Hue Festival prepares new treats to welcome 200,000 tourists

Hue Festival prepares new treats to welcome 200,000 tourists



An Imperial Night show, held inside the Imperial Place at Hue Festival 2012

The biennial Hue Festival will return to the central province of Thua Thien–Hue with new attractions this coming April.

According to a press briefing last week in the province’s former royal capital of Hue, the 8th international festival, themed Cultural Heritage in Integration and Development, will take place from April 12-20, 2014.

Accordingly, the event will feature 37 local and international art troupes from 29 countries. A night street market will be held outside the imperial palace, a six-country cuisine festival will feature dishes from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, and China, and calligraphy and painting exhibitions will be held inside and outside the palace.

The event will also feature a kite flying competition, street art performances, a festival for needy children and a tourism fair.

Other highlights of the event will include an international dance festival, ao dai shows, a traditional Imperial Night featuring royal ceremonies, and the famous circus play Lang toi (My village), which has been performed abroad, including 300 performances in European countries.

Besides An Dinh Palace and other structures inside the royal palace, several indoor and outdoor stages throughout the province will be used to feature the artistic activities. Performances will also take place at local schools, factories, and hospitals.

In addition, ministers of Arts and Culture from 10 ASEAN countries and China, South Korea, and Japan will attend a six-day conference due to begin on April 16, aiming to strengthen cultural cooperation among participating countries.

The Hue Festival 2014 is expected to receive more than 200,000 visitors, half of them are expected to be from abroad.

~News courtesy of Thanh Nien~

xe buýt

xe buýt

巴士

bus

Merry Christmas

nước mía

nước mía
甘蔗汁
sugar cane juice

English-speaking cops to protect foreign tourists in Hoi An

English-speaking cops to protect foreign tourists in Hoi An



Tourists in Hoi An town in the central province of Quang Nam

Police officers who speak English and are personable will be stationed in areas frequented by foreign tourists in the central province of Quang Nam, home to Hoi An, to protect them from robbers and harassment by beggars and vendors.

The People’s Committee of Quang Nam admitted recently that foreigners are harassed on the province's streets.

The police recently busted gangs of robbers on motorbikes who would strike mainly around noon and at 10-11 p.m.

Robberies happen often on routes to An Bang and Cua Dai beaches, local authorities said.

The province Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism reported earlier this month that more than three million tourists, 50 percent of them foreign, have visited the province this year.

This is nearly 10 percent higher than in the same period last year.

~News courtesy of Thanh Nien~

Hoi An gets tourist rest stop

Vietnam heritage town gets tourist rest stop



The popular tourist town of Hoi An

A rest-stop with a tourist information center and photo and painting exhibitions has opened in Hoi An town.

In the two-story building, paintings of Hoi An created by local and foreign artists are on display on the ground floor.

The first floor has an exhibition of photos of Hoi An in the past and now.

Le Thi Thu Thuy of the Hoi An Center for Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation said an office to provide information and brochures to tourists also functions at the rest stop, which is at 57 Tran Phu Street.

According to town authorities, the place was opened to coincide with the 14th anniversary of Hoi An being recognized as a world heritage site by UNESCO.

Other cultural activities too were organized to mark the event.

In October one of the world’s leading travel magazines, Condé Nast Traveler, ranked Hoi An as the second most popular city in Asia after Japan’s Kyoto based on a readers’ poll.

The town attracted more than 2.6 million tourists in the first nine months of the year, up 19.3 percent year-on-year.

~News courtesy of Thanh Nien~

Mã đáo thành công

Mã đáo thành công
马到成功

Công an nhân dân

Công an nhân dân
人民公安

vì an ninh tổ quốc

 
vì an ninh tổ quốc
为祖国安宁

Amanresorts open luxury resort in Vietnam

Amanresorts open luxury resort in Vietnam



A swimming pool at Amanoi resort in central Vietnam owned by Amanresorts

Amanresorts, which own or manage 26 resorts and hotels worldwide, has opened a luxury property in Ninh Thuan Province in south-central Vietnam.

Amanoi nestles among the hills of Nui Chua National Park overlooking Vinh Hy Bay.

It has 31 large rooms combining living and sleeping areas, many with their own private pools, and five villas providing views of the mountains and the sea below.

The villas have private pools and a live-in housekeeper and cook to make Vietnamese or Western meals.

