As a general principal, items sold in touristy
areas, with no visible price tags, must be
bargained for - expect the vendor to start the
bidding at two to five times the real price.
Tagged items may be negotiable, but more often
than not the prices are fixed.
Please don't buy souvenirs taken from historical
sites, or made from endangered wildlife such as
turtle shells.
Art & Antiques
There are several good shops to hunt for art and
antiques, but Vietnam has strict regulations on
the export of real antiques, so be sure that
what you buy can be taken out of the country
legally.
Both traditional and modern paintings are a
popular item. The cheaper mass-produced stuff
(US$5 to US$20 per piece) is sent mostly to
souvenir shops and street vendors. Works of a
higher standard are displayed in art galleries.
Prices for paintings range from US$50 to US$500,
but some of the hottest Vietnamese artists now
fetch up to 10 times that. It's important to
know that there are quite a few forgeries around
- just because you spot a painting by a 'famous
Vietnamese artist' does not mean that it's an
original, though it may still be an attractive
work of art.
Jewelry
Bao Tin Minh Chau
29 Tran Nhan Tong St., Hanoi
8259685
Jewelry and more
Mara Jewelry
2C Pham Ngoc Thach, Hanoi
5742296
Silk Most shopping for Hanoi silk, antiques and
lacquerware is done along
Hang Gai street and its extension, Hang
Bong. A graceful
ao-dai
(pronounced "ow-zai") will set you back
US$25-$70 – if you can fit into one. Vietnamese
women are awfully svelte, which is how you get
three or four on a single moped – and that's
just on the handlebar. Fortunately for visitors,
garment sizes do not reflect these vanishing
waistlines. Business is directed at
less-than-compact foreigners so large-size stock
predominates. Alterations can be done in hours
and a complete dress stitched in a day.
Khai Silk
121 Nguyen Thai Hoc St., Hanoi
8233508
Hien Silk (100 Hang Gai),
My Trang Silk (52 Hang Gai)
Hanoi Silk (77 Hang Bac Street)
Kenly Silk
108 Hang Gai St., Hanoi
8267236
Tan My Silk
Bags and more
Ipa Nima Shop
19-16 Nha Tho str.,Hanoi
9340876 Co (18 Nha Tho Street,
that specialises in hand-stitched clothes for
men and women and embroidered apparel.
Tribal Sfuffs
Textiles, as clothing, are perhaps the most
personal of possessions. In tribal societies,
their importance is magnified many times,
especially for women. It is a means of
expression and of communication.
• They proclaim an individual’s identity:
Tribe, clan, hometown, gender, age, marital
status, social status, wealth.
• They attest to allegiance- to the group, to
tradition.
• That status can translate in “marriagability”
In many tribal groups in Viet Nam, these
traditions have changed little in a century (as
documented by comparing photographs taken a
century apart). Wearing traditional dress is
both an honor and a responsibility—every woman,
every day, all day. It is more than pageantry;
it is history and it is Identity.
Shaman
The presence of shamans is a characteristic of
virtually every tribal society. There are as
many different “job descriptions” as there are
peoples. A given grpoup will look to the shaman
for some mix of roles: priest, healer,
communicator to the world of spirits,
fortune-teller, creator of good luck and
repeller of evil, etc. All this require a
complex panoply of tools (plus the “manuals” to
use them.) We have them all:
• Robes and crowns
• Masks, both wooden and mulberry paper
Craft Link
43 Van Mieu St., Hanoi
8437710
Lan Vietnamese Handicraft
38 Au Trieu, Hanoi
8289278
From
Hoan Kiem it is a five-minute stroll down
Trang Tien
(pronounced “chang tee en”) to the characterful
Opera House that dominates the
much-photographed landmark square or, rather,
roundabout. Motorcycles buzz like hornets and of
an evening a newlywed couple will turn up to be
immortalised in front of this gracious building.
Trang Tien
is itself an interesting street packed with a
crop of funky art galleries and bookstores,
should you need one. A big, well-stocked
bookshop is Thang Long (55
Trang Tien). Or try the Bookshop
(41 Trang Tien). Close by is the Music
Shop (though its Vietnamese name is
different, 29 Trang Tien Street). Here, in a
small room that doubles as a CD shop and
motorbike parking lot, you'll find DVD
movies for 18,000 dong (pronounced
"zong"), innumerable music CDs and pirated
software for D10,000. For some reason,
Vietnamese music CDs are a tad more expensive at
D40,000 or so. Close to the Opera House is the
delightful Chi Vang store (17
Trang Tien) that stocks a pleasing collection of
silk embroidered fabrics put to different uses.
Gauzy eye-catching wine bottle presentation
wraps are US$5, stylish linen bathrobes US$99,
and velvet blankets, should you be so inclined,
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