is on the Vietnamese State to manage this resource effectively … [Read more...] about The truth about the lie of the land