Each villa consists of four or five bedrooms and a living and dining area.

"Introductory" rates start at US$750 per night.

~News courtesy of Thanh Nien~

Traditional dish, served with old-world charm

Traditional dish, served with old-world charm

Superior quality and service marks an old, small stall in downtown Ho Chi Minh City alley that serves homemade banh cuon (rolled rice cake) and banh uot (wet cake)



A dish of banh cuon (rolled rice cake) served at a stall in an alley of District 1, Ho Chi Minh City/ PHOTOS: GIANG VU

Banh cuon – a crepe-like rice cake rolled typically with pork, wood ear mushrooms, shallots and garlic, all minced – is a dish from northern Vietnam which has become so popular in HCMC, that it is not only a breakfast staple, but also something eaten at any time of the day or night.

Ask a local gourmet or check out some food and drink guiding website, you can easily find a good and famous seller of banh cuon in the city.

What I’m recommending here, however, is rarely listed on such sites.

This is such as small stall that it has only two tables and a couple of stools, and is tucked away in a small alley on Nguyen Trai Street in District 1.

The banh cuon it serves does not look different from those served elsewhere – the thin, soft rice wrap is the same, as are the fillings.

Toppings are also the same: pieces of cha lua (Vietnamese pork roll), pieces of a fried cupcake made with rice flour, shrimp and mung beans, and nem chua (fermented pork sausage that is sweet, sour and spicy). And, so are accompaniments: shredded basil and cucumbers, bean sprouts, fried shallots, and nuoc mam (fish sauce mixed with vinegar or lime juice and sugar).

However, the similarity ends, and the difference begins the minute you start eating this dish this stall.

Unlike many other sellers, the banh cuon here is so thin that you can see through to its filling. When eaten, it feels silky and soft, not thick and hard.

A gourmet can even recognize that the wrap is made with good rice and fermented just right.

Lan, the owner, said all the processes of making banh cuon as well as fried cupcakes and fried shallots are done by her family members in their house, which is nearby.

BÁNH CUỐN, BÁNH ƯỚT



Alley No.150, Nguyen Trai Street, Ben Thanh Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Open hours: 5:30 a.m. – 12 a.m.

Price: VND21,000/dish

The stall was founded nearly 50 years ago by Lan’s mother-in-law who came to HCMC from the north in 1954. When she became old, Lan took it over.

Given its longevity, the stall has its fair share of long-standing clients and regulars, but most order takeaways because of the restricted seating space.

I love eating banh cuon at the stall itself, enjoying the friendliness of the owner, who is willing to give customers extra fresh herbs when asked. The stall also has two kinds of nuoc mam – one is sweeter to suit the southerners’ taste, and another is saltier and sourer for northerners.

After finishing a dish of banh cuon, I usually order a small dish of banh uot (literally translated as “wet cakes”) which is like banh cuon but without the filling.

Made from the same rice flour as banh cuon, the wet cakes are still good, even though it is eaten with just fried shallots and nuoc mam (usually, banh uot’s accompaniments are the same as banh cuon’s).

Another reason why I prefer eating at the stall is that at the end of the meal, I can enjoy warm tea from a pot that the owner puts on the table for customers to have, for free.

This is an extra service that carries with it an old-world charm, which can no longer be found in many other eateries in the city.

~News courtesy of Thanh Nien~

Tramway to Fansipan

Vietnam starts work on tramway to Fansipan



Tourists climb up Fansipan

Work on an aerial tramway to the top of Fansipan, the tallest peak in Indochina, began Saturday as part of a drive to boost tourism in northern Vietnam.

The tram, scheduled to be completed late next year and go on-stream in 2015, will cut the 3,143-meter climb up Fansipan from two days and nights to a 15 minute "flight."

The tramway will be the first of its kind in Asia, and the world's longest and highest at 6,200 meters long and 3,000 meters high, Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said at the launch of the project, according to a report on the government website.

Fansipan attracts foreign and Vietnamese tourists alike, but Lao Cai authorities recently tightened rules on the mountain after a missing person incident that involved an independent group of climbers that had not informed authorities of their trip.

Pham Ngoc Anh, a 20-year-old college student from Hanoi, has been missing on the mountain since last July. Other students in his group said he went along a different path when they stopped for a rest and never came back.

The cable car will be followed by the construction of hotels and recreational facilities in the northern highlands.

