No: 17264 Friday, June 23, 2017

L i f e s t y l e

FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 2017

F

luffy, soft and easy to buy off the back of a bike:

Vietnam's chicken feather dusters have ruled the roost

for generations. But artisans fear for their future as buy-

ers turn to cheaper alternatives. The dusters, ubiquitous

across the country's leafy capital, have long been a staple in

Vietnamese homes to clear cobwebs from ancestral altars or

hard-to-reach corners of the house. But today, cheap synthetic

dusters have flooded the market-the latest influx of mass-pro-

duced goods to chip away at traditional artisans' profits. 

"We don't earn as much money as we could in other jobs,

but I do this job to keep my family tradition alive," Nguyen

Huy Tho, 36, told AFP near his stuffy garage, filled with hang-

ing lines of feather plumes. His family has been making the

dusters for more than a century, and unlike his five sisters who

all work in office jobs or as teachers, he decided to follow in

his father's footsteps after graduating from college. It was

once a soaring trade. Tho used to earn about $350 per month

selling the dusters, but today profits are down by a third.  His

85-year-old grandfather, who still helps out on occasion, says

many young people are now looking for better-paying jobs.

"Most people now think about earning good money, but this

job is tedious, like making a toothpick," Nguyen Huy De told

AFP.  Each duster takes about two hours to make, and they sell

on the streets of Hanoi for about $7.  

Traditionally, families sold feathers to door-to-door col-

lectors after a chicken feast, with sales spiking around tradi-

tional holidays. But today Tho's family buys feathers from

chicken wholesalers, as the duty of killing chickens has most-

ly moved out of the home.  Even though the feathers are

easier to find, there's only about 10 families still making the

dusters in Tho's Trieu Khuc village on the outskirts of

Hanoi, once a renowned hub for the trade. It's not just fam-

ilies like Tho's feeling the squeeze.  Vendor Nguyen Minh

Quang says sales have dipped in recent years, but he still

cycles 50 kilometers (30 miles) into Hanoi daily to peddle

the dusters. "Now that there are plastic dusters in the mar-

ket, fewer traditional feather dusters are sold. I don't get

much money selling them, and I get really tired cycling to

Hanoi every day." — AFP

Nguyen Huy Tho organizes chicken feathers at his home on the outskirts of Hanoi.

—AFP photos

A Vietnamese woman helps organize chicken feathers before they are put together to make

feather dusters at a home on the outskirts of Hanoi.

(Above & below) Nguyen Huy Luan puts chicken feather

dusters together at a house on the outskirts of Hanoi.

A Vietnamese woman organizes chicken feathers by color at

a house on the outskirts of Hanoi.

A Vietnamese street vendor pushes his bicycle filled with

merchandise including chicken feather dusters along a street

in Hanoi.

Nguyen Huy Luan hangs chicken feather dusters to dry after

pasting them onto sticks at a house on the outskirts of Hanoi.

A Vietnamese worker bunches chicken feathers together to

make a feather duster.

Done and dusted? Vietnam's chicken

feather cleaners face stiff competition

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L i f e s t y l e

FRIDAY, JUNE 23, 2017

H

andheld crossbows that can fire out needles and

nails are the latest must-have toy in China but anx-

ious parents want them banned before a young

child gets blinded or worse. Selling online and in shops for

as little as seven yuan ($1), so-called toothpick crossbows

were originally designed to shoot out just that-toothpicks.

But if swapped out for needles they are potent enough to

crack glass, said the Shanghai Daily newspaper, quoting

shop owners as saying they were selling out of the "toys"

fast and struggling to meet demand. Other Chinese state

media said the mini crossbows can fire at a distance of

more than 20 meters (65 feet) and shoot iron nails in place

of toothpicks.

