Tuesday November 25, 2008
The very best thing about the To Asia With Love guidebook series is that each book is a collaboration of writers who love the country they're writing about. It has been so wonderful to receive reactions to To Vietnam With Love from the individuals who contributed to it, especially since each writer holds a special place in my heart.
Among those writers is Duong Lam Anh, who captivated me with his passion for his hometown of Hue, Vietnam's former imperial capital, as well as his desire to share that passion with readers around the world through his blog. I was excited to receive the link to his post announcing both the book and his participation in it. Anh's essays are unique, offering insight into the cultural tradition of bargaining, little known hot springs outside Hue, Hue's famous banh Hue nibbles, and, my favorite, cafés where you can hide away on a cold winter Hue day. I've included that particular essay below. And if you want to read more sample essays from To Vietnam With Love or learn about the contributors, visit the book's main page on ThingsAsian.com.
Duong Lam Anh finds beauty in Hue’s gray winter days
Winter arrived in Hue rather late this year, but it eventually did, as it always does.
Winter in Hue is wet. This is nothing new to the locals, but those from drier regions find it hard to tolerate. With the humidity up to 90 and sometimes even 100 percent, the whole city suddenly turns into a damp sponge. Rain lingers day and night. Drop by drop it enters your heart. It comes as no surprise to see the rain last even for weeks. People are wet. Vehicles are wet. Buildings are wet. Grass is rotten. Paper soon becomes as soft as tissue. You may wake up to find your computer dead without a word of warning. Telephones and other electrical appliances all at once refuse to function. You are late to work because your motorbike suddenly won’t start. That’s that.
Winter in Hue is cold. Eighteen Celsius may mean nothing to those from cold lands, but coupled with the humidity, it chills you to the bone. But the streets look festive with people wrapped up in colorful warm clothes and raincoats. They suddenly seem more formal and decent in suit, vest, and jacket; some even don scarves, gloves, and wool caps.
Winter in Hue is hazy, smoky, and gloomy. The sky is gray the entire day. The whole city looks sleepy in a mist of vapor, smoke, and breath. Leaves turn
dark green and shiver with cold. There is a lot of talk about the weather, and people on the street seem to be in a hurry because they all want to reach
home as quickly as possible. A book, a cup of hot coffee or tea, and some classical music become wise choices.
But despite all sorts of problems and inconveniences that may be caused by the rain and humidity, life must go on. That is what I like best about the winter here. Streets are, as always, crowded with people and vehicles at rush hours. Street stalls serving hot dishes are surrounded by hungry pedestrians. And it seems that tourists do not mind the rain at all. In light casual clothes and with an umbrella or raincoat, they rush around exploring the imperial city.
People who aren’t from here and hate the season call it nasty, horrible, disgusting. Hue natives living far away from home miss it terribly.
Keeping cozy during winter in Hue
Following are three of my favorite cafés for warming up during the winter months.
Vi Da Xua Café
Located in the Vi Da neighborhood, this café recalls the quiet, rustic atmosphere of the area’s once famous village. For the locals, it is a place to cherish memories of the past. For foreigners, it evokes something very Vietnamese. As a cozy nha ruong—--a typical, traditional structure of Hue made entirely of wood—--it is ideal for cold, rainy days. Not too open or too closed: just perfect.
131 Nguyen Sinh Cung St.
Nam Giao Hoai Co Café
A complex of three nha ruong creates this spacious and airy café. Due to its location on the way to the royal tombs, it serves as a pleasant place for visitors to stop by. Though it has open architecture, it doesn’t get too cold when it’s raining, and you can sip a hot coffee or tea while gazing at the rain outside.
321 Dien Bien Phu St.
Xua Café
Unlike in the West, life in Vietnam is lived in the alleys: they are communities within a community. With its very Vietnamese architecture, this café is small enough to keep you warm on rainy days. Its location in an alley far away from the main streets offers peace, quiet, and privacy.
56/6 Nguyen Cong Tru St.
01:38 PM PST
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Tuesday November 11, 2008
In each of the To Asia With Love guidebooks, there are a variety of chapters. Some are unique to each book, such as Meeting People in the Myanmar volume, or Festivals in the Japan volume. Others are standard, including dining, shopping, sightseeing, and my personal favorite: Paying it Forward. This chapter focuses solely on how travelers can make a difference in the countries they visit. While there are some opportunities to donate money, the emphasis is on interaction with and participation in charity groups around each country.
