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Articles by Julio Municio
Landing on Water
As the Hai Au Seaplane service attests, travel is not just about the destination, but the experience of getting there. Emily Petsko and Julie Vola fly by seaplane to Halong Bay Ducking their heads at the entrance, the first eight passengers of the morning file into a cramped Cessna Caravan plane at Noi Bai International Airport. In the event of an emergency, life jackets should not be inflated inside the aircraft, the pilot calls back from the cockpit.
The Latin Underground
Salsa is not new to Vietnam — it’s been here for almost a decade. But now this much-loved dance form is huge. Words by Emily Petsko and Siân Kavanagh . Photos by Julie Vola and Rodney Hughes Ballroom dancing has traditionally been the most popular form of recreational dance in Vietnam, but salsa is shimmying its way into parks, bars and studios in this country’s biggest cities.
The Water Puppet Village
Out on the water, three wooden puppets depicting the female character Thi Mau move in unison, gliding in front of the stage and flicking their wrists to unfurl pink hand fans. They seem to move effortlessly, as if controlled by some machine beneath the pond’s surface. The reality is more impressive. Behind the curtain, another kind of synchronised dance is in motion.
A Kingdom for a Horse
Not far beyond the metro rail line and monolithic real estate projects under construction in Cau Giay District, there’s a narrow street that leads to a gravel path that leads to a dirt road and finally to a field. And inside the field? Horses. Roaming free, in the middle of Hanoi. I was just as surprised as anyone when I learned that Hanoi has a horse farm and foreign instructors that offer lessons in grooming, riding, trotting and jumping.
The Finals
Held in Standing Bar on Friday, Mar. 9, the finals of the Heart of Darkness Vietnam Amateur Comedy Competition decided who is the funniest comedian based in Vietnam. After the riotous heats in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City back in January — where more than a few people laughed themselves silly, and shreds of dignity were found scattered around each venue — it was decided that the Hanoi-based comedians couldn’t be bothered to fly to Ho Chi Minh City. So it was that the finals were held in the capital.
Happy Talk
What is happiness? It’s a question that philosophers, politicians and economists have struggled to answer for centuries. Well, according to the latest World Happiness Report — there are a few reports like this floating around— the personification of happiness is a country called Finland. It’s certainly not a country called Vietnam. Compiled by John F. Helliwell, Richard Layard, and Jeffrey D.
Makers and Shakers on the Comedy Scene
Makers and Shakers on the Comedy Scene The growth of the comedy scene comes down to the work of a number of individuals in both Hanoi and Saigon. Here are a few of them. Since settling in Hanoi 20 years ago, Dan Dockery has been prolific in bringing performers to the stage. From international musicians and DJs as a member of CAMA, to magicians and comics who performed House of Son Tinh, CAMA ATK and now Standing Bar. Here is a man who’s been nurturing Hanoi’s live entertainment two decades.
The Magners International Comedy Festival
For the third year running, in March and April Ho Chi Minh City will play host to the Magners International Comedy Festival. This year the extravaganza will be bigger and better than ever. It’s March 2017 and the ballroom in Caravelle Saigon has been set up with theatre-style seating and a stage. The organisers wait on, nervous. Thumbs twiddle. Stomachs rumble. Beads of sweat appear on foreheads.
ROBO Café
Who needs real waiters when a robot will do instead? judgment Day is upon us, only instead of a T-1000, Hanoi’s tech-induced apocalypse is beginning with a robot waiter called Mortar. The robot is the newest employee at Robo Café and has been drawing in customers due to his charming pre-programmed voice clips, and his resemblance to something out of a 1960s sci-fi movie. The robot’s creators, also the proprietors of Robo café, are Nguyen Quoc Phi, and electrical engineer Do Trung Thanh.
Vietnam Balloons
As far as we know, just about every square inch of Vietnam has been documented by travel blogs and magazines like ours, with the lion’s share, of course, done by us. Just when we thought we had everything covered on the ground, something new above it has taken off — hot-air ballooning.
Ultra Running Machine
For most of us, just the thought of running 42.2km — the official length of a marathon — churns the stomach. It’s a long way to run, so it’s not uncommon for marathoners to suffer from heat stroke, dehydration and exhaustion. Some hit what is known in running as ‘the wall’, often at around the half-way mark when their bodies run out of carbohydrates and start burning fat just to keep going.
