Grilled lizards for lunch

Grilled giong are juicy and delicious - Photo: Dang Hoang Tham

Giong are lizards with a similar shape but larger size than tac ke bong (geckos). They are very tasty grilled. A plate of grilled Giong is a popular dish in many restaurants on the South Central Coast from Ba Ria-Vung Tau to Ninh Thuan provinces.

Grilled giong has a distinctive flavor. To make the lizards juicy, people have to boil giong and soak them with banana leaves before washing carefully. Then they are spiced and mixed with lemongrass to grill. Giong can be cooked in variety of ways including fried giong served with grilled banh trang (dried pancake) or goi giong (giong with vegetables) or lau giong (hot pot).

Giong is thought to have medicinal qualities as the lizards eat herbal leaves and grasses. In traditional medicine they are used to cure aching bones. People go hunting for giong on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month when the early rains wet the dry sand hills and giong start to hatch.

Vienna charity gala in Hanoi

The Austrian Embassy in Vietnam will hold the first Vienna charity gala in Hanoi on November 11, reports Sai Gon Giai Phong.

Singers from Vietnam and Austria such as Thanh lam, Duc Tuan, Bich Thuy, and Marcela Cerno will perform a concert at the event.

To open the gala, a group of dancers from the Austria-based dance school, Olympic Dance Club, will perform the Polka, Quadrille, and the Waltz, promising an entertaining evening to mark the bilateral relationship of the two nations.

Miss Vietnam World Ngo Phuong Lan will be the M.C.

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Vung Tau surf

Riding one of Friday’s smaller waves at Vung Tau. The sets were twice as big - Photo: Michael Smith

The back beach at Vung Tau had excellent glassy surfing conditions on Friday with a two to three foot swell. At high tide in the morning until a storm came in the afternoon, good waves were breaking on sand banks all along the three kilometer stretch of beach, with
almost nobody on them.

In the dozen or so times I have visited Vung Tau in three years it was probably the best conditions I’ve seen there. Surfing in Vietnam is full of stories and tall tales – I’ve heard of two meter swells and even bigger that I would have to see to believe. But this was most the best surf in Vietnam that I have seen so far, with nice peeling hollow sections and decent size sets. This is definitely the season for it with the typhoons hitting the central area sending down decent swells. What a great way to get over the Saigon blues – surfing Vung Tau.

As a former Australian city dweller, I am accustomed to traveling a few hours to have an hour or two surf, so traveling to Vung Tau for a couple of hours of surfing is no problem for me. I take a longboard in its case from my apartment by seven-seater taxi to the hydrofoil service at Bach Dang. Generally I only go for the day but I could stay overnight at one of the affordable beach side hotels. I buy a return ticket to Vung Tau for the 8am service and return on the 2pm service to be back home at 4. If there are waves that give me four hours to surf; and if there’s no waves I have to suffer on a deckchair eating cheap fresh crabs and grilled squid, reading and taking the occasional dip to cool off. It’s hell.

It’s recommended to buy the return Vung Tau hydrofoil ticket in HCMC as the service can get pretty busy and if you rely on buying a return ticket in Vung Tau you could be stuck or stung by ticket touts with double prices – especially on weekends or during events.

The hydrofoil is a pretty cool way to travel for a surf and there’s room to stash a longboard. The guys on the boat don’t generally charge extra for the surf board. It takes an hour and a half, then another short taxi ride once you get off the boat and you’re at the back beach. In total VND 280,000 maximum one way.

If you don’t have a board you can hire one at Vung Tau Beach Club at 8 Thuy Van Street. Amazingly an international website has a weekly forecast of Vung Tau’s surf conditions, if you like to increase your chances of connecting with decent waves. Check out the up to date information at www.globalsurfers.com.

According to Globalsurfers.com, “Although fickle, the surf here can get quite good during the summer monsoon from July through
November, especially when typhoons batter the central coast and send lovely swells down south.

“When the wind is out of the North West and the swell from the south, the breaks can get as big as 6ft and sometimes overhead, but don’t expect that often.”

Some websites say that Vung Tau is the best surfing spot in Vietnam, even better than Danang Beach, primarily
because of easy access to HCMC and surfing equipment.
 

