Vietnamese short stories introduced in Germany

BERLIN — A collection of short stories entitled Tuong Ve Huu (The Retired General), marking the 10th Berlin International Literature Festival, has been presented in Germany.

Author Nguyen Huy Thiep and Guenter Giesenfeld, president of Viet Nam-Germany Friendship Association, who took part in translating the collection into German, both discussed the works with various audiences.

The collection was presented in order to introduce new Vietnamese literature to German audiences.

Free movies for Ha Noi anniversary

HA NOI — A programme entitled Nhung Ngay Phim Viet Nam (Days of Viet Nam Films) will be screened as part of the Ha Noi anniversary celebrations on October 1-10 at the National Cinema Centre and August Cinema.

Admission will be free for movies including Long Thanh Cam Gia Ca (Musician in Thang Long Citadel) and Vuot Qua Ben Thuong Hai (Passing Shanghai Wharf) on the opening day.

The Viet Nam Cinema Department has organised the programme which will be shown throughout the country.

Late poet's birthday honoured in music and verse

HA NOI — Late poet To Huu's 90th birthday will be honoured at a programme of music and verse titled Dep Vo Cung To Quoc Ta Oi (Our Nation Is Very Beautiful) at the Ha Noi Opera House next Saturday.

Singers will recite the poet's works and the Viet Nam Writers' Association will hold a conference to discuss To Huu's poems.

Viet Nam's Next Top Model to premiere on VTV3

HCM CITY— The first episode of Viet Nam's Next Top Model, a television reality show that scouts potential female models, will be broadcast on the national entertainment channel VTV3 at 8pm next Thursday.

At two auditions last month in Ha Noi and HCM City, 18 girls were short-listed from more than 1,500 contestants aged between 18 and 25 from around the country.

The show will follow every move of the semi-finalists who will live together in a Cast House in HCM City for two months where they will be filmed 24/7.

They will be stripped of all means of communications to the outside world and will have no access to a mobile phone, computer, internet or newspaper.

On each show, a contestant will be eliminated after participating in challenges in different modelling skills like a photo-shoot, cat-walk and make-up.

Two finalists will be pitted against each other in the final gala show which will be aired live at the end of January.

This is the first season of the show, which is based on the show America's Next Top Model on CBS, a national TV network in the US. — VNS

Related Articles

• Banks scramble for mid-level managers
• Chau Doc’s curried fish vermicelli: Bun nuoc ken
• Assoc insists on power price hike despite protests
• Competition serves sustainable agenda
• Interest rates, power cuts top enterprise concerns

Japanese TV highlights Vietnam’s Oc Eo culture

The Japanese TV channel BS, is filming a documentary on the ancient Oc Eo culture in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang to highlight its unique cultural characteristics, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MoCST).

As part of the project, from September 19-29, the film group will shoot scenes in Ho Chi Minh City, Quang Nam and An Giang provinces where the Oc Eo culture is found. The Japanese funded film will be approved by the MoCST before it is shown in Japan.

Discovered by a French scholar Louis Malleret and made public in 1944, the Oc Eo culture grew and developed in the southern delta, largely in An Giang, from the first to the sixth century AD.

In addition to An Giang, the scientists have discovered over 100 sites belonging to Oc Eo culture across the Mekong Delta provinces and parts of the south-eastern region with more than 50,000 artefacts made from various materials such as terra-cotta, stone, agate and metal.

The most common is ceramics, reflecting the cultural identity and origin of the culture.

Vietnam is currently proposing UNESCO recognise the ancient Oc Eo culture as a cultural heritage.
 

Related Articles

• Chau Doc’s curried fish vermicelli: Bun nuoc ken
• Thousands await relocation
• City culture houses elicit tepid response
• Foreign sea leases deprive locals of living
• Good response to reforms of People's Councils

Nguyen Ngoc Kieu Khanh represents Vietnam at Miss World 2010

Nguyen Ngoc Kieu Khanh will go to Hainan Island on October 1 for a month - Photo: Courtesy of the organizers

The Department of Performing Arts under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism approved the first runner-up of Miss Vietnam World 2010, Nguyen Ngoc Kieu Khanh, to compete at Miss Word 2010 pageant, which will be held in Sanya, China from October 1 to 30.

