Vietnamese cuisine to be featured on international TV channel

LookAtVietnam - Ten 45-minute episodes about Vietnamese food will be broadcast in October on prime time on Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) and the American Travel, Living and Discovery channels.

 Luke Nguyen and Vietnamese cuisine

Luke Nguyen prepares roast pork ribs on the pavement of Ton That Hiep Road, District 1, HCM City .

Last year, an Australian film crew shot 10 episodes of a series entitled “Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam in HCM City,” which focused on local specialties in central and southern Vietnam.

Luke Nguyen is a famous Vietnamese-Australian chef. In 2002, Nguyen and his sister opened their first restaurant, the Red Lantern Restaurant, serving Vietnamese food in Sydney’s Surry Hills. The Red Lantern soon won critical acclaim and a number of awards including the Restaurant and Catering Industry Association of Australia’s Best Restaurant awards in 2006, 2007 and 2008. continued>>

Sleepless cafés in Saigon

LookAtVietnam - Vietnam has ca phe coc, meaning cafes on the sidewalk or in front of offices, which only open from morning until noon. Saigon has ca phe bui or ca phe bet, where customers can sit on the ground.

Café for art lovers

Hanoi’s coffee culture – like no other

Saigon cafés

 A ca phe bui in HCM City.

Pham Ngu Lao road, which is called Pho Tay (street for foreigners), has a dozen ca phe bui to serve travelers.

A ca phe bui can be a plastic bag containing various things from bottles of green tea, plastic cups, straws and some kinds of soft drink, which is hung on the street. Customers serve themselves by taking a plastic cup and choosing their drink. Another ca phe bui is equipped with a spongy box and a plastic bag.

Tam, 27, an original Saigonese opens his ca phe bui at the foot of a tree on Le Lai road. This ca phe bui is taken care of by four family members, consisting of Tam, his wife, his sister and his mother. His family lives in a 15 square meter apartment in an alley. more on lookatvietnam>>

Fountain on a hot day

via saigon today by simon kutcher on 5/15/10

How I've missed Saigon

American dollars, once shunned, are now common currency in Binh Tay Market. 

You have to learn to walk like a local in Saigon or you'll be in serious threat of injury. Stride confidently into the sea of motorbikes that are racing down the avenues: It's gut-wrenchingly scary at first. But like a scene from The Matrix, everything seems to move around you as long as they can trust you to keep moving in the same direction. Lose your nerve and stop or try to backtrack and disaster may ensue. 

Then: Proper ladies rode bicycles and their long gowns fluttered alluringly as they pedalled. Pedicabs were more common than cars as taxis. 

Now: Ladies ride motor scooters and most often wear jeans rather than dresses and don face masks to protect themselves from road dust and fumes. Motorcycles outnumber cars four to one, and the pedicabs have been replaced by Toyota SUVs. more>>

A First Person Account On A Vietnam Visit

By: Channel 2 Action News employee John Smith

ATLANTA -- Vietnam -- what a country of contrasts.I just returned from my last trip there. It was the occasion of a reunion of old (and getting older) news people who covered the war. The gathering was a 4-day event in Saigon (none of that Ho Chi Minh City stuff for me.) It was mostly former and present wire service reporters, but included news photographers like me, and others associated with the conflict.

The biggest, immediate impression is WOW -- what a change ! The streets are clean, the tourists are here, and the building boom is outstripping space. There are new, bigger, taller skyscrapers.I was here three years ago and the construction was mind-boggling, but now the buildings are taller, bigger, and there are more of them.

They appear to love Americans, English is spoken everywhere. They are even taking English lessons. Prices are in American dollars and the people are friendly. A lot of money from all over the world is being invested here.There are new hotels, (Sheraton, Hyatt, Marriott) designer stores (Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana, Mark Jacobs, etc) department stores, night clubs, and banks.

The colonel in this town is KFC. Other American franchises are well established and doing well. The entire cab fleet has been re-conditioned with new sedans. The hotels will be glad to supply you a driver and a new Mercedes limo, for a price. Tourism is big here. There are a lot of Americans but also tourists from all over the world. The Vietnamese are taking full advantage of the influx. The famous tunnels that plagued American soldiers, with their hidden combatants, are now a tourist attraction. The Chu Chi tunnels are high on the list of treks.  continued>>

Eye catching HCM City

HCM City has developed strongly in many fields in the last 35 years but the most impressive development is its infrastructure. VietNamNet introduces the city's changes.

HCM City aims to be multifunctional hub by 2025

HCM City looks to ODA for urban transport development

HCM City earns place as nation's economic spearhead

The city lights up. The building in the centre is Sheraton hotel.

Ben Thanh market – 23/9 Park – Quch Thi Trang roundabout – Ham Nghi road area from above. Small roads to the city's centre have become avenues. Many roads are expanded and rebuilt. The waterway is also upgraded. With capital for construction was less than 500 million dong in 1976-1979, HCM City can currently invest trillions dong in infrastructure.

Nguyen Huu Canh road connects District 1's hub with Thu Thiem bridge, crossing the Saigon river to district 2. Ten years ago, this area was ponds and slums.

The Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal.

Nguyen Van Linh Avenue, District 7.

