Ttntag artist

After a decade of wandering around the world, 35-year-old Hoang Thi Trang, originally from the northern province of Nam Dinh, came back to set up a small café in Ho Chi Minh City with decorations made from recycled materials.

Trang’s husband is a director of the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry whose tenure changes every three years.

Each time they moved, Trang had to revamp her life and profession in a different country, which she refers to as a ‘three-year start-up circle.’

When in Georgia’s capital city of Tbilisi, Trang realized that she was the only Vietnamese living there while local people had no idea what her motherland was.

“How is the war in Vietnam? Are Vietnamese people living in poverty?” were common questions that Georgian people posed to Trang.

To teach others about Vietnam, its culture and people became her mission back then which partly emerges from her background in ethnography.

One of Trang’s friends in Georgia is a silk painter and they planned to bring silk from Vietnam to create her works on.

Other cultural staples of non la (traditional conical hats) or ao dai were also shipped to the country for a small exhibition.

Then Trang introduced Vietnam, especially its silk products.

As the exhibition captured positive attention from the locals, a director of a museum in Tbilisi invited her over for a conversation.

Trang proposed a project on Vietnam for the museum and got approved.

The project was a big hit which opened the door to further collaboration between the Vietnamese woman and the local museum.

She became its official staff later on.

“I do what I love,” she said.

“There are a lot of foreigners knowing nothing about Vietnam so if they are eager to learn, I will try my best to share Vietnamese cultural quintessence with them.”

2,000 promises to Ho Chi Minh City

In 2020, Trang and her husband came back to Vietnam.

After ten years of living abroad, she was motivated to initiate something meaningful.

Observing that popular coffee chains use single-use plastic bottles, Trang along with her two close friends Nguyen Van Tho and Truong Thi Thuong opened an artistic coffee shop with all decorations, tables, and chairs made from recycled materials in District 2.

They assembled thousands of plastic bottles to build an insulation panel.

“There are 2,000 plastic bottles donated by our customers which symbolize 2,000 promises to reduce and recycle plastic for a greener Saigon,” she explained, referring to the former but still popular name of Ho Chi Minh City.

The café opened in December 2020 and has become a favorite haunt of art and recycling circles.

Trang frequently hosts workshops on environmental protection for children there.

She saves a small corner in her shop to exhibit books exclusively on Indochina.

“My hometown is Nam Dinh, where French people opened Nam Dinh Textile Factory during the colonial Indochina period,” said Trang.

“Therefore, I put books on Indochina, sewing techniques, arts, and even an old spinning machine for our guests to catch a brief glimpse of my city.”

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Located in Cu Lao Village, Hung Hoi Commune, Vinh Loi District, the pagoda was built in 1860 and renovated in 2001. Ghositaram has the typical architecture of a Khmer pagoda, consisting of a central chamber, a vihara, an auditorium, a tower, a school, and the monks’ residence. (Photo: VNP/VNA)

The Pagoda’s roof contains several layers overlaying each other, forming a sharp top similar to that of a tower.  (Photo: VNP/VNA)

Time has created an august and antiquity atmosphere in the pagoda. (Photo: VNP/VNA)

Inside the central chamber. (Photo: VNP/VNA)

Lacquered pillars with sophisticated patterns. (Photo: VNP/VNA)

Statues of scared animals at the pagoda. (Photo: VNP/VNA)

Exquisite patterns and reliefs at Ghositaram Pagoda. (Photo: VNP/VNA)

A relief tells the life of Buddha. (Photo: VNP/VNA)

A gong at Ghositaram Pagoda. (Photo: VNP/VNA)

VNP/VNA

Despite being constantly on the move and staying in makeshift accommodations, construction workers in Ho Chi Minh City still move forward and are ready for whatever comes next.

Makeshift shanties erected at a construction site, secluded at a swamp next to the Saigon River, along Ven Ho Trung Tam Street in Thu Duc City, are where Nguyen Van Kiet, a 29-year-old construction worker, and more than a dozen co-workers have called home for the past several weeks.

The site is filled with noise and dust, and piles of construction materials are strewn across the area.

