Thứ Năm, 23 tháng 7, 2015

Top 3 foods in Ha Giang


Shan Tuyet Tea in Ha Giang
Ha Giang is one of the provinces has the oldest Shan tea area in the country. From the early 20th century, the French investigates tea in Ha Giang and take attention to the ancient highland tea. It is Shan tea with big leaves, many snow-white hair covered buds and have good quality. So that people called Shan tuyet. SONG XANH CRUISE

In the natural forests of Ha Giang, Shan Tuyet tea grown mixed with other forest trees. In Ha Giang, Shan Tuyet tea located throughout most of the districts in which the ancient tea areas have 300-1000meters height. So far, some areas of province has highly specific for the an ecological tea such as: Lung Phin, Phin Ho, Tham Ve, Bo Duot,… that represents the oldest tea area of Vietnam. This is the local that produces the famous Shan Tuyet tea. The reputation of Shan Tuyet tea conquered not only the consumers but also the connoisseurs in enjoying tea. North Vietnam travel Packages

The Shan Tuyet tea in Ha Giang can be divided into two main types, there are: small Shan tea leaves, tea in Lung Phin with typical characteristics as raspberry or candle shape. Raspberry shape tea has a small leaf tea is less than candle shape tea. In addition to the perennial tea, Ha Giang still grows tea in the lowland. Paradise Cruise

Ha Giang Dried Buffalo

Dried buffalo is special food in the meals of Black Thai. This meat is usually made from muscle of buffaloes and cows freely on the northwest mountains. When making it, people cut meat into pieces with the grain then smoked by charcoal from the mountains. With the dried buffalo, the flavor of smoke is almost intact. The processing techniques are traditional secret but products are quite homogeneous. People use some spices such as pepper, ginger, especially “mac khen”- a type of forest pepper of Northwest upland ethnic minorities.
Ha Giang Dried Buffalo
Ha Giang Dried Buffalo


You can contemplate the spices in each meat. Dried meat still retains the flavor characteristics, especially, the sweetness of the meat. When people often shred with the grain, it can eat immediately or use with corn wine. This dish is made completely natural, so it can reserve about 1 month.

 Today, cultural exchange scale between ethnic people becomes more and more develop, dried buffalo not only is the dish of the Thai but also follows the guests to nationwide. Therefore, the method to enjoy this dish is different and depends on each place.

If the Thai often enjoys their special dish instead of eating foods, especially on the rain, floods or lack of food… but now, this dish can be served with hot pot or baking dish. However, the unique flavor of buffalo meat only intact when taken directly from the kitchen, still smell of smoke, spicy peppers, flavor of “khac men”.

HA GIANG STONE BRYOPHYTE

For many years, bryophyte is regarded as the aquatic without effects. However, ethnic people in Xuan Giang commune, Ha Giang province, bryophyte is considered as special food. The food is made from it called “que”. This is not only delicious dish but also good for health.

According to local people, when looking bryophyte, they usually choose the fresh and great bryophyte. Then, it is cleaned and then is processed into many dishes. The bryophyte exists in 7 days, when it grows up to 3-4 days people should pick up right away.

Good bryophyte is less and it can eat depend on season, so it is precious dish. Bryophyte can be processed into many dishes such as fried bryophyte, dried bryophyte but the most unique dish is bryophyte mixed with spices and then grilled.

When grill, people cannot turn it several times but grill one side then grill the other. Since bryophyte dish depends on season people often make dried bryophyte. Special customers are eaten the special dish: dried bryophyte. Grilled bryophyte not only is favorite food of ethnic people but also can cure many diseases, help blood circulation, detoxification, heat stability, blood stability and strengthening resistance.

Thứ Năm, 16 tháng 7, 2015

Sapa- a cool summer place for you



Summer, normally it’s the time for sunshine and activities on the beaches such as swimming, sunbathing and water related sports activities. However, for me and other travelers, going to the mountain region in contrast is a preferable choice. While most of the Northern provinces are deep in high temperature in summer, Sapa is much cooler with the average temperature ranges from 20 to 25 degrees C, even some places less than 20 degrees. Sapa is considered as an ideally heaven in this summer for you to escape the heat. North Vietnam tours

Situated in the remote moutainous region of Northwest Vietnam, Sapa is famous for stunning winding rice padderfields, the leaves trumpet and the love market. The combination of customs and habits of more than 30 ethnic minorities also weaves a colorful and charming cultural tapestry of Sapa. Besides, the beauty of Sapa is adorned by the heavenly grandeur of Northwest moutainous ranges, looming far away is Mount Fansipan which is considered as the highest mountain in Vietnam and the “roof of Indochina”. Staying at Sapa, you can experience four seasons in a day, spring in the morning, then it gradually shifted to summer at noon with mild sunshine and balmy climate, in the afternoon, clouds and fog create a chilly feeling of autumn and at night as the cold of winter. The pleasant weather here seems to be suitable with all your discovery trips. Indeed, Sapa can offer you any types of tourism that you like such as convalescence tourism or adventure tourism. Sapa is ideal place that each traveler can found his or her own pleasur here like conquering Fansipan peak, walking on small streets and watching local people trafficking, visiting local minorities’ villages to learn about the lifestyle of indigenous people or simply sitting by the fire and enjoying an interesting book. Halong bay tours Vietnam
Sapa- a cool summer place for you
Sapa- a cool summer place for you

For me, what I like most when staying at Sapa is strolling in local villages. Lao Chai, Ta Van, Ta Phin village are familiar names with tourists if you want to get more understanding about daily life of Red Dao and Black H’mong people. You can walk around their villages, talking with indigenous people and find the differences in culture between them. If you want to know more, let’s go to highland markets that own unique bold characteristics of culture and ethnic people in Sapa. It is also one of the reasons that create tourism brand for Sapa. Mekong river tours Vietnam
You can choose to visit markets such as Bac Ha, Coc Ly, Muong Hum, Can Cau which often only have temporary stalls on a wide area, along with lines of people scattering around and most specially is the variety of local goods that always attracts your eyes. If you want to travel to Sapa, you can do by train or bus but in my opinion, a night train coming to Sapa in the early morning is a great idea. Normally all Sapa packages tours include everything for you, you can save time if travelling by tours and still get unforgettable memories in Sapa.

