Visit 4 best colonial architectures in Hanoi

Architecturally, the French left their mark throughout Vietnam, and Hanoi is the city that still preserves it the most in this country.

1. National Museum of Vietnamese History

Built between 1925 and 1932, this architecturally impressive museum was formerly home to the École Française d’Extrême-Orient. Its architect, Ernest Hebrard, was among the first in Vietnam to incorporate a blend of Chinese and French design elements. Exhibit highlights include bronzes from the Dong Son culture (3rd century BC to 3rd century AD), Hindu statuary from the Khmer and Champa kingdoms, jewellery from imperial Vietnam, and displays relating to the French occupation and the Communist Party.

2. Hoa Lo Prison Museum

This thought-provoking site is all that remains of the former Hoa Lo Prison, ironically nicknamed the ‘Hanoi Hilton’ by US prisoners of war (POWs) during the American War. Most exhibits relate to the prison’s use up to the mid-1950s, focusing on the Vietnamese struggle for independence from France. A gruesome relic is the ominous French guillotine, used to behead Vietnamese revolutionaries. There are also displays focusing on the American pilots who were incarcerated at Hoa Lo during the American War.

3. Hanoi Opera House

This glorious neoclassical centrepiece of Hanoi's French Quarter is unmissable with its Gothic pillars and domes. The French-colonial 900-seat venue was built in 1911. On 16 August 1945 the Viet Minh–run Citizens’ Committee announced that it had taken over the city from a balcony on this building. For some drama today, book ahead for a performance here, even if just to experience the grand interior. Most weekends you’ll see Hanoi wedding couples getting photographed on the elegant front steps.

4. La Badiane

This stylish bistro is set in a restored, whitewashed French villa arrayed around a breezy central courtyard. French cuisine underpins the menu – La Badiane translates as ‘star anise’ – but Asian and Mediterranean flavours also feature. Menu highlights include sea-bass tagliatelle with smoked paprika, and prawn bisque with wasabi tomato bruschetta. Three-course lunches (385,000d) are excellent value, and there's an evening degustation (1,490,000d).

See more: Take a trip to Hanoi

Source: lonelyplanet

Regional dishes you need to try in Japan

Japan has a wonderful unique cuisine. Different regions have their own traditions of agriculture, produce and recipes. So in addition to the traditional Japanese dishes found throughout the country, many regions and cities in Japan have their own specialties.

Yubari Melon (Hokkaido)

Known also as “Yubari King”. Yubari melons are grown only in a small town called Yubari city. The sweetest melon you can ever taste. Some Japanese people present Yubari King melons as gifts during the holiday called chugen. It becomes the must-have dessert in Hokkaido.

Takoyaki (Osaka)

Takoyaki is the main street food associated with Osaka. This tasty treat is a fried round mixture of batter, octopus, ginger, and usually some vegetables and spices. The best place to sample takoyaki is at one of the food stalls along the Dotonbori, but this dish can be found all over the city. Many locals even have special takoyaki-making grills at home.

Goya Champuru (Okinawa)

Goya (bitter melon) came to Okinawa from Southeast Asia and quickly became one of the region's most favored vegetables.Champuru means "stir-fry" in the Okinawan language. This dish is a stir-fry of goya, pork, tofu and eggs. It is prepared by stir-frying various ingredients.

Monja-yaki (Tokyo)

Originally a children’s treat, monjayaki is now established as a specialty of the Tsukishima area of Tokyo (near Ginza). It’s a “cook it yourself” dish with ingredients such as dried squid, sweetcorn and cabbage are cooked on the hotplate. Then a runny batter is poured into a hollow in the middle. It is all scraped around with a small spatula and eaten off the spatula as it is cooked.

Chagayu (Nara)

Chagayu is a traditional breakfast food from Nara that’s made by boiling rice in roasted green tea with salt until it becomes a soupy porridge. The dish was originally enjoyed by monks at Nara’s Todai-ji temple as part of the Omizutori festival, but eventually became a common food enjoyed by locals throughout the region. Chagayu can be eaten hot or cold, and the roasted aroma of the green tea gives this wholesome dish a complex, but highly satisfying flavor.