The Fansipan - Sa Pa Cable Car Company, which is building the tramway, is a member of Sun Group Corporation which invested in the 5,802-meter cable car at Ba Na Hills in Da Nang where it is based.

Lao Cai Province authorities will supervise and support the VND4.4 trillion (US$209 million) project in procedural steps.

~News courtesy of Thanh Nien~

Vietnam low-cost airline adds two more domestic routes

Vietnam low-cost airline adds two more domestic routes



Passengers get off a Jestar Pacific aircraft in central Vietnam.

Vietnam budget airliner Jetstar Pacific has announced it will open two more domestic routes next month after receiving a new Airbus aircraft.

Set to open on December 15, the two new flights will connect Ho Chi Minh City with Nha Trang City in central Vietnam and with Phu Quoc island in the south, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported Thursday.

Two roundtrip flights will depart in HCMC at 12:10 p.m. to Nha Trang and at 1:10 p.m. to Phu Quoc and return to HCMC at 1:40 p.m. from Nha Trang and at 2:35 p.m. from Phu Quoc everyday.

Le Hong Ha, general director of Jetstar Pacific, said his company will get one more Airbus A320 early next month and yet another early next year. The acquisitions would increase the carrier's Airbus A320 aircraft fleet to seven, he added.

From noon November 8 to the end of November 11, Jestar Pacific will sell cheap tickets, priced from VND279,000 (US$13.23) for a one-way flight from HCMC to Phu Quoc and Nha Trang from December 15 to January 16, 2014.

The airliner also has promotions on flights from HCMC and Hanoi to Da Nang with tickets priced at VND399,000 ($18.92) for a one-way flight and from HCMC to Vinh for VND749,000 ($35.5). These rates apply for flights departing between November 19 and December 18.

~News courtesy of Thanh Nien~

kỳ quan thiên nhiên

kỳ quan thiên nhiên

天然奇观

Natural wonders

vườn bách thú

vườn bách thú
zoo
动物园

中秋 Trung thu

中秋 Trung thu

秋景今宵半， Thu cảnh kim tiêu bán,
天高月偣明。 Thiên cao nguyệt bội minh.
南樓誰宴賞， Nam lâu thuỳ yến thưởng,
絲竹奏清聲。 Ty trúc tấu thanh thanh.

杜甫, Đỗ Phủ

Nhà Vệ Sinh

Nhà Vệ Sinh 

厕所

Toilet 

Vietnam, Singapore raise ties to 'strategic' level

Vietnam, Singapore raise ties to 'strategic' level



Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung (R) and his Singaporean counterpart, Lee Hsien Loong, before their talks in Hanoi on September 11. PHOTO:

Vietnam and Singapore have agreed to elevate their 40-year-old relationship into a strategic partnership.

This was confirmed in a joint statement following talks between Vietnamese PM Nguyen Tan Dung and his visiting Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong on Wednesday.

The two sides have agreed to promote political ties through regular exchanges, economic, agricultural, legal, and cultural ties as well as cooperation in defense and security, health, and education and training.

They will also strengthen ties in banking and finance, communication, IT, transport, tourism, and urban management and development.

During their talks, the two leaders supported the establishment of friendship associations in their countries to promote exchanges between the two peoples.

They hailed the continuing development of their security and defense ties on the basis of the 2009 Defense Cooperation Agreement and the 2006 Transnational Crime Prevention Cooperation Agreement which was extended in 2012.

Dung said Singapore has always been one of Vietnam’s top investors and trade partners.

Bilateral trade last year surpassed US$9 billion and Singapore’s investment in Vietnam exceeds $28 billion.

Lee promised to promote Singaporean investment in Vietnam and also acknowledged Vietnam’s request to enable export of agricultural and seafood produce and garments to Singapore.

The two PMs appreciated the efficient functioning of the four Vietnam-Singapore Industrial Parks around the country, with the joint statement calling them symbols of the mutually beneficial relationship between the two nations, and expressed hope for similar success for the fifth VSIP to be built in Quang Ngai Province.

Lee also met with Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong on Wednesday and President Truong Tan Sang and National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung a day later.

He is set to accompany Dung to the groundbreaking ceremony for the Quang Ngai IP today.

This is Lee’s fourth visit to Vietnam.

