For The Love of Travel

On my way to north east Vietnam to see the resplendent Ban Gioc waterfall, but first wanted to drop in on this village. Khoa is my driver over the next 3 days, as we explore the north east provinces.

Pac Ngoi has more than 40 traditional stilt houses on the slopes of mountains surrounding Be Be Lake – built by the Tay tribe. These houses traditionally tend to have bamboo or palm floors, are usually built near to water courses, at the foot of a mountainside and surrounded by paddy fields. The walls of the house are made of woven bamboo pieces – easy to open to welcome the wind into the house on hot summer days. The thick palm leaf roof (requiring 6000 palm leaves) helps keep the house cool in summer and warm in winter.

Along the winding mountain passes, farmers were fertilising their land and this particular spot caught my eye, because of the pattern.

Went to check out the historic cantilever Long Bien Bridge that links 2 districts (Hoan Kiem and Long Bien) across the Red River. 2.4kms in length, its construction was of strategic importance in securing control of North Vietnam. Built in 1899-1902 by Parisian architects and initially called the Paul Doumer Bridge (named after the Governor General of French Indo-China and then French President), it was rename after North Vietnam became independent in 1954. It was heavily bombed during the Vietnam War due to its critical position connecting Hanoi across the Red River to the port of Haiphong.

Today trains, mopeds, bicycles and pedestrians use the dilapidated bridge, while all other traffic is diverted to other nearby bridges. Poor families from remote rural areas live in boats under the bridge.

Coffee Cafe Restaurant and Bar, 4th floor, provides a great view of the Hoan Kiem roundabout – where scooters, trucks, cars, carts, bicycles and pedestrians all converge …and somehow manage to flow around each other to go on their way…..just a few toots of warning of their approach from faster vehicles, but absolutely no road rage at all. A wonder to behold!

Had lunch at the ‘Met Restaurant and Vegetarian Food’ and ordered a ginger/lemongrass tea – arrived with a little surprise package of ‘banh dau xanh’ (mung bean cake). The authentic cake has a Rong Vang (golden dragon) symbol, Emperor Bao Dai issued a royal decree in the 19thC to commend how good it was! Its slightly aromatic, buttery-fudge like – it MELTS in your mouth. Bringing a small pressie home for you all to try it.

The village, 35 kms from Hanoi, that upholds the tradition of incense-making for more than 100 years, is awash with vibrance, colour and spectacle! To Vietnamese, burning incense is the traditional ritual meant to build a bridge between the visible life of the present and the spiritual world of gods and past generations. Burning incense, daily – at home, temples or pagodas – is the first thing to do to establish an environment conducive to spiritual elevation and attract spirit attention!

Red and pink are the primary hues on display, but some green, purple and yellow have slipped in as well. Portraits of villagers and workers against colour-rich backgrounds, pics of incense set out to dry in various formations… make for brilliant and visually arresting photos. Making incense generates income for about 3,000 households, 70% of the village. 200 tonnes of bamboo is consumed daily in incense production. Wowsers!!

How do you make incense you ask? By first chopping bamboo into thin small smooth sticks, soaking in water for days and then drying them, before partially dipping the sticks in hot liquid dyes, letting them dry outdoors, mixing eucalyptus/cinnamon barks; clove roots; star anise and other aromatics with water and glue powder and applying the resultant incense paste to the sticks (the most difficult part of the process), and finally sun-drying one more time.