Tag archive for ‘Ho Chi Minh City’

Vu Lan Festival traditions still alive and strong

People all over Vietnam have been preparing offerings for their ancestors and attending activities during Vu Lan festival. The street selling votive paper products have been busier, restaurants offering vegetarian food have been filled with an abundance of customers, and people have been flocking to pagodas to pray for the deceased in honour of Vu Lan [...]

Hanoi to host Ha Thanh Food Festival during anniversary

Traditional foods, culture and customs will be highlighted at the Ha Thanh Food Festival due to be held from October 6 to 11 in Hanoi. Pho, a traditional Vietnamese dish. “This will be a special opportunity for visitors to discover the unique food culture of the North, Central and South of Vietnam, especially the specialties of the [...]

Ditching the meat

Mai Linh writes of the growing numbers of people going vegetarian in Vietnam. More and more people are turning to the greener side of the plate, as vegetarian diets become an increasingly popular way to eat healthy without missing out on the taste. A vegetarian buffet bar. Customers at Viet Chay Vegetarian Restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City. At [...]

Saigon’s Banh Mi

Booming Saigon, a city on the move, lays claim to a specialty that Vietnamese-American writer Monique Truong, author of “The Book of Salt” and the coming “Bitter in the Mouth,” calls “the ultimate on-the-go fare”: the extravagantly stuffed banh mi sandwich. Saigon signature sandwich David Hagerman for The Wall Street Journal The most popular form is banh mi [...]

Fruit and floating markets: Life in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta

  Vietnam’s Mekong Delta is a vibrant, lush landscape of increasingly modern cities amid sprawling rice fields and jungle. The Mekong River and its branches shape life in the region. People live, shop, sell and eat from and in their vessels and homes on the water. Here, the sun rises on the Hau River. Like much [...]

Down to the pirates’ lair

Quang Chung goes in search of pirates and adventure in Ha Tien archipelago in southern Vietnam.   Night market on the island In search of adventure I am always keen exploring some of Vietnam’s lesser known islands, where invariably you will find untouched beaches, stunning scenery and amazing seafood. And perhaps more. A former schoolmate, who is now a [...]

Sleepless in Saigon: So many sights, so little time

No shoes are allowed inside the Cao Dai Temple. The colorful exterior is matched by the colorful robes the priests wear during worship. (Photos by GINA C. MENESES) It is HCMC or Ho Chi Minh City now, but the Vietnamese still call it Saigon and call themselves Saigonese. Saigon has been one of the places in my [...]

The chè lady 

  The best dessert in Ho Chi Minh City is being ladled up on a street corner Ms. Thanh preparing chè đậu at her spot near the corner of Cao Ba Nha and Cong Quynh streets in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1 Thanh, 50, lives in an endless cycle of chè. Every night, before going to bed, she [...]

A giant tortoise, a whale and upturned bowls 

  Tourists angling at Ha Ba (Sea God) Tail, also known as Dua Beach, one of the scenic spots on Tre Island From afar, it looks like a giant tortoise swimming in the sea, and locals appropriately call it the Tortoise Island. It takes about an hour on an express boat from the Rach Gia Port to get [...]

Mam a Mia 

  Leap into a bowl of lau mam, fermented fish hot pot of Vietnam’s southern region A bowl of bun mam with pork, eggplant, chives and noodles “Lau mam is the specialty of the south; so when I’m in the market for a new chef, I always go with a southerner,” says Mr. Tuan, owner of An La [...]