Rejuvenate the spirit at Long Thuan Garden

A bridge across Chan Lac Lake

Local nature lover and designer Sy Hoang  invites visitors to come and recharge their batteries in his large traditional style garden in HCMC’s District 9.

The beautiful garden boasts ornamental trees, bonsai and grassy areas, where visitors can escape the sounds of traffic for a while.

A wooden house where Sy Hoang worships Buddha and practices meditation - Photos: Uyen Vien

The garden has a long narrow hall, where a lot of workshops and painting and design classes are held.

There is a lake called Chan Lac that has wooden chairs made of cart wheels scattered along the banks.

In the lake is a floating stage where artists hold folk art performances of the three regions - North, Central and South. Behind the stage is a Buddhist worship house where the artist and his mother pray and practice meditation.

A wooden house in the garden has displays of pottery and wooden artworks that the designer has collected for many years.

Sy Hoang took eight years to build the garden with an investment of VND40 billion. He also planted a mini rice field that can produce about 100 kilograms of rice a year.

The artist is collaborating with Hanh Huong Viet Travel Company in HCMC’s District 3 to hold one-day tours called “peaceful spirit” twice a month on Sundays. The tour departs from 6 a.m. and closes at 8:30 p.m. with many activities such as meditation practice, exchanging life experiences, releasing fish, hanging lanterns to pray, Buddhist worshipping and vegetarian meals.

Visitors can also enjoy fashion and traditional music shows.

“I hope that one day, children can sit under the trees to paint and businessmen can find peace for their soul in this garden, said Hoang.

He said he expects to develop areas to teach fashion design and cooking and wants it to be a venue for cultural exchange and ethnic performances.

This month, there are two tours on October 17 and 24 at VND695,000 per person.

For bookings, visit www.hanhhuongviet.vn or call (08) 3884 0608.

To get there take the Ben Thanh – Long Thuan bus to District 9 from Ben Thanh Bus Station. It takes about one hour by motorbike from the center of the city.

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Song of the gibbons

Tourists catch a boat from the national park headquarters to visit the primate rescue center

If the wind is blowing from the right direction you can hear the gibbon’s song from your bungalow at Cat Tien National Park about five hours drive from HCMC. The sound comes from an island in the Dong Nai river not more than a kilometer from the park headquarters and accommodation.

One of the juvenile gibbons at the center - Photos: Mong BInh and Wendy Derham

On the island there is the Dao Tien Endangered Primate Rescue Center that specializes in rehabilitating golden cheek gibbons for release into the wild. The gibbons there sing all day long – it is a strange haunting song whose high pitch is more like a drawn out note from a keyboard synthesizer than a primate’s voice. The sound takes a little getting used to as it is quite loud.

Gibbons that live in the wild at Cat Tien National Park sing songs that declare their territory or let other gibbons know that that they are looking for a mate. The songs are normally sung in the morning and they reverberate around the jungle for miles. But at the center the gibbons sing all day long – perhaps because they are in such close quarters.

The primates are there mostly because they have been rescued or confiscated by rangers from poachers or households or petrol stations that kept them as pets or mascots. Sometimes because of the growing awareness of wildlife conservation in Vietnam households surrender them voluntarily and they wind up in the rescue center that was set up by Monkey World - Ape Rescue Centre in 2008.

To visit the center just talk to the rangers at the park headquarters and they will arrange a boat to take you across to the island. From where the boat drops you off there is about a 15 minute walk to the center – so remember to take some water. It is not really set up for tours but it’s worth visiting for an hour or two to see these beautiful but endangered primates. Some of the rangers don’t speak English well so if you want to find out more about the gibbons, one of the Western staff there may be able to help you.

If you are hoping to get to cuddle one of the cute gibbons, you will be very disappointed. The center is very strict about human contact, not even the staff are allowed to touch them. You are not even allowed to walk up to their big cages, which are set well about 20m off the path. To prepare them for the wild the gibbons are exposed to a minimum of human contact. Do you will have to be satisfied with seeing them from a distance.

Visitors must walk on the path between the large cages. There’s six or seven big cages and a special nursery for the juvenile gibbons and with a fenced off tree area so they can learn the physics of swinging through the jungle.

The island also has a semi wild area where gibbons are let go prior to being totally released into the national park. The semi wild area is bordered by the river and a special fence that the center built this year.

Monkey world set up the Endangered Asian Species Trust (E.A.S.T.) to help continue this conservation work in to the future so if you want to support the work they are doing, including rehabilitation, research and awareness raising at schools, then donate at the office or buy a T-shirt or hat.

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Song of the gibbons

Tourists catch a boat from the national park headquarters to visit the primate rescue center

If the wind is blowing from the right direction you can hear the gibbon’s song from your bungalow at Cat Tien National Park about five hours drive from HCMC. The sound comes from an island in the Dong Nai river not more than a kilometer from the park headquarters and accommodation.