~News courtesy of Thanh Nien News~

khách sạn

khách sạn
旅店/客栈
Hotel

Singaporean, S. Korean carriers to fly to Da Nang daily

Singaporean, S. Korean carriers to fly to Da Nang daily

Korean Air and Singapore’s Silk Air will add four more flights to Da Nang City this October, following the schedule expansions of domestic carrier Vietnam Airlines and other foreign airlines earlier this year.

Korean Air will have three more flights per week from Seoul from October 27, and Silk Air will add a Thursday flight from Singapore to its current schedule from October 31, making the two carriers fly every day to Da Nang, Vietnam's third-largest city, Balcony Media Group said recently in a press release Friday.

According to the release, the flight additions will satisfy more demand from Australian, the UK and other European countries with Silk Air and from the US with Korean Air.

It also said the three flights by Korean Air will boost the number of flights from Seoul to Da Nang every week to 14 – including those provided by South Korea’s Asiana Airlines and Vietnam Airlines.

Vietnam Airlines commenced two new flights to Da Nang from Seoul and Cambodia’s Siem Reap July 1, while Hong Kong-based Dragonair on March 28 started flights between Hong Kong and Da Nang every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday and added a weekly Saturday flight to the route from July 6.

Currently, three Chinese airlines – China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Shanghai Airlines are also offering flights from Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai respectively to Da Nang, the release said.

~News courtesy of Thanh Nien News~

New lights beautify Ho Chi Minh City Post Office

New lights beautify Ho Chi Minh City Post Office



The HCMC Post Office with its new lighting system. PHOTOS COURTESY OF TUOI TRE

In collaboration with municipal managers from France's city of Lyon, HCMC on Sunday inaugurated a new lighting system at the city's historic post office.

The light system, designed by the Public Lighting Department of Lyon City, is part of activities to mark the 40th year of the diplomatic ties between Vietnam and France as well to France Year in Vietnam, which kicked off in early April.

Costing VND4 billion (US$189,720) and partially sponspored by Lyon authorities, the work aims to promote the heritage value of the 120-year-old post office, a major French-style architectural work in the city which has long been a well-known tourist attraction site.

With extensive experience in the field of artistic lighting, light experts from Lyon have brought a system which can produce lights in different colors and arrays throughout the night.



The city of Lyon so far has collaborated with HCMC in some other light projects, including the Ho Chi Minh Museum – Nha Rong (Dragon House) Wharf in 1997, the HCMC People's Committee Head office in 2004 and the HCMC Opera House in 2008.

~News courtesy of Thanh Nien News~

An Giang Province to close paths leading to Cam Mountain

An Giang Province to close paths leading to Cam Mountain

The People’s Committee of the southern province of An Giang has asked authorities in Tinh Bien District to prohibit vehicles from travelling to Cam Mountain as there is likelihood of landslides during the rainy season.



A big Buddha statue on Cam Mountain (Photo: SGGP)

Due to continuous heavy rainfall in recent days, paths to the peak of the mountain have become landslide prone and as many as three spots are already highly susceptible, including Do, Cuu Nan and a hill under Do.

According to the Institute of Geophysics, Cam Mountain has 220 landslide-prone sites along its 2.5 kilometer path up the mountain, and 126 big boulders have become a serious threat.

After authorities issue the ban, transport of essential items to people living on the mountaintop will take place in the early mornings and afternoons.

An Hao Commune authorities will help take children to schools.

~News courtesy of SGGP~

越南自助豪华游 各有各精彩

越南自助豪华游 各有各精彩



色彩绚丽的渔船， 让人有想乘船出海的感觉。

我们在胡志明当了一星期的穷背包客后，决定签下两人115美元的两天一夜美奈游，尝尝当豪华背包客滋味。

豪华篇 美奈的黄色沙漠

从胡志明到美奈历时5小时，抵达美奈的Muine Resort时，我们都觉得这个配套物超所值，酒店的环境十分优美，房间很整洁，再来酒店后面就是沙滩，无敌海景映入眼帘。