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Vung Tau surf

Riding one of Friday’s smaller waves at Vung Tau. The sets were twice as big - Photo: Michael Smith

The back beach at Vung Tau had excellent glassy surfing conditions on Friday with a two to three foot swell. At high tide in the morning until a storm came in the afternoon, good waves were breaking on sand banks all along the three kilometer stretch of beach, with
almost nobody on them.

In the dozen or so times I have visited Vung Tau in three years it was probably the best conditions I’ve seen there. Surfing in Vietnam is full of stories and tall tales – I’ve heard of two meter swells and even bigger that I would have to see to believe. But this was most the best surf in Vietnam that I have seen so far, with nice peeling hollow sections and decent size sets. This is definitely the season for it with the typhoons hitting the central area sending down decent swells. What a great way to get over the Saigon blues – surfing Vung Tau.

As a former Australian city dweller, I am accustomed to traveling a few hours to have an hour or two surf, so traveling to Vung Tau for a couple of hours of surfing is no problem for me. I take a longboard in its case from my apartment by seven-seater taxi to the hydrofoil service at Bach Dang. Generally I only go for the day but I could stay overnight at one of the affordable beach side hotels. I buy a return ticket to Vung Tau for the 8am service and return on the 2pm service to be back home at 4. If there are waves that give me four hours to surf; and if there’s no waves I have to suffer on a deckchair eating cheap fresh crabs and grilled squid, reading and taking the occasional dip to cool off. It’s hell.

It’s recommended to buy the return Vung Tau hydrofoil ticket in HCMC as the service can get pretty busy and if you rely on buying a return ticket in Vung Tau you could be stuck or stung by ticket touts with double prices – especially on weekends or during events.

The hydrofoil is a pretty cool way to travel for a surf and there’s room to stash a longboard. The guys on the boat don’t generally charge extra for the surf board. It takes an hour and a half, then another short taxi ride once you get off the boat and you’re at the back beach. In total VND 280,000 maximum one way.

If you don’t have a board you can hire one at Vung Tau Beach Club at 8 Thuy Van Street. Amazingly an international website has a weekly forecast of Vung Tau’s surf conditions, if you like to increase your chances of connecting with decent waves. Check out the up to date information at www.globalsurfers.com.

According to Globalsurfers.com, “Although fickle, the surf here can get quite good during the summer monsoon from July through
November, especially when typhoons batter the central coast and send lovely swells down south.

“When the wind is out of the North West and the swell from the south, the breaks can get as big as 6ft and sometimes overhead, but don’t expect that often.”

Some websites say that Vung Tau is the best surfing spot in Vietnam, even better than Danang Beach, primarily
because of easy access to HCMC and surfing equipment.
 

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Vung Tau surf

Riding one of Friday’s smaller waves at Vung Tau. The sets were twice as big - Photo: Michael Smith

The back beach at Vung Tau had excellent glassy surfing conditions on Friday with a two to three foot swell. At high tide in the morning until a storm came in the afternoon, good waves were breaking on sand banks all along the three kilometer stretch of beach, with
almost nobody on them.

In the dozen or so times I have visited Vung Tau in three years it was probably the best conditions I’ve seen there. Surfing in Vietnam is full of stories and tall tales – I’ve heard of two meter swells and even bigger that I would have to see to believe. But this was most the best surf in Vietnam that I have seen so far, with nice peeling hollow sections and decent size sets. This is definitely the season for it with the typhoons hitting the central area sending down decent swells. What a great way to get over the Saigon blues – surfing Vung Tau.

As a former Australian city dweller, I am accustomed to traveling a few hours to have an hour or two surf, so traveling to Vung Tau for a couple of hours of surfing is no problem for me. I take a longboard in its case from my apartment by seven-seater taxi to the hydrofoil service at Bach Dang. Generally I only go for the day but I could stay overnight at one of the affordable beach side hotels. I buy a return ticket to Vung Tau for the 8am service and return on the 2pm service to be back home at 4. If there are waves that give me four hours to surf; and if there’s no waves I have to suffer on a deckchair eating cheap fresh crabs and grilled squid, reading and taking the occasional dip to cool off. It’s hell.

It’s recommended to buy the return Vung Tau hydrofoil ticket in HCMC as the service can get pretty busy and if you rely on buying a return ticket in Vung Tau you could be stuck or stung by ticket touts with double prices – especially on weekends or during events.

