Category Archives: Vietnam

Longing for Asia and especially Vietnam

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Sit and look at Kjelles matresa of 3:an and dream my way back to our holiday in Vietnam. I started the writing about our journey here on the blog and tried to update as much as we did when we were there but the connection speeds were slow and it was difficult to find time to sit with the computer.

I've been thinking about continuing to write about our trip to Asia but I'm afraid that I would be so sick eager to travel again, I would not know what I was going to do…

First day in Nha Trang, There spontanbadade, just threw us out into the water. One of the best experiences with the whole trip.

Haha, Valle is a beached whale. :D

Ha Giang's birthday

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Friday 15 July 2011

We celebrated the Ha Giang's birthday in her nice house outside of Ho Chi Minh City. We ate good Belgian (??!!!) food, fruit cake and so of course! It really goes to buy incredibly fine pastries in Ho Chi Minh City, throughout Asia probably…

We were super nice and went home late in the night.

I hope all your wishes come true!

War Remnants museum

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Friday 15 July 2011

One of our cultural days we decided to visit the War Remnants Museum after Marcus told us that it was really worth a visit. The museum was large and modern with two floors of exhibits and an area outside where tracked vehicles, helicopters and planes were arranged.
We did not see everything, there was much to learn and many things to see. We saw the photographs on the top floor which was captured by photographers who reported from the front, many of them died in service while they tried to show the world what the war looked like up close.
The images and texts were really strong, it was uncomfortable and it's hard to imagine that this actually happened so close in time. I have not been so interested in history before, but travel makes it really interesting and I will read more about Vietnam's history in the future.

V thought I looked so down on all the pictures inside the museum, but it was hard to look happy while looking at these pictures. The photo behind me shows a boy running naked in Agent Orange sprayed forests that are highly toxic. The long-term consequences after the war is still there when millions of Vietnamese who were exposed and the toxin has been that there are still lots of children born with severe deformities due to this.
The subject of Agent Orange was designed to defoliate/kill trees so that the Vietnamese soldiers could not hide in the woods, Unfortunately they had not thought much about the consequences of large areas dead wood and toxins that damaged millions of people, both Vietnamese and Americans.

Find museum: Google Maps
Address: 28 Vo Van Tan Street, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City
Entrance Fee (entrance fee): 10.000 dong (ca 3 SEK, ca $0,5 USD)
Opening hours: 08:00-11:45 and 13.30-16:45 daily
More information:
Wikipedia – About the museum
Wikipedia – agent orange (Swedish)
Wikipedia – agent orange (english)

 

Frukostfika

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Friday 15 July 2011

The day had a lot on the schedule but we stopped for coffee in town after we found a cafe with good Internet. I ordered my favorite drink again, avocado-smoothie!

Today's outfit
Sweater – Ho Chi Minh City, Dress – Bangkok, Linne – Bangkok,
Sandals – Ho Chi Minh City, bag – HM

 

Manicure

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Friday 15 July 2011

One of my acrylic nails were broken, so after much searching we found a nail salon that could fix my broken nail and fill the outgrowth.
Those who worked there were almost no English at all so I had to do my best to explain to them what I wanted done. The girl who helped me was really good.

Ao Dai – Vietnamese traditional dress

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Friday 15 July 2011

This morning it was time to try my traditional Vietnamese dress – Ao Dai. The dress is a gift from Quyen and she chose the fabric and colors for the dress.

About Ao Dai
Noone really know where this traditional clothing is originated from but they have found inscriptions from the Bronze Age, which is a few thousand years old, which shows that women wore long dresses with two slits on the sides. The engravings are made on Ngoc Lu drum (Ngọc Lũ drum, Ngọc Lũ I) which counts as one of the most valuable objects from the Dong Son culture during the Bronze Age.
There is also documentation from Văn Lang, the first Vietnamese nation, which says that the Vietnamese ancestors wore long dresses with a side slit on the left side.
In today's Vietnam the dress is used in both formal occasions and for everyday use, some schools use it as school uniforms, some workplaces are using the dress as office uniforms.
Each dress is tailored specifically for the wearer and there is no mass production of the dresses, they are made completely individual. Each dress/clothing is unique.