With walls temporarily built from corrugated iron and floors from planks of wood, the shanties, which double as the workers’ living and sleeping space, will be removed as construction nears completion.

These makeshift accommodations lack the basics like a kitchen and toilet.

Construction is ongoing at a building site in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo : Cong Trieu / Tuoi Tre

On the day a Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper correspondent visited the under-construction site, more than 50 workers rode off on their motorbikes, while the remaining 50 workers trudged back to the ramshackle sheds after a long working day.

Kiet, who hails from An Giang Province in the Mekong Delta, hummed a Vietnamese tune about the life of masons with his phone before taking a night’s rest.

“We masons build people’s houses, but just keep relocating and don’t have a place of our own,” his co-workers cracked a joke based on the lyrics.

Kiet used to work at a footwear factory, but the monthly salary of VND6 million (US$259) was barely enough for him to support his wife and young child.

Six months ago, he ended up in Ho Chi Minh City, where he began work in construction but until now has still struggled to adjust to the new ‘nomadic’ life.

“I couldn’t sleep sound for half a year now,” Kiet said.

As the contractors do not provide the workers with room or board and many of them are with their wives and young children, they cook their own meals and live in unsanitary conditions.

The women also help around with less physically demanding chores on the site.

The makeshift shanty, built from leaves and corrugated iron at a building site in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, is where Nguyen Quang Hieu, Nguyen Van Kiet and their team live and work. Photo : Cong Trieu / Tuoi Tre

Construction workers typically try to get as much work done as they can in the morning so they can avoid more strenuous work if the heat gets more intense later in the day.

Though staying on the site spares the workers room rent and allows them extra payment from the contractors, many find the conditions quite tough.

Tram Ngoc, from Tra Vinh Province, also located in the Mekong Delta, said extreme weather conditions can also have an effect on construction workers; scorching heat can add to their exhaustion, while windy conditions can also prove difficult.

His bedding and clothing items as well as makeshift ‘bed’ placed atop bricks all got soaked during an unseasonal downpour last week, leaving him struggling to stay dry under the porch of a household nearby the whole night.

“The heat is unpleasant but still bearable. What I dread most is unseasonal downpours that catch us off guard at midnight,” Ngoc said, adding construction materials drenched in rainwater may become unusable for the following day.

“I can’t take on the physically taxing work the next day if I go without sleep during the night.”

Theft is another of his concerns.

Ngoc, who has been on the job for more than 10 years, racked his brain trying to remember how many times he had his phones pinched.

“Thieves sneak in when we are sound asleep on breezy nights,” he said.

“Most masons have lost at least one or two phones.”

Ngoc added five such gadgets at a building site he was working at were stolen at one time, while he once had a phone he had just bought for more than VND3 million ($130) nicked.

“I’ve saved every hard-earned penny,” he said.

“It really hurt.”

Finding joy

Kiet’s ‘housemates’ are Nguyen Quang Hieu, 24, also from An Giang Province, and his 18-year-old wife, Le Thi Thao Nhi.

Hieu and his younger brother took up the construction job from their parents, who have been on the move between work sites in Ho Chi Minh City and its neighbors, Dong Nai and Binh Duong Provinces, over the past 20 years.

The young couple are hard at work to save up for themselves and take care of their baby of less than three months old.

“Our baby is doing fine,” Nhi said.

“I usually put on extra covers to keep my child from the sun or winds.”

After a long working day, what Hieu and others are most eager for is fishing at the swamps nearby, which gives the young men something to do in their spare time and some fish to eat.

Hieu’s wife also goes to the riverbanks overgrown with wild morning glory to pick some for meals.

Despite physically exhausting work and tough living conditions, Hieu and his team always try to find a reason to smile.

Nguyen Quang Hieu, a young construction worker, poses with his wife and their baby inside the shanty at a building site in Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Cong Trieu / Tuoi Tre

Hieu would follow his parents to building sites during his childhood, always moving to other places after construction finished.

The boy, due to such mobility and insufficient livelihood, could not make it to school.