The hydrofoil is a pretty cool way to travel for a surf and there’s room to stash a longboard. The guys on the boat don’t generally charge extra for the surf board. It takes an hour and a half, then another short taxi ride once you get off the boat and you’re at the back beach. In total VND 280,000 maximum one way.

If you don’t have a board you can hire one at Vung Tau Beach Club at 8 Thuy Van Street. Amazingly an international website has a weekly forecast of Vung Tau’s surf conditions, if you like to increase your chances of connecting with decent waves. Check out the up to date information at www.globalsurfers.com.

According to Globalsurfers.com, “Although fickle, the surf here can get quite good during the summer monsoon from July through
November, especially when typhoons batter the central coast and send lovely swells down south.

“When the wind is out of the North West and the swell from the south, the breaks can get as big as 6ft and sometimes overhead, but don’t expect that often.”

Some websites say that Vung Tau is the best surfing spot in Vietnam, even better than Danang Beach, primarily
because of easy access to HCMC and surfing equipment.
 

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Vung Tau surf

Riding one of Friday’s smaller waves at Vung Tau. The sets were twice as big - Photo: Michael Smith

The back beach at Vung Tau had excellent glassy surfing conditions on Friday with a two to three foot swell. At high tide in the morning until a storm came in the afternoon, good waves were breaking on sand banks all along the three kilometer stretch of beach, with
almost nobody on them.

In the dozen or so times I have visited Vung Tau in three years it was probably the best conditions I’ve seen there. Surfing in Vietnam is full of stories and tall tales – I’ve heard of two meter swells and even bigger that I would have to see to believe. But this was most the best surf in Vietnam that I have seen so far, with nice peeling hollow sections and decent size sets. This is definitely the season for it with the typhoons hitting the central area sending down decent swells. What a great way to get over the Saigon blues – surfing Vung Tau.

As a former Australian city dweller, I am accustomed to traveling a few hours to have an hour or two surf, so traveling to Vung Tau for a couple of hours of surfing is no problem for me. I take a longboard in its case from my apartment by seven-seater taxi to the hydrofoil service at Bach Dang. Generally I only go for the day but I could stay overnight at one of the affordable beach side hotels. I buy a return ticket to Vung Tau for the 8am service and return on the 2pm service to be back home at 4. If there are waves that give me four hours to surf; and if there’s no waves I have to suffer on a deckchair eating cheap fresh crabs and grilled squid, reading and taking the occasional dip to cool off. It’s hell.

It’s recommended to buy the return Vung Tau hydrofoil ticket in HCMC as the service can get pretty busy and if you rely on buying a return ticket in Vung Tau you could be stuck or stung by ticket touts with double prices – especially on weekends or during events.

The hydrofoil is a pretty cool way to travel for a surf and there’s room to stash a longboard. The guys on the boat don’t generally charge extra for the surf board. It takes an hour and a half, then another short taxi ride once you get off the boat and you’re at the back beach. In total VND 280,000 maximum one way.

If you don’t have a board you can hire one at Vung Tau Beach Club at 8 Thuy Van Street. Amazingly an international website has a weekly forecast of Vung Tau’s surf conditions, if you like to increase your chances of connecting with decent waves. Check out the up to date information at www.globalsurfers.com.

According to Globalsurfers.com, “Although fickle, the surf here can get quite good during the summer monsoon from July through
November, especially when typhoons batter the central coast and send lovely swells down south.

“When the wind is out of the North West and the swell from the south, the breaks can get as big as 6ft and sometimes overhead, but don’t expect that often.”

Some websites say that Vung Tau is the best surfing spot in Vietnam, even better than Danang Beach, primarily
because of easy access to HCMC and surfing equipment.
 

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Halloween At Rex, Majestic And Saigon Boat

Halloween, a western festival that is held annually at the end of October, is approaching. Some members of Saigontourist Holding Company will celebrate it for fun’s sake.

Halloween will be celebrated at Rex Hotel Saigon, Majestic Hotel and Saigon Boat Restaurant.

Rex Hotel Saigon

The five-star Rex Hotel Saigon in downtown HCM City will celebrate Halloween Festival at its Rooftop Garden, one of the most beautiful bars in the city, on the night of October 30.

Joining the festival, guests will have many delicious dishes and a great deal of wine to enjoy. They will also be able to participate in interesting entertainment activities with professional disc jockeys, see a masquerade of the hotel employees or have themselves masqueraded free. Couples with the most impressive, most terrifying and funniest costumes will be given prizes.

