Frenchmen to update Da Lat City plan

Lam Dong People’s Committee Chairman Huynh Duc Hoa said on April 13 that the Paris Urban Planning Institute and a prestigious French architectural firm have been chosen because “French characteristics” are a uniquely attractive aspect of the older parts of the city. 

The original plan for Da Lat was the work of the architect Ernest Hebrard in 1923. Though Hebrard also developed city plans and designed important buildings in Saigon, Hanoi, Haiphong, Phnom Penh and Vientiane, Da Lat is the first and only city in Vietnam that was built from scratch according to a Western style city plan..

However, due to loose management, many French-style villas in Da Lat have been “ravaged.” Despite the local government’s efforts, luxury villas and palaces have become untidy apartment blocks. Nearly 100 French-style villas are still used by hundreds of families and they are seriously downgraded.

French style meets Vietnamese culture

LookAtVietnam - French designer Rebecca Bargas will introduce her first Vietnamese Spring-Summer Collection which features more than 100 items tomorrow, April 10, at the Hilton Hanoi Hotel.

Gallic flair: The Spring-Summer Collection 2010 by French designer Rebecca Bargas will be presented at Ha Noi’s Hilton Hotel tomorrow. Her Metiss Age collection is a mix between French and Vietnamese culture and took eight months to come to fruition.

“The collection is for everyday wear, it is a simple fusion of Vietnamese fabrics and French style,” said Bargas.

"I hope the collection will provide a range of easy to match items highlighting the feminine glamour and chic of people here. These ready-to-wear items are ideal for the office or daily wear,” added the designer whose cosmopolitan background mixes French, Spanish, Asian and Caribbean ancestry.

Bargas spent almost a year preparing the collection, with her centrally involved in the design, choice of materials, and research into the Vietnamese market.

“My Vietnamese isn’t that good, so sometimes I had a few difficulties. However, I have been here for two years which has helped me adapt to working here and I have received great support from my team. more>>

Sauntering along Xa No Canal in Hau Giang Province

Once visiting Hau Giang Province, home to endless rice fields and canals entangled with boats, tourists should visit Vi Thanh Commune to let the soul drift with the ships and boats on the stream along Xa No Canal.

About 60 kilometers from Can Tho City, Vi Thanh Commune attracts travelers to its canal along Xa No Park with its poetic surroundings. The park runs along Tran Hung Dao Street, protecting visitors from the sun with its many green trees. It is amazing to walk in the park under the moonlight to watch the boats silently float on the canal.

The canal was formed in 1901-1903 by two French people, Duval and Guery. At night, departing from Vi Thanh Market, tourists can stroll along the canal to taste the rustic flavor of the delta. Along the canal is a statue garden with dozens of white stone sculptural works. Stepping onto the overpass, travelers can see the great length of the canal.  more>>

French Cathedral still stands at hilltop in Nha Trang

The Nha Trang Cathedral was built by the French in 1928 and sports a grand clock on its face together with three giant bells (built by the famed Bourdon Carillons Company). To provide a hilltop setting, the top of a mountain was blown off with no less than 500 mines; it was built with steel reinforced concrete with cemented walls. If you visit the Nha Trang Cathedral, you will imagine that you have stepped into an authentic European church. 

Approximately 10% of the population of Vietnam, or about 8 million people, are Christian. The religion came to Vietnam around the 16th century through the missionary works of evangelist European countries. The man responsible for anglicizing the language, Alexandre de Rhodes, facilitated the set-up of permanent missions in major cities. Unfortunately, he fell out of favor with the reigning lords of the time and was thrown out of the country for subversion. The years that followed witnessed great suspicion and prosecution of the Catholic Church, including demolition of worship sites and execution of believers. By the time the French invaded Indochina in the 19th century, they reinstated a very strong foothold with the Church, which became the largest landowner in Vietnam. Catholics were regarded as elite and were favored over non-Catholic Vietnamese, as they were more educated.

As with the rest of Vietnam, the most popular form of transport

 is the motorbike, even for churchgoers.

Fast forward to today. Our cab driver was keen enough to take us all the way up the hill to the entrance. There was a service in progress, and I tiptoed in so as not to disturb the ceremony. Straight ahead, I could see an enlarged photo of the Pope John who had just died (this was in 2006) ; this mass was a commemoration to him, and our timing, as usual, couldn’t have been better. The interior of the building reminded me of Westminster Abbey, with its magnificent arches and stained-glass windows.