At the final round of Miss Vietnam World 2010, Khanh received great support from the audience who liked her radiant smile. Khanh, who lives in Germany but still with Vietnamese citizenship, is 19 years old. She is 176cm, 53kg and her vital statistics are 85-63-94. Khanh also won the title for Miss Bikini at this year’s Miss Vietnam World.

Kieu Khanh has started to work with well-known designers including Hoang Hai, Elizabeth and Mitchell Ngo to make her costumes including ao dai (Vietnamese long dress), evening gowns, and casual wear. Khanh will also takes part in some training to prepare for the pageant. Then, she will attend the opening ceremony of the competition in Hainan Island and other programs including training courses and filming around China together with other contestants from 100 countries and territories.

It is expected that about 2.5 billion viewers will watch the crowning night of Miss World 2010 competition. This year’s Miss World pageant in its 60th year has attracted the largest number of contestants ever. With the main criterion, the competition aims to find  “the most talented beautiful girl in the world” to be the UNESCO’s Peace Messenger for a year. Miss World will contribute her reputation and effort to helping the poor worldwide and consolidating the world peace.

Related Articles

• Green cars begin world race
• Hanoi model wins Miss Vietnam 2010
• VietnamPlas, Linkage exhibitions open in city
• Visit hell then heaven
• EU sees Vietnam as a market economy by 2018

Treatments With Lotus Leaves

Lotus leaves have long been used to refresh the body, relieve flu and lose extra weight

Many are aware that lotus leaves have been used to wrap some food sold at traditional markets to keep them fresh, or to cover rice or fried rice dishes at many restaurants. They have also learned about medicinal properties of many parts of the lotus, particularly its seeds, bitter germs, seedpods and roots. Still, few know about the benefits of lotus leaves.

In traditional Vietnamese medicine, lotus leaves are considered to be bitter and mild, and good for the heart, liver and stomach. Lotus leaves are therefore used to cure sunstroke, diarrhea and rheumatism, relieve dizziness and stop bleeding.

Contemporary studies show that, aside from the aforementioned remedies, lotus leaves can also be used to reduce unexpected weight and prevent arteriosclerosis because the leaves have exclusive alkaloids and flavonoids. They can help detoxify the body against the toxic properties of certain mushrooms.

Remedies

Prepare porridge with a little rice; when the porridge is boiling, add a fresh lotus leaf onto it; simmer the porridge until it has a greenish color. Eat the porridge during the day, with or without a little white sugar, to refresh the body in summer days, facilitate digestion and relieve fatigue.

Or, prepare porridge with a little rice, two lotus leaves and a little rock sugar. Eat the porridge regularly to accelerate urination, eliminate fats, improve blood circulation, and prevent high blood pressure and strokes. The porridge is highly recommended for the elderly.

Simmer lotus leaves, kim ngân hoa (Flos Lonicerae japonicae), watermelon rind, gourd (Luffa cylindrica) rind and bamboo shoots. Drink the solution twice a day to refresh the body, boost the function of the lungs, and relieve headache, coughing and blurred vision.

Prepare a drink with sliced, fresh lotus leaves and five jujubes. Drink it during the day like drinking tea. This drink can help relieve fever for both children and old people.

Squeeze seven lotus leaves and seven lotus roots; add a little warm water and honey. Drink the solution when it is still warm, twice or thrice a day, to boost the blood and refresh the body.

Soak dried lotus leaves in boiled water and drink it during the day instead of drinking tea for two to three months. This drink can help lower the cholesterol level in the blood and lose extra weight.

