HA TAY TOUR 2 - CRAFTMANSHIP

Ha Tay province is not only famous of its pagodas, temples, communal houses but also famous of its many hanicraft villages. Ha Tay Tour 2 will bring you to the region where the cornical hat is made.

The bus pick you between 7h40 and 7h55, after collecting all the people you will be brought to a village 30 km away from Hanoi. The name is Vac village, where they used to make paper fan. Now a day, they stopped to make paper fan. The reason maybe it did not bring profit. Who will use paper fan if ventilator an air conditioner are everywhere to buy. Instead of paper fan, they make the bamboo ring for cornical hats or bamboo bird cages.

In the morning you will experience the exciting countryside big markets. The markets in this region are usually located in front of the communal houses. The market of Chuong village, the biggest market in the region. is always evenful. If you are brave enough, you can try some food here. Here you can see the trade of cornical hats.

Leaving the Chuong market you cross the Day river on a floating bridge to an other district of Ha Tay province, where the life is a little bit quieter, you will visit some very old communal houses, ride on the dike with rice paddies on both sides.

After lunch and a little rest you will ride again on different track. On the Xa cu trees road to a village where the houses had been built mostly with laterit stone, then on dike and enjoy the scenery on both side of a Tich Giang river, on the lane of a village made of brick that every married couple had to contribute for the village.

In the afternoon you will have a long ride to Uoc Le village. On the way we stop at Chi Le village, visit its strange village gate, that is in the middle of the river. And one of the highlight of the trip is Uoc Le village gate and the communal house near by. In our opinion, the Uoc Le village's gate is one of the most beautiful village's gates in Vietnam.

Uoc Le used to very famous of its pork pie. All the good pork pie kaker in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city or their ancestors are from the village. But they don't make pork pie here any more, it is more profitable to produce in Hanoi Or HCM city.

Come back from 22 km riding on bicycle, you will get in bus and go back to Hanoi.

Time schedule

7:50 Leave Hanoi by minibus or car, enjoy landscape and guide story on the way

8:20 20-min stop at a large pagoda in the outskirt of Hanoi

9:30 Arrive at the village, greeting the host family and get bikes. Start to ride on bike with our guide through picturesque scenes, stay at interesting places: rice field, pagoda, village assembly hall, riverside etc. You can make a stop on your request, everywhere we help you talk with people, learn about their life, let you take memorable pictures.

11:30 A noon break at the host home, relaxing and hanging around in Vietnamese style.

12:30 Start again to explore the countryside

Several short stops for guide stories, riding through exciting countryside: river dike, mulberry fields, brickfields, temple, war memorial etc., sightseeing, taking picture

15:00 Visit a nation-famous pagoda on the way

16:00 End of tour

17:30 Arrive in Hanoi

Appendix

If you look at a hat, it seem that it is easily to make. It is wrong!!! To make a proper hat it is not only required the maker's talent but also their experience. Bamboo cataphyll must be split into very thin strings during the dry season. They then must be quickly submerge in water to pre clude tearing and breaking. Main rings (the largest) must be even, smooth and shiny. The most sophisticated work is treading the palm material. The makers buy dark green palms, then clean tem by sand and work them with a light touch or otherwhile they will tear. After the step of treading the palms, they sun-season them. The palm will go from dark green to wihte. The stonger the sun the whiter the palms will become. Before using the palms, makers expose them briefly to sulfur to make them whiter and to preserve the color. And finally, before using them they are exposed to frost to make them soft, then they are split and ironed.

From the palms and ring, using silk thread, you only to have to sew it together. Easy to say than to do. Sewing and decorating are very sophisticated too. You have to sew small and even stitches what mean you need time and have to be very patience. For professtional purposes, Chuong hat-makers do not accomplish all the stages but specialize - building upon a frame made somewhere else. The local hat-makers complete the hats with an aesthetic appeal suitable to customer's taste.

Chuong hats are different from hats of other provinces which are revolved only two times, with the second being in a reverse direction, Chuong village's hats are revolved three times, two times with white palm and once with bamboo cataphyll. Thank to the addition layer of bamboo cataphyll, Chuong hats are more solid and durable. Show them what revolve mean.

PRICE: $25/person (including: lunch, transportation, entrance fees, guide, bikes)