maandag 25 maart 2013

Sights of Vietnam


Hello everyone


This week we are in Vietnam in the city Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh and we have already seen many interesting things here in Vietnam.

We visited 2 museums: the fine art museum and the museum of Vietnamese women. The fine art museum  is located in Hanoi and it shows Vietnam’s fine arts from every historical period. It’s the primary museum of Vietnam. They have lacquer- and enamel-ware to contemporary oil paintings by Vietnamese and foreign artists.  The museum has a huge hall with beautifully tiled floors and on the 1st floor has a display of contemporary art, this exist mostly out of kitsch or desperate attempts to master abstract art. You can buy the recent art for a reasonable price.

Fine art museum
The other museum that we visited was the museum of Vietnamese women. This museum explores Vietnam’s cultural diversity and women’s significant contributions to the nation’s development, culture and society. In this museum you can see  cultural and historical knowledge about Vietnamese women’s who lived across the nation’s 54 ethnic community groups. The galleries feature three thematic displays: Women and family life, women and social life and women’s fashion. The museum give us an idea  how Vietnamese women live in society.
Museum of Vietnamese women
Clothing-Vietnamese women
We also visited three religious, spiritual sights: Cho Quan Church, Notre Dame Cathedral and Buddha. The Cho Quan Church was built by the French about 100 years ago and it’s one of the largest churches in HCMC. In this church  Jesus on the altar has a neon halo it’s really beautiful and the view from the belfry was freaking awesome.  The Notre Dame Cathedral is set in the heart of HCMC’s government quarter. When you arrive at the Notre Dame Cathedral you see the statue of the Virgin Mary. The last religious sight we visited was Buddha. Buddha was really worth visiting, it’s a huge white Buddha seated on a lotus blossom. It’s situated at the top of the hill behind the Long Son Pagoda and it’s visible from all over the city.
Cho Quan church
Jesus on the altar with neon halo
Notre Dame Cathedral with statue virgin Mary
Buddha
 
I just love visiting temples so we visited two temples: the Quan Cong temple and the Ngoc Son temple. The Quen Cong Temple is dedicated to Quan Cong who was a highly esteemed Chinese general who is worshipped as a symbol of loyalty, sincerity, integrity and justice. The Ngoc Son Temple is the most visited temple in Hanoi, the temple sits on a little island in the northern part of Hoan Kiem Lake, a scarlet bridge connects the island to the lake shore. The temple is dedicated to General Tran Hung Dao ( Defeated the Mongols in 13th century), La To ( patron saint of physicians) and the scolar Van Xuong.
Quan Cong Temple
 
Ngoc Son temple
 
Some locals gave us the tip to visit the Water puppetry and I have to say we have really enjoyed it. It’s a puppet show on water I will post a video so that you can see what it is.
The people who know me know that this is my favorite sight namely the markets. We visited two markets: Bac Ma Market and the Coc Ly. The Bac Ma Market is a Sunday market where they sell an increasing range of handicrafts. The Coc Ly market is an impressive Tuesday market where many ethnic minorities come to town for trading their local products but it’s also a meeting place for men to drink away their problems, women to talk and the young to find love.
Bac Ma Market
Coc Ly Market
 
So that was it for this week, I can’t way to visit Cambodia now I’m going to sleep because as you could read we have already done a lot and I’m really tired.
Goodnight
Xoxo
Mieke
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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