For Tourists – Old Quarter Weekend Market
Our Market Insider: Huong Nguyen, student
Huong shuffles through the Night Market if there is nothing else to do. She says locals walk here as a way of spending time out of the house on weekends and likes the fact that it always seems to throw up a surprise find.
For Vintage Lovers – Cho Hang
Our Market Insider: Nguyen Viet Ai Sales Manager of Club Opera Novel
Ai heads to Hang Da market to browse for secondhand winter clothing. She prefers to buy trousers, coats, skirts and dresses that still look new and fresh.
For Artsy Folk: Open Air Market – Cho Troi
Our Market Insider: Nguyen Qui Duc, artist, journalist, bar owner
Duc trawls this everything-under-the-sun market around the corner from his café and bar, Tadioto, for artistic inspiration. “I don’t use these things for their intended uses because I don’t know the intended uses,” he says, picking up all sorts of unidentified objects — car parts, wires and random bits of machinery — to make lamps, robots, tables and cabinets. The journalist-come-interior designer has designed bars, offices and homes. He plans to have an exhibition to sell his works.
For Foodies – Tay Ho Weekend Market
Our Market Insider: Patrice Gautier, Veterinarian, free-range chicken guru and market manager
Patrice is dedicated to food safety. He, along with his team at Asian Veterinary and Livestock Services (ASVELIS), started the market as part of a USAID project to improve the quality and sustainability of livestock at every step of the farm-to-market journey in Vietnam. Now the market has expanded to include all sorts of responsible products.
Markets are the nuclei in this city; the focal point without which nothing else can function. Whether it’s fresh vegetables and seafood, fabric or fake watches, you can find something you need at the markets that speckle the city.
With so much at stake, fairness and objectivity was the key to deciding the winners of The Word Fitness Challenge 2010. So, to avoid any accusation of favouritism, the votes were all made independently, without anyone involved with The Word having an influence on the final decision.
Tran Huy Lieu is far too easy to miss but definitely worth a visit. It snakes around Giang Vo Lake and connects two major thoroughfares – Kim Ma and Giang Vo.
The Hook
Cigarette, cigar and pipe smoke contains thousands of chemicals, including nicotine. Nicotine produces physical and mood-altering effects in your brain that are temporarily pleasing. But these effects lead to an unhealthy dependence.
With pink lipstick glossing his lips and a feather-lined fan in hand, Luu Quang Thang is no longer in control of his body. He kneels in front of his altar that is covered with fruit, incense and Heineken cans. The spirit of a woman who is 829-years-old is in firm possession of the medium. She is controlling everything he says.
The Hot Stone Massage
It seems like something out of the fable Stone Soup when the therapist walks into the room with a wicker basket full of heated stones. But as soon as the heat from one of these stones touches your skin, you realise that this is not a fairytale — it’s reality. And a delightful one at that.