Visa Vietnam For Indian

Binh Dinh Hoi cake

Bánh hỏi is a Vietnamese dish consisting of rice vermicelli woven into intricate bundles and often topped with chopped scallions or garlic chives sauteed in oil, served with a complementary meat dish. The strings of noodles are usually only as thin as a toothpick; the texture is firm enough so the noodles do not fall apart, but is not at all sticky to keep the dish light and suitable for a breakfast treat.

Origin
Bánh hỏi originated from the Bình Định Province of Vietnam’s South Central Coast region. People in Bình Định eat bánh hỏi for almost any meal during the day, instead of rice or noodle soups.

Production
Making bánh hỏi is a multistep process. First, good rice is soaked in water overnight, then washed with water again three or four times until the water comes out clear. Then the rice is either ground with water into a mixture, or ground without water, but mixed into water three or four times afterward to leaven it without using any additional agent. The flour mixture is then either steamed and kneaded, or cooked in a pan, stirred continuously until it starts to coagulate, but no flour gets stuck on the stirring tool. This step is crucial in making bánh hỏi soft, light, and not sticky, but the strings of noodles will still have a firm texture. When the experienced bánh hỏi maker feels the dough is done, it is ready for pressing.

Special copper or aluminum cylinders, with several small holes (the size of a needle eye), shape the cooked dough into noodle form. Pressing the dough requires great strength, as the dough is hard and the holes are small, so it is usually done with leverage. When one person presses the dough, another “catches” the noodles coming out on the other side, presses them together and cuts them off every 10 cm or so, creating a kind of mesh of noodle, which is then laid onto a flat surface, but not in layers. Finally, the sheets are steamed one last time for about five minutes.

Serving
Like bún (rice vermicelli) dishes, bánh hỏi is served cold. Traditionally bánh hỏi in Bình Định is rolled into bundles and always served with chopped garlic chives. The garlic chives are quickly stir-fried with oil, its aroma and taste goes well with bánh hỏi, which makes the dish enjoyable by itself and without any other kinds of herbs.

In central Vietnam, such as Huế, bánh hỏi is eaten with dried prawns and nước chấm. In southern Vietnam, bánh hỏi is eaten with a variety of meats, especially roast pork or duck. There are also bánh hỏi chả giò, bánh hỏi with shrimp paste on sugar cane stick, and bánh hỏi with grilled pork, chicken, or beef. At the Gò Duối market in Xuân Lộc commune, Sông Cầu district, Phú Yên Province, one also finds bánh hỏi lòng heo Gò Duối, which is bánh hỏi with boiled pig offal.

Since making bánh hỏi is a skillful process, the dish is highly regarded, and is served at ceremonial parties, such as wedding and ancestor memorial days.

Covering bánh hỏi tightly reduces surface drying, which can make it sour, so market sellers put fresh bánh hỏi in bamboo baskets with banana leaves, and usually leave it open to air. For convenience or sanitary reasons, there are dried, packaged bánh hỏi, similar to dried, packaged rice vermicelli, for people who want to cook it themselves instead of buying fresh bánh hỏi from the markets.

Trung vit lon

A balut (spelled standardized as balot) is a developing bird embryo (usually a duck or chicken) that is boiled and eaten from the shell. It originates and is commonly sold as street-food in the Philippines. They are common food in countries in Southeast Asia, such as Laos (khai look ໄຂ່ລູກ in Lao), Cambodia (pong tia koun ពងទាកូន in Cambodian), Thailand (Khai Khao ไข่ข้าว in Thai) and Vietnam (trứng vịt lộn or hột vịt lộn in Vietnamese). They are often served with beer. The Tagalog and Malay word balut means “wrapped”.

The length of incubation before the egg is cooked is a matter of local preference, but generally ranges between 14 and 21 days.

The eating of balut is controversial due to religious, animal welfare and human health concerns.

Description
Balut is a fertilized bird egg (usually a duck) that is incubated for 14 to 21 days, boiled or steamed, and the contents eaten direct from the shell. In balut that has been incubated for longer periods, the embryo is well developed and the features of a baby duck are recognisable. The partially-developed embryo bones are soft enough to chew and swallow as a whole. The mallard duck (Anas platyrhynchus), also known as the “Pateros duck”, is considered to be the most important breed for egg production to make balut.

In the Philippines and other localities where balut is a traditional food, it is a common street-food and is also sold in stores and malls. It is a substantially higher source of protein and calcium compared to a regular unfertilized egg, and it is relatively cheaper. The Philippines were influenced by the Chinese around 1885, and since then, balut has been included as a traditional part of the culture. Wherever Filipinos migrated around the country for work, a large market of balut would develop. Controversies arose as knowledge of the food spread around the South East Asian countries and then globally. People questioned the ethics of eating the food.

