Tet Trung Thu – Mid-Autumn Festival

Time: 15th day of the 8th in lunar calendar, – full moon day

Purpose: to worship Moon Genie, promote culture and familial love

Things to do: eating moon cakes, hanging around with lanterns, playing traditional games

According to Vietnamese culture, the Mid-Autumn Festival is also known as Tet Trung Thu in Vietnamese, is the most important holiday after Tet (the Vietnamese New Year). Tet Trung Thu usually takes place on the 15th day of the 8th in lunar calendar. Mid-Autumn is the day when the moon is at its brightest in a year. In that spirit, people worship the Moon Genie. According to legends, this holiday is originated from a Chinese story in which an Emperor under Duong Dynasty, Duong Minh Hoang, was taken to the moon by a wizard named La Cong Vien.

In the past, it is thought that the festival was originally celebrated to give parents time to gather with their children after the summer harvest was completed. They hold parties with moon cakes and fruits. People also believed that children were innocent and pure, and thus they were the closest connection to the sacred and natural world. This is also considered as the second festival for children. They are happy on that day because they will have a lot of cakes and have time to play many traditional games together. Moreover, parent will buy for them new clothes or a colorful lantern. The festival is very much like a combination of Halloween and Thanksgiving in western countries.

Eating Moon cakes

Today, there are many aisles selling “banh trung thu” or moon cakes on all over Vietnam’s streets. These cakes are made with lotus seeds, green beans, and an egg yolk, though there are other varieties of favors. Moon cakes are essential in each family parties or meals on Tet Trung Thu. Nowadays, they try to create many shapes and favors.

Before one month, moon cakes and colorful lanterns in various shapes of star, boats, dragons, smiley faces and so on are made to serve in the festival. On the special day, at night, mid-autumn festive parties with Banh Nuong and Banh Deo (in the shape of moon and land), candies and fruits are held at every family. They eat cake and watch full moon. Moreover, traditional games like “hide and seek”, lantern marching, and lion dancing are organized for children.

Lion Dances and Lantern procession

The other most visible tradition related to Tet Trung Thu is the lion dance. On the of full moon day, groups of children parade through the streets, some of them maintain a martial beat on drums, while others control an extravagantly decorated ‘lion’ crafted from molds and paper. The children have to ask the permission of host to perform. If they agree, the children put on a show that is believed to bring a blessing of luck and fortune. Afterwards the host gives the children lucky money as a sign of gratitude. These lion dances are fascinating, and huge amounts of children, ranging from little kids to teenagers, take part. Some are quite professional, while others a bit disorganized. As a result of having so many groups of children marching around, the streets of the cities echo with the sound of drums, as dozens of lions roam about.

Tet Trung Thu in different places

Today, the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, together with lantern affection for children promotes education, poetry, dance, arts and crafts. Most overseas Vietnamese family would like to bring their kids back to Vietnam right in Full moon festival time to visit their grandparents, one amongst the most important ones in Vietnam.

Otherwise, most of them hold a distant festival on their own in the country where they live to remind the kids of their origin and national culture. Perhaps the best place to observe full moon and enjoy mid-autumn festival is Hoi An, a historical town in the central region of the country. The ancient town is densely with ancient shops of lanterns. The river running through the town is covered in floating lanterns, and the magical atmosphere. On this holiday, that is all about fun, and great to see groups of people dancing on the streets, following the people in control of the ‘lion’. Occasionally, you will even see a dragon, the most sacred of all animals, which takes several people to control. Their dance attracted a large number of people to join and at one point the man in the animal’s head set off a firework, spewing sparks from the dragon’s mouth and thrilling the crowd. It was great to see that these traditions still alive. In Ha Noi, you can come to Ho Tay Water Park, Van Ho Exhibition Centre and Giang Vo Exhibition Centre to have musical performances for children in these two days. In Ho Chi Minh city, around 10th and 15th of August, Ho Chi Minh City government holds “Full Moon Festival” parties for children. On this occasion, the city arranges for some 5.000 children to participate in lantern processions along the main streets.

Not only locals, but also foreign tourists are warmly welcomed to join in this special festival. Surely, tourists will have much fun when taking part in the parade, watching children carrying the lanterns, eating moon cakes and receiving gifts during the Mid Autumn Festival.

Places and Things to do in Paris

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Find things to do in Paris in our list whenever you plan to visit here. See tips and the most romantic Paris attractions including Eiffel Tower, the Louvre Museum, the cathedral of Notre..

Why go

Paris is the most romantic place but this world is one where reality beyond legendary. Tree-lined boulevards, bridges are illuminated by lights wrought iron and wicker chair-lined terrace cafes give the charm of the city, while the large public monuments add grandeur to remind you that this is one of the most beautiful cities on this planet.