Boil a drink with a little dried (or fresh) lotus leaves and dried sn tra (Crataegus monogyna). Drink it during the day to boost appetite and digestion, lower the cholesterol level in the blood and protect the liver. The drink can help prevent cardiovascular diseases and reduce unexpected weight.

Related Articles

• Basking in the unspoilt wild of tranquil Quan Son Lake

Drink Of Nature

Available and affordable, coconut juice in Saigon offers not only a valuable natural drink but also an exciting lifestyle

Your question of which the most valuable and affordable drink Saigon has to offer is may lead to multiple-choice answers. To cut a long story short, therefore, Saigon Stories suggests its own favorite: coconut juice which is available along the streets across the city.

In order to know more about academic studies of coconut juice’s health value, one should surf the Internet. That the juice is rich in vitamins and minerals goes beyond dispute, though. What should be added may be the fact that coconut juice is arguably one of the best refreshing natural drinks in this tropical city.

Coconut juice is close at hand to thirsty people in terms of both availability and affordability. Drop by any drink shops and you’ll find it on the menu. For the backpacker, however, just walk along the streets in the downtown and he or she may pump into a peddler selling coconut juice.

It’s easy to recognize such a peddler. Saigon Stories will show you how. On the sidewalk, coconut juice is sold on three-wheel push-carts. Please notice what those carts in HCM City (and Vietnam) are like. A typical cart consists of a rectangular metal trunk of about four feet wide by six feet long with two wheels on the front. The third wheel is on the rear, often with a saddle for the driver.

The trunk is really “the office” of coconut juice peddlers, on which they display all their tools and goods. Several wooden Flanks are placed on top of the trunk, where peeled coconuts show off their value. Next to the coconuts is an ice bin in which coconuts are stored cold.

The bottom of the trunk serves as peddlers’ storage of fresh, intact, “unpeeled” (as opposed to the peeled ones on top) coconuts. The trunk is also the peddler’s “litter bin” where peeled coconut skin is kept for later use. After being dried, the skin can be used as fuel.

To expatriate backpackers, watching a coconut juice peddler at work may provide exciting experience. Stay focused on his dexterity and his knife. There’s nothing special about the peddler’s knife as it is just a cheap one made of ordinary steel. However, in his hands, the knife turns out to be a magic tool.

In one of his articles, Cong Thang, an ex-reporter and now a sub-editor of the Saigon Times Group, told the story of veteran Vietnamese folklore music professor Tran Van Khe. Thang wrote that Prof. Khe recalled how delightful expatriate visitors to Vietnam were when they watched peddlers peel coconut skin.

Coconut peddlers’ outcome may be likened to that of a Westerner after the latter has peeled off an orange with a knife. What we have after the “peeling process” is almost the same: a long band of the fruit’s skin. The difference, however, is the orange skin is soft while that of a coconut is rather hard. So, coconut peddlers must have a suitable knife and apply adequate force to get their job done.

As the peddler’s knife moves on, the green coconut skin goes off to reveal the white color inside. Then the peddler has to dip the freshly peeled coconut into a solution to keep the white. Otherwise, the exposed skin will soon turn grey, and the coconut will lose its attractiveness.

Peddlers often arrange peeled coconuts in the form of a pyramid (as described above) to attract buyers’ attention. Meanwhile, some of them are stored in an ice bin. Peddlers may break the top of coconuts to insert a straw.
Now it’s time for you to look for your small change. Pay VND5,000 (roughly 25 U.S. cents) to have a peeled coconut with all its fresh juice. One coconut is normally enough, but if you want another, no problem at all!
You can choose a peeled coconut or an unpeeled one. To be on the safe side, our sub-editor Ton That Thien advises that we should choose only intact coconuts.

In this fast pace of industrial life, Saigonese feel more and more invaded by industrial comforts, including ready-to-use foods and drinks. Everything is manufactured and packed or canned. In the world of fast food, fresh coconut juice is among the few Nature is still offering the residents of Saigon.