Most of the women are in traditional dress, white or beige. There was a special procession going on, led by three men carrying crosses of different sizes; behind them were young women in Ao Dai dresses of different colors. There must have been a special meaning to the order of the colors: the ladies in celadon/white were first, followed by the ones in pink, with the greatest number last in dark blue/white. 

Around the main building were packs of motorcycles that would carry the families back home. I recognized many of the saints’ names as I went from statue to statue around the perimeter of the outer court. A crèche was built into this circle, and aside from the familiar cross, it had offerings, license plates of various origins, potted flowers, and a cascading bougainvillea tree on the top. 

The chant was really beautiful, and during moments of silence, you could hear a pin drop. Urns that are set along the road going up the hill hold the ashes of an exhumed cemetery. 

I noticed that most of the worshipers never smile

Baguettes, Croissants and Brioches?

meeting the owner of Pat'a'chou

The majority of Asian countries are not bread fanatics like the West, though we are beginning to see some of that influence creeping in; when I was in Japan, as far back as 1991, the Japanese were having a love affair with sliced bread, but it was sold in packages of perhaps 10 jumbo slices, and somehow they managed to make it taste better than ours. So what's new?

photo: French bakery on the Emeraude Cruise

One of the vestiges of French colonization of Viet Nam was its cuisine, and let me be the first to tell you: you will never miss any French foods while in this country. Especially the bakery part, which is everyone's weakness.

They have learned it so well, that if you closed your eyes, and walked into a bakery, you'd swear you might be in the heart of Montmartre. During our first jaunt to Sai Gon, our hotel, the Indochine, on Hai Ba Trung Street, faced  Pat’à Chou, - a bakery that produced on its premises the stuff of heaven. This was purely accidental, as we didn't have a clue about the street itself, only that it was in District 1, where the "action" is.  At one time, the owner of Pat’à Chou was looking to expand into franchises, but since it's been almost three years, I have no idea if that's still a plan.

Pat’à Chou on Hai Ba Trung Street in Sai Gon

Terminally jet lagged, after a voyage of almost 21 hours, we would wake up at 3 am ready for the world. The world did not return the favor, though, by all standards, Sai Gon does wake up very early. By 5 am, we begin to see bicycles and motorbikes zooming down the street, loaded with all sorts of merchandise to bring to market. The Bakery opened at 6 am, and of course, by that time, we were not only hungry, but salivating as well. The Indochine served a very nice breakfast on the main lobby floor, which we never missed, but sweetened the "pot" with goodies from across the street.

Why would you want to go anywhere else in the world, when the smell of these freshly baked French goodies would tickle your nostrils every morning? Don't panic at the price of the baguette. At the time, and it hasn't changed much since we were there, 15,000VDN was equivalent to one US$. Thus, the baguette is less than US$0.50; this is the price I pay for one Portuguese roll here in New York which is one fourth the size of the baguette. One could load up on brioches, croissants, sugared cookies (something like biscuits Marie, only larger and with more butter), miches and boules,choux à la crème, (cream puffs), madeleines and gâteaux for less than US$5.

The word Pat’à Chou so very interesting in that it can convey more than one meaning; the literal one, and most obvious, is pâte à choux, referring to the very delicate dough used to make cream puffs. The second, and perhaps not as well-known, is Patachou, a French songstress of the ‘50s/’60s who was quite popular in her days. Either way, one cannot escape the intention: this is as French as it gets. Only after we had left Vietnam did I find out that this patisserie is on the must-see list of the elite guidebooks.

photo: Croissants au chocolat, and plain croissants fresh out of the oven

The baguette has become part of the street market experience, which is very telling. I love to shop street markets, because they are one of the principal reflections of any local culture. The baguettes will be offered on the street, along with 1,000 other food items. It's one of those things that can never taste bad. 

And it is not only in the major cities, but just about everywhere we went. On the streets, in the market at My Tho, on the way to the MeKong Delta, you could find baguettes popping up around the Fruit Market, as well as the indoor market they have there.