In To Vietnam With Love, one such essay focuses on the Blue Dragon Children's Foundation. In the foundation's own words: "Our mission is to provide opportunities and tools that empower the most disadvantaged children and their families to break out of poverty, forever."
This year, rather than asking for donations, which it can always use, the foundation is selling notecards painted by a sixteen-year-old girl at Blue Dragon who hopes to become an artist. Because we love helping all the wonderful organizations written about in our books, we're excited to share these notecards with you. Just go to Blue Dragon to order yours in time for the holiday season.
To discover more wonderful charity organizations in Vietnam, order your own copy of To Vietnam With Love. And keep an eye out for volumes on Myanmar and Japan coming in the spring of 2009.
05:04 PM PST
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Wednesday October 15, 2008
Well, it's official. Ingram Publisher Services now represents ThingsAsian Press. For booksellers, this means that you can easily order To Asia With Love and To Vietnam With Love directly from Ingram. Of course, you can also get all our other great titles, too. Visit the press's official website for a full list, and make sure to check out new titles, Tone Deaf in Bangkok, by my dear friend Janet Brown, and H is for Hong Kong, yet another beautifully illustrated, bilingual children's title.
To order from Ingram, as well as for information on individual sales and bulk sales, read on.
Booksellers/Retailers
Ingram Publisher Services (IPS) accepts orders in a variety of ways, including through Ingram’s ordering tools ipage® and companion®, phone, fax, and e-mail.
ipage: ipage.ingrambook.com
Phone: (866) 400-5351
Fax: (800) 838-1149
E-mail: customer.service@ingrampublisherservices.com
ACCESS (automated stock check and ordering line): (800) 961-8031
Individual Sales
Books from ThingsAsian Press can be found at local independent bookshops, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and a variety of retail and gift shops throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.
Bulk Sales
Featuring full-color photographs and/or artwork, ThingsAsian Press’s travel, food, and children’s books make unique and elegant gifts. Asia-based corporations can offer them as welcome or thank you gifts to clients, as well as incentive gifts to employees, while travel agencies can present them as supplements to tour packages. Discounts and direct shipping are offered for bulk sales. To find out more, contact Kim Fay at tawl@thingsasian.com.
10:19 AM PDT
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Friday July 25, 2008
It's always thrilling when a colleague receives accolades for her work, so I'm excited to share the news that Celeste Heiter's blog, Chopstick Cinema, has been rated as one of the "Top Ten Asian Food Blogs" by Asian Food Grocer. In the award listing, Asian Food Grocer writes that Celeste's blog is "a clever idea ... with many educational Asian food tidbits along the way, this blog is a unique must-read."
Along with writing every day online about Asian films and the food you can pair with them for themed movie-and-a-dinner nights, Celeste is also the editor of To Japan With Love: A Travel Guide for the Connoisseur, which will be published in early 2009 by ThingsAsian Press. Of course, the book has an enticing food chapter, with essays on tonkatsu (pork cutlet), okonomiyaki (a kind of Japanese pancake), unagi (freshwater eel), and even ramen with a nod á la Celeste's blog to the movie Tampopo. It also features essays on visiting hidden temples, attending sumo matches, taking meditation and pottery courses, and even exploring the Japanese wilderness--cycling, surfing, you name it. From walking across a "nightingale floor" to crawling through Buddha's nose, each of the recommendations is truly unique.
Along with having lived in Japan, Celeste has an abiding love for the country and surrounding region, and it's only fitting that she should be acknowledged for her distinctive contribution to the culture. Congratulations Celeste!
Chopstick Cinema
To Japan With Love at ThingsAsian Press
To Japan With Love at ThingsAsian.com
03:39 PM PDT
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Tuesday July 15, 2008
Gradually, To Vietnam With Love: A Travel Guide for the Connoisseur is making its way into the world. Already available on Amazon, it will soon be offered in bookstores and other retail outlets. My favorite aspect of this book is that it is a collaboration, containing personal essays by more than fifty writers. Among them you will find a film professor, bird watchers, resort owners, charity organizers, war veterans, a photographer, travel guides, teachers, anthropologists, an adoptee, adoptive parents, a restaurant owners, a fitness instructor, a chocolatier, Fulbright scholars, and--of course--professional writers. Some are from Vietnam, many have lived there for years, and others have traveled extensively throughout the country. With so many individual voices, To Vietnam With Love truly is different from other guides.
