Foreign celebrities during Vietnam tours

Wearing Vietnamese conical hat, riding cyclo or driving a motorbike are familiar images of foreign celebrities when they are in Vietnam.

In an exchange with Vietnamese fans on July 26, players from European giant Manchester City were interested in two gifts, Non La (conical hat) and Chu Teu, a narrator with a plump body and a humorous smile Runner-up of American Idol 2006 Katharine McPhee on a cyclo in An Giang province Miss Korea 2006 Honey Lee wore Non La (conical hat) in Hoi An ancient town for a photoshoot of a fashion magazine in April this year Canadian actor Alexander Ludwig (who starred in The Hunger Games) had a vacation in Ho Chi Minh City, Ha Noi and Ha Long Bay in February 2015. He was very fond of acting as a street vendor with Non La (conical hat) Korean stars Gary and Ji Hyo wore Ao Dai (Vietnamese traditional dress) in Running Man-a reality TV show in the Republic of Korea when they took part in challenges of the show held in Ninh Binh province in 2013. Korean star Oh Sang Jin liked Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup), cyclo and Non La (conical hat) in his trip to Vietnam in 2014 Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg visited Vietnam with his friends in 2011. Vietnamese fans were impressed on the billionaire’s image of riding buffalo in Sa Pa.   Popular celebrities Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie drove motorbike in Ho Chi Minh City in 2006

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Unique VN vehicles through the lens of foreign photographers

Unique VN vehicles through the lens of foreign photographers

  Only-in-Vietnam vehicles have become a topic of street photographers around the world. -  By Vietnamnet

Many foreign photographers have come to Vietnam to take photos of these vehicles, which have been published in international newspapers. Some photographers have also launched photo books about the subject.

Here is a review the photos of Vietnam’s vehicles by international photographers.

"Bikes of Burden" by photographer Hans Kemp

Dutch photographer Hans Kemp first visited Vietnam in 1991 and he was immediately impressed by Vietnam traffic and cargo bikes.

Hans Kemp said: "I couldn’t believe my eyes. There was an incessant stream of motorbikes on the road in front of me. There were entire families on a bike, guys in suits, girls dolled up. I stood there mesmerized, intoxicated by this all-permeating scent of petrol mixed with perfume, sound, color, and motion. There was an incredible vibrancy to it all.

Kemp began settling down in HCM City in 1995. In 2000, a client requested Kemp to shoot photos about traffic in Vietnam. The more he spent time on this project, the more Kemp was attached to the subject.

He implemented this project within two years. Whenever he had free time, Kemp travelled to all regions of Vietnam, and roamed around the streets to record impressive and unique moments.

Later, Kemp compiled the most impressive photographs in the photobook "Bikes of Burden".

To catch the vehicles moving on the busy street, Kemp found Vietnamese friend who owned a Honda Cub who was willing to travel with Kemp throughout the country.

In 2005, Kemp published the photo book "Bikes of Burden" and the book immediately attracted the attention of the international photographic community.

The book includes 182 photographs recording impressive moments of cargo bikes in Vietnam. The photobook presents a vivid slice of everyday life in Vietnam through street photography.

In 2014, after nearly a decade, Kemp returned to Vietnam again to take more pictures on this topic, to prepare for the second edition of the photo book.

Though streets in the major cities there have widened in recent years and other changes in lifestyle have made cars more prevalent, Kemp said the motorbikes were still out in abundance.

“Seeing this unique species alive and kicking and swirling through Vietnam’s traffic, still vigorous and proud after so many years made me realize that they could very well be there to stay. Recalling that first day out on the pavement in Ho Chi Minh City, it was a reassuring thought indeed,” he said.

When foreign visitors find interesting books about Vietnam, "Bikes of Burden" is one of the top choices. It is from here that street photography in Vietnam became known.

Here are some new photos by Kemp:

Motorcycles in Vietnam through the lens of Lee Thompson

In April 2015, photographs featuring motorbikes in Vietnam by British photographer Lee Thompson caused a "mild fever".

Lee Thompson has seen plenty in his 14 years as an award-winning photojournalist covering the civil war in Libya, the revolution in Egypt, the tsunami in Japan and other extensive travels before he co-founded The Flash Pack, a small group flashpacking tour company.

But even he marvels at what the men and women of southeast Asia can balance and transport on just a scooter or a beaten up old motorcycle, and on one of his company's Vietnam & Cambodia tours with a group of nine this month, he was compelled to capture some of the finest.

In this series of images from a single 14-day trip, he photographs a man casually puffing on a cigarette and carrying what looks like more than 20 live chickens in woven cages perched on the back of his scooter in Sapa, Vietnam.

At a Mekong river crossing in Vietnam he is there to watch a motorcyclist dragging a massive trailer out of a boat loading dock on a bike, with the load so heavy he pops wheelies, all the while not in the slightest bit bothered his two wheels have become one.