It's not unusual for French Restaurants to display baguettes and other French bakeries in their windows as they know the kind of attraction this has on potential diners. Here, the woman at the cash register of the restaurant "Le Givral" peers out the window, through baskets filled with French breads. Their whole menu can be seen if you click on the previous link above.

I am not one to miss an opportunity to furnish our hotel room with goodies, just because of force of habit (I do it, no matter where in the world we are), and especially in Asia, where jet lag takes a while to go away, one has a tendency to wake up and feel hungry at odd hours. Below, I found a shop that had fresh baked goods in addition to other foodstuffs.

If you look very closely at the display window, you'll recognize the round containers of la Vache qui Rit cheese. To the right of the tomatoes. Pointing will get you what you need in the event you don't speak the language. And don't forget to smile; everyone here appreciates that.

They remind me of home

Although home for me has been the city of New York for the last 40 or so years, part of my heart and soul still yearns for Alexandria, Egypt. I am told that as soon as I go back for the first time, I can expect the aching to abate. I was surprised, as I engaged in the game of mapping my travels, that I had been in some 350 cities in the world, and yet, one country managed to envelop its aura around me like a noose. And that is Viet Nam. Let me share with you, graphically, some of the things which became so dear as they were all too familiar from another place and time.

I was in Saigon when I spotted these; I thought I was hallucinating, as I hadn't seen them since I had left Egypt. Of course, I bought some!!

Though I never did see chickens travelling by motorbike, I do remember them in cages being sold in the markets.

The only word for this is "moknessa"....

Having dinner or after dinner al fresco is the thing to do, whether in Hanoi, Saigon, Hue, Sapa or wherever you find yourself in Viet Nam. At times, it is too hot to go outside in the evenings, so you have to be rescued in a room with a/c.

The Pat'a'Chou bakery was across the street from our hotel in Saigon. As soon as they opened, we were the first to get the croissants, petits pains, and brioches before anyone else.

Spaghetti with bolognese sauce; I don't know how they learned, but they did....absolutely fabulous.

I don't have to tell you that seeing these men playing immediately brought backgammon to mind.

Except maybe for the pink color, these balconies could be part of a residential street in Alexandria. And of course, we'd have to get rid of the Viet Namese signs....

The shutters in the cities, especially in Hanoi, drove me crazy. I wanted to take a picture of all of them. Especially the green ones, since our house in Egypt had green shutters in every single room.

Yes, the most delicious oranges here are green.....

At this point in time, I had to go native. It was already my second trip to Viet Nam, and let me tell you, this stuff is heavy to carry. My hat is off to the women as I see them scurrying around the city with quite a load on their shoulders.

Depending upon your locale, this is iced coffee in the North, and white coffee in the South. Whatever you call it, it is better than the "café glacé" we used to crave from the Brazilian Coffee Shop in Alex.

The balconies are everywhere, and every building, old or new has got one. Some have cement walls, while others look like this one. This particular balcony was part of our penthouse room at the hotel and was replete with plants, a clothes hanger, and a chaise lounge. One had a fairly good view of Hanoi from this vantage point.

These humongous incense joss sticks are not ordinary; they smell like the "bakhour" we used to burn in Egypt to ward off the evil eye. I brought some back with me from the last trip, and enjoy it immensely.

And who can forget this sight? The wall which surrounded our garden in Alexandria was adorned with similar pieces of broken glass to deter thieves. This is very common in Viet Nam.

Sugar cane is available in Viet Nam just about anywhere, and you can often see people chewing on a section. What they have not yet learned to do, or at least I didn't see, is the art of sugar cane juice, which we loved so much in Egypt.

The trains and the railroad tracks; I remember when we lived in Alexandria, the rear of the house had balconies which faced the train tracks, just like these, and sometimes, I'd see kids playing or walking alongside them. And of course, the passing of the train was always a thrill for me, as I wondered what it was like to be inside. I made up for lost time; we traveled over 1500 miles by rail in Viet Nam.

This immediately struck me as déjà vu; looking down the stairs from the 5th floor where there is no elevator.

There are no closets in hotel rooms in Viet Nam; only very ornate armoires like this one, or larger. In my parents' room, there was an armoire similar to this one in color, but it was huge, with doors on both sides of a mirror which was in the center.

The chaise longues on Ha Long Bay are so reminiscent of the ones we used to have in Alexandria, though some had the actual seat made of very strong canvas instead of wooden slats.