Nutrition
In the Philippines and Southeast Asia, balut is a common food that people eat. Balut is a fertilized chicken or duck egg with an almost developed embryo. The egg will be eaten in the shell once it has been boiled. There are different nutritional facts about balut since it can be either fertilized chicken or duck eggs. However, the nutritional data for chicken egg balut or duck egg balut are almost the same.

In general, balut nutrition specifications between chicken and duck have minor differences. Both eggs have around 14 grams of crude protein, 188 calories each, and around 100 milligrams of calcium. A duck egg might have a higher value of nutrition than a chicken egg but overall, both chicken and duck balut have around the same nutrition value.

Canh chua ca loc

When it comes to soup, we usually think of it as a winter comfort food. But in Southern Vietnam, there are only sunny and rainy seasons. And we actually have tons of varieties of soups! One example is sweet and sour fish soup, or canh chua in Vietnamese, a popular soup that you can order at just about any restaurant or food vendor. It actually tastes heavenly when the weather is hot. It has the perfect blend of sweet, sour and spice, with more than three types of fresh herbs which really enhance the flavor.

Ingredients: (3-4 portions)

3 slices of fresh basa or catfish
1~3 fresh hot chillies, seedless, finely chopped
1 elephant ear stem, peeled, sliced ⅓ inch thick
1 cup okra, sliced ⅓ inch thick
1 cup bean sprouts, washed, drained well
1 tomato, peeled, cut in wedges
1~2 key limes, juiced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled, chopped
¼ pineapple, peeled
1 tbsp tamarind paste
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp fish sauce
½ cup rice paddy herb, chopped into 1 inch lengths
¼ cup finely chopped sawtooth coriander
¼ cup finely chopped green onion
½ cup finely chopped cilantro
1 tbsp vegetable oil

It has the perfect blend of sweet, sour and spice, with more than three types of fresh herbs which really enhance the flavor.
Instruction

– Wash the fish, then use a paper towel to pat the fish slices dry. Rub the fish slices with chili. Sprinkle both sides with salt. Then let them marinate for 30 minutes.
– Meanwhile, prepare other ingredients. Mix tamarind paste with 1 cup of boiling water. Let it sit.
– Add oil in a sauce pan. Set over medium heat. When the oil starts to smoke, add garlic. Saute until the garlic smells good and turns light brown, then take the garlic out.
– Add 2 cups of water. Hot oil may splash out of the pan, so be careful. Use a sieve to s
train off the pulp and seeds only pour the juice of the tamarind paste in the pan. Then add sugar and salt. Cover and bring to a boil.
– Place the fish into the boiling pan. Reduce the heat to medium low. Let it simmer for 10 minutes.

Then take the fish out. Cover to keep warm.
– Add pineapple, tomato. Bring to a boil again.
Add fish sauce, lime juice in bit by bit. Taste the soup for a balance of sweet, sour, spicy, and salty flavor. Adjust to your liking. For more depth of flavor, add a little more fish sauce, or more lime juice if it’s too sweet.
– Let the soup boil again. Then add bean sprouts, okra, and elephant ear stems.
Bring to a boil again. Add the sawtooth coriander, green onion, and cilantro and now you’re done!
Add the fish back into the pan if you don’t eat right away.
Before serving, sprinkle with fried garlic.
I love to eat fish dipped in chili fish sauce. It’s very tasty!

The Famous Sweet Soup in Hue

Che (sweet soup) is a popular dish in Vietnam. It can be either served as dessert or mid-day snack. Che Hue is probably the most famous in the country. Like any dishes from Hue, Che Hue is delicious, sophisticated and subtle.

Hue Sweet Soup – a part of Hue culture
Hue Sweet Soup, It is said that Hue has 36 kinds of Che. However, in reality, there are much more than that. Che Hue comes in many different forms, colors, thickness and tastes, but they are often made from very simple ingredients like: cereals, fruits, cassava flour, sticky rice flour, sugar, etc. There are two main types of Che Hue: Che cung dinh (Royal Sweet Soup) and Che hem (Street Sweet Soup). Each type has specific types of ingredients. Indochina tours Vietnam

The royal type was, of course, served to royalty in the past. They have luxury ingredients and are cooked meticulously. Some notable Che cung dinh are: Che hat sen (lotus seed), Che nhan boc hat sen (lotus seed wrapped in logan), Che bot loc boc thit quay (grilled pork wrapped in cassava flour), Che hoa cau (areca flower), Che com (young green rice), Che mon sap vang (made from a variety of taro), etc. Fortunately, these ingredients are only expensive in the past. They are now affordable so we can enjoy food of the kings in the past.

