13 Mar 2025 - Upper Red River
On the Red River
An 8:30 am start. We visited the UNESCO praised village , an ancient village that is a well preserved example of a traditional Vietnamese village from centuries ago with intricate architecture and fascinating culture.We disembarked from the boat onto a landing craft which took us over to the other side of the river. We then had a bus trip to a market where Alex, the guide, formed groups by five tasked with finding food items in the market, using only Vietnamese names a food. We did not participate in this game and just walked round the market where they were many very small vendors and things like live eels and live chickens. We continued on a walk round Duog Lam village, visiting a temple and also one of the original old houses
We visited the Thầy Pagoda , a Buddhist temple. The temple is also known as Thiên Phúc Tự. The temple was established in the 11th century during the reign of Emperor Lý Nhân Tông of the Lý dynasty. It is dedicated to Zen master Từ Đạo Hạnh. It is one of the oldest Buddhist temples in Vietnam.
Click on thumbnail photo below to get larger photo
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| Tuong is a kind of fermented bean paste made from soybean.. | ... and commonly used in Vietnamese cuisine. | ||
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After lunch we continue downstream on the Red River and visit a timeless Vietnam with emerald green rice paddies punctuated by lime stone rock formations. We again disembarked on the landing craft which had actually crashed into us but seemingly without too much damage.
We made a stop at a small village dedicated to the handmade production of Vietnam’s most famous headwear, the Non La conical hat before continuing to Thay Pagoda. Hardly known, yet with exquisite temples dating from the 11th century, we visit this beautiful temple beside a lake and explore the village that surrounds the pagoda. We received peanut goodies and tea and saw how these traditional hats were made and were each given one at the end. We chose to have two small ones for the Teds rather than normal size ones for ourselves.
Click on thumbnail photo below to get larger photo
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