"The 'Toothpick Crossbow' toy has spread across China

like wildfire among the nation's primary and middle school

children," said the Shanghai Daily. "The unusual shooting

toy may be very small but it is powerful enough to puncture

a balloon and pierce cardboard. And when the toothpick is

swapped for a metal needle it becomes a dangerous

weapon." Police in Chengdu, a major city in China's south-

west, have reportedly stopped sales of the product and

concerned parents across the country want the govern-

ment to issue a nationwide ban. "Hurry up (and ban them),

pupils do not understand and are just shooting people for

fun. It will cause accidents sooner or later," one parent

wrote on Weibo, China's Twitter-like website. Another wor-

ried onlooker wrote: "Our primary school began to investi-

gate this from Monday and they're very dangerous." — AFP

Toothpick 

crossbow craze 

has China quivering

(Above & below) This photo shows a man demonstrating

a toothpick crossbow in Changchun, in China’s northeast

Jilin province. — AFP

A

new poll about summer travel finds that the No. 1 thing

Americans want to do on vacation is ... nothing. Almost

three-fourths of Americans say resting and relaxing is very

or extremely important to them when they go on vacation,

according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center

for Public Affairs Research. Among those dreaming about kicking

back is Yari Blanco of Brooklyn, New York, who recently tweeted,

"Your girl needs a vacation. The kind where you lay by a crystal

blue beach and nap in a hammock." Blanco, who's been busy

working on a website she recently launched called TheGirlMob,

hopes to squeeze in some relaxation time in July and maybe a

trip later this year to Portugal.

Staycations and unplugging

Interestingly, most Americans say staying home and doing

nothing isn't ideal. Instead, they want a change of scenery. Of

those who plan a summer vacation, 92 percent are going

away and only 8 percent are making it a staycation. More than

half of those polled said relaxing at home doesn't count as a

real vacation.

How about unplugging?

Only 22 percent "completely disconnect" while on vacation. A

third don't even try to get away from the internet and social

media. Some of those surveyed - 42 percent - say they dial back

their time online a little. Americans under 30 are the most

plugged in. Just 13 percent say they're likely to completely dis-

connect on vacation.

But most Americans do avoid working on vacation. Sixty per-

cent of workers say they don't check in with work at all when

they're on vacation, while 32 percent say they work or check in

with work a little. Eight percent may fall into the workaholic cate-

gory: They work or check in with the office "a lot." The term

"bleisure" has been a buzzword recently in the travel industry,

describing a combination of business and leisure travel. But most

Americans (69 percent) don't consider extending a business trip

to be a real vacation.

Top vacation activities

Sightseeing was ranked important by 55 percent of those sur-

veyed, followed by experiencing local culture and cuisine (51 per-

cent), visiting family (46 percent) and spending time in nature (45

percent).

But there's a gender gap. Shopping is more popular with

women than men (22 percent versus 9 percent), and women also

prioritize sightseeing (60 percent versus 49 percent) and visiting

family (52 percent versus 40 percent) more than men.

Airline regulations

Many Americans support more government regulations on

airlines - perhaps a logical response to recent headlines over pas-

sengers being hauled off flights in disputes with airline staff. Six in

10 respondents want the government to regulate airline policies

for bumping passengers and handling overbooked flights. Nearly

half would like to see more regulation regarding flight delays and

cancellations.

Shiva Rajagopal of Fort Lee, New Jersey, is among those sup-

porting regulations to bar airlines from forcing people off flights.

"I've had a couple of bad experiences being bumped out of

flights," he said. Airlines shouldn't be able to do it "no matter

what the compensation is," he said, because sometimes "you

have to be in a particular place at a particular time."

Traveling companions

The stereotypical image of families piling into a car for a sum-

mer trip isn't too far from reality. Among married couples, 87 per-

cent vacation with their spouses. Among parents, 87 percent

vacation with their kids. Three-fourths of vacationing parents will

drive rather than fly.

Most vacationers, married or not, travel with others. Overall, 68

percent will travel with a spouse or significant other and 49 per-

cent will travel with other relatives or friends. Just 14 percent of

vacationers will travel solo, including about a quarter of unmar-

ried travelers. Sixty-one percent of vacationers say they'll drive, 31

percent will fly and 4 percent will cruise. Another 1 percent will

go by train, 2 percent by bus.

Time versus money

Half of the public expects to spend less than $1,000 for their

summer holiday and half anticipate laying out more. Time is the

luxury most people desire. Nearly two-thirds of Americans would

prefer a less extravagant vacation over a longer one.

Lodging

For accommodations, hotels and motels are most popular,

used by 45 percent of summer vacationers. Another 22 percent

will stay with friends or relatives. Rentals of homes, condos or

apartments were the choice of 17 percent, while 9 percent will

sleep in a tent, cabin or RV.

Non-vacationers

The poll also found, in results released previously, that 43 per-

cent of Americans won't take a summer vacation, with 49 percent

of non-vacationers saying they can't afford it. Another 11 percent

said they can't take time off from work, while 3 percent said they

don't like to be away from work. The survey also found that 41

percent of working Americans do not get paid vacation time from

their employers. — AP

Summer vacation: Never mind 

the hike. Where’s the hammock? 

File photo shows Kristiina Nurk, 34,

enjoys a good book underneath the

blue summer-like skies and weather as

she vacations in Miami for a second day

while on holiday.

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