Related Articles

• Painters show works inspired by nature, nostalgia
• Treatments With Lotus Leaves
• Coming round mountains to Tay Bac
• Blue seas and unspoiled beaches
• Food promotions at Grand and First hotels

Leaf art to raise funds for poor

Artists have created the first 10 of 52 artworks on holy leaves brought from India to raise money for eye surgery for poor children

Photo: VnExpress

Artists commissioned by the Vietnam Fine Arts Association and the Vietnam Buddhist Church have created the first 10 of 52 artworks on holy leaves brought from India to raise money for eye surgery for poor children.

The “bo de hoa tam” (pictures made of bodhi leaves) will be displayed at three major pagodas around Vietnam for the Anh Sang Tri Tue (The Light of Mind) charity program.

In 2008 the artists made a pilgrimage to Mahabodhi Pagoda in India's northern Bihar State, the site where the Buddha attained enlightenment under a bodhi tree and a direct descendant of that tree is still worshipped at the pagoda.

It is from this tree that they brought the leaves and have created Buddhist motifs like peace and images of Buddha.

"The 52 pictures represent the weeks in a year," Nguyen Doan Anh Khoa, the project spokesman, said.

"The Bodhi tree is associated with the goodness that is innate in people's hearts," he said, adding that the exhibition aims to remind viewers that everyone has a heart like the Buddha.

The works will go on display to the public on September 22-24 at Bat Nha Pagoda in Da Nang, from September 30 to October 2 at Tao Sach, Tay Ho District, Hanoi, and from October 8 to 10 at Xa Loi Pagoda, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City.

Later they will be awarded to 10 outstanding entrepreneurs on Entrepreneur's Day (October 13).

The entrepreneurs, in turn, will each fund 100 eye operations for poor blind children through charity organizations.

Related Articles

• Party reports come in from provinces
• Widow of late Lao Party leader visits
• Inflation pressure to increase in 4th quarter: expert
• PM instructs Bac Ninh to industrialise in five years
• PM lauds police for keeping public order

VN beauty all set for Miss World

Pretty woman: Kieu Khanh will represent Viet Nam at the 60th Miss World competition in Sanya, China. — File Photo

HA NOI — Overseas Vietnamese Nguyen Ngoc Kieu Khanh will represent Viet Nam in the Miss World 2010 pageant in Sanya, China.

Khanh, 19, was the first runner-up in the Miss Viet Nam World pageant held in August in Nha Trang. She won the title of Miss Viet Nam World in Europe in 2009.

With the approval yesterday of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Khanh qualified to represent the nation in the international pageant.

Khanh was worthy representative of Vietnamese beauty for one of the most prestigious international pageants, said to the Elite Entertainment Group, the owner of the Miss World trademark in Viet Nam.

Khanh, who also won a local on-line poll, has received congratulations from her friends and others.

"The great support is pressure but also strength to help me try my best at the upcoming pageant," Khanh said.

Born and raised in Germany, Khanh spoke Vietnamese fluently when she was small. She still holds Vietnamese nationality. She is 1.76m in tall and has vital statistics of 85-63-94.

At the age of 15, Khanh was a model in Germany but gave up modelling when she was in the 11th grade. She is now a student at the University of Rostock in the German State of Mecklenburg-Vorpomern.

Khanh has returned to HCM City to prepare for the upcoming event, where she is being trained by experts from the Elite Entertainment Group and dressed by designers like Hoang Hai and Vo Viet Chung.

She will head to Sanya, in Hainan Province, to compete with over 120 other contestants early next month. The pageant final will take place on October 30, when reigning Miss World Kaiane Aldorino will crown her successor.

This is the ninth year a Vietnamese contestant has taken part in the Miss World contest, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. — VNS

Related Articles

• VN beauty all set for Miss World
• Green cars begin world race
• Vietnam women set goal for beach volleyball Cup
• PM sets agenda for insolvent shipbuilder
• Air Mekong set for launch