The ticket for joining the festival costs an adult US$40++ and a child US$26++. The 15% and 10% discounts are given to guests staying at the hotel and masqueraded guests, respectively.

The Rooftop Garden, which was a favorite rendezvous of American military officers and foreign journalists in the 1960s and was selected to be one of the best bars in Southeast Asia in 1996 by Newsweek, is located on the fifth floor of Rex Hotel Saigon. It is an ideal place for groups or couples to relax in a fresh, airy space and observe Saigon’s night life.

Majestic Hotel

Majestic Hotel will celebrate Halloween Night at its M-Bar on the eighth floor from 6:30 p.m.-11 p.m. on October 31. The party offering special food and drinks, coupled with games and artistic performances, promises plenty of fun. Guests can have themselves masqueraded free to attend the festival. Those with the exclusive and the most impressive performances will get prizes.

The ticket prices for the Halloween party are US$26 for an adult and US$13 for a child.

M-Bar is a right place for relaxing with music performances by a Filipino band. It is also suitable for meetings with customers or friends. From here, guests can take a panoramic view of the Saigon River and HCM City’s busy life. This is also one of the first choices when people want to see firework displays on the occasion of special holidays and festivals.

Saigon Boat Restaurant

Saigon Boat Restaurant will serve and entertain guests with a Halloween dinner buffet on the nights of October 30 and 31. In the hilarious atmosphere of the festival, guests will be served by merry, lovely “ghosts.” Drinks include Australian wine, Russian Fifth Ocean beer and cocktail. The buffet goes with more than 40 dishes, including pumpkin soup, grilled shrimps with lemon sauce and grilled sheep ribs with garlic.

The performances of the Latin Eyes band and Philippine singers together with Hawaiian and Gypsy dances and photo taking with Halloween Dracula are features of the festival.

The boat will receive guests and serves cocktail from 6 p.m. It will start the one-hour journey between Bach Dang Quay and Ben Nghe Port from 8:30-9:30 p.m. After the ship stops at its berth at Bach Dang Quay, the dancing night program will begin and last one hour. The ticket costs VND500,000 for an adult and VND300,000 for a child.
The Saigon Boat Restaurant is 55 meters long, 10 meters wide and 6 meters high. The well-designed boat with three decks can carry 600 people beside its crew. Each deck has a different style to meet customers’ diverse demands. The boat is much known for seafood dishes, namely tiger shrimps steamed with coconut milk, duck meat fried with taro and seafood hotpot.

Rex Hotel Saigon:
141 Nguyen Hue Blvd., Dist. 1, HCM City. Tel: 08.38293185, email: rexhotel@rex.com.vn
Majestic Hotel:
1 Dong Khoi St., Dist. 1, HCM City. Tel: 08.38295517, email: banquet@majesticsaigon.com.vn
Saigon Boat Restaurant: Bach Dang Quay, Dist. 1, HCM City. Tel: 08.38230393, email: tausaigon@vnn.vn

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Five Vietnamese hotels, resorts selected as Asia’s finest

Condé Nast Traveler, one of the world’s most distinguished travel magazines, has elevated five Vietnamese hotels and resorts to top spots in its annual Readers’ Choice Awards.

Evason Ana Mandara & Six Senses Spa in the central beach town of Nha Trang, Life Heritage Resort Hoi An and The Nam Hai (both in the historic town of Hoi An) took spots in the magazine’s top-20 list of the Best Resorts in Asia.

The 2010 Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards ranked Evason Ana Mandara & Six Senses Spa 8th, followed up by Life Heritage Resort Hoi An while The Nam Hai took the 20th position.

The Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi in the capital city and the Park Hyatt Saigon in Ho Chi Minh City each won top spots in the survey’s top 100 hotels in Asia, listing as 31st and 42nd respectively.

While readers voted three Vietnamese resorts onto the list, they also sang praises for five Balinese and five Thai resorts, respectively.

“Both Bali and Thailand have tremendous reputations as resort destinations,” said John Blanco, the new General Manager at The Nam Hai. “So for Vietnam to make this kind of impression on readers of such a distinguished travel magazine is remarkable indeed.”

The Condé Nast Traveler Readers Choice Awards polled 25,916 readers who rated resorts and hotels across five categories: food/dining, location, overall design, rooms and service.

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