| Among the tourist sites surrounding Hanoi, the Bat | | | | There’s more than just searching among the |
| Trang pottery village with 500 or more years of | | | | stalls, tourists can also experience pottery artists a |
| history, is an ideal place to visit, attracting a large | | | | work – on the spinning wheel, painting objects |
| number of people from the city – and foreign | | | | when they dry or loading up the kilns. |
| tourists. Slow and steady: Japanese visitors enjoy a | | | | Visitors can also make their own cups, dish, bowl, |
| buffalo cart tour around the pottery village. | | | | vase or animal – and they will receive the |
| Just 14km from central Hanoi, the village is easily | | | | finished, fired product within a few days. Many |
| reached by motorbike – the most popular | | | | villagers offer this service for VND10,000 to 30,000, |
| transport means in Vietnam. | | | | depending on the size of product. "I relived my |
| | | | childhood when fiddling with a piece of clay," said |
| If you’re too lazy to drive yourself or are not | | | | Tuan Nam, a first-year student. |
| game to sit on the back of a xe om or hired | | | | Recently, a new and relaxing way to see Bat Trang |
| motorbike, you can catch a bus at Long Bien Bus | | | | has been offered. A buffalo cart takes tourists |
| Station. | | | | around the village. |
| This way takes three times as long, but it’s so | | | | According to Nguyen Minh Hai, director of the Minh |
| cheap! Tickets only cost VND3,000 – about | | | | Hai Ceramic Company, who offers this first-ever |
| US$0.10. The bus will take you to the village pottery | | | | service in the village, most who tour the village this |
| market, where more than 100 stalls present tens of | | | | way felt relaxed and interested because they could |
| thousands of ceramic and pottery products. | | | | view the scenery at their leisure. |
| The items include fine celadon from an ancient | | | | "The idea of using a buffalo cart to carry tourists |
| tradition and other great examples of ceramic arts | | | | was initiated when I went to Japan looking for |
| and crafts. The high quality porcelain is decorated | | | | business opportunities for our products. I realised the |
| with dragons and phoenix, flowers and images of | | | | buffalo was easily recognised as a symbol of |
| people and landscapes, all reflecting daily and spiritual | | | | Vietnam – a rice producing country. So why not |
| activities in Vietnam. | | | | use farm animals to transport tourists around the |
| Visitors can spend several hours just browsing among | | | | village?" he said. |
| the endless little shops, each with different wares | | | | Before starting their cart journey, tourists are shown |
| produced in a different family kiln. | | | | the way ceramic products are made in a workshop. |
| According to the head of the market management | | | | Teams of young men and women work on |
| board, Tran Quoc Viet, the market welcomes a large | | | | production lines, baking, sanding and painting. |
| number of visitors every weekend. | | | | A journey around the village, a distance of about |
| A group of middle-age women look happy with | | | | 2km, takes an hour. The price ranges from |
| heavy sedge bags containing pottery products they | | | | VND50,000 to 100,000 depending on the duration of |
| bought in the market. | | | | the tour and how many stops are made. There are |
| "Although my family has every household product, | | | | two buffalo carts working in the village, providing |
| sometimes I and other neighbours call each other and | | | | tours for about 100 visitors a day. |
| go to the village. It’s the way we unwind," a | | | | Like other villages in the north, the village hold its |
| woman cheerfully said. | | | | main festival in the second lunar month. This year, |
| For these women, beautiful ceramic objects, mostly | | | | this fell in March. During the three-day festival, many |
| at surprisingly affordable prices, are the main | | | | traditional activities were held in and around the village |
| attraction. "I’ve bought a charming vase with the | | | | temple, situated close to the steep banks of the |
| lotus motifs for just VND20,000," another woman | | | | majestic Hong (Red) River. |
| said. | | | | Among the various ritual activities held during the |
| Thuy Linh, a grade-10 student, said she sometimes | | | | festival, the most important is a boat procession by |
| went to Bat Trang with a group of her friends. | | | | village elders and monks to the centre of the river to |
| "Unlike other people who usually buy ceramic | | | | collect the purest flowing water. |
| household products, we only pick up cute stationary | | | | Before they set out, the boats made offerings to |
| or ceramic jewellery," she said. | | | | ask the Water Genie for permission to take the |
| "I’ve just bought a black-and-white Japanese | | | | water. |
| Monokuro Boo pig, plus a keyholder with the ceramic | | | | The water was then scooped from the river by two |
| initial ‘L’, the first character of my name, | | | | prestigious elders, brought to shore and then paraded |
| carved on it. My friend bought a wind chime and a | | | | around the village before being taken to the |
| cute piggy bank," she said. | | | | communal temple. |