It’s Sunday and a good day for a 15km bike ride outside Hanoi to the Red River Delta town of Bat Trang, northern Vietnam’s most famous “craft village.” The people of Bat Trang have been making bowls, vases and teacups for emperors and commoners alike for the past 600+ years… Everywhere you look there’s a pile of clay, a stack of bisqueware, a puddle of glaze and a rustic kiln; everyone has that entrepreneurial “don’t mess with me, I gotta a lot of work to do” look about them. Although most of the stuff is pretty high up the decorative/touristy meter (lucky pig, anyone?), we did score some super freaky little white skeletons at one of the more obscure stalls and some really tasty corn cakes and coconut cakes from the street snack ladies in front of the main market. Oh, and met a herd of water buffalo face to face on the road home!
