Visiting the Lacquer Painting Factory as Part of the Cu Chi Tunnels Day Tour in Ho Chi Minh City [Vietnam]

The first stop for our half day Cu Chi Tunnels tour was actually a visit to the Lacquer Painting factory; given my experience in tours around Asia, it often means a stopover for you to spend money and for the tour guide to earn some commission. 

However, unlike most such stopovers, this has a social element. I believe many of you are aware of the Agent Orange effects during the Vietnam War. This factory was supposed for victims of Agent Orange, as a mean for them to work and earn for their own upkeep.

Upon arrival, we were brought into this corridor that served as a mini-showcase for the work processes associated with lacquer painting. As my friends pointed out, the "workers" stopped whatever they were doing after the "show".

Nevertheless, I think the "show" did value-add for its educational value. For a layman urbanite like me, I would have assumed that machines would much of the work but there's indeed beauty in handmade products. 

Handmade products had such laborious process, especially for intricate designs; in this case, it could be a 32-step process from a basic wood to the finished product, requiring 22 layers of lacquer and would take about 45 days for start to end. 

First few steps were the coating of paint on the wood.

Pretty unexciting since it was just a basic color.

After which would be the painting segment, on the designs. Given that countries would definitely play on their icons, the one shown here would be of Vietnamese women wearing their national dress; the Ao Dai.

Wait, what's with the use of eggshells? 

They were used as inlays for the painting, providing an interesting texture! I think the painful part was to delicately break them into the correct sizes in order to have a perfect match; it definitely required an eye to details!

Hence, kudos to this dedicated gentleman here who was tasked with egg shells inlay (I think), and whose mobility was affected by Agent Orange. 

Some of the more abstract paintings. 

Finished products of an egg-shell inlaid painting. While nice on their own, colors would definitely give them an additional visual advantage. 

The shimmering inner-shell of the mollusks; another step in the Lacquer Painting process to further beautify the painting. I always assume mother of pearl to be expensive but they are quite common, existing in almost all mollusks like clams, shells of snails, slugs etc. 

Saw and cut into their respective designs. Unlike the egg shells, patterns were drawn onto the mother of pearl before sawing and cutting. Given my renowned butterfingers, it's a work I would hesitate to take on.

Last few stages that involved varnishing and shining! 

One of the finished products; would you know where the eggshells and mother of pearls were inlaid? Frankly, I can't determine from the picture; much easier if you are holding the painting in real life.

While I don't think we were pressured to buy (the ones in China are a lot worse), the sights of workers facing the effects of Agent Orange would result in this phenomenon known as pity purchases.

This concluded the tour.

And with the conclusion came the shopping!

Rows and rows of lacquered paintings and other lacquered handicrafts like vases, containers. Many designs, many sizes to choose from. Problem is that nowadays, Singaporeans like me prefer a "clean", clutter less design for our homes and it usually would have to align to a certain concept. 

Therefore, the selection we can choose would be severely limited. I don't mind supporting the cause but it cannot be something I would buy and throw into the drawer. So far, I was most attracted to the above artwork; back view of two Vietnamese women in Ao Dai, with eggshells inlay for the dress of one of them, and mother in pearl inlay for the iconic hat, the nón lá.

There were similar designs and the number of the Vietnamese women can go up to 7-8. Pricing wasn't cheap though with many of them costing more than S$100.

I eventually chose a much smaller one; 15cm x 20 cm, that cost me about S$60. Definitely not cheap but again, it's for an effort and the small lacquered painting is now displayed in my living room. 

Uninterested in lacquered products?

You can consider other souvenirs too.

My friends weren't that interested in buying and had already stepped out of the air-conditioned store for drinks and food. As I already had breakfast, food was the last thing on my mind.

Not for my friends; they ordered noodles!  

I stole a bite from Alex and the soup was similar to the tom yum Mama instant noodle from Bangkok but the one thing that differed was the nicer texture of the noodles.

We asked the lady boss for the brand and she gamely shared with us. Guess what we did when we were back in the city? We got a box of Hao Hao noodles from the supermarket! 

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Part of the Củ Chi Tunnels Half Day Tour

Purchased from Klook.com 

Click here for my 6 Days Itinerary in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) - Pearl of the Far East @ Vietnam