Thứ Năm, 2 tháng 7, 2015

Must-try traditional foods when visiting Ancient Capital of Hue



Hue is the capital of Vietnam in Nguyen Dynasty, located in the Central of Vietnam. This city still remains a lot of historical vestiges and cultural heritages of an Ancient Royal Capital. Hue is also well-known with royal cuisine (foods served for the King), which is the combination between taste and aesthetic, the combination among color of ingredients to create an art of work. However, there is another thing making “amazing cuisine” of Hue is traditional foods. Hue’s traditional cuisine is so distinctive from other regions in the country, which is considered as the best in Vietnam. And these are some special traditional dishes that you should not miss when visiting Hue. Centre Vietnam tours
 Bún Thịt Nướng (grilled-meat vermicelli)
This food is totally different with “Bún Chả Nướng” from Hanoi. It is a mixture of rice vermicelli, grilled pork, fresh vegetables and other special ingredients. Bun thit nuong has no broth, but a sauce made by grinded peanut. The pork is mixed with some ingredients to be tastier and then be grilled on fire. A bowl of bun thit nuong includes rice vermicelli in the bottom, some pieces of grilled pork above, kinds of fresh vegetable around and the sauce on the top. When eating, you should add a little chili sauce and lemon squash then mix all of them together to enjoy the special flavor of the dish.
Bun thit nuong present every corner of Hue, becoming a popular street food here. Besides, in almost all “bun thit nuong” restaurants, there are also some of other dishes including bún mắm nêm (“mam nem” is a kind of traditional sauce made from fish), khoái pancake (also “xèo pancake” in Northern), nem lụi. You should try all of them because they are so specific and delicious. Mekong delta tours Vietnam

Cơm Hến (Clam rice)
Clam rice probably is the most unique and symbolic food of Hue cuisine. The primary material of rice clam is cold rice and small clam. Clam is boiled and then their flesh is taken to stir-fried. Hue people said the best clam to make this food has to be caught from Tam Giang pond. Com hen contains rice, clam, Indian taro (Hue people called it “Bạc hà”), pepper, peanuts, fried pork grease (Tóp mỡ), some of herbs and fish sauce sprinkled above. Because people here considered clam as a “cold food”, they add pretty much chili sauce or red pepper into the bowl of com hen. So, it can be very spicy. Therefore, you should prepare yourself before enjoy it. Paradise Cruise
In addition, beside the bowl of com hen, they will add a special bowl of soup made from boiled clam broth for you to sprinkle into com hen if you like. However, for people who try it at the first time, it may be really hard to eat, so remember, you should smell the soup before you try.
Now, except for Com Hen, Hue also has Bun Hen (Clam vermicelli), My Hen (Clam noodle). They are as similar as Com Hen, but they use vermicelli and noodle instead of rice to make the food more diverse.
Must-try traditional foods when visiting Ancient Capital of Hue
Must-try traditional foods when visiting Ancient Capital of Hue

3.      Bún Huế
Bún Huế is general name of many variation of rice vermicelli soup having a same major ingredient called “mọc”. Mọc is small balls made from grinded meats. The meats to make Mọc can be pork or crab or shrimp. Moc is the most important thing that decides the distinctive taste of Bun Hue. Besides, it also contains cubes of brown congealed pig blood, which are very good for anyone suffer from high blood pressure. Another special thing in Bun Hue is the broth, prepared by simmering pork bone for a long period of time and after that adding other elements to create mixed taste.
Depending on the kind of meat making Moc or the additional ingredients, there are many variations of Bun Hue, including Bún bò giò heo (pig’s trotters), Bún mọc Cua ( Moc made from crab), bún mọc (Moc made from pork),…
bun Hue
4.      Bánh canh cá lóc ( snake-head tapioca noodle soup)
Bánh canh (tapioca/rice noodle soup) is the specialty of Central Vietnam. There are many kinds of banh canh representing each place, for example, Trang Bang rice noodle soup (Tay Ninh province), fish roll tapioca noodle soup (Binh Dinh province), etc. And Snaked-head tapioca noodle soup is the representative of Hue.
Tapioca is kneaded with water, then be cut into long thin slides and be hard-boiled. Sneak-head fish is a kind of fish living in freshwater. The meat of fish is cut into small slides and then be stir-fried. The bone of fish is used to boil the broth. A bowl of banh canh ca loc is pretty simple: tapioca noodle, some slides of fish, green onions, eryngium leaves, and the broth. But it is a combination of a lot of flavor, including the sweetness of broth, the greasiness of snake-head fish and the toughness of tapioca noodle. And to avoid the smell of fish, the food is added pretty much chili sauce, so it is extremely spicy. It is highly recommended that you should find something cool to drink with.
banh canh ca loc
Hue is the central of Vietnamese cuisine, so there are various foods waiting for you, including Banh beo, Banh nam, Banh loc, Banh uot, Che (sweet soup), Tom chua (sour shrimp sauce), vegetarian foods and other royal dishes. If you are an astronomer, you have to visit Hue and enjoy yourself.