Cruise, cuisine and culture on Saigon River

Authentic cuisine, dancing, music and many more typical Vietnamese traits are available for visitors to experience on board the three-deck wooden boat Vietcruiser that travels along the Saigon River every Saturday, with chartered voyages six days a week.

 

The dancing show on Vietcruiser

The journey to experience Vietnamese specialties begins when guests step aboard Vietcruiser, as local girls in traditional attire, including ao dai, treat you with cakes and fruit of different regions and seasons.

On the bamboo trays are banh tet (cylindrical glutinous rice cake filled with green bean paste and pork), banh pia (flour cake with salty yolk, durian, green bean paste and taro), and many other sweet and salty cakes made from rice powder and other ingredients. Litchi, chom chom (rambutan), Vietnamese tea and other seasonal fruit on offer will add some flavor before the trip starts

A buffet dinner begins once the 39-meter-long, 8.5-meter-wide Vietcruiser departs Nha Rong Wharf in downtown HCMC at around 7:15 p.m. During the cruise on the Saigon River at night to Thanh Da in Binh Thanh District and back to base, guests can walk around the serving counters on the ground floors to select goi (mixed salad), goi cuon (spring roll), grilled squid and shrimp, and other dishes featuring flavors of different localities in Vietnam.

Music and dances depicting cultural and historical glimpses of Vietnam are on show throughout the voyage that ends around 9:30 p.m. The melodious sounds of dan tranh and dan bau and other Vietnamese musical instruments will relax guests on board. Craftsmen are also a fixture on the Vietcruiser to make to he (toy figurine), which is made into toys for children to play at traditional festivals in the country from a mixture of glutinous and ordinary rice powder. With this material, the craftsman can shape animals, flowers or characters from folk stories and also do requests for guests. When dinner is over, a good idea for passengers is to sit and relax at their seats or go to the upper deck to view HCMC at night

Tickets are priced from VND390,000 and allow guests to enjoy a wide selection of Vietnamese food specialties as well as music and dancing shows during the weekend voyage on the 256-seat boat. For the ticket price you also get some free drinks.

Note this is a special promotion price until the end of October.

 

The craftsman shapes to he on the boat
 

Top 5 foods should try in Ha Noi

Vietnamese cuisine has many different dishes to sample and some of these dishes originated in Hanoi . In Hanoi you can enjoy traditional food in restaurants or road side stalls. Fresh ingredients are normally used which are brought from the market every morning. Noodle soup cooked in many different way, there are 5 foods you should not miss when traveling in Ha Noi.

1. Pho (Noodle food)

Pho, a typical dish of Hanoi people, has been existing for a long time. Pho is prepered not only in a sophisticated manner but also in the technique which is required to have sweet but pure bouillon, soft but not crasded noodle, soft and sweet smelling meat. Only in cold days, having a hot and sweet smelling bowl of Pho to enjoy would make you experience the complete flavor of the special dish of  Hanoi .

2. Bun thang

Dishes made of soft noodle soup are diverse such as vermicelli and fried chopped meat, Bun Thang, vermicelli and sour crab soup, stewed vermicelli and boiled lean meat, etc. The popular dish is vermicelli and sour crab soup whilst Bun Thang is for con-noisseurs, unique and available in Hanoi only. A bowl of Bun Thang includes lean pork paste, thin fried egg, salted shredded shrimp, chicken, onion, shrimps paste, and a little Belostomatid essence. Especially, Bun Thang bouillon made from shrimps and meat must be very sweet and pure. Without enjoying Bun Thang when arriving to Hanoi , it somewhat seems to lack of a part                      of taste of Hanoi .

3. Bun cha

Bun Cha Hanoi is another great way to use what we have already made (thit nuong, a variation of nem nuong, and picked carrots and daikon). As the name implies, this dish originates from the city of Hanoi in northern Vietnam , but is very popular throughout the country. It is similar to Bun Thit Nuong, in that both vermicelli and thit nuong are used, however the difference is that it includes a cha (pork sausage patties) and both grilled meats are soaked in nuoc mam cham, allowing it to soak up all the flavors of the nuoc mam. The cha nuong in this dish is slightly different then nem nuong in that there’s less garlic and sugar and no baking powder, although if you made nem nuong, you can certainly use it to make bun cha Ha noi.

4. Banh cuon

Banh Cuon (Vietnamese Steamed Rice Rolls/Crepes) is the perfect holiday detox food. Banh cuon is a very light crepe often with ground pork, minced wood ear mushroom, and onions and eaten with Vietnamese ham (cha lua), steamed beansprouts, and cucumbers. Another variation arising from a village in Northern Vietnam famous for their banh cuon is called banh cuon “Thanh Tri” a style where the crepe is not rolled but kept in sheets without any filling, and sprinkled with fried onions.

5. Cha ca la Vong

One of Hanoi 's most famous specialties is Cha Ca La Vong (La Vong grilled fish pies). The dish was invented by Doan family and has quickly become so popular that the name of the street where it is served was changed into Cha Ca (fish pie) from its former name Hang Son ( Paint Street ). To have tasty pie, the fish selected is Hemibagrus with solid fresh, less bones and good scent. Fish bones are left away to keep fish meat only, then seasoned with fish sauce, pepper, saffron and galingale. After that, the processed fish is grilled by coal heat and turned upside down to make both sides baked.

When serving, an oven of coal is needed to keep Cha Ca always hot. It is served with rice vermicelli, dried pancakes, roasted peanuts, sliced onion leaves, basil and shrimp paste with lemon and chilly.Hanoians often eat this dish while sipping some alcohol in the cold weather. If you are in Hanoi , you should come and explore the grilled fish pie yourself.