Each corner of Paris is unique in itself in some districts that contribute to this fashion capital of the world is while in other places it is a sophistication ideas as invisible as it is unmistakable.

Place to come

There are many places to visit in Paris. Obviously you will not miss Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower is beautiful from any angle which rubs shoulders with the other world’s most famous towers; it is a symbol of Paris and a paris tourist attraction. Paris offers the largest concentration of Paris tourist attractions in France, and possibly in Europe. Besides some of the world’s most famous museums, its has a vibrant historic city centre, a beautiful rivers cape, an extensive range of historic monuments, including cathedrals, chapels and palaces, plus one of the most famous nightlife scenes in the world.

Paris is also famous for its cafés and restaurants, its theatres and cinemas, and its general ambiance. While there are a thousand other things to do in Paris apart from those mentioned on this page, for the traveler spending just a few days in Paris.

Louvre Museum is said to be the world’s collection of the most important, and certainly the largest, for art. On a smaller scale, the Orsay Museum is an amazing collection of the Impressionist, post master impressionist and set in an old train station renovation. In addition, the sights of Paris read like a roll call of the urban masterpiece or find the time to stroll through the Luxembourg garden or along the Élysées Avenue.

Where to eat and drink

There are thousands of restaurants to choose from in Paris; as well as numerous French restaurants; Italian restaurants have hundreds, pizza, restaurant Vietnam, and restaurants serving food from just about every country in the world. There are also restaurants in France interesting area, serving traditional cuisine in the area. There are restaurants all over Paris, because Paris is very much alive in the city. Concentrations of the best restaurants in Paris class are nearly the Champs Elysees in the 8th, 16th and 17th arrondissements, where there are a good number of Michelin starred restaurants. So eating more affordable, and more choices and atmosphere, try the small streets of the Latin Quarter or on the Ile St Louis. For the best oriental cuisine, go to Chinatown Paris, south from Place d’Italie in the 13th.

Michelin Restaurants with bars offer catering compared to by the celebrity chef. Bofinger beer shop is in the majestic art. The food is excellent, as is a seat under its glass dome. The modern French cuisine with a par at Le Jules Verne point of view located on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower. Try pan-seared veal with spinach cream. La Tour d’Argent opened in 1582. Pressed duck still Mesmerizes, The Silver Tower, as well as his views on Notre Dame.

Where to stay

Paris has nearly 80,000 hotel beds are largely occupancy, so book as far ahead as you can. All hotels were designed in Paris style. They are very charming and magnificent with its modern decor, is close to the Eiffel Tower. Staying in these hotels here is once-in-a-lifetime experience. Light-hearted and loads of fun, the boutique has bright murals and a penchant for primary colors and oversized clocks. The rooms may be a little small but the location’s great.

How to get there

Two main airports are Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport and Orly Airport has railway connections to Paris. The Rer train’s service from Airport is fast, and cheapest. If you arrive by plane in Paris for a day trip, buy the paris sightseeing tour which includes the airports pick – up service. Changing trains at “Chatelet” metro hub. Chatelet is the biggest interconnection station on the Paris metro system that has three main Rer routes cross here, notably B (for the airports) and A (serving the Gare de Lyon and Disneyland).

If you are changing from a southbound “B” train to a south/east bound “A” train, (for instance, coming from Charles de Gaulle airport and heading for Gare de Lyon or Disneyland, a common combination), just cross the platform.

The same goes if you are taking these routes in the opposite direction (for example coming from Gare de Lyon and heading for Charles de Gaulle airport). Nothing could be simpler!
For other changes, follow the indicator boards, having noted which RER or metro routes you want. Always keep your ticket until your journey is finished, even if it is just a single journey ticket. If you use the RER in the central urban area of Paris, you will need to put your ticket through the machine both to get onto the platforms and to get out of the RER area again.

Brazil travel tips

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Why don’t you come to Brazil to witness the World Cup? Or are you thinking about traveling to Brazil for the FIFA World Cup or Brazil holidays this summer? First, you’ll need to think logistic and plan for yourself. Here are some Brazil travel tips on destinations, accommodations, transportation and more for things to do in Brazil.

Geographic location

Twelve cities hosted the matches throughout Brazil. The maximum distance among the host cities of in Manaus and Porto Alegre belongs (over 3,000 km). Topography among the cities also vary considerably, there are cities located in the Amazon rainforest (in Manaus) while eight of the host cities located on the sunny shores.

Rio and Sao Paulo are the two largest cities of Brazil which have enormous subway systems that are very convenient for tourists. Brasilia is a capital of Brazil since 1960 which was a rather backward city in the past yet it has now become a modern city.
You need to have a passport and visa to get to Brazil. Brazil tourist visa costs about 220 USD for 3 months.

