Mekong ornamental sales at 5 riverbank sites

The HCMC Department of Transportation has announced five sales locations along the city’s rivers for ornamental potted-plants from the Mekong Delta before Lunar New Year.

The five sites are a 400-meter long area beside Phu Dinh River in Ward 16, District 8; a 200-meter long area along An Tai canal side in Ward 7, District 8; a 1.7km strip along the Tau Hu Canal stretching from the bridge on Ngang Canal to Cha Va  Bridge; a 470 meter-long area from Cha Va Bridge to Nguyen Quyen Street; an 800 meter-long area from the corner of Le Quang Kim & Hung Phu streets to Chu Y Bridge.

 “Only the five listed locations can sell ornamentals in the city,” Phan Cong Bang from the HCMC Department of Transportation, said.

To transport flowers from Mekong Delta provinces to HCMC, Mekong Delta gardeners should follow two routes. The first one is from Cho Dem’s river - Ben Luc - Cho Dem Bridge - Binh Dien Bridge – Doi Canal - Tau Hu Cabal. The second is from Vam Co Dong River - Nuoc Man Canal - Can Giuoc River - Tau Hu Canal.

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The island of god

Tourists take a boat along the canal in the Mekong Delta - Photo: My Tran

The rivers and channels of the amazing Mekong Delta contain many islands that are interesting to visit. The richly fertile island of Cu Lao May, or May Islet in Vinh Long Province is also known as the land of God.

To get there, take a ferry from Tra On Market for VND1,000. Xe om (motorbike taxi) are also available for VND2,000. The islet, which was formerly named Luc Si Thanh Island, located in Tra On District, covers about 4,000 hectares.

Once on the island explore the orchards of oranges, pomelo, rambutan and star apples by hired bicycle or motorbike. Tourists can also visit the rice paper making village and see how the paper that is wrapped around so many delicious Vietnamese rolls is made.

Hau Thanh Temple on the island is where King Tu Duc conferred the title of Hoang Thanh Bon Canh (The land of god) in 1852. The quiet temple is surrounded by trees. In the lunar fourth month every year, there is a traditional festival at the temple which attracts many pilgrims and visitors.

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Tet fun minority style at Ethnology Museum

A swing game which will be played at the Ethnology Museum in Hanoi Photo: The organizers

Discover Vietnam’s minority tribes in person at the Ethnology Museum at Nguyen Van Huyen Street in Hanoi during Tet from February 6 to 8.

For the first time, Raglai people from Ninh Thuan Province, Dao and Na Mieo from Lang Son Province will all come to introduce their colorful culture, music, dances and indigenous festivals to Hanoi. Visitors will be able to see Lion dances of Nung people, gong performances of Raglai and the bamboo dance of Thai people on the same stage.

Other attractions include water puppet shows, calligraphy demonstrations and artists from Dong Ho painting village who will show you how to paint the folk characters that have made their village famous.

Many ethnic folk games will be played. Kids can have fun with traditional toys such as pin wheel, to he (figurines fashioned from colored rice dough), flowers and fruits made of dough, 12 animal designations made of clay. Guests can enjoy many kinds of food.

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Peanut gets residence at Palace

Veteran rockers, Peanut, perform at the Palace Hotel Saigon - Photo: Courtesy of Saigontourist

Calibre Charner restaurant at the Palace Saigon Hotel has signed veteran local rockers, Peanut, as the nightly resident band.

The band that started more than 40 years ago in 1967 has made a recent comeback playing its own brand of classic rock. The four members, Bernard Tam (solo guitarist, singer and who can play guitar by teeth), Francois Thien (drummer), Michel Chi (Guitar bass, singer) and Patrick Trung (keyboard, singer), are brothers.

Covers from the 60s, 70s and 80s include Come together, Don’t let me down (Beatles), How deep is your love, I started a joke (Bee Gees), The house of the rising sun, We gotta get out of this place (The Animals), I can’t get no satisfaction (The Rolling Stones), Smoke on the water (Deep Purple) and Hotel California (Eagles).

The band is accompanied by a singer from the Philippines and four Vietnamese singers. They will perform from 8:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.

On February 1, the band will perform from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., in front of the hotel in a Tet performance on Nguyen Hue Flower Street.

Calibre Charner is part of a relaxation, healthcare and beauty complex featuring restaurant, café, bar, karaoke, spa, gym and hair salon. Located in downtown Nguyen Hue Boulevard and surrounded by trade centers, buildings, banks and fashion shops, cafés, Calibre Charner, open 7a.m. to midnight, is an ideal venue for businessmen and tourists to take the view of Saigon life.

The menu includes breakfast with noodle soup with ox tails, Hue style noodle soup with beef, Nam Vang noodle soup and broken rice.

It has two set dinner menus for Tet on Lunar New Year’s Eve priced at US$59 per person.

On the fifth floor of the hotel will be a seafood buffet from February 2 to February 6. Tickets are priced at VND550,000 per adult on Lunar New Year’s Eve and VND350,000 per adult on February 3 to 6.