My dress has the pattern of lotus flowers which is Vietnam's national flower.

Below is a video I recorded in Umeå, with many of my Vietnamese friends when they wear their Ao Dai. As you can see, the dresses are very personal and you choose the colors and pattern you want wear. An Ao Dai can be done at a low cost or really expensive, depending on where you buy the dress, the material and design. My beautiful dress cost about 200.000 dong for the fabric and 200.000 for seamstress work. That's about 60 60 SEK (Swedish kronor), or totally 12 €.

[id = videofyme"75547" width="500" height="380"]

I've borrowed the pictures below from my friends.

The picture above and below are from the traditional part of Anh and Châu's wedding.

Vietnamese pancakes

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Thursday 14 July 2011

I've gotten some comments now that we have come home that it seems as if we just eat on the go. It is true to a fairly large proportion, we have begrudged us good food with good friends (Therefore, I put in my two extra pounds in Vietnam) but it is also because we (läs: I) usually remember to take pictures of what we do when we meet many friends and do something together (lread eat).

We met in all cases up our friends to eat Vietnamese pancakes, they are very similar to crepes. We had by now begun to trust that we could actually find and make our way somewhat in Ho Chi Minh City, and our friends did not come to the rescue this time. We had pretty big problems with one-way road, especially those who were not marked on the map.

Marcus, Lan and my baby

I, Tuyet, United, Marcus, Lan and V

I send you all my love

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Thursday 14 July 2011

You have to send postcards to their loved ones. After we ate well so we took the motorbike a few blocks and stopped at the post office to send postcards to our loved ones back home. (The we could address by heart to.)

The post office dates from colonial times, with beautiful French architecture. Both interior and exterior is beautiful. At the far end hangs a large picture of Ho Chi Minh. I would advise anyone visiting the city to visit the post office. The building “wings” You can buy souvenirs and postcards.

 

 

Hot pot go round

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Thursday 14 July 2011

We took the opportunity to have lunch at the luxurious Vincom Center and found an interesting restaurant where each person gets their own hot pot full of good soup. Then there was a conveyor belt that served all sorts of ingredients to put in his hot tub. It was a buffet so you could eat as much as you wanted. I put in seafood, vegetables, mushrooms and beef meat in mine.

We stayed at the restaurant for two hours (!!!) and because they serve small, small bites, you'll not feel stuffed immediately. I probably would have been able to sit longer and just enjoy all the good little clams that rolled past, but V said that we had enough! :P

 

 

 

Dinner at Pho24

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Wednesday 13 July 2011

Ha Giang wanted to invite us on typical Vietnamese cuisine, so we went to Pho24 for traditional Pho noodle soup. When we got into the menus, it was not nudelsoppan that we were eager, V ordered the meat and rice as usual and I took a plate with lots of good spring rolls.


Pho

 

Tasty spring rolls

V was tired

At the hospital

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Wednesday 13 july 2011

I was a little afraid that we would not be able to meet all the friends we lacked so long, but luckily we managed to schedule a dinner with Ha Giang. <3

She asked if we wanted to see her work, actually was in the same house as Diamond Plaza. Of course, we wanted to see her work and we were pleasantly welcomed by her colleagues, who showed what they are doing on the day.

Ha Giang and I outside of her job at a hospital

Her colleague, shows us the equipment they work with the lab

Everyday

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Now I felt it was time to take a serious effort to blog again. It's so much fun from the trip has not yet been demonstrated. Here the future it will become old mixed with new but I hope you do not mind.

 

Wednesday 13 July 2011

After a soy milk breakfast it was time to get into town. We would meet my wonderful friend Ha Giang at the entrance to Diamond Plaza so we went there at once, we did not know if we would find or not ...

When we arrived we had a bit of time to snack before we would meet Ha Giang so we went up to the third floor of Diamond Plaza for some goodies from Everyday.

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I could not resist buying the cute pink monk, even though I was preferably looking for a chocolate donut. Please V shared with me.