Choose appropriate time and place

Unless you plan Brazil holidays for entire month, you will have to decide time and place in Brazil. The least expensive way is staying in a host city and takes in whatever games are scheduled while you’re there. At a minimum, you can see four football matches in each location, typically spread over 11 days. On the other hand, if you want more exciting late-round action, you can head for one of the three cities that will host late-round games or to Brasilia or Rio for the finals.

If you are a close fan of a certain team in 32 teams, at least you can keep track of three matches. You have to learn the schedule of your favorite teams on the FIFA website, then following consistent schedule not to miss any opportunity to watch your interesting team.
The least expensive way is that you will choose a host city and stay there till the football match ended. You will see four of the close location of the World Cup football match taking place in about 11 days.

World Cup is an opportunity to do business with hoteliers, restaurant in Brazil. Room rates increased several times the normal level. On the day’s match, three-star hotel prices from 179 USD / night will be increased to 513 USD / night.

All other services are also expected to increase the price on the day of the World Cup. Perhaps people hope it will partially offset enormous amount that the Brazilian government had spent for this World Cup.

On the other hand, you can choose to see the fierce battle in the knockout stages and the final match of the World Cup taking place in the two big cities of Brasilia and Rio. Or try to visit some Brazil tourist attractions.

Transportation

Basically, Brazil does not have the long distance trains. If you buy plane tickets to travel between host cities are too expensive. The only way left is the bus. But luckily, there are also some host cities which are quite close together, Natal and Recife are only two separated cities by less than five hours bus. It takes approximately six hours between Sao Paulo and Curitiba.

Again, following the well-established traditional event, Brazilian hoteliers have decided to make a good share of the year’s profits during the World Cup. A typical example: I found the Copacabana Praia Hotel – three-star hotel with good mark at TripAdvisor site for 513 USD per night during July and only 179 USD per night a few weeks later. Normally, you’ll encounter similar inflation at local restaurants and shops as well.

Things to do in Brazil

Unlike other mega events like the Olympics, World Cup has something going on all the time. Even in Rio, early round matches are only every three days, and the final match is a week after the semis. This means you’ll have lots of time for sightseeing some Brazil tourist attractions.

Besides some interesting areas such as the Amazon rainforest or the Mato Grosso, you can come to some busy cities like Rio or Sao Paulo, or sunbathing on the beaches in some favorable coastal areas. You will discover Rio and Sao Paulo are two sleepless night city like New York. Also, if you want to expose themselves on the warm sunny beaches, you just move north Brazil, where in June and July is a good time of the year.

Overall, you should try to be patient as well as have an appropriate tactic to travel to the biggest football clubs on the planet.

Brazil holidays – most compelling Street foods

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Brazil is not only famous for a country of football with the vibrant Latin dance but also a rich cuisine. Everyone spend their time for Brazil holidays to sink themselves into the rolling ball in this World Cup season 2014, to enjoy the glamorous samba dancers. Especially, we will have a chance to enjoy a delicious culinary taste of this South American country. If you could not find a fabulous menu, here are some brazil travel tips for your holiday in Brazil.

1. Tapioca cake

First of all, you should try Tapioca cake. Tapioca Cake is a kind of Street food being very popular at every street corner in Brazil. It is considered as snacks and you can enjoy at any time of the day, it is not only suitable for children but also for all ages. Crust is thin made from wheat flour and crunchy but it is still slightly elastic. Inside the cake there are many abundant and optional ingredients such as ice cream, bananas, cheese, strawberries, chocolate…

2. Churrasco grilled pork meat

Churrasco grilled pork meat is also a popular street food. Most of people usually use lamb and pork, sometimes chicken wings, shrimp and beef for processing. This sounds easy to process the recipe is quite complex. The chef uses many typical materials from South America.

This dish will be served with salad, vegetables such as mushrooms, black bean soup with feijoada which is a traditional sauce. This dish is very popular in the Latin America and has spread to many countries in Asia and Europe. However, its recipe is changed depend on region; there is a little variation to suit local tastes.

3. Feijoada

Feijoada is a dish that should not miss when you are out for brazil holidays. This is a traditional dish for lunch. The raw materials for food processing include black beans, bacon, and tongue, ears and tail of pig. They are quite spicy and stewed.

4. Bejinho de Coco Cake

Bejinho de Coco Cake is one of those dishes in Brazil. The method to make this cake is quite elaborate. First you need for all components including cans GAL 1, 1 spoon (soup) of butter, 4 tablespoons (soup) of cell dry coconut in a large saucepan over medium heat and stir constantly with a wooden spoon. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until detached from the bottom of the pan. Sweet coconut cake covered with butter flavor and sweetness of the coconut shell that charmed diners.

