North East Vietnam

Anna’s Art, Food & Culture Experience

w/Paul Wang

11-20th October, 2024

Fully hosted and guided 10 night Art Food Culture Experience in North East Vietnam

Travel Sketching, Food Adventures and Cultural Immersion

Hanoi, Ninh Binh & Halong Bay

 This Experience is for everyone of any sex, age, race, religion or walk of life who would like to experience slow, responsible travel with like-minded people. The emphasis is on immersive cultural experiences while enjoying a deep exploration of Vietnamese Culinary History and Food Culture. You will be taught Travel Sketching on location with Artist Paul Wang (@paulwang_sg)

We focus on Art, Food, and Culture.

Your host Anna Barnes (founder of Anna’s Art Food & Culture Experiences, chef, artist and long-term traveller to Vietnam) has built a network of contacts over the years that will enable us to experience Vietnam with greater insight than with your regular tour. We go behind the scenes, interact with families, learn to Travel Sketch, and taste some of the best food Vietnam has to offer.

Your Travel Sketching workshops will take you from being a complete beginner to a confident sketcher in 8 progressive lessons - on location with Paul Wang as your Tutor, Anna and her local friends. Experienced artists will learn the art of navigating a busy food and street scape, loosen up a little and enjoy the company of like minds.

Art

Paul Wang Urban Sketcher @paulwang_sg will venture out with you and Anna each morning to participate in carefully curated experiences. On location Paul will deliver his sketching workshops. We have scheduled workshops on location in which you will be sketching the local environment, people, food and natural environment & streetscape.

A sensory delight.

Food

The street food represents its people. The street food represents its culture.

We eat the freshest and best local food in Vietnam. The local food is time based, which means food stalls “pop up” and serve local seasonal dishes until all sold out. Vendors specialise in serving one dish only, and over generations, have mastered them to perfection.

Anna has had years of experience in Vietnam, and has narrowed it down to the best local fare for her guests to enjoy. She was a chef for 30 years and holds a food safety certificate, so is able to spot the most delicious eateries on offer. She has sketched the food & vendors over her decade of Vietnam travels.

Culture

The best part of an Anna’s Art Food & Culture Experience is connecting with the culture. The people of Northern Vietnam have a fascinating history, incredible diversity, and a way of life preserved over time. You will be travelling with us into some of Vietnams beautiful and remote villages in the North of Vietnam.

We are privileged to be able to visit villages of many Ethnic groups that live here. The White Thai, H’Mong and Muong.

Learn to see what we experience, experience what we see. Connect.

You participate in hands-on activities. Meet new people and learn about their lives. Enrich your cultural understanding with our help. Your creativity and curiosity will expand.

Anna has spent much of her life learning about cultures other than her own, from exchanging snail mail with 22 pen pals as a child, studying for her degree in Social Anthropology, working as a professional chef with an interest in SE Asian cuisines, to keeping a library of books on Vietnam and developing a deep love for Vietnamese culture. She will delight in helping you access a deeper understanding of another culture.

Program

Small group (maximum 10 guests) ensures you will receive plenty of personal tuition during the sessions

9 nights accommodation in North Vietnam:

• 3 nights in Hanoi

• 4 nights in Ninh Binh (Tam Coc)

• 2 night in Halong Bay

Transfers from Hanoi airport (HAN) to hotel (and back)

Fully hosted by Anna Barnes of Art Food Culture

9 breakfasts

8 lunches (street food, market vendors and local restaurants) accompanied by Anna and Paul Wang

9 dinners (street food, market vendors and local restaurants) accompanied by Anna and Paul Wang

6 x 3hr Workshops on location, led by Paul Wang @paulwang_sg

Vietnamese (and English speaking) Licensed International Guide on all outings

Private mini bus transport

Learn about the textile traditions of the local Ethnic groups

Cooking Classes

Guided walk in Hanoi’s Old Quarter

Vietnam Museum of Ethnology

Hanoi Street food tour via Vespa

Taste the famous Bun Cha, Cha Ca La Vong and Pho of the North.

Visit to Ninh Binh, Tam Coc, Trang An Grottos & Mua Caves

Boat trip on Ngo Dong River among limestone mountains by local rowers

Guided Market Tours

Ethnic Village Cultural Experiences - cooking class, weaving demonstrations and traditional dancing.

2 nights on a our Private Ship exploring the UNESCO heritage Halong Bay

Drinking Water will be made available. Please bring your own stainless steel refillable bottle. Say NO to single use plastics.

