KVT – Day 4

KVT’s Diary as he enjoys exploring Hanoi in the final days counting down to Hanoi’s birthday.

KVT says: There is so much great stuff on and so much to see in the lead up to the great day that this opinionated blogger can’t get to the lot…so if you catch an event or a memorable sight send it to [email protected] and we’ll post our favorites so that no one’s left in the dark.

How can anyone not be amazed ?

I ride past Truc Bach today and there’s a gigantic pagoda flag hovering high above the water. I continue to Ba Dinh Square and several dragons are sinuously undulating. When I return later there are hundreds of school kids rehearsing. I have to agree with the young man from a fishing village way down coast who was wandering around Hoan Kiem, eyes wide and mouth agape who sighed, “I love Hanoi.”

It’s official! The Hanoi ceramic mosaic sets a Guinness World Record!

Hanoi held its inauguration ceremony for the city’s ceramic mosaic mural on Tuesday, 5th, and received a certificate from the Guinness Book of World Records.

The mosaic mural was initially proposed by Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, a journalist and painter who works for the Hanoi Moi newspaper. She was given full support by the city authorities.

This impressive work of art began in 2007 and will probably conclude this year. 20 Vietnamese artists, 15 foreign artists, and 500 children from across the country and around the world plus 100 artists from traditional ceramic villages, including Phu Lang, Bat Trang, Chu Dau and Binh Duong were involved in the project.

I just love it! Especially the sections that portray Vietnamese myths, legends, history and ethnic patterns.

It’s an important, on-going legacy for the city. BODACIOUS.

There is a nice exhibition of oil paintings at the Korean Cultural Center (49 Nguyen Du) and as soon as I saw it I wanted to rush back to Hoan Kiem, find the young man and show him these evocative canvasses. The artist is Doan Hong who’s the Director of the Contemporary Art Centre. Anyone who has spent any time in a coastal fishing village will immediately fall in love with many of these figurative works from Hong’s second ‘Coastal Life’ series. Some are beautiful while, in some, the figures and objects appear not to be grounded. VERY WORTHWHILE.

Related posts:

KVT day 1
KVT day 2
KVT day 3
KVT day 5
KVT day 6
KVT day 7
KVT day 8
KVT day 9
KVT day 10
KVT day 11
KVT day 12