5. Creme de Papaya

Creme de Papaya is a dessert. It is a culinary fad in Brazil in the mid-1990s. Ingredients include papaya mixed with vanilla ice cream and a little light wine – easy combination “charm”.

6. Acaraje cake

To make the Acaraje cake, people used black peas which are crushed then shaped into balls and fried in palm oil, stuffed with shrimp, oil and vinegar. The most common way of eating is acaraje split it out, pour vatapa or caruru, a salad made from tomatoes green and red, fried shrimp and homemade chili sauce. If fasting is often served with green peppers and tomatoes.

In general, Because Brazil is such a melting pot of colors, languages and customs, its cuisine is similarly varied. In addition, the various types of dishes and ingredients used depend on the geographical location within Brazil.

Best Chinese foods and recipe

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Find out the best chinese foods from the Chinese recipes and its taste. Here are some of famous chinese dishes that you might have not known yet.

1. Dimsum

For Chinese people, the first traditional Chinese food is Dimsum being very popular, especially on New Year’s Day.

This traditional Chinese food represents luck and family reunions. The main ingredient of Dimsum is a combination of two types of rice: ordinary rice and sticky rice.
According to the idealist, the Chinese believe that the two types of rice will bring more good luck in their life. In particular, the businessmen more and more believe that if they eat the cakes that combine two types of rice will help them “get things as they wish” and career development opportunities will be more open.

Dim sum is also known as “jiao zi” which is dedicated to ancestor altars at the lunar New Year day which is considered as a part of Traditional Chinese food. Under the Han reign, it is mainly made from wheat flour. There are many kinds of noodles were created and Dimsum is also created in this period. The predecessor of the Dim sum is Van Than.
The shapes of Dimsum also represent the luck. Semicircle dimsum with border are considered as “happiness”. Then pull the two heads of the semicircle dimsum will make sharpe of silver ingot with desire of a prosperous year.

Dimsum is one of the traditional Chinese dishes. On New Year, many Chinese families gather and enjoy Dimsum together. It is also represent for union family. Whoever are leaving for business, school or other places have to come back home for family reunion. Nowadays, dimsum is more and more popular around the world.

2. The healthy Chinese food is boiled eggs with urine.

In Zhejiang province in the eastern of China, they put the eggs into the pot containing the urine of children and boil them.

People have unique experience, for more delicious boiled eggs, the first boiling water is the urine. Then they peel and boil again in urine within 1 day. Urine is taken from boys under 10 years old. Daily urine is “filtered” at a local school. According to locals, this is the healthy Chinese food. It also helps reduce fever and enhance the intellectual ability to concentrate. Other local people said: “I am intending to export eggs to many people in countries around the world are enjoying the special taste of boiled eggs.”

In Vietnam, according to some elderly people, the urine of children, especially from infants, is very good for health.

3. Rotten tofu

Rotten Tofu is famous traditional Chinese food many years. A dish is also called Chao which is made from tofu, using microorganisms to metabolize the investment protit polypeptite form of casein, peptides and amino acids to the part.

Raw materials used to make rotten tofu are wine and salt. Depending on market practices which make use beans are soft, soft have fewer workplace. Many types of software are mostly made of gypsum precipitation and locally common in the border region. This category contains a lot of water, 1kg of beans, about 3kg800 making tofu. The amount of water in fewer beans, 1kg of beans makes about 2, 7 kg tofu.
Tofu processing as can be done in two methods such as using natural bacteria and mold and using the same bacteria or mold material.

4. Guangdong Roasted Duck

Referring to make dishes featuring duck in Chinese cuisine, it is often referred to Peking duck, roasted duck Sichuan, of which the most unique and fascinating to mention is Guangdong roasted duck.

In fact, the technical to making roasted duck in Beijing and Sichuan came later and Guangdong came first. So, the best place to enjoy the delicious roasted duck is in Guangdong. The reason made this is famous around the world is first marinated in spices techniques before baking. Spice first and indispensable that trail, red sugar, bound into each cake, sweets bar. Along the trail, garlic, ginger, onions, licorice powder, soy, white wine and vinegar mixture forms a special scan matching up around his duck. It takes about 2 hours to infuse tinged with spice duck starters carried away filming.

Duck grilling is an important step and most elaborate. Roasting duck is usually about an hour. In this process, duck is spinning, the skin will turn into golden brown, not an unpleasant smell, but fresh meat from drying out water. Despite turning in a very long period of time but when eating duck still fragrant characteristics, sometimes through the scent of spices as overwhelming smell of charcoal.

With the brand has been confirmed now we can find Guangdong roasted duck in most countries around the world. However, despite how absorbing the essence of the culture, the original Guangdong roasted duck is not tarnished and remains the most attractive to people all over the world.