Teals play in Hanoi’s lake

At a hidden corner of Hanoi’s West Lake, there are still wild teals, a type of small duck. Sports & Culture Newspaper shot pictures of them playing in the water,

West Lake is a freshwater lake in the center of Hanoi. With a shore length of 17 km, this is the largest lake of the capital and a popular place for recreation with many surrounding gardens, hotels and villas. A small part of West Lake is divided by Thanh Nien road to form Truc Bach Lake. One district of Hanoi is named after the lake, Tay Ho district.

A flock of 100 plus teals search for food in the West Lake daily. They mainly group up at an area called the “Korean Wharf”.

In this area, they freely catch fish.

Teals can dive underwater for one minute.

They often catch small fish. There are many ca kim fish in West Lake. To eat them, teals tear the fish with their long beak.

Teals often work on the fish for several minutes before swallowing it.

A teal can eat a dozen of fish like this. West Lake doesn’t have a shortage since fishermen don’t catch ca kim.

Teals become angry when their areas are violated. They warn rivals with long cries.

If rivals neglect the warning and violate their areas, the intruders will be beaten.

There is no exception for male or female birds. People differentiate male and female teals by feather color. In this case, these are two male birds since they have colorful feathers on their heads and necks.

To avoid conflict, the best way is to fly and not swim through the territory of others.

When a teal catches a fish, it quickly brings the fish to another place to eat.

Sometimes teals are very gentle.

Hanoi needs to preserve West Lake and others. Only clean and peaceful lakes can attract wild birds.

A cameraman hiding his equipment to take picture of teals.

Contest for cake makers

Twenty-eight cake makers from hotels, restaurants, supermarkets and companies in HCM City attended the regional qualifying round of the Bakery World Cup. This is the first time Vietnam has joined this competition.

The breads in the shape of Vietnamese earthen pots won the third prize for traditional bread.

The competition was held at Sesame School, Binh Thanh district on August 25. From 2pm, contestants made presentations about their products, which had been made at home, and answered questions of the judging panels. Products they introduced to judges include breads, cakes and artistic cakes. The judging panel, which comprised leading experts, chose six best cake makers for the national qualifier round.

The competition lasted until 7pm, drawing many visitors.

According to The Bakery World Cup organizers, they were impressed by Vietnamese cake makers for their skills and creativeness. They decided to select one more cake maker for the national finale, instead of six as the competition rule.

Products for the artistic cake competition were in the shape of famous architectural works inVietnam and the world, which released messages about a green globe.

The seven cake makers who passed this round are: Vo Thanh Tuan, Diep Minh Cong from Big C supermarket, Thang from La Bourlangerie d’Hue bakery, Nguyen Truong Kim Phuong and Huynh Xuan Vinh from ABC Bakery, Le Hong giang from Intercontinental Hotel and Nguyen Van Hung from Caravelle Hotel.

Later this week, the northern qualifying round will take place in Hanoi with 30 contestants. The winners of this contest and seven winners from HCM City will join the national round in December. The winners will go to Guangzhou, China for the Asian qualifier round in May 2011.

The third Bakery World Cup finals will be held in France in 2012. The winner will be presented with Louis Lesaffre Cup.

According to the organizing board, the Bakery World Cup’s three rounds totaling over 1000 days will attract around 6000 top cake makers from 40 countries.

Vo Thanh Tuan from Big C and his first prize-winning bread.

A cake maker was introducing his product to the jury, with the assistance of an interpreter.

Ben Thanh market, HCM City’s symbol, was made by breads.

Hanoi’s one-pillar pagoda.

The first-prize cake featured a Vietnamese rural village.

This bread work won the second prize with the message of joining hands to protect our globe.

A Vietnamese coconut tree on the river bank and a fruit ship.