The common type, Che hem, is sold commonly on the street. The recipes for this type feature more simple ingredients. Some popular Che hem are: Che bap (corn), Che troi nuoc (sticky rice cake and green pea paste), Che khoai mon (taro), Che dau xanh (mung bean), Che dau ngu (white kidney bean), Che dau do (red kidney bean), Che dau den (black turtle bean), Che buoi (grapefruit), etc. Some people like to mix all kinds of Che to create Che thap cam (mix all).

Traditional Hue sweet soup
Hue Sweet Soup, Cooking Che is mostly about boiling water, adding prepared ingredients in and then adding some sugar. However, making it delicious is difficult. It requires you to add the exact amount of ingredients at the precise moment. If not, your Che will taste really bad.

Traditionally, Che Hue is served in small bowls, but some restaurants or food stalls serves them in glasses, or transparent plastic bags for take-away as well. It is enjoyed in any kind of weather, and provides a nutritious energy boost for the day.

Che is also part of Hue’s culture. If you have a chance to visit Hue, have Che on your top list or you will miss a big part of Vietnamese cuisine picture.

Hon Dam

I call this island as Love Island, because here there are the leafy houses, quiet space. It is so quiet that it seems only for some people.

During my long stay in Phu Quoc to relax and write, my friend tells me that several wooden houses is waiting for me to explore. He promised: “This place is great! Make sure you like it! “

About Hon Dam in Phu Quoc
The real name of this island is the Dam islet, located near the An Thoi port. I call it Love Island, or Robinson Island. After a night of eating and drinking in the island, the next morning wake up to the sound of the waves rushing through the windows, running to the beach for swimming, then discover the beautiful coral.

I do not think coral here is so beautiful, more than Cu Lao Cham, Koh Rong, Koh Samui… Dam Islet is located in the south of Phu Quoc. Here you will experience life without the Internet and the electricity running by solar energy.

In addition, there is no fan here because the sea breeze is always cool, space is extremely quiet, very suitable for couples. During the day, my two brothers are around the island and read at the door of the wooden hut. You can lie in the hammock near the sea all day to enjoy the sea flavor.

The sea is just a few steps from the door of my cabin. This is the most inhospitable place I ever slept on an island. The surrounding scenery is really beautiful. Here are some pictures of the bungalows looked from the outside, rustic with leaves outside.

Stop reading, you can also run out to swim, dive into the coral or take a boat ride around the island. This is also a private boat on the island used to shuttle guests from An Thoi port. The Island looking away from afar is also very beautiful. This is the rock I sat watching the evening sunset.

Late afternoon on the rocks is wonderful. Sunset in Phu Quoc is always beautiful. This angle is not noticeable when the sun crosses the horizon, but the color of the sea and the great space, just like the island is reserved for only a few people.

One day on ‘Robinson’ island in Phu Quoc
Hon Dam has no internet and electricity running from solar power, the island has only a few bungalows made of bamboo and wood, the back facing the sea. During the trip to Phu Quoc, Kien Giang, I had the opportunity to be “Robinson” during a two-night period.

The sea is just about 2 meters away from the door, and at night you can hear the sea waves. On the island does not use electric fans because the sea breeze is always cool.

The first evening, I came to the island to sit in a bamboo hut on the beach with a group of friends in Saigon. Shrimp, fish and freshly squid eggs are very fresh and delicious. The first night, I drunk and slept with the brothers in the house as a dormitory.

During daytime, I explore the small island and enjoy peaceful, pristine space for reading. In addition, I also go to the beach, dive into the coral, chat with the rare Western tourists know this place.

Outside the bungalows just look like the simple house on the deserted island, but inside the interior is quite adequate, suitable for travelers wanting to rest in peaceful places, less frequented. In addition to bungalows for couples or families, Hon Dam also has a dormitory room for backpackers.

I sailed around the island with new friends. This is also the private boat of Hon Dat island to pick up guests from An Thoi port. Sleeping here is also memoriable: the sea winds at night are cool so you need a blanket to cover. All night you only hear the murmuring sound at the door. Sometimes the engine sounds of fishing boats explode through. I slept well until morning …

Watching the sunset is an interesting experience on the island. I and my two German friends climb to the rock, jump on the highest cliff to watch the sunset. The sunset in Phu Quoc is always beautiful. Just like the island is only for some people, that brings a sense of excitement.

Van Phuc traditional village in Hanoi

Van Phuc traditional village is one of northern Vietnam’s most famous “traditional craft villages” but local silk producers are using so many imported materials and modern machinery that soon it might not be so traditional.