Not included:

International airfares

Visas

Travel insurance (mandatory for all Anna’s Art Food Culture Experiences)

Some meals

Beverages- alcohol and imported soft drinks 

Extra activities and tours organised in your free time (at your own cost)

Personal expenses, laundry, minibar, tips, airport transfers, extra nights accomodation etc.

Anything not mentioned in the Included list

Your Host

Anna Barnes founder of Anna’s Art Food & Culture Experiences is a long-time traveller to Vietnam. She has a Masters in Design Science from The University of Sydney and a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts and Social Anthropology, specialising in South East Asian Studies. Anna was the Executive Chef of Sydney’s Best Specialty Restaurant winner and has worked in Sydney restaurants for over 25 years, focussing on specialty cuisines, and creating authentic cultural menus. She was the founder of Fiasco and Debacle, Sydney’s largest artisan cafe cake manufacturer for 8 years. She has implemented and delivered cooking classes, held workshops, been a cooking demonstrator, facilitated The Artist’s Way groups, and presented corporate team-building cooking events. She currently leads Creative Retreats in Vietnam, Art Food Culture Experiences in Cabramatta, Sydney, and teaches Travel Sketching and Nature Journalling. Her passion is to help people connect, transform, recover, and thrive through art, food, and culture. She is an artist, mother and traveller, and lives in Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Your Art Tutor

Paul Wang

More about Paul Here Pauls Instagram Here

Paul is an Interior Architecture & design graduate from Temasek Polytechnic in Singapore and continued with a National Arts Council scholarship to study Technical Theatre in Brisbane, Australia. His passion for teaching has become a natural extension of his creativity. As an art and design educator, he has taught visual arts at the Singapore International School in Hong Kong and is currently an adjunct lecturer at Temasek Polytechnic’s school of design in Singapore. Other than teaching students, he also conducts regular urban sketching workshops.

His sketches are bursting with dramatic colours. His strokes and splashes may look spontaneous but are highly choreographed. Paul’s distinctive style of vivid colours and convoluted details seeks to tell a story behind each sketch. On-location sketching has become his unique way of encapsulating the fast changing urban landscape in his home town of Singapore and around the region. 

Paul is an Urban Sketchers’ correspondent for Singapore (since 2010) and is currently serving as an advisory board-member for the International Urban sketchers organisation. He has conducted workshops at the annual Urban Sketchers Symposiums multiple years in a row, and attracts a large following. He is a popular, well respected Sketch tutor worldwide.

Anna and Paul hosted a Hoi An Retreat in June 2019 and a Central Vietnam Tour in January 2023. After highly successful experiences, they decided to host another. A new itinerary in the same beautiful country will please both returning guests, and those of you who wish to come for the first time. Paul has previously captured the essence of Hoi An and beyond beautifully on solo trips, and is highly experienced with sketching SE Asian locations. He is a lover of good food and Anna looks forward again to him sharing his passion with her Retreat Guests.

See Paul Wang’s Vietnam Sketchbook Here

Your Sketching Tutor Paul Wang,  on location

Cost

Small group, maximum 10 guests. All inclusive Experience.

• Solo Travellers USD $3,900

• Twin Travellers USD $3,780 (when booking two places at the same time, twin or double room share)

• All prices in USD. To see what it will cost approximately in your own currency you can use any online conversion site. Try https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/ Remember that currencies are in constant fluctuation.

USD $500 non refundable deposit required to reserve your spot. (Fully refunded if ArtFoodCulture cancels the trip).

Anna’s Art Food & Culture Experience’s begin at 4pm on the first day advertised. We have a warm welcome & drinks for you.

If you need help organising your transport from your home town to the retreat please email or call Anna and ask for the details of our trusted agent.

The closest airport is Hanoi. Airport code HAN. We will pick you up in a private car upon arrival and bring you to your Hotel in Hanoi.

Onward travel and additions to your itinerary can be organised for you. Please get in touch should you wish to explore other areas of Vietnam. Anna knows them well and has many good people to connect you with.

You will be advised when minimum numbers have been reached and the trip will proceed (if the trip does not reach minimum numbers you will be notified and receive a refund of your deposit).

Balance due 120 days before departure.

All our trips are organised and priced based on single occupancy at all the places we stay. However, if you are traveling with a friend or a family member and prefer to share you can and you will reap some savings. We do not match people up that are strangers and we NEVER charge a single supplement. Occasionally, when we stay in a private Villa properties that are uniquely designed, some might need to share a bathroom. You will always be informed of this beforehand and normally we will offer a price reduction to all those who sign up to share bathrooms.

Love the sound of this Experience and want to sign up? Please read ArtFoodCulture’s Terms & Conditions first.

Once you have read the Terms & Conditions please email if you have any questions or would like further information.