Thompson enjoys the fact that what looks quirky to a Brit is simply every day life for the locals. In Vietnam alone there are more than 37 million motorbikes or scooters, most definitely the vehicle of choice in traffic that would make western country's peak hours look tame.

'Unlike other tour companies we venture in to remote parts of Sapa where it's not unusual to see bikes carrying livestock like chickens, pigs and goats - it makes really great photographs but it's just a way of life for the locals,' said Thompson.  

'I watched as one of the bikers tried to work out how he would carry eight goats on his bike, he fell three times before he finally got going and the goats didn't seem to happy about it!'

A family of five and a smiling group of four adults pile onto scooters to get from A to B while another transport a giant pile of chairs stacked on a tray from one side of the city to the other with the power of just his humble two-wheeler.  

With limited resources comes innovation, as is evident with one mother who has attached a cane high chair to the front of her vehicle to make it more comfortable for her to transport her toddler around town in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.  

'Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh are full of bikes and it makes the morning commute in London seem easy,' Thompson said.

'Even though most of our group was very well travelled the amount of bikes on the road still comes as a shock in these amazing countries - it's crazy!'

Pictures by Lee Thompson:

Vietnamese motorbikes on Ton Koene’s photos

Last month, the amazing photos of motorbikes in Vietnam were introduced in foreign newspapers by Dutch photographer Ton Koene.

Ton Koene captured the delivery drivers as they transported everything from trees and bags filled with live fish to cases of bottled beer and massive boxes.

The riders are often dwarfed by their cargo as they cruise through the streets of Hanoi and other cities.

The amazing scenes play out on a daily basis in Vietnam, but they’re an eye-opener for Western tourists who aren’t accustomed to seeing such things.

Ton’s photos show the riders carrying almost everything imaginable on the backs of their small motorbikes.

He said: ‘There is really nothing in the world that Vietnamese can’t transport with their scooters. Fat pigs, big sewage pipes, bamboo poles, carton boxes or the entire family including the grandmother and the dog. With the up and coming economy, owning a scooter is a symbol of freedom and wealth, like it is for people in many other countries to have a car.”

“Normal city cars are too expensive and not very handy in the narrow streets of the crowded city where parking a car is impossible. Your motorbike, however, can be parked anywhere on the sidewalk.”

Traffic in HCM City in Rob Whitworth’s video:

British photographer Rob Whitworth took 10,000 RAW images to make one spectacular time-lapse video of Ho Chi Minh City.

“Everyone who has visited Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, knows part of the magic (love it or hate it) is in the traffic. Ever since I first set foot in HCMC I have been captivated by the city's energy. Saigon is a city on the move unlike anything I have experienced before,” he said.

Whitworth’s video shows Ho Chi Minh City as a hive of activity with some of the most reckless drivers possible, but the whole thing is shot so beautifully it doesn’t matter. And it took a lot of work, too. Whitworth says he did multiple shoots and took over 10,000 photos for the video.

Where the fairy fern grows

No 3, Vol.9 , August  - September 2015 - Vietnam Heritage Tra Su Forest covered with water ferns. Photos: Nguyen Huu Thanh During the high-water season from September to November, water ferns cover the surface of swampy cajuput forests, creating a beautiful natural scene. The most attractive in the Western South is the Tra Su Forest of Van Giao Commune, Tinh Bien District, An Giang Province. Occupying about 845 ha, it is known as a pristine forest with a diverse ecosystem. The most prominent flora is cajuput. The fauna includes many rare species listed in Vietnam’s Red Data Book: milky storks, lesser short-nosed fruit bats, Indian egrets, walking catfish, painted storks, darters, and many others. Giang Sen - a wild stork as seen in Vietnam's Red Data Book. Photos: Nguyen Huu Thanh The deeper we go, the more fairy-tale-like it is. Pure white cajuput flowers in full bloom fill the air with a soft aroma. Lotuses and water-lilies do a catwalk on the water. Bright yellow Sesbania sesbans are waving in the wind. Care-free birds land on trees and ferns as if we weren’t there. Hung and Khoi, two famous ‘trampers’ from Dong Nai Province, who were in the boat with me, said, ‘It’s worth the time and the road, really. It’s so beautiful here. We will definitely come back here with a few more friends.’ Tourists on small boat going to the forest. Photos: Nguyen Huu Thanh After 10 minutes on a motor-boat, we came to a small boat dock. We changed to a smaller boat to row further into the woods to see the biggest cajuput trees. The birds here are talkative and make the forest noisier than the city. Mr Nguyen Van Tuan, our boat guide, told us there are over-30-year-old cajuput trees here, which host rare birds from the Vietnam’s Red Data Book such as painted storks and darters. There are plenty of fish in the water, including many scientifically valuable species which are on the brink of extinction. The forest is prettiest during the high water season, especially at dusk and dawn, when thousands of birds come in wave after wave. Then we were taken to a watch tower to take a view of the whole forest.n *The article appeared in a different form in An Giang Newspaper, 16 October, 2014

