
It was built decades after the Vietnam War was over, but Hilton carefully avoided reusing the dreaded name Hanoi Hilton.Vietnamese water puppetry is a unique folk art practiced since the 11th century. There is now a Hilton Hotel in Hanoi, called the Hilton Hanoi Opera Hotel, which opened in 1999. Some of the cells have been opened and considerable information about Vietnamese prisoners is available. In 1998, the old front of the prison was painted and restored and the remaining portions of the prison were turned into a tourist site. The Vietnamese also have bitter memories of the prison, for many communist revolutionaries were kept and tortured there. Portions of the walls were retained for historical reasons. By 1996, most of the walls of the Hanoi Hilton had been torn down to make way for new construction. Hanoi Tower, built on the site of the infamous prison "Hanoi Hilton" the entrance to the remaining parts of the prison visible in the foreground.
#PHAN BOI CHAU WATER PUPPETRY MOVIE#
The Hanoi Hilton was depicted in the eponymous 1987 Hollywood movie The Hanoi Hilton. Accordingly, Bat Trang has gradually changed from a normal ceramic and pottery village into a famous ceramic and pottery centre until now. In Bat Trang, there was a lot of white clay, so that many potters, among whom was Nguyen Ninh Trang family, came and built the kilns here. With the establishment and development of the capital, many businessmen, crafters from many areas come to settle down here to work and trade. In the other story, in the village history dates back to the 10th century, when King Ly Cong Uan relocated the capital in Thang Long. One of these tells that under Ly dynasty, in 1100, when the nation was in its independence and initial growth period, there were 3 scholars who came back from their mission trip to China bringing the ceramic craft industry learned there back to Vietnam and taught the people of Bat Trang. There are always two stories concerning the village origin. However, according to the villagers, the village perhaps appeared earlier. This should go some way to explaining exactly how difficult the whole process of "Cốm" making is.īat Trang village is said to be established in 14th or 15th century in several documents. Then the whole process will have been to no avail because customers will refuse to buy such produce. If the pounding is done irregularly and in haste, or it is not repeated seven times, the green colour of the grains will disappear and be replaced by an unexpected brown colour. There is an art to this part of the process. This is then repeated exactly seven times so that all the husk is removed from the young sticky grains. Following this, the young rice is removed from the mortar and winnowed before being poured again into the mortar and the process repeated. At night, the grains are dried in a large pan over a soft fire and then pounded in stone mortars. Next, the choice grains are carefully selected, sifted and washed. The rice is plucked off manually so that the grains are not broken. When the paddy begins to ripen and still contains milk it is reaped but only at early dawn. The sticky rice must be harvested at just the right moment.

To produce their famous "Cốm", residents of Vong village grow a special variety of sticky rice. People from Vong village are said to have the most complicated process for making "Cốm". In Vong village, making “Cốm” used to be a common trade.
