In the morning, ODC Travel’s tour guide and driver will pick you up at the hotel around 7:30 – 8:00 a.m to start a spectacular trip. The first stop is the pottery village of Bat Trang, which has been well-known during hundreds of years for its high-qualified and extraordinarily beautiful ceramic products, particularly dinnerware and ornamental ware.
Visitors can wander in Bat Trang’s narrow streets, watching the skillful and talented workers producing sophisticated porcelain, tableware and ornaments using the modern gas-fired kilns. Inside the studios are craftsmen mixing clay or dipping burnt cases into glaze to highlight their crackled lines, and then the painting masters will apply the intricate design on the raw terracotta before heating them in the ovens. The outcome pottery products include a diversified range of bowl, dish, pot, cup, wine pot, a big flower-vase, leg lamp, lime-pot, big-bellied jar with glazes such as ancient pearl blaze, crackle glaze, dark glaze, indigo-blue flower glaze, grey flower glaze, melt glaze...
11.00 a.m: Continue to Dong Ho, where paintings made by wooden block printing can be seen. Once in the village, a visit will be made at craftsman Nguyen Dang Che’s house. Today though, just two families are engaged in this painstaking craft. The rest of the village has turned to a more lucrative pursuit, turning out paper votive offerings.
12.30: Have lunch at local restaurant.
13.00 p.m: Afternoon tour to the wood - carving village of Dong Ky, which is attached with making carved hardwood furniture in both private and state run workshops. The craftsmen have enough superb skill to make the high-quality wood furniture which is sold both inside and outside the village. The most common pieces are tables, chairs, cupboards, and carved beds.
15.00 p.m: Continue to visit the rattan - knitting village of Phu Vinh. Phu Vinh bamboo and rattan-woven products exceed 500 varieties. The most notable include art work such as panels, couples, birds and animal pictures. They are made of extremely thin and small splints woven with a small awl as if embroidered. Another variety includes fruit baskets, trays, plates, bags, suitcases, sandals, hats, lamp shapes and flower vases. A third category includes large baskets, sieves, buckets and creels.
17.00 p.m: Drop off at your hotel, tour finish.
The guides were the highlight in the trip, and this is saying something! This trip has been so well thought and perfectly adjusted to accomodate our holiday together with group. It was some sort...