Capturing Form
Like a military drill sergeant, Lilly Wong lets her charges know there is just 10 seconds left on the clock. Her charges, all 20 of them, an even split of male and female, have paid VND250,000 to participate in Lilly’s life drawing class called Capturing Form. They are sitting in a circle around Joy, their model for the evening, sketching her naked form.
Ultra Running Machine
For most of us, just the thought of running 42.2km — the official length of a marathon — churns the stomach. It’s a long way to run, so it’s not uncommon for marathoners to suffer from heat stroke, dehydration and exhaustion. Some hit what is known in running as ‘the wall’, often at around the half-way mark when their bodies run out of carbohydrates and start burning fat just to keep going.
Deplasticize
In 2015, Vietnam was named as one of the five countries — alongside China, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines — that dump more plastic into the ocean every year than the rest of the world combined. The rapid urbanization of Vietnam, combined with soaring GDP growth, has seen the amount of waste disposed every year skyrocket to 12 million tons in 2014. This is expected to reach 22 million tons by 2020. But while GDP grows, funding for waste management infrastructure struggles to keep up.
The Vietnam Amateur Comedy Competition
In early January, Heart of Darkness brewery sponsored the heats of the third annual Vietnam Amateur Comedy Competition. For the wider comedy scene, this year’s tournament marked a watershed. Words by Billy Gray and Nick Ross When Vietnamese comedian Uy Le came first in the 2018 Ho Chi Minh City heats of the Vietnam Amateur Comedy Competition in early January, there was a sense of jubilation. Uy had performed in the competition for two years running and had finished in the top three each time.
From Craft to Draft
A country of beer drinkers, Vietnam has had a long love affair with bia hoi. With the local beer market going through a sea change, how does this affect that most quintessential of Vietnamese drinks? Vietnamese beer culture is about to get even more interesting.
The HCMC Marathon
Held in its present form for just the second time, this year's marathon attracted more runners than ever before. Yet although running is booming, it wasn't always that way The route has been cleared, the podium put away. And runners in both Ho Chi Minh City and Vietnam as a whole are already filling their race calendars. Vietnamese runner Ngo Dung won the men’s professional 42km category of the Ho Chi Minh City International Marathon, with a time of two hours and 42 minutes.
The Year of the Dog
The Year of the Dog During the war, many families in the north would call their noisy, unpleasant guard dog Nick. Short for Nixon, who naturally wasn’t held in great esteem, whack the dog and you were whacking Nixon. The fact that dogs could be kicked, poked and shouted at, and the fact they could be given names like Nixon and even Johnson — yes, LBJ was also a popular figure of dog-naming hate — shows how low these animals were viewed in Vietnamese society. These days it’s different.
Doug Stanhope
In mid-March, audiences are set for an amazing night of comedy when America’s very own ‘Deadbeat Hero’ brings his acerbic wit to Saigon. Phil Nichol, John Robertson, JoJo Smith, Phil Kay, Gina Yashere, Dana Alexander, Andre King, Ron Josol. Comedy-going audiences in Hanoi and HCMC have been blessed with some fine comedians over the past year. Yet when veteran US comic Doug Stanhope appears on Wednesday, Mar. 14 at Caravelle Saigon, they will be treated to something on a different level.
A Helping Hand
You’re feeling down or anxious. Perhaps you’re stressed or you’re having relationship problems. Or maybe a friend of yours is feeling suicidal. Help is available. In late October and early November, two expats living in Saigon passed away. One committed suicide, while the other who suffered from bipolar disorder drank and drugged himself up into oblivion, a binge which led to coma and then death.
Lutulata Dessert Café
Hanoi has restaurants aplenty. As it moves ever closer to being a culinary hub, the choice of where to eat on a Friday or Saturday night gets bigger by the day. Yet we thought we’d try something different this month, something to add a different angle on where you eat. Vietnamese che desserts are popular in Vietnam, yet hardly ever make the menu in a proper sit-down restaurant.
From Behind The Iron Curtain
Collectors are insatiable. They don’t rest until they’ve got what they want. Once they’ve got it, the search begins again in earnest for the next thing on their list. Take the case of Linh Nguyen, a 39-year-old Hanoian who’s been living in Saigon since 2004.
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