Southern Fruit Festival 2012’ to be held in June

The ‘Southern Fruit Festival 2012’ will take place at the Suoi Tien Cultural Tourist Area in Ho Chi Minh City from June 1-23.

Fruits will be offered at a 20-40 per cent discount during the festival. 

According to the organiser, the HCMC City Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the event will have various activities including a fruit floating-market, animal shaped fruit displays, most delicious fruit contest, and an ornamental tree and animal exhibition.



The festival will introduce to visitors a special collection of fruits such as 50-60kg pumpkins, 9kg coconuts and 3 kg mangos.



The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism expects to attract more than one million visitors to the festival and bring about 1,500 kilos of fruits to the market.



In addition, foreign art troupes from Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia will join the fruit show, together with local groups.



Suoi Tien Cultural Tourist Area will offer free entry for children on opening day on June 1.

Vietnam is attractive destination for Cambodians

Vietnam is one of the most attractive destinations for tourists from Cambodia, with the number of visitors increasing annually by around 30 percent, according to the Cambodian Ministry of Tourism.

More than 420,000 Cambodians visited Vietnam last year.



Cambodian Minister of Tourism Thong Khon said that Vietnamese tourist arrivals to Cambodia increase by 18 percent annually. More than 600,000 Vietnamese people came to Cambodia last year, accounting for 21 percent of the total number of foreign visitors to the country. The most popular tourist attraction was Angkor Watt.

Vietnam and Cambodia have favourable conditions for boosting tourism cooperation, including a fine bilateral relationship, cheap tours on offer, and comfortable traveling with dozens of flights and hundreds of buses shuttling between the two countries every day.

Source: VOV online

Vietnamese traditional costumes

Traditional costumes of the Vietnamese people tend to be very simple and modest. Men wear brown shirts and white trousers. Their headgear is simply a piece of cloth wrapped around the head and their footwear consists of a pair of plain sandals.

For formal ceremonies men would have two additional items, a long gown with slits on either side, and a turban, usually in black or brown made of cotton or silk. In feudal times, there were strict dress codes. Ordinary people were not allowed to wear clothes with dyes other than black, brown or white. Costumes in yellow were reserved for the King. Those in purple and red were reserved for high ranking court officials, while dresses in blue were exclusively worn by petty court officials. Men's dress has gradually changed along with social development.

The traditional set of a long gown and turban gave way to more modern looking suits, while business shirts and trousers have replaced traditional long sleeved shirts and wide trousers. Traditional costumes still exist and efforts are increasingly being made to restore traditional festivals and entertainment which incorporate traditional costumes.

Young women wear light brown-colored short shirts with long black skirts. Their headgear consists of a black turban with a peak at the front. To make their waist look smaller, they tightly fasten a long piece of pink or violet cloth.On formal occasions, they wear a special three layered dress called an "ao dai", a long gown with slits on either side.

The outer garment is a special silk gown called an "ao tu than" which is brown or light brown in colour with four slits divided equally on its lower section. The second layer is a gown in a light yellow colour and the third layer is a pink gown. When a woman wears her three gowns, she fastens the buttons on the side, and leave those on the chest unfastened so that it forms a shaped collar. This allows her to show the different colors on the upper part of the three gowns. Beneath the three gowns is a bright red brassiere which is left exposed to cover the woman's neck.

     

 

Over time, the traditional "ao dai" has gone through certain changes. Long gowns are now carefully tailored to fit the body of a Vietnamese woman. The two long slits along the side allow the gown to have two free floating panels in the front and at the back of the dress. The floating panels expose a long pair of white silk trousers.

An elegant looking conical palm hat, which is traditionally known as a "non bai tho" (a hat with poetry written on it), is worn as part of a woman's formal dress. This traditional conical hat is particularly suitable for a tropical country such as Vietnam, where fierce sunshine and hard rain are commonplace.

To make a conical hat, a hat maker chooses young palm leaves that have been been dried under continued sunshine. Attached beneath the almost transparent layers of dried palm leaves is a drawing of a small river wharf. Below the drawing, there is a piece of poetry to be recited by the hat wearer.