Though unable to write, Hieu can read and loves doing karaoke, which he said helps himself and his co-workers unwind and have some fun during their casual gatherings on the weekend.

The man joked that what he likes most is no one complains about them making noise.

The man recently bought a loudspeaker for VND15 million ($648) by installments.

“I try to refrain from hanging around in order not to spend money,” Hieu shared, pointing to the brand-new device placed in the distance.

“This speaker is quite expensive, but helps alleviate our exhaustion and keep our spirit high.”

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Hundreds of thousands of Hindu devotees flocked on Monday to take a holy bath in India’s Ganges river, even as the nation racked up the world’s highest tally of new daily coronavirus infections.

With 168,912 new cases, India accounts for one in six of all new infections globally, although the figure is still well below the U.S. peak of nearly 300,000 new cases on Jan. 8.

In the northern city of Haridwar, nearly a million devotees thronged the banks of the Ganges, a river many Hindus consider holy, to participate in the months-long ‘Kumbh Mela’ or pitcher festival.

“The crowd here is surging…the police are continuously appealing to people to maintain social distancing,” police official Sanjay Gunjyal told Reuters at the site.

By mid-morning a million people had taken a dip in the river, believed to wash away one’s sins.

As India’s second wave of infections builds, with fewer than 4% estimated to have been vaccinated among a population of 1.4 billion, experts say the situation could have a long way to go before it starts getting better.

“After cases declined in January-February, we were very comfortable,” said a panel of high court judges in the western state of Gujarat, calling on authorities to take urgent steps to rein in the outbreak.

“Almost everyone forgot that there was ever corona,” added the panel, headed by Chief Justice Vikram Nath.

A full opening of the economy from last year’s crippling lockdown, coupled with the mass religious festivals and political rallies in states heading to elections have fuelled the crisis.

Monday’s new infections carried India past Brazil for a tally of 13.53 million, data compiled by Reuters shows, ranking it the second-most infected country after the United States, with 31.2 million.

Tally feared to double in two months

India’s tally is on course to double in two months, according to estimates based on data from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

Yet authorities appeared unwilling or unable to stop events that could lead to a calamitous spread of the disease.

People are seen at a fish market, amidst the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Mumbai, India, April 12, 2021. Photo: Reuters

Thousands of people are attending political rallies in four big states set for elections this month, including two events on Monday in the eastern state of West Bengal, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to speak.

“With 1.2 million active cases, and the daily number reaching 200,000, it’s bizarre to have poll rallies and a full Kumbh Mela,” political commentator Shekhar Gupta said on Twitter.

Officials and experts said authorities had underestimated the resilience of the virus, believing they had beaten it after daily cases fell below 10,000 in early February.

Officials in the worst-hit state of Maharashtra, home to the financial capital of Mumbai, said they were considering a broader lockdown this week after large closures at the weekend.

“It is necessary to break the cycle (of infections),” said a senior state official who sought anonymity. “We are working on identifying industries and services that need to be exempted.”

The rupee fell to its lowest in nearly eight months and Mumbai’s benchmark index tanked as much as 3.7% in the worst session in more than six weeks.

India’s economy has been limping back to recovery after last year’s hard lockdown caused the deepest contraction in decades.

A local man is operating a free-of-charge library in Hanoi, satisfying the reading needs of everybody and creating a convenient space for its visitors to communicate in English.

The library, situated on Kim Ma Street in Ba Dinh District, was launched in early 2020 by 40-year-old Nguyen Thanh Trung, who is also called Harry Trung Nguyen.

Trung founded an English training center right above the library and uses income from the English teaching to maintain his free facility, which he named Mia Bookhouse.

Nguyen Thanh Trung (right) introduces books to visitors at his free library in Ba Dinh District, Hanoi. Photo : Hien Huyen / Tuoi Tre

The library’s founder enthusiastically welcomes every visitor and assists them in choosing books to read.

Mia Bookhouse now has more than 1,000 English books and a small number of books in German that he has collected during his travel to more than 50 countries.

In addition, books in Vietnamese may also be found there.