One of the juvenile gibbons at the center - Photos: Mong BInh and Wendy Derham

On the island there is the Dao Tien Endangered Primate Rescue Center that specializes in rehabilitating golden cheek gibbons for release into the wild. The gibbons there sing all day long – it is a strange haunting song whose high pitch is more like a drawn out note from a keyboard synthesizer than a primate’s voice. The sound takes a little getting used to as it is quite loud.

Gibbons that live in the wild at Cat Tien National Park sing songs that declare their territory or let other gibbons know that that they are looking for a mate. The songs are normally sung in the morning and they reverberate around the jungle for miles. But at the center the gibbons sing all day long – perhaps because they are in such close quarters.

The primates are there mostly because they have been rescued or confiscated by rangers from poachers or households or petrol stations that kept them as pets or mascots. Sometimes because of the growing awareness of wildlife conservation in Vietnam households surrender them voluntarily and they wind up in the rescue center that was set up by Monkey World - Ape Rescue Centre in 2008.

To visit the center just talk to the rangers at the park headquarters and they will arrange a boat to take you across to the island. From where the boat drops you off there is about a 15 minute walk to the center – so remember to take some water. It is not really set up for tours but it’s worth visiting for an hour or two to see these beautiful but endangered primates. Some of the rangers don’t speak English well so if you want to find out more about the gibbons, one of the Western staff there may be able to help you.

If you are hoping to get to cuddle one of the cute gibbons, you will be very disappointed. The center is very strict about human contact, not even the staff are allowed to touch them. You are not even allowed to walk up to their big cages, which are set well about 20m off the path. To prepare them for the wild the gibbons are exposed to a minimum of human contact. Do you will have to be satisfied with seeing them from a distance.

Visitors must walk on the path between the large cages. There’s six or seven big cages and a special nursery for the juvenile gibbons and with a fenced off tree area so they can learn the physics of swinging through the jungle.

The island also has a semi wild area where gibbons are let go prior to being totally released into the national park. The semi wild area is bordered by the river and a special fence that the center built this year.

Monkey world set up the Endangered Asian Species Trust (E.A.S.T.) to help continue this conservation work in to the future so if you want to support the work they are doing, including rehabilitation, research and awareness raising at schools, then donate at the office or buy a T-shirt or hat.

Related Articles

• Song of the gibbons

Song of the gibbons

Tourists catch a boat from the national park headquarters to visit the primate rescue center

If the wind is blowing from the right direction you can hear the gibbon’s song from your bungalow at Cat Tien National Park about five hours drive from HCMC. The sound comes from an island in the Dong Nai river not more than a kilometer from the park headquarters and accommodation.

One of the juvenile gibbons at the center - Photos: Mong BInh and Wendy Derham

On the island there is the Dao Tien Endangered Primate Rescue Center that specializes in rehabilitating golden cheek gibbons for release into the wild. The gibbons there sing all day long – it is a strange haunting song whose high pitch is more like a drawn out note from a keyboard synthesizer than a primate’s voice. The sound takes a little getting used to as it is quite loud.

Gibbons that live in the wild at Cat Tien National Park sing songs that declare their territory or let other gibbons know that that they are looking for a mate. The songs are normally sung in the morning and they reverberate around the jungle for miles. But at the center the gibbons sing all day long – perhaps because they are in such close quarters.

The primates are there mostly because they have been rescued or confiscated by rangers from poachers or households or petrol stations that kept them as pets or mascots. Sometimes because of the growing awareness of wildlife conservation in Vietnam households surrender them voluntarily and they wind up in the rescue center that was set up by Monkey World - Ape Rescue Centre in 2008.

To visit the center just talk to the rangers at the park headquarters and they will arrange a boat to take you across to the island. From where the boat drops you off there is about a 15 minute walk to the center – so remember to take some water. It is not really set up for tours but it’s worth visiting for an hour or two to see these beautiful but endangered primates. Some of the rangers don’t speak English well so if you want to find out more about the gibbons, one of the Western staff there may be able to help you.

If you are hoping to get to cuddle one of the cute gibbons, you will be very disappointed. The center is very strict about human contact, not even the staff are allowed to touch them. You are not even allowed to walk up to their big cages, which are set well about 20m off the path. To prepare them for the wild the gibbons are exposed to a minimum of human contact. Do you will have to be satisfied with seeing them from a distance.

Visitors must walk on the path between the large cages. There’s six or seven big cages and a special nursery for the juvenile gibbons and with a fenced off tree area so they can learn the physics of swinging through the jungle.

The island also has a semi wild area where gibbons are let go prior to being totally released into the national park. The semi wild area is bordered by the river and a special fence that the center built this year.

Monkey world set up the Endangered Asian Species Trust (E.A.S.T.) to help continue this conservation work in to the future so if you want to support the work they are doing, including rehabilitation, research and awareness raising at schools, then donate at the office or buy a T-shirt or hat.

Related Articles

• Song of the gibbons

Song of the gibbons

Tourists catch a boat from the national park headquarters to visit the primate rescue center

If the wind is blowing from the right direction you can hear the gibbon’s song from your bungalow at Cat Tien National Park about five hours drive from HCMC. The sound comes from an island in the Dong Nai river not more than a kilometer from the park headquarters and accommodation.