In recent years some foreign fashions have been introduced to Vietnam; however, the traditional "ao dai" remains preferable to women in both urban and rural settings.

In general, Vietnamese clothing is very diverse. Every ethnic group in Vietnam has its own style of clothing. Festivals are the occasion for all to wear their favorite clothes. Over thousands of years, the traditional clothing of all ethnic groups in Vietnam has changed, but each ethnic group has separately maintained their own characteristics.

In the mountain areas, people live in houses built on stilts, wear trousers or skirts and indigo vests with design motifs imitating wild flowers and beasts. In the northern uplands and the Central Highlands, the young women have made skirts and vests with beautiful and coulourful decoration in a style convenient for farm work in terraced fields and to travel on hilly slopes and mountain gorges.

Miss Vietnam

Miss Vietnam 2006 Mai Phuong Thuy releases a series of photos featuring herself in Vietnamese traditional costume ao dai looking at calligraphers drawing beautiful handwriting during this lunar New Year holiday.

Vietnam Remains A “Hidden Beauty” in the Eyes of Foreign Tourists

Bridge – Vietnam has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to show its beautiful landscapes on famous television channels CNN or BBC, or to advertise on taxis in London. However, Vietnam remains an unknown and hidden charm to foreign travelers.

The arrow that failed to reach the target
In recent years, Vietnam has been paying more attention to promoting tourism. However, the result remains modest. In the second half of 2010 alone, Vietnam spent 5.3 billion dong to run advertisement campaigns on CNN, which gobbled up 12 percent of the total budget for the yearly national tourism promotion program.
A mini survey conducted by the Vietnam Economic Forum conducted on 200 foreign travelers showed that 77 percent of foreign travelers have never seen information about Vietnam’s tourism in mass media, advertisements or at tourism trade fairs. Ninety-three percent of polled tourists said they never see the advertisement pieces on BBC and CNN.

Vietnam also spent money to place advertisements on 27 taxis out of 10,000 taxis in London in the UK for six months. However, local dwellers said they never see the advertisements.

Vu Huy Vu, Deputy General Director of Saigon Tourist, said Vietnam needs to do many more things to popularize Vietnam’s tourism in the world. “Vietnam needs to have more and more publications introducing Vietnam’s tourism potentials. It needs to set up tourism representative offices in other countries to promote tourism,” he said, adding that other regional countries like Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines all have representative offices in Europe and the US for tens years.
Meanwhile, a cheap but effective communication channel – Internet – has been ignored.

Ben Chua is a Singaporean person who builds and runs vietnam720, an website that uses interactive products like videos, audios to introduce attractive destinations in Vietnam.
“If you access to yoursingapore.com, you will find everything about Singapore. For example, if you type “art”, the website will show all the information about arts, from the events to places for excursions or the hotels near art centers,” he said.
Ben Chua said he has an account on Twitter to listen opinions from people about Vietnam. There is a tweet posted in every 10 seconds, which means 36,000 opinions come every hour. However, no official agency has replied to the opinions.
What is a new image for Vietnam?

In mid January 2011, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism VNAT officially announced the result of the logo creation competition for the new period. The slogan “Vietnam – a different Orient” has won the competition. However, after two months, the slogan has not been approved to become the new slogan of Vietnam’s tourism in the new period.

It seems that foreigners still see Vietnam as a war torn country, rather than an attractive destination in peacetime. It is because Vietnam is still busy looking for a new suitable slogan to be introduced to the world.

“Vietnam is a friendly, joyful country, where the prices are reasonable. However, the images Vietnam introduces to the world do not reflect these things,” said Tim Russell, Managing Director of Come & Go Vietnam travel firm.

He believes that since Vietnam cannot build up a reasonable tourism brand, only five percent of tourists return to Vietnam for the second time, while 50 percent of tourists come to Thailand for the second time.

He went on to say that Vietnam only has been trying to attract the tourists who are interested in the culture and discoveries, while it has not been trying to attract holidaymakers. Meanwhile, tourism does not only mean discovery, but also means relaxing, sunbathing, playing golf and water sports, meals, nightlife and anything that is a part of a comfortable life.

