Rough Guide to Vietnam - Jan Dodd [42]
Shopping | Clothing, arts and crafts |
Paintings
A healthy fine arts scene exists in Vietnam, and painting in particular is thriving. In the galleries of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Hoi An you’ll find exquisite works in oil, watercolour, lacquer, charcoal and silk weaving by the country’s leading artists. Hanoi is the best single place to look for contemporary art.
For the top names you can expect to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Buyer beware, however: many artists find it lucrative to knock out multiple copies of their own or other people’s work. You’ll need to know what you’re doing, or to buy from a reputable gallery.
A cheap alternative is to snap up some of the charming hand-painted silk greetings cards sold in most tourist centres. A recent innovation is the sale of old Communist-era propaganda posters, both genuine and copies.
Shopping |
Books, stamps and coins
You can buy photocopied editions of almost all the books ever published on Vietnam from strolling vendors in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. There are also an increasing number of locally published coffee-table books, histories and guides available from bona-fide bookshops and the more upmarket hotels. However, if all you want is some general reading matter, both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City now have secondhand bookshops where you can exchange or buy used books.
Philatelists meanwhile will enjoy browsing through the old Indochinese stamps sold in the souvenir shops of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Similarly, old notes and coins, including French-issue piastres and US Army credits, are available.
Shopping |
Memorabilia, trinkets and food
Army surplus gear is still a money-spinner, though fatigues, belts, canteens and dog tags purportedly stolen from a dead or wounded GI aren’t the most tasteful of souvenirs – and the vast majority are fakes anyway. The green pith helmets with a red star on the front, worn first by the NVA during the American War and now by the regular Vietnamese Army, find more takers. Other items that sell like hot cakes, especially in the south, are fake Zippo lighters bearing such pithy adages as “When I die bury me face down, so the whole damn army can kiss my ass” and “We are the unwilling, led by the unqualified, doin’ the unnecessary for the ungrateful”, though again they’re very unlikely to be authentic GI issue. In Ho Chi Minh City, extravagant wooden model ships are sold in a string of shops on Hai Ba Trung, at the east side of Lam Son Square.
Finally, foodstuffs that may tempt you include coffee from the central highlands, candied strawberries and artichoke tea from Da Lat, coconut candies from the Mekong Delta, preserved miniature tangerines from Hoi An and packets of tea and dried herbs and spices from the northern highlands. As for drinks, most of the concoctions itemized in "Tea and coffee" are securely bottled. The Soc Tinh range of rice-distilled liquor makes an attractively packaged souvenir.
Travel essentials
Travel essentials |
Addresses
Locating an address is rarely a problem in Vietnam, but there are a couple of conventions it helps to know about. Where two numbers are separated by a slash, such as 110/5, you simply make for no. 110, where an alley will lead off to a further batch of buildings – you want the fifth one. Where a number is followed by a letter, as in 117a, you’re looking for a single block encompassing several addresses, of which one will be 117a. Vietnamese cite addresses without the words for street, avenue and so on; we’ve followed this practice throughout the Guide except where ambiguity would result.
Travel essentials |
Admission charges
Admission charges are usually levied at museums, historic sights, national parks and any place that attracts tourists – sometimes even beaches.