Yudofu (Kyoto)

Popular with Japanese Buddhist, a yudofu is a simple yet delicious hot pot. Minimal ingredients used in this dish as a typical Yudofu only contains tofu cubes and vegetables in hot water. However, as with many recipes, there are options with various meats and more ingredients. Kombu also is known as edible seaweed can be added for extra flavor. The Yudofu is a winter favorite amongst the Japanese monks and can be as simple or as complex as you fancy.

See more: Japanese healthy dishes for cold weather

Source Internet

Tet Nguyen Dan, the important festival to Vietnamese

Vietnam’s Lunar New Year, also called Tet, is the most crucial event in Vietnamese tradition.  Tet marks the arrival of spring based on the lunisolar calendar, it will be between January and February as usual, after New Year’s Day. Tet occurs from the first day of the first month in Vietnamese lunar calendar to the third day or even more. Occasionally, all Vietnamese people have around 1 week off during Tet holiday, the length of the holiday depends on the change in lunar calendar annually.

How to calculate Tet

Different from the Gregorian calendar, Lunar Calendar has a fix number of twelve months with 30 days each, and a leap-year will have a whole intercalary month instead of the 29th day of February. The new year of Lunar Calendar normally will start in late January or beginning of February according to Gregorian calendar. That explains why Tet days vary from year to year, it is because the leap month may fall shorter or longer which create a smaller or bigger gap between the two calendars.

How to say Happy New Year in Vietnamese

Like Thai and Chinese, Vietnamese is a tonal language, making pronunciation a challenge for English speakers.
Regardless, locals will understand your attempts through context. You can wish people a happy new year in Vietnamese by telling them "chúc mừng năm mới." Pronounced roughly as it is transliterated, the greeting sounds like "chook moong nahm moi."

How to celebrate Tet

Since Tet occupies an important role in Vietnamese’s religious beliefs, Vietnamese will begin their preparations well in advance of the upcoming New Year. In an effort to get rid of the bad luck of the old year, people will spend a few days cleaning their homes, polishing every utensil, or even repaint and decorate the house with kumquat tree, branches of peach blossom, and many other colorful flowers. The ancestral altar is especially taken care of, with careful decoration of five kinds of fruits and votive papers, along with many religious rituals. Everybody, especially children, buy new clothes and shoes to wear on the first days of New Year. People also try to pay all their pending debts and resolve all the arguments among colleagues, friends or members of family.

Like other Asian countries, Vietnamese believe that the color of red and yellow will bring good fortune, which may explain why these colors can be seen everywhere in Lunar New Year. People consider what they do on the dawn of Tet will determine their fate for the whole year, hence people always smile and behave as nice as they can in the hope for a better year. Besides, gifts are exchanged between family members and friends and relatives, while children receive lucky money kept in red envelope.
No matter where Tet is celebrated, it must be clarified from the beginning that Tet is not a day, but several days of celebration.

What to eat on Lunar New Year

When it comes to Tet holiday, there are some traditional dishes you should try to find in a Vietnamese restaurant
• Fatty pork braised with duck egg in coconut juice – Thit kho hot vit
• Pickled onion – Dua hanh
• Pickled small leeks with dried shrimp and century egg – Tom kho, hot vit bach thao va cu kieu
• Square glutinous rice cake – Chung cake
• Banana glutinous rice cake – Banh tet chuoi
• Bitter melon soup – Canh kho qua
• Spring rolls southern style – goi cuon

Read more: 10 traditional Vietnamese New Year dishes

If you are invited to be a guest, you should…

Prepare a few red envelopes to give the children of the family. Normally, people put 50,000 VND or $2 USD in the envelope (because Vietnamese consider 2 dollars to be lucky money). However, you can also put the smallest bill of your currency in the envelope.

Dress up in Ao Dai or any piece of clothing that has a vibrant or bright color. White is acceptable to some families but avoid wearing black and dark colors.
Bringing a gift basket or cards to give the head of the family is optional but you should do so to show your goodwill.

If you make a wish to the family members or a friend, follow these simple rules as wish for health to the elderly, intelligence and happiness to the children, prosperity and luck to the rest.
Receive lucky money with both of your hands. This is how we show our respect to other people.

And wish

• Chuc mung nam moi – Happy New Year
• Van su nhu y – Everything you wish will come true!
• An khang thinh vuong – Security and prosperity
• Doi dao suc khoe – Plenty of health
• Song lau tram tuoi – Live up to 100 years old (only say this to the elderly)
• Tien vo nhu nuoc – Money will flow in your pocket

Source Internet