Phu My bridge, the first cable-stay bridge in HCM City and the fifth on Saigon river, linking Districts 7 and 2.

The East-West avenue in District 5.

The entrances of Thu Thiem tunnel.

Can Gio mangrove forest.

Truc Quan

Saigon’s park life

Saigon’s park life

via Look At Vietnam - Vietnam news daily update

During holiday and weekends, Saigonese not only travel and go shopping, but they also frequent parks to relax. VNE shoots daily life at Tao Dan Park.

Morning exercise in Hanoi, HCM City

Tao Dan avid birders

Middle-age people do exercise.

Old people sat in Zen position on the banks of the lake.

Bird breeders gather at Tao Dan Artisan Club on Sunday mornings and holidays.

A couple was about to take wedding photos in the park.

A bride being made-up.

The playground for kids.

Two students practiced guitar.

A little girl skated in the park.

Young girls took photos next to a lake.

A group of volunteers played with kids.

Pulling out white hairs in the park.

Source: VNE

Underground maze “spiderwebs” beneath Cu Chi

Soldiers and residents of HCM City's Cu Chi district created an astonishing 250km tunnel system during the Vietnam War. The site is now a famous historical monument

LookAtVietnam - Soldiers and residents of HCM City's Cu Chi district created an astonishing 250km tunnel system during the Vietnam War, some parts of which are up to 10 meters deep and three stories. The site is now a famous historical monument

The first sections were built back in 1948 in Tan Phu Trung and Phuoc Vinh An communes to hide documents, weapons and guerilla fighters. By 1965, the basic system connected five communes in Cu Chi and by 1968, the tunnel had expanded to its full 250 kilometers.

During the peak years of the Vietnam War, residents and guerillas lived in these tunnels. They recall that the tunnels were very wet and stuffy in some sections, due to the lack of sunlight and air. Whenever people felt faint, they were brought to tunnel openings for fresh air. During the rainy season, insects and snakes shared the tunnel with the human inhabitants.

One sector of the tunnel system has three stories. The level for soldiers was 3 meters down, the second story, 6 meters under the surface, was a home for war invalids, the elderly and children. The third plunged 8-10 meters deep and was occupied by healthy people.

Visitors can see how the system zigzags underground, with many branches spread from the main tunnel and some running all the way to the Saigon River. Many air holes also dot the tunnel walls, disguised during the war years as termite nests. The tunnels are still very narrow, with openings only wide enough for small people.

US troops tried multiple times to destroy the tunnel network. In 1966, they launched the unsuccessful "Cai Bay" campaign, pumping water into the tunnels. Later, in 1967, the US Army used a special taskforce to attack the tunnel system. They used 600 small soldiers, wearing gas-masks and special rifles, to go down into the tunnels. Popularly called "tunnel rats," these forces only destroyed some small sections.

The US then brought in special vehicles to bulldoze the tunnels.. To drive out the guerrillas, toxic gas was pumped into the tunnel networks. The US even tried seeding the area with tall grasses, which grew to 2-3 meters high in just a month. They then set fire to the grass during the dry season to create difficulties for the underground guerillas by "smoking" them out. None of these methods succeeded and the tunnel network served as a vital resource during the remaining war years.

Today the Cu Chi tunnels are a national historic site, hosting around 1000 visitors a day.

Female guerillas of the past.

The map of the Cu Chi tunnel network, with branches to the Saigon River.

People created the tunnels manually.

A door.

Inside the tunnel.

An air hole.

A gun emplacement.

A hospital inside the tunnel.

A meeting room.

A blind ditch.

Trenches are connected to the tunnel.

Visitors at Cu Chi on April 30.

Documentary pictures of the Cu Chi tunnel:

<><>

Vietnam War Correspondents Gather for Saigon Reunion

Photo: AP

British photojournalist Tim Page in Hanoi, 10 May 2010

Many foreign journalists who covered the Vietnam War are gathering in Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon, this week to observe the anniversary of the city's capture by communist North Vietnam's soldiers in 1975.  The correspondents talked about the fall of Saigon 35 years ago.

Tim Page fell in love with Vietnam so deeply that he has returned to the southeast Asian nation nearly 60 times since the end of the long war in April 1975.

Page, formerly a photojournalist for Time magazine, comes back to teach the post-war generation of Vietnamese photographers.  He shares with them his experiences in Vietnam during the war, which he says had a great impact on his life.  more>>

Saigon, Vietnam - Saigon Seafood Stalls

from eatdrink&bemerry blog

You don't need to go far to find food in Saigon. All you really have to do is stand and do a 360, and you'll realize that it is actually the food that finds you. Pho was cooking on the left. Banh mi was being prepared on the right. But straight ahead, we were attracted to a small stand lit by the greenish, fluorescent lights that seem to be so prominent in Asia. Like moths in flight, we headed towards the light source.

There are many tough decisions you make in life, like friendships, relationships and careers. Add this seafood dilemma to the long list because there was just too much going on. I love extensive menus but when almost everything looks appetizing, I get very annoyed. So we picked a few, mainly rarities, and she asked if we wanted a choice of garlic, spicy garlic or sweet & sour tamarind sauce. We asked for one of each with our dishes.  explore more here>>