我们的配套还包括了膳食和白沙丘、黄沙丘半日游。来到美奈，一定不能错过这两个闻名的沙丘。我们一行人乘搭巴士到这个景点。

途中，司机停在沙滩边，让我们下车逛逛。一下车，就闻到空气中参杂着渔产的腥味，我们走到岸边，看见一艘艘的渔船停在岸边，渔民十分忙碌地整理渔获，也有渔民在修补渔船。

我也在这里看到很特别的“渔船”，就是一个半椭圆型的篮子，应该是在浅海的地方用来捕鱼的吧！

抵达白沙丘就被眼前的景观吸引着，实在是太壮观了，整个沙丘就像沙漠一样。赤脚踏在沙丘上，感觉到沙很干很细，风一直吹过来，风带动了沙粒，沙就随风起舞。舞动着的沙，打在身上，肌肤会感觉点点的刺痛，脚也有陷下去的感觉。这些沙就从一个方向，吹到另一个方向，就这样，形成了沙漠的轮廓。

一望无际的沙漠

游客可以选择租车在沙丘上行驶，也可以租滑板玩滑沙。我们就选择赤着脚，踩着幼细的沙，往顶端走去。回头一看，沿途都是自己踏出的脚印，一步一脚印，这种方式感觉上最能贴近这个大自然美景。绵绵的沙，走着走着蛮吃力的。走到顶端，眼前就是一望无际的沙漠。

雨季沙丘颜色更深

接下来，我们一行人就驱车前往黄沙丘。黄沙丘也叫红沙丘，这个季节比较少雨，沙就呈黄色，到了雨季，沙遇雨就会呈红色。因此，在干旱的季节就称其为黄沙丘，雨季时就称为红沙丘。黄沙丘比白沙丘小，这里也比较风平浪静，感觉不到风力。沙在太阳的照耀下呈红黄色，相当特别，这个季节的沙看来已经相当红了，听导游说，雨季时的颜色更深。

半日游结束后，我们就回到酒店。酒店后院设有沙滩椅，游客可以坐在那里听海风、海浪的声音。越南的啤酒相当便宜，在如此舒适的环境下，一面喝啤酒，一面聊天，实在是一件乐事。

美奈靠海，走到哪里都会感觉到风徐徐吹来，凉凉的，感觉十分舒服。这里的风绝对不像其他海边的风，肌肤不会有粘粘的感觉。

美奈是一个很宁静的地方，晚上更显幽静。

晚上的街道鲜少有汽车驶过，是一个度假的好地方。这个地方太舒服，让人有流连忘返的感觉。

自助篇 胡志明———背包客的天堂

到越南旅行，首要是壮大胆子，学习过马路。这是因为摩哆是这里主要的交通工具，路上的摩哆川流不息，再加上对调的驾驶方向，站在路上，往往搞不清楚车或摩哆会从哪一个方向驶来？遇到繁忙的上下班时段，游客通常都会无助的站在路旁，等待好心的当地人来“拯救”。

越南盛产河粉，这里的河粉很有嚼劲，河粉汤面更是十分可口，是来到越南必试的食物之一。若想融入和体会越南人的生活，可以尝试在街边档口进餐。越南人喜欢坐在小凳子上，用矮桌子进食。看来很简单，但是要弯曲着身子进食，也是蛮辛苦的一件事。我就是坐在这种小型座椅上，一尝越南的美食———河粉汤面。

来到越南，除了河粉汤面，一定要试一试越南咖啡。独特的漏斗式咖啡，咖啡一滴一滴漏下来，别有一番风味。咖啡爱好者，不妨奢侈一点，到比较高尚的咖啡馆享用咖啡，务必感到物有所值。

喜欢坐在五角基喝酒

这里的酒也很便宜，游客和当地人都喜欢坐在五角基，面向路，一边喝酒，一边看路。这可能是越南的文化吧！我也入乡随俗，买了一瓶酒，坐在人来人往的路边，看着来来往往的车和摩哆，就这样颓废一整晚。几乎每一间在胡志明的餐馆备有免费的无线网络设备，基本上，颓废之余，这时也是上网的好时间。

除了美食，去旅行就是购物了。一逛Ben Thanh市集，肯定让你满载而归。这里的纪念品应有尽有，外围的部分，都是实价的档口，绝不能讨价还价，价钱也很公道。内部的档口有的狮子开大口，是外围档口价钱的十倍，十分惊人。我们都被那里的开价吓得逃之夭夭了。

交通方便不会迷路

胡志明的范伍佬是背包区，这里的背包客栈、餐馆、酒吧和旅行社林立，是游客的天堂。也因为这样，坐着用餐或喝酒时，都会有许多当地人前来兜售物品。妇女都会捧着卷好的书到处兜售，她们都有惊人的体力，可以捧着四、五十本书，而面不改色。小孩就拿着一个装满纪念品的小篮子到处叫卖。