Down a small snaking lane in Van Phuc village, five men lug a large silk dryer towards Nguyen Thang Vinh’s house. It will take three days to install the new equipment so Vinh’s family has temporarily stopped producing silk. Although he will lose out today, soon Vinh speculates he will be earning much more with the new machinery, which will dry silk more quickly and so boost his capacity.

“I have spent VND270 million (,200) on three new driers,” says Vinh. “All houses around here use power-run driers and weaving machines now. It takes too much time to dry and weave silk manually.” Pointing at an old handloom in his kitchen corner, he says that it’s a merely a keepsake. Only one year ago when I first came to Van Phuc, one of Vietnam’s most famous ‘traditional craft villages’, reams of silk were drying in the sunshine alongside paddy fields and by the banks of the Nhue river.

Foreign tourists snapped photos while art students tried to capture the glistening silk in the afternoon sunlight on canvas. But according to Vinh nobody dries silk outdoors anymore. It makes sense. Silk could only be dried outside when the sun shined. Now, with modern machinery, you can dry silk rain or shine, day and night.

Silk drying is a crucial stage determining the smoothness and colour of the end product and Vinh sees both pros and cons to power drying silk. On one hand he believes it’s better looking but less durable than silk that’s left to dry in the natural heat of sunshine. “There’s nothing traditional about making silk now,” says Vinh.

A long history of silk
The name Van Phuc is synonymous with silk. Some will tell you that silk was first produced here around 700 years ago when a woman from China’s Hangzhou city, also well-known for silk products, arrived in the village. At the time the village was desperately poor, so she decided to teach the villagers how to weave silk so they would have a trade.

Another legend said that a princess during the reign of the semi-mythical Hung Kings introduced silk making to the area nearly 2,000 years ago. But yet another story goes that 1,200 years ago, a young woman called A La Thi Nuong from Cao Bang province, who married a man from Van Phuc, taught the village how to cultivate mulberries, raise silkworms and weave silk.

After she passed away, she became a tutelary village genie. In feudal times, silk products were made exclusively for kings, queens, mandarins and other members of the royal court. In colonial times Van Phuc silk was highly prized and sold in international fairs in Marseille and Paris, held in 1931 and 1938 respectively, and distributed across Europe afterwards.

Today nearly 700 households are engaged in silk weaving in Van Phuc with more than half of the village’s population involved. The village produces 2.5-2.7 million square metres of silk every year and is home to nearly 100 shops.

Fading traditions
Traditionally Van Phuc produced silk from locally-made materials. The villagers liked to say they had their secret methods when it came to producing silk. But now you can buy silk from elsewhere in Van Phuc. Roughly half of the products in most shops are believe to be either imported or produced from imported materials.

“You will never find any family cultivating mulberries or raising silkworms now because of the lack of cultivated land and a lack of human resources,” says Pham Anh Nguyet, who works in a silk-producing workshop. Pointing to a large, flat basket filled with dried silkworms, the 17-year-old says that it’s only for decoration. When she started to weave silk three years ago, the locals had given up raising silkworms.

Nguyen Anh Nga, Nguyet’s mother, claims she is an exception, though her daughter said they used materials that were bought from Bac Ninh, Nam Dinh and Hai Duong provinces. “We make silk materials ourselves and we also raise our own silkworms,” Nga says. According to a number of shop owners, there are only 10 kinds of locally-made silk and each silk-producing household makes the same kind of samples.

“Meanwhile, more and more shops are appearing, so if we don’t import more samples, our sales will be poor,” says Nguyen Van Thuc, one shop owner and silk producer. As I purchase three shirts from his shop, Nguyen Van Thuc chats freely, not suspecting I am a journalist. He confesses that only a small ratio of the shirt’s material is actually made from silk.

“The remainder is made up by nylon fibres,” says Thuc, before adding with a whisper, “The imitated products cannot be spotted unless you’re an expert.” I tell Thuc that two months ago a colleague came here and bought a silk dress only to discover it was Chinese-made when she got home. According to Thuc most shops sell imported goods, including garments that can be found in markets around the country. Van Phuc, he claims, has been “invaded by foreign goods”.

When foreign tourists walk into the shop, Thuc’s wife jumps into life: “Buy it! 100 per cent real silk! Traditionally made!” Later, another customer, Pham Thuy Linh, an overseas Vietnamese silk trader from Canada, says she read that Van Phuc produces and sells handmade high quality silk but looking around the shops she’s far from impressed.

