We have been coming back to Hanoi for years now but this is the first time we have seen this type of Ceramics.

Said to have travelled along the silk road to some of the finest homes in many countries all over the world, these ceramics  now reside in 46 museums of 32 countries and territories.

​​These ceramics as the name suggests originated in the village of Chu Dau in the province of Hai Duong in Vietnam around the 13th century under the Tran dynasty.

But it was only in the 14th to the 17th centuries when the ceramics gained prominence. Unhappily, the civil war between the Trinh and Mac dynasties stopped the production of these well appreciated treasures.

The Chu Dau ceramics were of 3 types: those for the ordinary people, ones for high ranking officials and the ones for royalty. 

Interest in these ceramics came back when in 1980, Mr. Makoto Anabuki, First Secretary in the Japanese Embassy asked if he could find out more about the antique ceramic vase, Hoa Lam-Blue Flower, he saw exhibited in the Topkapi Saray Museum in Istanbul. This vase was autographed by the artist, Bui Thi Hy. This started the research into this antique ceramic.

​Excavations were undertaken in the northern Vietnamese village of Chu Dau and they found thousands of ceramics  and old kilns signifying that this place was engaged in pottery long before it was a busy trading hub.

​The ceramics in spite of having been buried for long, still retained its distinctive colour and design. So, today studies are made in view of bringing back the authentic patterns, materials and ornaments used by the early potters.

My husband and I just happened to see the display in Hanoi, 2 Le Thai To, of Chu Dau ceramics. We were on our Sunday walk looking for a coffee place when the display caught our attention. Intrigued, we went in the store and got out with this, a memento of something we've come to appreciate. 

Today, the village of Chu Dau can be visited from Hanoi. A day tour will take you to the village where you can see the old kilns and the excavated site. 

If you love pottery, here's another popular village for this craft in Vietnam:

• ​Bat Trang: Pottery Village in Vietnam

March and April are the best months to enjoy this flowering tree as the parks are lined with them.

Come to rural Asia and running on the road under your wheels in full play with village children is the historic chicken that we knew in North America at the turn of the 20th. Entury.

They are not pretty. They're of the small size. They are the ultimate definition of free range if you can call village housing a range. But, they have a unique advantage. They actually have taste. They are the living memory of why many great culinary dishes of the 19th century had chicken at their core. What they lack in size, they make up for in a gusto of flavour that can make a soup or dumplings a living walk down your great grandmas cookbook.

Below is Speedy Recipe's youtube video of Tinolang Manok, Chicken, a traditional Filipino Chicken Soup recipe.

Working a team pulling logs or a plow or a wagon was tough dangerous work. Preparing food from absolute scratch everyday was a total commitment.

Almost any household chore with no electricity was consummately demanding but people had a relationship with the animals and the trees and crops and rivers with whom they shared their lives. There was no race through life to an old people’s home. 

There was a family that started working as soon as they could walk and cared for their old folks until they cross the rainbow bridge.

Each generation had to find tasks and were respected for contributing within those expectations. So, a rural vacation is not only a chance to participate in some of the old farming chores but a chance to put yourself into the history you’ve grown from. 

Remember those days when, with basket in one hand and your Mother in the other, you went off to your local market? Of course, for many of us, the supermarket has taken the place of these local markets. ​

From there, I decided to get some vegetables I have tried but not cooked and here are my purchases: squash leaves, squash flowers, and greens.

It was quite exhilirating for me having had, as a child, fun memories of trips to our market. It was exactly like this. Phnom Penh, though, is a much bigger city now but here in the local market you still see people engaging with each other, just being part of a community and going there often makes them take you in as one of them.

Thanks for your visit. Before you go, share this in you favourite social media.

​Also, if you want more on Phnom Penh makrkets, click this link: Phnom Penh's Traditional Markets.

Nothing like travel opens us to learn. It is fun and we get into it. We try out things, we see new things, we do things we have not done before, we meet many new faces and immerse ourselves in new cultures. It's one experience we gift ourselves.

You may have a much more privileged schooling but many children today have still to do with very little in terms of educational facilities. 

​Below is a village school with a newly donated water system, wash rooms and library. Established in 1979, it was only in 2015 that they got these facilities.