就有那么的一次，我拒绝了一个三、四岁的小孩的兜售之后，他大大的叹了一口气走开，这让我觉得很内疚。我一直在想，只是区区的一美金，对我来说可能是微不足道，但是，对他的意义重大，他赚了我的一美金后，可能就可以回家睡觉。

我一直希望他会回来再向我兜售，但是，我等了好久，他也没有再回头了。他可爱的样子，至今还烙印在我的脑海里。有时候，人就是会活在这种矛盾的境界里。

胡志明市虽然没有捷运，但是交通十分方便，公共巴士相当频密。除此之外，每一条街道，每一个小巷都有明确的路牌，只要手拿着地图，就必定不会迷路。胡志明，肯定是背包客的天堂。

~南洋商报~

điện thoại di động

 

điện thoại di động
移动电话，手机
mobile phone  

kiểm tra tốc độ

kiểm tra tốc độ
检查速度
Speed Check

Hippopotamus 河马

Cuộc sống như quyển sách

Cuộc sống như quyển sách

人生就像一本书
Life is like a book

mắt kính

mắt kính

眼镜
Spectacles

Điện thoại công cộng

Điện thoại công cộng 
公共电话
Public Phone

Điện thoại 电话 phone
công cộng 公共 public

A fruitful expedition

A fruitful expedition



Foreign tourists cycle along the National Road 57 in Cho Lach District, Ben Tre.

I had been to Cho Lach District a couple of times earlier, but I did not remember much apart from bad roads and weak bridges. There was nothing to write home about.

However, on a recent trip to the place with a group of friends, I saw the district in a new light.

The district is located about 144 kilometers from Ho Chi Minh City in the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre. When we requested the Center for Ben Tre Tourism Promotion to help us spend some time with farmers in the district, they recommended that we visit the Dai Loc eco-tourism site belonging to Nguyen Cong Thanh, better known as Tu Thanh, in Son Dinh Commune.

It was late in the evening when we arrived at Thanh’s place. Ben Tre’s reputation as “the land of coconuts” is well deserved and we were not surprised to see coconut palms with 50-70 fruits each right at the entrance.

Thanh, a middle-aged man, took us to a restaurant on the banks of the Cho Lach canal.

We started our dinner with a sweet-sour, lightly fragrant white smoothie. Called ca cao dằm đá (cocoa chipped with ice), the drink was made with cocoa flesh. Suitable for almost every kind of soil, cocoa is quite popular in Ben Tre, where, apart from its main use as raw material for chocolate, all its parts are used – the flesh is made into a fresh fruit drink or wine, seeds are powdered, and the fruit’s outer layer is used as food for cattle.

Since he received 600 cocoa saplings from the HCMC University of Agriculture and Forestry in 2001, Thanh has successfully developed eight strains of cocoa and every year he provides more than 500,000 seedlings to farms nationwide.

After the refreshing drink, we were treated to bánh xèo hến (deep-fried pancake, or sizzling cake, stuffed with mussels) cooked by Thanh’s wife.

Having had the pancake at many different places, I can confidently say it was one of the best I’ve enjoyed. The sweetness of mussels, the fattiness of coconut milk and fresh milk, the fragrance of home-grown mushrooms and mung beans, the dipping sauce - fish sauce mixed with lime, sugar and coconut juice, and fresh herbs picked from Thanh’s garden, are tastes that will linger on our tongues and in our minds for a long time.

Other dishes on the menu included freshwater apple snails that were cooked into seven different dishes, sour hot pot with swamp eels, and braised small cyprinids – fish with a toothless jaw that do not have stomachs. These dishes were accompanied with sips of cocoa wine.

The dinner ended with durians, another fruit that Thanh is famous for. Nicknamed “the durian witch,” he was the man who brought the famous Mon thong durian variety from Thailand into Vietnam during the 1990s and successfully grew it here.

I would highly recommend a boat ride with Thanh along the canal that runs through his garden. He will provide the best form of “entertainment,” introducing you to many facts about the many fruits that are grown in his four-season garden that covers more than two hectares. Guests are free to collect ripe durians that fall on the ground and eat them. Or, at the coconut area, just tell Thanh, and he will pick whichever fruit you like and you can enjoy it on the spot.