“This library model has been cherished by my love for my little daughter Mia,” Trung said, adding that imbuing children with a habit of reading, especially in those under six, will help promote their development of language, creativity, and imagination.

With an aim to make it convenient for children, Trung designed his Mia Bookhouse uniquely, with box-shaped bookshelves and seats being the steps of the wooden staircase connecting the lower and upper parts of the library.

Young people read books at Mia Bookhouse, which offers free books in diverse fields, in Hanoi. Photo : Hien Huyen / Tuoi Tre

Trung went to Russia and Germany with his family during his childhood and he later visited many other countries.

His love for travel and his long working in the tourism sector have developed in him a habit of collecting English books from every country he visited.

“I especially love children and I pay special attention to learning foreign languages, so I want to create a space for everybody to naturally develop foreign language skills,” Trung shared.

The library is currently open every Saturday and Sunday morning.

It is staffed by teachers who can guide everybody in choice of books and can communicate in English with every visitor, creating a venue for everyone to use or practice their English skills.

Books for children here have been selected carefully to ensure they are attractive, interesting, and useful to them, Trung said, adding that he is directly involved in the selection.

English books for children are selected carefully to ensure they are attractive and useful to them. Photo : Hien Huyen / Tuoi Tre

Trung said he initially created this library to provide English books for children, but he later thought it may be extended to people of different ages.

He has therefore added to Mia Bookhouse a lot of books in various fields, such as literature, history, science, economics, and nature, to satisfy the diverse demands of every book enthusiasts.

The man has also collected many famous works that are hard to buy as they were published in limited quantities.

Trung has recently set up his second free library in the capital, on Nguy Nhu Kon Tum Street in Thanh Xuan District.

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A recent ultra marathon held in a small Ho Chi Minh City neighborhood has brought a lot of attention to the sport’s growing popularity in the southern metropolis.

The 3rd Ultra Night Marathon is an annual ultra marathon with 30km, 50km, and 80km options organized by the Run For Fun (RFF) Club in District 7’s Phu My Hung New Urban Area.

This latest event began at 8:00 pm on December 29 and ended at 8:00 am the following morning.

All of the event’s 127 slots were filled within 48 hours from when registration opened, according to Do Thanh Vi Ngan, RFF’s president.

“We couldn’t allow more runners to participate because it had already been very difficult to get an official permit for the event approved by local authorities,” Ngan elaborated.

“We had to explain to the Phy My Hung management board that the race was only meant for passionate runners.”

On race night, as participants from several of the city’s running clubs, including Vietrun, SBR, PTR, and “Chay Nhu Rua” (Run Like a Tortoise) lined up at the starting line of the 1.9 kilometer course in Nam Vien Park eager to begin their first of dozens of laps, a feeling of community became contagious.

Originally the marathon was organized as a friendly event to say farewell to an RFF member, Ngan recalled.

“Running at night is really fun and can be addictive,” the club president remarked.

That realization led RFF to decide to host the event on an annual basis.

Nguyen Van Long, a member of VietRun Club, not only won the 80km race but chose to run until he chalked up 102km, besting his own goal of 100km.

A young boy participates in the run. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Do Thi Nguyen, another VietRun member, was the event’s best female runner.

Several participants made the trip from nearby provinces to participate in the fun.

Phuc, a member of RFF Bien Hoa in Dong Nai Province, about 35 kilometers northeast of Ho Chi Minh City, is one such runner.

He said his family used to think he was ‘possessed by the Devil’ because he spends so much of his free time running. At one point he was so addicted to pounding the sidewalk that his wife burned his running shoes.

“Not many people run in Bien Hoa. Everyone thought there was something strange about me,” Phuc explained.

According to Hanh Linh, a full-time bank employee by day and RFF media guru by night, the club has ties with 18 other running clubs in the southern metropolis, and several more throughout the rest of the country.

“That’s why we had such diverse groups of participants for the event,” Linh stated.

Runners did not have to pay a fee, Linh continued, adding that the only requisite was that they signed up with two other friends.

“We were able to raise tens of millions of dong [VND10 million = US$430] from sponsors and donated all of the money to a children’s heart surgery fund,” Ngan said.

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