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January 2020
Lecture: Tết Lunar New Year Traditions – The Kitchen God (Ông Táo) – FULL
Governed by tradition, taboos and legends, Tết Nguyên Đán welcomes the Lunar New Year and spring’s arrival. It is Vietnam’s most important festival and public holiday. The lunar and solar calendars are linked in Vietnam. The former dictates the observance of festivals and rituals according to cycles of the moon. Hence, Tết dates are not fixed. The New Year starts on the first night of the first moon of the first month of the lunar calendar. Also known as The ‘Feast of the First…
Find out more »Hanoi city walk (English) – Bạch Mã temple and surrounding area – FULL
Due to the walk's popularity - we are running the walk again THIS WALK IS FULL - PLEASE RSVP FOR THE WAITING LIST Welcome to a stroll around some of Hanoi’s Old Quarter and the ’36 Streets’. This is the Bạch Mã temple walk where we discover why a white horse was so instrumental in the building of the Thang Long citadel, how the trade of Hàng Buồm street today with its alcohol shops and bars is a far cry from its original…
Find out more »Hanoi City walk – Tet special (English) – Hoàn Kiếm lake area
Join us for a Tet morning walk. We start in front of the Lý Thái Tổ statue with a brief introduction to the founder of Hanoi. As we stroll the surrounding streets bordering Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi’s heart, we discuss legends, points of interest, the stories, touch on architecture and the French influence. This walk is a neat compact introduction to this part of the city and hopefully you will come away discovering something you did not know before about this familiar much loved area. RSVP…
Find out more »February 2020
Bookclub – The General Retires by Nguyễn Huy Thiệp
When it first appeared in 1987, the title story of this collection by Nguyễn Huy Thiệp caused a sensation in Vietnam. “Not since the Communist revolution had readers found as stark and compelling a view of their world as offered by ‘The General Retires’. Written in spare, succinct prose, it captures the despair of an old general who, after many years of devoted service to his country, is alienated by the emptiness of the society into which he retires and…
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