One of the juvenile gibbons at the center - Photos: Mong BInh and Wendy Derham

On the island there is the Dao Tien Endangered Primate Rescue Center that specializes in rehabilitating golden cheek gibbons for release into the wild. The gibbons there sing all day long – it is a strange haunting song whose high pitch is more like a drawn out note from a keyboard synthesizer than a primate’s voice. The sound takes a little getting used to as it is quite loud.

Gibbons that live in the wild at Cat Tien National Park sing songs that declare their territory or let other gibbons know that that they are looking for a mate. The songs are normally sung in the morning and they reverberate around the jungle for miles. But at the center the gibbons sing all day long – perhaps because they are in such close quarters.

The primates are there mostly because they have been rescued or confiscated by rangers from poachers or households or petrol stations that kept them as pets or mascots. Sometimes because of the growing awareness of wildlife conservation in Vietnam households surrender them voluntarily and they wind up in the rescue center that was set up by Monkey World - Ape Rescue Centre in 2008.

To visit the center just talk to the rangers at the park headquarters and they will arrange a boat to take you across to the island. From where the boat drops you off there is about a 15 minute walk to the center – so remember to take some water. It is not really set up for tours but it’s worth visiting for an hour or two to see these beautiful but endangered primates. Some of the rangers don’t speak English well so if you want to find out more about the gibbons, one of the Western staff there may be able to help you.

If you are hoping to get to cuddle one of the cute gibbons, you will be very disappointed. The center is very strict about human contact, not even the staff are allowed to touch them. You are not even allowed to walk up to their big cages, which are set well about 20m off the path. To prepare them for the wild the gibbons are exposed to a minimum of human contact. Do you will have to be satisfied with seeing them from a distance.

Visitors must walk on the path between the large cages. There’s six or seven big cages and a special nursery for the juvenile gibbons and with a fenced off tree area so they can learn the physics of swinging through the jungle.

The island also has a semi wild area where gibbons are let go prior to being totally released into the national park. The semi wild area is bordered by the river and a special fence that the center built this year.

Monkey world set up the Endangered Asian Species Trust (E.A.S.T.) to help continue this conservation work in to the future so if you want to support the work they are doing, including rehabilitation, research and awareness raising at schools, then donate at the office or buy a T-shirt or hat.

Related Articles

• Song of the gibbons

Hanoi’s grand anniversary to honor ao dai

Models perform ao dai at a fashion show in HCMC - Photo: Kieu Giang

A huge ao dai (Vietnamese long dress) festival will take place in the program “The fanciful night on Sword Lake” on the evening of October 1, kicking off the festival for the grand millennial anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi, reports Vietnam News Agency.

Collections of ao dai from Vietnam’s three regions - the North, South and central -will be paraded by models from Ngoc Son Temple to The Huc Bridge and But Temple on Sword Lake. The dress collections will be displayed along a specially-built 350m catwalk decorated with woven mats, conical hats, and lively dioramas depicting Hanoi in ancient times.

The 45-minute ao dai performance, which will be broadcast live nationally on TV, will be followed by a 15-minute light festival and fireworks display.

Vietnamese designer Duc Hung will bring his four seasons collection to the festival.

“Hanoi has four seasons with distinctive characters which inspired me to create this collection,” said Hung.

Hung said he carefully selected made-in-Vietnam materials and colors for his collections, using brocade for spring, silk for summer, voile for autumn, and velvet for winter.

Hung’s ao dai collections will also present colors representing Vietnamese festivals of three regions such as pink for peach blossoms for Tet in the North, Hue purple for the Central and bright yellow representing the apricot blossoms of the South. Hung has designed 500 sets of ao dai as gifts for the festival to promote the Vietnamese long dress for international friends - Japan, France and Russia.

Hung’s ao dai collection will again be paraded to the sound of bronze drums in the program “Thang Long – the flying dragon city” on the evening of October 10 at the My Dinh National Stadium.

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Thousands attend Buddha statue unveiling at pagoda

Thousands of monks and pilgrims from around the country attended a ceremony on the weekend to sanctify a giant Buddha statue at Phat Tich Pagoda in the northern province of Bac Ninh, reports VietnamPlus.

Ten thousand lit candles lined the path from the pagoda’s gate to the top of Phat Tich Mountain where the giant Buddha statue sits. After the ceremony there was a10-minute fireworks display.

The VND75 billion stone statue, which is 27 meters high and weighs 3,000 tons, is a replica of the Buddha Amitabha statue from the Ly Dynasty. It was invested by the government with support from other organizations and individuals around the country.

The statue is one of biggest stone Buddhas in Southeast Asia and is Vietnam’s first giant stone statue.

Phat Tich Pagoda, built between the seventh and 10th century in Phat Tich Commune, Tien Du District, Bac Ninh Province, is recognized as a national relic that houses numerous objects of cultural value from the Ly Dynasty including a statue of Buddha Amitabha on a 1.87m high lotus pedestal carved out of blue stone, a tower garden, and a stone board engraved with images of musicians and dancing girls.

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