Friday, November 02, 2007

Craft Toys

Coconut toys

Walking between Truc Bach Lake and West Lake in today's freezing weather of Hanoi was a bit of a shock. It's a bit early for winter! The weather was only around 17 degrees, drizzly and high in humidity that makes you feel really cold. I walked down to the Truc Bach supermarket to buy some stuff for my dinner and I also stopped by the man at the corner who makes craft toys.

Coconut toys

After I bought a toy grasshopper, I asked if I could take some photos of his products. He told me that it takes five minutes to finish a grasshopper and about ten minutes for a heart, and a bit more than that for a phoenix. He makes them look amazing with just a few coconut leaves. This is quite a popular business between the two lakes. Lots of guys but them for their girlfriends and parnets also for their children.

Coconut toys

Almost every single person looked at me on the way home because I was holding a toy coconut grass hopper. Maybe I am too old to play with these things? :)

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posted by Van Cong Tu at 12:01 PM

5 Comments:

Anonymous layered said...

This is a very interesting posting -- I love the artistry of the creations. I have never seen these items on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City, but then I don't get downtown much. I am always surprised also by the differences in availability of common food items between the north and the south.

11:02 AM  
Blogger mindy said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

6:54 AM  
Blogger mindy said...

I've seen a Chinese man making these grasshoppers and other things in the CBD of Melbourne, attracting crowds. The only difference was the leaves he used weren't green, they were dry and brown. But they did bring back a lot of memories to me.

7:43 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Love your site. Thanks for sharing pictures and info.

9:41 AM  
Blogger Applecart T. said...

some people in south and central america make the banana leaves into hats and other decorative things, like grasshoppers, but these are especially delicate, the ones you have shown here.

do different crafters have different styles or is the idea to be the same as everyone and consistent in a style?

12:45 PM  

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