The Palace Hotel Saigon, 55-66 Nguyen Hue Boulevard, HCMC’s District 1. Tel: 3829 2860.

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Fun with banh chung at Sea Horse Resort

Spring fair in Phan Thiet

A team makes a banh chung at Tuesday’s festival at the Sea Horse Resort in Phan Thiet - Photo: Khai Nguyen

Hundreds of holidayers in Phan Thiet cheered on their favorite team at a banh chung wrapping contest at a festival at Sea Horse Resort on Tuesday night.

The contest to make the square glutinous rice cake filled with green bean paste and pork fat was part of a banh chung festival held by the resort. Twenty three teams, many of them tourists from Russia, Germany, Estonia and Rumania, competed.

In 15 minutes, the teams had to wrap all the ingredients of a banh chung in banana leaves and tie it with string under guidance of the resort staff.

All the teams finished the cake on time but the most beautiful banh chung belonged to three teams from Russia.

A Vietnamese overseas lady, Le Thu Nguyet, said, “I am Vietnamese but this is the first time I have made a banh chung. It is a joyful experience after 23 years away from my country.”

All the cakes were boiled to serve guests. “Touring Vietnam, I can
discover many landscapes and learn interesting things interesting about culture, food and history,” said Billy Karksson,a tourist from Sweden.

The festival is held at the resort every year so visitors can know about the traditional Vietnamese Tet festival.

*Binh Thuan Province will hold its Spring Fair at Nguyen Tat Thanh Square in Phan Thiet City from January 22 to 27 with about 150 booths.

Organizers hope the fair will add extra color to the province’s Tet celebrations and bring luck to
enterprises to promote their businesses and find partners.

The fair will feature food, cosmetics, household utensils, souvenirs, fine arts products and home decorations.

Nightly music shows, children’s games, promotions and discount programs promise to make it a fun event.

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Tombs and clouds on Truong Son Road

A view of East Truong Son

We reached Pleiku City in the Central Highland when night started to fall. The mountainous city was magnificent with lights everywhere and high buildings. We found a hotel to sleep to be ready for Truong Son Road, the Ho Chi Minh Trail, next day.

Early in the morning, after visiting Bien Ho (Sea Lake), a tourist destination that is five kilometers from the center of the City, we left Pleiku in a light drizzle for neighboring Kontum Town.

Truong Son Road is sinuous track that gets thinner as it climbs. Along the road are many weirdly named passes such as Lo Xo, Prom, P’Rao.

Scattering along the road are many graveyards of soldiers and locals, making us feel very somber. One member of my group, whose father died there in the war time but his body was never recovered, burned incense at some tombs hoping that one was his father’s.

This bridge on Truong Son Road crosses a waterfall - Photos: Pham Manh Anh

The rain continued so the trail was blanked in water and fog. Winding roads looked like silk scarves across the hills and everything looked dreamy and vaporous.

Along the road there were no residential areas, just some small villages spread far apart. The villagers pan for gold, or cut wood. There was no sign of cars, buses or trucks.

We stopped by Lo Xo Pass where clouds clung to the mountain sides. We all took out cameras and took photos as if we were standing in front of a watercolor painting that we were afraid would vanish.

We went back to the car as the FM radio broadcast that the monsoon would come the next day. It was time to leave but we all agreed to return next year.

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Int’l yacht festival promotes yachting tourism

Yacht teams from 20 countries and territories in the world will take
part in the 2011 International Yacht Festival which will be held in Mui
Ne, in the central province of Binh Thuan from March 17-20.

Themed
“Yacht, Sea, Sand and Sun,” the second yacht festival will include
interesting sports, tourism and entertainment activities such as a yacht
exhibition, a yacht performance by professional athletes, plus
international music performances with the participation of artists from
the Czech Republic, the Republic of Korea, Australia and Russia
and arts performances from Vietnam.

There will be a
seminar on building a brand name for Vietnamese sea activities, along
with advertising and developing yachting amusements in Vietnam.

At
a press briefing in Hanoi on Jan. 20, Deputy Chairman of the Binh
Thuan provincial People’s Committee Nguyen Van Thu said the organisation
of the festival is to popularise Mui Ne beach attractions to domestic
and foreign tourists and develop Vietnam’s sea tourism.

The
event is also a chance for international yacht groups to consider
investing and building yacht production plants for export in Binh Thuan
to provide for the Asian market.

Boasting a 192 km coastal
line, Binh Thuan province boasts abundant sea resources with beautiful
beaches, historical and cultural monuments and captivating traditional
festivals which are suitable for sea tourism development.

The International Yacht Association ranks Mui Ne as one of the best beaches for sailing in Asia.

Mui
Ne welcomed 2.5 million tourists, 15 percent of whom were foreigners,
in 2010. Binh Thuan province aims to attract 3.5 million visitors –
including 500,000 foreigners – to the beach by 2015./.

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