We decided to spend the night at Thanh’s place. Contrary to our initial belief that it would be a homestay experience, we ended up staying in bungalows built in the garden to serve guests. There were no mosquitoes, but the pleasant breeze was cooling and comforting.

The next morning we visited the Cho Lach Market, which can be reached either by motorboat or bicycle.

The sight of vegetables like sweet potatoes and taro, seafood like prawns, snails, and fish, as also a variety of dried foods, made me want to buy them all. In the end, however, I just bought the ingredients needed to make the tapioca noodle soup (bánh canh) with mussels and coconut milk that Thanh’s wife was going to teach us to cook.

Besides Thanh’s eco-tourism site, there are many other places to visit in Cho Lach: a sandy beach on the banks of the Co Chien River in Son Dinh Commune; the Ba Ngoi and Tam Loc fruit gardens in Vinh Binh Commune; the Nam Cong ornamental garden with nation famous plants in Vinh Thanh Commune; the Cai Mon tourism area with fruit gardens and one of the oldest churches in southern Vietnam.

On this trip, I felt Cho Lach is a good match for Thailand’s Suan Supatra Land, which is considered a paradise for fruit lovers. If local authorities could improve the infrastructure and promote its attractions, this place can be a big draw for tourists.

~News courtesy of Thanh Nien News~

xe buýt

xe buýt  Bus 巴士

trái cây lạnh

trái cây 水果 fruits

lạnh 冷 cold

Singapore and Vietnam launch strategic partnership

Singapore and Vietnam launch strategic partnership



Singapore and Vietnam formally elevated their relationship to that as strategic partners on Wednesday, an agreement which deepens their ties on the political, economic, defence, security and international fronts.

Under the strategic partnership agreement, the two Asean members will promote high-level bilateral exchanges, with direct communications between their leaders. The strategic partnership was launched by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who is in Vietnam on a three-day official visit, and his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung.

In trade, both countries have agreed to step up cooperation in sectors such as transport, infocomms technology, finance and banking. They have also agreed to look into other promising areas like cruise tourism, commodities trading, healthcare and agriculture. Vietnam and Singapore are also working to increase air traffic between the two countries and with the rest of the world.

For defence and security, Singapore and Vietnam will increase their cooperation in military and training exchanges, amongst other areas. The two countries will also explore tie-ups in areas such as tourism, healthcare, legal systems and education. In addition, they reaffirmed their commitment to bring about an integrated Asean Community by 2015, and to enhance the region's role in the global community.

~News courtesy of Straits Times~

Grace Fu urges Singapore companies to invest in Vietnam

Grace Fu urges Singapore companies to invest in Vietnam



There are opportunities abound in Vietnam for Singapore companies, Second Minister for Environment and Water Resources and Foreign Affairs, Ms Grace Fu, said in Hanoi on Thursday.

And with the official launch of a strategic partnership between the countries on Wednesday, Singapore is in a good position to tap on growing industries such as manufacturing, financial services and hospitality.

"This is a country with over 90 million population, it has a very young population," said Ms Fu, who is accompanying Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on his official visit to Vietnam.

"Labour cost is very low, (they have a) very hardworking population, very eager to learn and with their greater linkages to the world through the various free trade agreements as well as the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) for example, we see this as a great potential for us to tap."

~News courtesy of Straits Times~

quy định

quy định

规定
Regulations

nông sản

nông sản 

农产
Farm produce

Construction begins on Vietnam’s first cable car

Construction begins on Vietnam’s first cable car



A Ba Na cable car

Construction has begun on Vietnam’s first cable car system at the Ba Na Hills Resort in the central coastal city of Da Nang, said a report on the government’s website.

The funicular cable railway is expected to be 380 meters long and operational next March, according to The Ba Na Cable Car Service company, which began construction July 26.

Each of its cabins will be capable of transporting 80 passengers and move at an average speed of five meters per second. Ba Na Cable Car Service JSC is planning to import enough cabins to serve around 1,600 passengers per hour.

All equipment and techniques for the cable car system are being supplied by the Swiss firm Garaventa.

~News courtesy of Thanh Nien News~

A lesson in leisure from Tay Ninh

A lesson in leisure from Tay Ninh

As Vietnam reduces every attractive destination to sheer kitsch, locals who are being themselves save the day



Cao Dai adherents sweep up around the all-seeing eye at the religion's Holy See in Tay Ninh Province following noon mass. If you avoid the trashy tours, watching a ceremony there can be a pretty transcendent. Photo by Calvin Godfrey

A trip to Tay Ninh sounded like the most perfunctory vacation that one could muster in Saigon.

