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| Making banh loc (tapioca dumplings) together. Photo: Nguyen Tung |
Immersing myself in the atmosphere of the beginning of a new school year, I was fortunate to follow architecture students from the University of Sciences, Hue University to participate in a workshop on Hue culture with students from Kyoto Seika University, Japan with the theme: "Traditional market architecture in a modern context", accompanied by practical activities and interesting local cultural experiences for 4 days.
On his first day in Hue, Ikeda Kei, a student of the Faculty of Global Cultures from Kyoto, could not help but admire and enjoy the beauty of the ancient capital. Although he once had the opportunity to visit Vietnam, this was the first time this student came to Hue and was extremely impressed by the purity and peace of the city.
“The atmosphere in Hue City is wonderful, very peaceful, and Hue has a lot of trees, different from the modern, bustling beauty of Ho Chi Minh City, where I had the opportunity to travel 3 years ago. I had the opportunity to walk around and watch the Huong River, breathing in the fresh autumn air in Hue. The weather in Hue this time is very pleasant, not as hot as I thought,” Ikeda shared.
That afternoon, after being introduced and informed about the workshop content and schedule for the days in Hue by the teachers in the Faculty of Architecture, University of Sciences, Hue University, the students were divided into groups and got to know their Vietnamese friends. To quickly get to know and become closer to their group mates, Anh Thu, Thu Ha and Tan Dat proactively invited two Japanese friends, Fuji Hina and Noguchi Taiki, to experience the cuisine at Dong Ba market. Here, the Japanese friends had wonderful experiences with the cuisine and people of Hue.
Fuji was delighted: “I was invited by my Vietnamese friends to eat banh loc, bun bo (beef noodle soup), che Hue (Hue sweet soup), etc. These dishes were very delicious, making me exclaim “oishii” (so delicious) continuously, especially the che bot loc bọc heo quay (tapioca dumplings stuffed with roasted pork sweet soup), the taste was very different, because I had never tried anything like it before. I was also very impressed with the friendliness and hospitality of my three group members and the vendors at the market.”
Different from the bustling atmosphere at Dong Ba market, the students experienced a more “quiet” but equally interesting activity of practicing meditation at Cat Tuong Quan Monastery. This activity made their Japanese friends feel familiar, because it had similarities with the culture of meditation and tea ceremony in the land of cherry blossoms.
Saying goodbye to the quiet space at Cat Tuong Quan Monastery, the students continued to experience and explore the traditional art form of Hue, which is making Sinh village folk paintings by hand.
Sinh village folk paintings are a long-standing famous genre of paintings, bearing the traditional cultural beauty of the ancient capital and playing an important role in the spiritual life of the people of Hue. The process of making a Sinh village painting is also extremely elaborate. The painting paper must be diep paper, made from the bark of dó tree, which is dried, then covered with a layer of diep (a type of powder made from oyster or mussel shells).
Each painting is printed from traditional woodblocks, which were meticulously hand-carved. The colors of Sinh village paintings are taken from natural materials such as bamboo charcoal (black), red soil (brown), and leaves (green). Anh Thu and her friends were extremely excited when the artisans enthusiastically guided them step by step to draw the paintings of the 12 zodiac animals.
While the students of the Faculty of Architecture were impressed with the experience of making folk paintings from Sinh village, their friends from Kyoto Seika University were most interested in the dishes with the strong flavor of Hue. Therefore, the teachers organized for them to experience making banh loc by themselves the next day. The atmosphere in the kitchen was extremely joyful and filled with the laughter of the students and teachers when making banh loc together.
“The Vietnamese students were very enthusiastic in guiding me step by step. We even competed to see which group made the best banh loc. On the first day, I was quite confused, but now I feel very close and connected with everyone. Hue culture and the friends in Hue are really wonderful,” said Kakimoto Miyu, a student in the Japanese group.
Mr. Ayako Fujieda, the leader of the delegation in charge of leading students from Kyoto Seika University, also happily shared: “The Japanese teachers and students were all extremely surprised by the diversity of Hue culture. Two years ago, I also had the opportunity to lead a group of Japanese students to Hue and visit the Huong River Ceramic Museum, explore the cuisine and go SUP boating on Tam Giang Lagoon. This year, returning to Hue, I was able to experience many other interesting activities. I was extremely impressed with Hue culture and the way the teachers and students enthusiastically welcomed us.”