By Le Hoang

The history of blue porcelain

No 3, Vol.8 ,July – August 2015 - Vietnam Heriage Blue and white ceramics. Photos provided by Nguyen Dinh Chien V ietnam Heritage has been publishing a series based on ‘2,000 Years of Vietnamese Ceramics’ by Nguyen Dinh Chien and Pham Quoc Quan, published by Vietnam National Museum of History, Hanoi, 2005. This month, the topic is blue and white ceramics. In China, this type of ceramic, which has a vivid bright Persian blue, flowered as early as the Yuan dynasty. In Vietnam, wares with opaque ash-blue, which students of ceramics now called pre-blue and whites, were not produced until the fourteenth century. Many examples have been found, mostly at random. Typical are white bowls, ewers, small tureens and spittoons that have one or two large opaque blue lines around the mouth and two double sprays on either side of the body. Recent excavations at two Tran sites of Xom Hong (Hai Duong) and Kim Lan (Gia Lam, Hanoi) have consolidated the previous opinion on this kind of pre-blue and white ware. Blue and white ceramic with a lid. Photos provided by Nguyen Dinh Chien On the other hand, more evidences discovered recently have also confirmed that, as early as the Tran dynasty, cobalt imported from the Middle East was used in Vietnam. Remarkable examples are a few Tran globular ewers with two realistic lotus bushes painted in Persian cobalt blue on the shoulder and cover. Most recently, a bottle- shaped vase (yuhuchun) with a phoenix painted in Persian blue has been recovered from Cu Lao Cham shipwreck along with the typical Tran dishes and bowls which have the chrysanthemum motif brown painted in their well. However, true Vietnamese blue and white ceramics were not produced commonly until the fifteenth century. Examples comprise mainly bowls, pots and bottles with well-done clay bodies painted finely with bright cobalt-blue against an ivory-white ground. The most outstanding example is the bottle with the regional date equivalent to 1450 in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul. However, several bowls and bottles with three to seven decorative bands have been considered Yuan wares by several scholars of ceramics. Of these, a bottle with seven bands of lotus petal, waves and flower sprays, now in the Vietnam National Museum of History, has raised much controversy. In fact, most of high-quality Vietnamese blue and whites, like this splendid bottle, have been not found in Vietnam, but abroad. Perhaps, they were produced expressly for export. The very rich collection of blue and white items recovered from the Cu Lao Cham shipwreck, dated to the first half of the fifteenth century, can be a convincing evidence for this opinion. In the sixteenth century, Vietnamese blue and whites increased in quantity, but decreased in quality. Patterns such as lotus petal, flower sprays, phoenixes and carps were no longer painted finely and elaborately as before, becoming more Vietnamese. Blue and white vase painted with swans. These items recovered from Cu Lao Cham shippwreck, in the mid of 15th century. Photos provided by Nguyen Dinh Chien Nam Sach county (Hai Duong), with Chu Dau and Hung Thang as its two most flourishing kilns, has been firmly determined as the production centre of Vietnamese blue and whites in the fifteenth to sixteenth centuries. In the following periods, this type of ceramics continued to be produced, but in a smaller number. So far, only one well-dated bowl has been found, which is painted with the classic Chinese pattern named ‘A group of bamboo trees’ and inscribed with the Chinese characters for ‘Produced in Quang Trung reign’ (1788-1792) on the base. Besides, there are a few wine pots in cracked white glaze, without dates but with a decorative style and manufacturing features similar to that bowl. The nineteenth century saw the appearance of flower vases, single or in pairs, decorated with underglaze light-blue painting and with applied dragons and other motifs. From the Le-Trinh period (1548-1786) Vietnamese ceramics in general, and Vietnamese blue and whites in particular, declined, due to the strong expansion of Chinese ceramics and porcelain all over the world. Especially, the Nguyen dynasty commissioned a large number of Chinese wares with some Vietnamese features for royal temples and palaces. At the time, Bat Trang was the unique representative of traditional Vietnamese ceramics, while other centres at Mong Cai (Quang Ninh), Lai Thieu (Binh Duong) and Cay Mai (Saigon) developed under the influence of Southern Chinese kilns. At the same time, some production centres of unglazed stoneware appeared in the provinces of Vinh Phu, Quang Binh and Thua Thien-Hue.n Bat Trang bowl painted with a group of bamboo trees, 1788-1792. Photos provided by Nguyen Dinh Chien Vietnam National Museum of History 1 Trang Tien St, Hanoi 216 Tran Quang Khai St, Hanoi Tel: (04) 3824-1384 www.baotanglichsu.vn Open 8 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. Closed every first Monday of months