He believes that Vietnam should look for professional consultants and should carry out surveys in many places in order to build up a professional marketing strategy.

Via  VietNamNet

Tourism potentials in Vietnam

Viet Nam's diverse natural environment, geography, history, and culture have created a great potential for the tourism industry. Viet Nam consists of long coastlines, forests, and mountainous regions with numerous magnificent landscapes. As well, Viet Nam has a long history and diversified culture with variety of ancient architecture constructions, and wonderful legends. 

Viet Nam has a long coastline that extends along the eastern mainland boundary and wraps around the southern tip for 3,260 km, a distance geographically longer than the length of the country. With 125 beaches, of which almost of all are beautiful beaches andconvenient for tourism but not every country can have. Traveling from north to south, many famous beaches will be found such as Tra Co, Ha Long, Do Son, Cat Ba, Sam Son, Cua Lo, Thien Cam, Lang Co, Da Nang, Nha Trang, Ca Na, Mui Ne, Vung Tau, Ha Tien, Phu Quoc... Especially, Ha Long Bay, a creation of Mother Nature which is recognized as the World Natural Heritage Site by the UNESCO twice in 1994 and 2000 for its natural beauty and geological value and now provisionally listed among the new seven natural wonders of the world. In addition,three bays including Ha Long, Nha Trang, Lang Co are members of the Club of themost beautiful bays of the world. Moreover,many beaches and islands are voted by worldwide prestigious news agencies,magazines, guidebooks with impressive titlessuch as Da Nang Beach voted by Forbesmagazine (USA) as one of six most beautiful beaches on the planet in 2005; Bai Dai (Dai Beach) in Phu Quoc voted to be among the world's five best hidden beaches by the ABC News in 2008; Con Dao selected as one of the most impressive destinations in Southeast Asia in 2010 by the New York Times magazine. Specifically, in 2011 Con Dao listed in the top 20 most mysterious islands in the world of Travel and Leisuremagazine (USA) and was voted as one of 10 best and mysterious islands in the worldto enjoy a romantic holiday by Lonely Planet travel guide (UK). The sea reservations in Phu Quoc and Con Dao are home of dugong, one of the extremely rare species in the world. Beach lovers can enjoy exciting activities and water sports at almost of all beaches.




With a large space of coastal lines of thousands islands nearing the mainland and archipelagos of Hoang Sa (Paracel Islands) and Truong Sa (Spratly Islands), sea and island tourism with specific products, has played an important role in the Viet Nam's tourism development strategy.

Viet Nam is a tropical country in the northern hemisphere. With its geographical diversity, the country has inherited many famous natural tourist sites such as Sa Pa, Tam Dao, Bach Ma, Ba Na, Da Lat... These sites are usually located 1,000 meters above sea level; therefore, they have climates that are similar to those of the temperate zones. Sa Pa Town isattractive with old French style villas andmodern buildings interspersed in peach garden and very green lines of sa mu(cunnighamia konishii). Especially, Sa Pa Town was voted one of the world's top ten places for walking by popular Lonely Planet guidebook. The road will take you tointegrate into local life among terraced rice fields and villages nearby. Moreover, the Sa Pa beautiful terraced rice fields along mountain sides, winding along the roads have been announced as one of seven most beautiful and spectacular terraced rice fields in Asia and the world by Travel and Leisure magazine (the United States). Da Lat is an ideal tourist area, famous for pine forests, waterfalls and many kinds of beautiful flowers. Coming to Da Lat, tourists are diverted by the strong and tender melodies of the T'rung and Gongs, two typical musical instruments of the highlanders commonly played at evening parties.


Besides, Viet Nam has 30 national parks and many nature reserves which are great collections of precious plant and animal species of the tropical zone. Especially, Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park with its vivid evidences of the Earth's formation, geological, topographic and geomorphologic history, mysterious landscapes and the bio-diversity of the national park as well as its unique historical and cultural values, has been declared a world natural heritage by UNESCO in 2003.


