Local life
Cai Be floating market at dawn
On the Tien River, Cai Be's floating market was once a meeting point for boats from across the region. To understand it is to understand how Mekong communities live with the water.
The Localis knowledge library
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Vietnam through six lenses
A library of local knowledge about heritage, food, craft villages, festivals, people and everyday life across Vietnam, plus series that go deep into one subject.
People
Portrait of the fire keeper at a Bat Trang kiln
In every firing there is one person rarely named: the kiln keeper. They read the fire with their eyes, their nose and a lifetime of experience.
Craft villages
Reading Bat Trang pottery village through clay, fire and glaze
Bat Trang is more than a place to buy ceramics. Walk its lanes slowly and you can read a whole body of knowledge about clay, fire and glaze, passed down by hand over generations.
Heritage
Nha nhac and the sound of ritual at the royal court of Hue
Nha nhac once accompanied the most important rituals of the imperial court. Understanding it means understanding how a dynasty used sound to express order and solemnity.
Craft villages
Hoi An lanterns and the port town's craft of light
The lanterns that light the old town every evening are handmade from bamboo and fabric. Behind them is a craft tied to Hoi An's trading history.
Food
Hue chè and the street vendors who carry it
People in Hue can name dozens of kinds of chè. Behind that variety is a careful way of eating and the street vendors who have fed many generations.
Festivals & customs
Full moon in Hoi An, when the whole town lives by the moon
Every full moon, Hoi An old town has its own rituals: lighting lanterns, floating paper lanterns, making offerings. They are traces of a way of life that still measures time by the moon.
Food
Early morning phở in Hanoi, a breakfast that holds a whole way of street life
For many Hanoians, phở is breakfast. Look at a phở stall at six in the morning and you see the whole rhythm of the city's streets.
Series
Story series that go deep into one subject. Read them in order or pick the part you care about.
Series 01
Craft villages · 3 bài viết
Living craft villages
A series on villages that still live by hand, and the people trying to keep their crafts alive in a changed world.
1Reading Bat Trang pottery village through clay, fire and glaze2Portrait of the fire keeper at a Bat Trang kiln3Hoi An lanterns and the port town's craft of light
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- 1Craft villagesReading Bat Trang pottery village through clay, fire and glazeBat Trang is more than a place to buy ceramics. Walk its lanes slowly and you can read a whole body of knowledge about clay, fire and glaze, passed down by hand over generations.Bat Trang · 4 min read
- 2PeoplePortrait of the fire keeper at a Bat Trang kilnIn every firing there is one person rarely named: the kiln keeper. They read the fire with their eyes, their nose and a lifetime of experience.Bat Trang · 2 min read
- 3Craft villagesHoi An lanterns and the port town's craft of lightThe lanterns that light the old town every evening are handmade from bamboo and fabric. Behind them is a craft tied to Hoi An's trading history.Hoi An · 1 min read