Busses left from the backpacker district every day, heralding hungover Australian 20-somethings into the Cao Dai’s Holy See to snap a few pictures and snigger.

I imagined these trips being led by a wise-cracking RMIT alum eager to make fun of everything about his own country before the foreigners had a chance.

So I never went.

Last Friday, a friend from Stockholm convinced me to get up early and drive down the blue line on his iPhone toward the stunning grounds of the Technicolor temple.

The Cao Dai’s Holy See sits on a campus of bright administrative buildings and old colonial rubber plantations. We arrived just before the noon mass and left my bike next to a tin shack on the edge of the grounds in the care of two old volunteers watching TV in hammocks strung under a tin shack.

Graham Greene famously described the place as a something of a cartoon spectacle.

A tall rearing tiger rears up on hits hind legs atop a copula painted like a half a globe. Jesus and Buddha and Confucius hang together on the ceiling. The Masonic eye peers out at you from high places.

My companion and I doffed our shoes and fell in line behind a French family as they plodded up the stairs to the viewing gallery.

What struck Greene as silly felt powerful, even hopeful, now. A chorus of young women chanted over one-string zithers sending sounds radiating down the shrinking, 100-yard hall to be answered by a disembodied voice at the other end. Only believers on the ground could see where it came from.

From above, the sight of the believers conspired to evoke the “oceanic” feeling that Freud attributed to the end of breastfeeding. But all of this felt much bigger than boobs. It rivaled black gospel Sundays, Thai meditation sessions and my grandmother’s funeral for atmospheric weight.

It left me with a feeling that made my ears tingle and my soul a wee bit ascendant.

And then an usher began shuttling all of the foreigners out into the sunlight.

The good feeling quickly evaporated when a slick young guide began torturing a pair of baby monkeys to get a rise out of their mother for the sake of a group of fat, nonplussed tourists.

We walked away from the crows to take tea with the ushers, who were watching a hurricane slowly move toward China and Northern Vietnam from their hammocks. They asked us our ages and about our love lives. They offered us cigarettes and asked about our families.

With the rest of the afternoon to go and a kind of spiritual craving still tugging at our hearts, we headed toward the imposing mountain jutting up into the clouds on the horizon.

Cao Dai graves are always oriented in the direction of this inexplicable bump in the pancake-flat expanse of the Mekong Delta.

The headline legend of Nui Ba Den (young maiden jumps to death to remain faithful to lover fighting foreign invaders) appealed to our moods and we headed toward its dark silhouette through brief but powerful downpours.

Control of the mountain has always been key to Vietnam’s survival. During the liberation war against the French, revolutionary soldiers hid in the caves that dot its base.

During the Vietnam War, the US Special Forces erected massive radio antennae on the peak to intercept transmissions between liberation forces.

After endless bombardments and raids, the forces streaming down the Ho Chi Minh Trail retook the mountain, stashing several American POWs in the caves they’d once hidden in.

Now, the mountain has been swallowed by an amusement park with virtually nothing in it.

We arrived at four and bought ten tickets for a blue tractor-turned-train tram emblazoned with a red star. Then, at the base of the new cable car, we argued with vendors about why we had to buy ten tickets to go up and come down the mountain.

In the end, it was a matter of company policy.

But the sun was setting and the leering concrete animal statues that filled the space gave the place a cheap, haunted Scooby Doo atmosphere.

By the time we returned to the parking lot, dogs had been set loose. The heavy-lidded attendant let them bark and snap at our ankles as we sped onto the road back to town.

On the ride through the gloaming we paused at a Cao Dai monastery to peer into the garden. Instead, strict nuns arranged us in front of an altar and taught us to genuflect before a small altar containing a painting of the all-seeing eye.

When all this was done, we had tea with the abbot—a smiling, shorn man who invited us to a vegetarian meal just as the sun set into purple rainclouds.

On the drive back, I couldn’t help but think that every effort to capitalize on the things that makes Vietnam beautiful inevitably reduces those things to a poorly maintained roadside attraction.

It is the people, every time, who save it again and again.

~News courtesy of Thanh Nien News~