The Hanoitimes - As always there’s a wide choice of moon cakes available in Hanoi for the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival. Gentle breezes blow, yellow leaves fall from the trees and dance to the music of the cool wind. Autumn is coming to town and one of the most popular events for both adults and children during the season is Tet trung thu, or the Mid-Autumn Festival. A colourful time, the festival comes but once a year, every year, year after year, and this year falls on Sunday 27 September.At midnight the moon is at its fullest, showering its bright light on to the earth, with streets turned into playgrounds lit by red lights beaming out from lanterns of all shapes and sizes. Masks, drums, paper flutes and toys are stacked everywhere and children and adults alike jostle each other as they shop.In its partial phases, the moon represents the incompleteness of life and potential for completeness, fullness and prosperity. The festival is therefore a celebration and a prayer for the … [Read more...] about Best for the fest – Lifestyle – My HaNoi
Classic street hotel hanoi
Hanoi today: in pictures
In Hanoi, there are still old streets with characteristics which have created the urban hallmarks of the capital city in the north. Hanoi today also has new features, which are more modern, youthful and dynamic, with large avenues and high-rise buildings. Large avenues and roads More than ten years ago, Hanoi residents were so familiar with the small streets, lanes and short streets, which were laid out in an order similar to a chessboard, that they knew them like their palms. But now nobody can say he/she knows all the roads and streets in Hanoi because the streets are much different than before. With the exception of the old quarter in the centre of the city, a large transport system has been built. All of the new roads are large and beautiful, such Thang Long Avenue, Nguyen Chi Thanh, Le Van Luong, Pham Hung and Khuat Duy Tien Roads and Bac Linh Dam - Mai Dich Highway. Seen from above, especially at night, the new roads in Hanoi look like a sparkling river of … [Read more...] about Hanoi today: in pictures
Oktoberfest comes to Hanoi
Hoi An saves uprooted trees Around ten ancient trees in the old quarter of Hoi An City, which were either uprooted or blown down after the year's 11th storm, Nari, hit the central region, have been restored. These trees are almost 100-years-old with diameters from 20cm to 50cm, vice chairman of Hoi An People's Committee, Truong Van Bay told Viet Nam News yesterday "We have restored a 50-year-old star apple (Chrysophyllum cainito) tree in Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street. It was uprooted when Nari hit the city last night," said director of Hoi An City's public works company, Nguyen Quoc Tien. "Experts and staffs will do all for the conservation of the trees, which are part of Hoi An heritage," Tien said, adding that the company has helped restore fallen trees after storms in the city for years. However, he said he only expected the conservation would help half of the old trees to survive. Truong Chi Trung, director of Hoi An Town's Centre for Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation, … [Read more...] about Oktoberfest comes to Hanoi
Israeli jazz singer to hit Hanoi stage
Israeli jazz singer to hit Hanoi stage Local, foreign singers in Bao Son Park spectacular By Ha Linh and Thanh Ha in Hanoi A Jazz show at L’Espace in Hanoi at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday gives a Vietnamese audience to opportunity to hear wonderfully-talented Israeli singer Marina Maximilian Blumin. The invitation-only event, organized by the Israeli Embassy in Hanoi, is to help introduce Israeli musical culture to Vietnam. The program will include a variety of songs performed by Blumin who will sing and play the piano. As a classically trained pianist, musician and virtuoso singer, one of Israel’s greatest and most notable talents, Blumin is regarded by some as a ‘once in a generation’ phenomenon. Blumin has performed at the International Red Sea Jazz Festival, Eilat and the Bolzano Jazz Festival, Italy. She has also worked with local and international musicians such as composer & bass player Avishai Cohen, Avi Leibovich, Jason Lindner, David Hazeltine, Deborah … [Read more...] about Israeli jazz singer to hit Hanoi stage
Hanoi’s architecture gets German critique
German architect Wolfgang Boehm is key professor at the Southeast Asian Architectural Summer School. He speaks about his impressions of the city’s urban environment. You have been working at the annual summer school, launched by the Vietnamese German Centre and the German Academic Exchange Service, for the past four years. What is the purpose of the school? Would you tell me more about the project? We focused on the topic of "Affordable Urban Housing" in 2008, and invited 20 students from Viet Nam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Germany to research and design new housing, which is affordable and suitable for Southeast Asian climatic, cultural and social conditions. Our emphasis has been to respect the immediate urban environment, the culture and lifestyle of the Vietnamese people. We did not emphasise a fashionable architecture, which would be unsuitable and short-lived. Most importantly, we emphasised the method and approach to correct urban designs, as well as an appropriate … [Read more...] about Hanoi’s architecture gets German critique