It was such a pleasure to work with each writer, whose distinctive background and outlook on life enhanced his or her recommendations for some of the most interesting, intriguing, appetizing, and adventurous things to do while you are in Vietnam. To learn more about the writers, click here to check out their biographies at ThingsAsian.com.
ThingsAsian Press
To Vietnam With Love
01:18 PM PDT
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Sunday June 15, 2008
Throughout all the excitement of getting To Vietnam With Love to press and out into the world, we have been steadily working on the upcoming books in the series, and we are nearing completion on one of our most exciting volumes: To Myanmar With Love. Myanmar has spent a lot of time in the news in the past year, for the uprising in September 2007 and the cyclone last month. Lost in all these stories, as well as ongoing stories about the reviled government, are the individuals that make Myanmar such a wonderful country.
In To Myanmar With Love we will be bringing the people and culture to the world, through the voices of expatriates, travelers, and most importantly, the locals who have contributed numerous essays about the places and experiences they love so much. Along with essays about riding in horse carts, sipping wine, chatting with monks, and meeting with hill tribes, there will be an entire chapter on ways that you can contribute to this beautiful country.
Though it's not coming out until this fall, we want to get travelers as excited about this book as we are. Stay tuned for more news here at this blog and at To Myanmar With Love.
ThingsAsian Press
12:26 PM PDT
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Wednesday June 04, 2008
Well, we are just beginning to recover from three full days at Book Expo America (BEA). Representing ThingsAsain Press, Janet Brown and I handed out copies of new titles To Vietnam With Love and Everyday Life. Both were big hits with booksellers, and Everyday Life in particular was ooh'd and ah'd over by librarians, who all expressed interest in carrying this colorful, bilingual (English/Chinese) title. We also attended some Chinese publishing seminars, where the response to Strolling in Macau was fabulous. Everyone wanted a copy of this beautiful guidebook whose focus is architecture, walking tours, and an intriguing Chinese-Portuguese heritage, rather than casinos. We were also popular for the striking orange and red ThingsAsian bags that we were handing out---we gave away hundreds!
Along with meeting booksellers and librarians, the other goal of the convention was to find a distributor for ThingsAsian Press, so books can be easily ordered. This was another area in which we had great success, and soon you will be able to get your hands on To Vietnam With Love and all our other great titles whenever you want. Stay tuned.
ThingsAsian Press
To Vietnam With Love
10:58 AM PDT
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Wednesday May 28, 2008
ThingsAsian Press is excited to announce the launch of its newly revamped website.
Along with finding information on all of the new and upcoming books in the To Asia With Love guidebook series, you will find other great travel, food, children's, and reference titles. Among the highlights are Strolling in Macau, The Sushi Book, and Everyday Life Through Chinese Peasant Art. ThingsAsian Press also features beautiful notecards in its gift section.
If you are at BEA this weekend, Kim Fay and Janet Brown will be roaming the floor, handing out press information and copies of new titles---keep an eye out for the bright orange ThingsAsian Press bookbags. You can also check out a copy of To Vietnam With Love: A Travel Guide for the Connoisseur at the PMA Booth (#724-827).
If you are a bookseller or journalist interested in a title, please contact Kim Fay at tawl@thingsasian.com.
12:05 PM PDT
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Friday May 16, 2008
The acclaimed "To Asia With Love: A Connoisseurs' Guide to Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam" will soon be a comprehensive series of Asia-focused guidebooks with the publication of "To Vietnam With Love: A Travel Guide for the Connoisseur."
Available at the end of June, "To Vietnam With Love" takes readers throughout the country with more than fifty expatriates, travelers, and locals as they reveal their favorite haunts through personal stories. Stay overnight with a local hill tribe, climb Southeast Asia's highest mountain, tour historic French villas, dine on local specialties from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City, and learn how to give back to the country while you're visiting. And that's just the beginning.
If you happen to be at BEA, we will be wandering the floor handing out advance copies---just look out for Kim Fay and Janet Brown carrying bright yellow ThingsAsian Press bags full of goodies to give away. We can also be reached at tawl@thingsasian.com.
For a sneak preview, go to To Vietnam With Love.
03:35 PM PDT
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