“I can see low quality silk here and a lot of products are obviously mass-produced as they all look the same,” says Linh. “Why don’t the local authorities tighten management over low quality products?” A proposal to develop Van Phuc into a traditional tourism site was approved by the former province of Ha Tay (now part of greater Hanoi) several years ago but nothing has been implemented to date. How sad to think that in the meantime, Van Phuc is losing its traditional ways.

Peaceful Hanoi Capital

Hanoi is the capital of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the center of culture, politics, economy and trade of the whole country.

Location
Located in the heart of Red River Delta, in the North Vietnam, Hanoi shares the border with Thai Nguyen, Vinh Phuc provinces to the north, Hoa Binh and Ha Nam to the south, Bac Giang, Bac Ninh and Hung Yen provinces to the east, Hoa Binh and Phu Tho to the west.

Climate
Hanoi is situated in a tropical monsoon zone with two main seasons (dry season and wet season). But it can be further divided into 4 distinct seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter.

The spring is from February to April and is characterized by light drizzles keeping the weather wet. The season also culminates with the Lunar New Year Holiday and many festivals. The summer season is relatively hot and humid and consists of the months of May to August. Temperatures can soar as high as 38- 40 degree Celsius with the highest amount of annual rainfall (around 1682 mm/ year). September to November falls the autumn months. The weather is dry but cool and is considered to be the best season in Hanoi. Winter lasts from December to January, and is cold and dry with temperatures falling as low as 6-7 degree Celsius.

History
In Vietnamese, “Ha” means the river and “noi” means interior. “Hanoi” means “the hinterland between the rivers” Hanoi’s territory is washed by the Red River and its tributaries, as well as some other rivers flowing through the capital, including Duong, Cau, Ca Lo, Day, Nhue, Tich, To Lich and Kim Nguu.

Hanoi is a sacred land of Vietnam. It was chosen to be the capital of Au Lac Nation (Co Loa citadel) in the 3rd century BC, of Ly Dynasty (Dai La citadel, then called Thang Long). For about a thousand years, the capital was called Thang Long, then changing to Dong Do, Dong Kinh, and finally to Hanoi, in 1831. This sacred piece of land thereafter continued to be the theatre of many fateful events.

Transportation
– Highways: Hanoi is 93km from Ninh Binh, 102km from Hai Phong, 165 km from Halong City, 400 km from Sapa, 474 km from Dien Bien Phu, 658 km from Hue, 763 km from Da Nang, and 1,710km from Ho Chi Minh City.

– Airways: Noi Bai International Airport, over 35km from the city center, is one of the biggest airports of the country with various international and domestic routes. There are domestic flights from Hanoi to Da Nang, Dien Bien, Ho Chi Minh City, Hue, Nha Trang and international flights to many countries from over the world.

– Railways: Hanoi Railway Station is Vietnam’s main railway station. It is the starting point of five railway lines leading to almost every province in Vietnam. Some main train routes available in Hanoi include: Hanoi – Ho Chi Minh (with many stops on the way), Hanoi – Sapa, Hanoi – Halong and Hanoi – China (Nanning Province)

Tourism
As the capital turning 1000 in 2010, Hanoi has within it the finest touch of what a Vietnamese cultural tradition of over a thousand years has to offer. The city hosts more cultural sites than any other cities in Vietnam, including over 600 pagodas and temples. Even though some relics have not survived after wartime, the city still has many interesting cultural and historic monuments for visitors and residents alike.

Hanoi has hundreds of old pagodas and temples such as One-Pillar Pagoda, Temple of Literature, Tran Quoc Pagoda, Thay Pagoda, Tay Phuong Pagoda, Dau Pagoda, Tram Gian Pagoda…; dozens of museums such as Vietnam Military History Museum, Vietnam Ethnology Museum.. as well as many traditional festival (Thay Pagoda Festival, Tay Phuong Pagoda Festival, Huong Pagoda Festival)…

Hanoi also characteristically contains 18 beautiful lakes such as Hoan Kiem Lake (Restored Sword Lake), West Lake, and Truc Bach Lake…, and many famous places: Long Bien Brigde, Dong Xuan Market, Huong Son Tourist Area, Mount Tu Tram, Dong Mo King Island’s Golf Club, Two Binh Da Communal Houses…

Many traditional handicrafts are also practiced in Hanoi including bronze molding, silver carving, lacquer, and embroidery. Hanoi has many famous traditional professional handicraft villages such as and many famous traditional villages such as Bat Trang Ceramic Village, Van Phuc Silk Village, Ngu Xa bronze casting village, Yen Thai glossy silk…Visitors can also enjoy many famous dishes of Hanoians such as Hanoi noodle, Vong Villages Com…