"Ready-To-Cut-Out"

I'm currently loving Kerrie Hess' "Ready-To-Cut-Out"   paper doll illustrations for Louis Vuitton. Paper dolls are available at http://vuitton.lv/CutOut  for print out. Have fun!

Image from Louis Vuitton website

PARIS INSPIRED CALENDAR

This is a french-inspired calendar which is packed with 12 classic photographs taken by one of my favorite photographers, Robert Doisneau, entitled "happiness of everyday life". The last photograph entitled "The Kiss" is my favorite.

DREAM IN MY HEART

FAITH makes all things possible.

HOPE makes all things work.

LOVE makes all things beautiful.

May you have all these.

Happy holidays everyone! 

DIY: French-inspired gift wrapping

What will you do with the grocery brown bags that have been adding to clutter at home? The answer is recycle and reuse. Here's a simple, easy to do, and practical, environment-friendly project you can do alone or with your kids.

What you will need...

Brown bag, Eiffel tower stamp pad, Paris note pad, 

 

...and here is what your used brown bag will look like:

Alternative project: You can use this to cover your notebooks or books, too.

AROUND HO CHI MINH CITY

Random pictures taken in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

On busy hours in HCMC, the streets are dominated by motorcycles.

The  "Khu Tay Ba Lo"  or Backpacker's area is located at the intersection of Pham Ngu Lao and De Tham streets, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City,Vietnam. Inexpensive guest houses or mini-hotels are located in the Pham Ngu Lao area. Tourists and locals frequent the district because of markets selling art paintings, food, clothes and souvenir items at very affordable prices. Bars are open from 6:00 P.M. til wee hours in the morning. 

A typical city walking tour usually starts with a visit to the Notre Dame Cathedral, General Post Office and the Saigon Opera House which showcase beautiful architecture from the French colonial period. This walking trip will give insights into the rich history, culture and the daily life activities of the locals in HCMC. 

 After the morning city tour, we took a coffee break at the Regina's Coffee, a local cafe, where you can taste authentic Vietnamese coffee. There were no Starbucks around HCMC at the time we were there, so this place is a great alternative for a quick coffee fix.

The Central Business District of HCMC ,where high-end shops are located, was decked with Halloween decors and lights; pumpkins were everywhere and we even spotted Cinderella's pretty carriage in front of the main entrance of the mall.

We had lunch at the CNSG, a traditional local restaurant, which is a place frequented by local office workers and tourists. Price is mid-range. Food:  8 out of 10 (They serve delicious local Vietnamese fare). Ambiance: 7 out of 10.

Small-scale businesses line up most of the streets in the city proper selling baskets made of straw, food, clothes, and other goodies.

In most of the streets in HCMC, tables and chairs are placed outside of the houses or small stores where the locals gather, eat or have afternoon chit-chat. This is a typical street scene  around HCMC according to the driver of the tourist bus.

Vietnamese carrying bags filled with fresh coconut juice sell their products in the streets near the opera house; Women vendors wear the iconic conical hat to protect them from the sun and rain. 

Vietnam is a country rich in history and culture. It's amazing how the local government was able to preserve old-aged buildings and their rich culture. However, skycrapers will soon dominate some key areas of the city; foreign brands are already invading the local markets,  signs that the city is now transforming into a highly urbanized country.

WAR REMNANTS MUSEUM, HCMC, VIETNAM

The War Remnants Museum is divided into themed galleries which exhibit controversial photographs, graphics, military equipment, children artworks, and the guillotine used by the French. Although it appears that the museum is used as a propaganda against the Americans and French, I think that its purpose is to remind or educate everyone of the life of the Vietnamese people during the war.

What you will see in the museum:

1st Gallery - where controversial photographs and graphics of massacred Vietnamese during the war are on display.

The Guillotine which was used by the French.

2nd Gallery - where children's anti-war paintings are on display.

3rd Gallery - where unexploded bombs are exhibited. This is located in a corner in the courtyard of the museum.

Opening Hours:

Location:

 28 Võ Văn Tần, phường 6, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. For inquiries, you may call (08) 3930 6325.

CHO BINH THAY MARKET

My friends and I took a 7-day vacation in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), Vietnam. On one of the days that we were in HCMC, we went to Binh Thay Market (Benh Than, Cho Lo), a wholesale marketplace in the city. It was fairly easy to navigate the place since a lot of people understand and speak English.

At the center of the market is a small altar where the locals and tourists offer  prayers, flowers or incense.

Cho Binh Thay offers a variety of food choices, from dried fish and squids, raw or roasted nuts, preserved or fresh local fruits, to chocolates and candies. Bags, textile, clothes, and footwear are also for sale here. I've also spotted baking and other cooking wares.

Coffee and tea lovers will surely find this place a haven because of the numerous choices of local and imported coffee and tea it offers.  Nut lovers will surely go nuts with the different raw or roasted, with shell or without shell nuts such as  cashews, areca nuts, kernels and other nuttie goodies being sold here.

The market also has a corner for flower vendors who sell local or imported flowers which can be bought at very affordable prices and can be arranged according to your specifications.

Outside the market, street vendors abound; they sell pies, vietnamese rolls, pastries, fruit juices or bottled water. Most of the vendors wear the local conical hat made of indigenous materials such as straw, for protection from the sun and rain.

For the experience, Binh Thay Market is a must-see for food lovers, chefs and tourists. 

It is located at " Thap Muoi Street (Vietnamese: Đường Tháp Mười), a four street-block span connecting Confucious Street (Vietnamese: Đường Khổng Tử - old French: Quai de Gaudot) to the North, and Hau Giang Street (Vietnamese: Đường Hậu Giang) to the South, on the edge of District 6." (Wikipedia) It operates from 6:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M.