Phong Nha-Ke Bang is home to the largest cave in the world and 300 different grottoes and caves. Phong Nha Cave has been regarded by British Cave Research Association as the top cave in the world due to its 4 top records: the longest underground river, the highest and longest cave, broadest and most beautiful fine sand beaches inside the caves, the most spectacular stalagmites and stalactites. Son Doong Cave has been recognized as the largest natural cave in the world.
In addition, up to 2011, there are 8 world biosphere reserves recognized by UNESCO in Viet Nam including Cat Tien National Park (now known as Dong Nai biosphere reserve) (2001), Can Gio mangrove in Ho Chi Minh City (2000), Cat Ba Island in Hai Phong City (2004), Red River Delta (coastal wetlands of the three provinces of Thai Binh, Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh) (2004), sea island and coastal of Kien Giang (2006), Western Nghe An (2007), Cu Lao Cham in Hoi An - Quang Nam (2009), and Ca Mau Cape in Ca Mau Province (2009). Four national parks recognized as ASEANheritage parks include Hoang Lien, Ba Be, Chu Mom Ray and Kon Ka Kinh.


There are several regions in Viet Nam that have been reserved as bird gardens and sanctuaries. At Tam Nong Bird Sanctuary, there is a garden conservatory for redhead cranes, established as an information center for cranes funded by the International Fund for Bird Protection in Bergheim, Germany.

Viet Nam has abundant mineral water sources found throughout the country, such as Quang Hanh hot stream in Quang Ninh Province, Kim Boi mineral spring in Hoa Binh Province, Bang mineral spring in Quang Binh Province, Hoi Van mineral spring in Binh Dinh Province, Duc My and Thap Ba hot springs in Nha Trang City of Khanh Hoa Province, Vinh Hao mineral spring in Binh Thuan Province, and Binh Chau - Ho Coc in Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province... These areas have become destinations for health rehabilitation and relaxation attracting numerous tourists every year.



Viet Nam has a long 4,000-year history, over which many valuable architectural monuments of typical oriental culture have been built. Many of these vestiges maintain their ancient appearances, such as the One Pillar Pagoda, Kim Lien Pagoda, Tay Phuong Pagoda, Tay Dang Temple and Chu Quyen Temple in Hanoi, Pho Minh Pagoda-Tower in Nam Dinh Province, Binh Son Tower in Vinh Phuc Province, Keo Pagoda in Thai Binh Province, But Thap Pagoda and Dinh Bang Temple in Bac Ninh Province, Cham Towers in the provinces of the Central Coast of Viet Nam and the royal architectures of Hue Citadel.
Up to December 2011, there are more than 3,000 relics and landscapes classified national heritage, 10 special national relics out of tens of thousands of historical - cultural sites andlandscapes in Viet Nam. Besides the twoabove world natural heritage sites,UNESCO recognized five world cultural heritage sites: Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long - Ha Noi, Citadel of the Ho Dynasty, Complex of Hue Monuments, Hoi An Ancient Town and My Son Sanctuary; six in the world intangible heritage lists: Nha Nhac - Vietnamese Court Music, the Space of Gong Culture in Central Highland, Quan Ho Bac Ninh folk songs, Ca Tru singing, Xoan singing of Phu Tho Province and Giong Festival of Phu Dong and Soc Temples (Hanoi);two in the World Documentary Heritage list: Woodblocks of Nguyen Dynasty, Stone steles in Van Mieu - Quoc Tu Giam (Hanoi). Besides, Dong Van Karst Plateau is member of Global Geopark Network. In the future, a number of cultural and natural heritage sites will continue to be proposed for the UNESCO's recognition.

In addition, tens of millions of valuable antiques and national treasures are being preserved and on display at the system of 125 museums distributed all over the country.Also, the traditional festivals, custom, arts performances, handicrafts, gastronomy, costumes... of the community of 54 ethnic groups have been becoming the important tourism resources.

Exploring Vietnam

National Parks

Cuc Phuong Forest, 62 miles southwest of Hanoi, is a 61,000-acre preserve of one of the world's few remaining primeval tropical forests. Three quarters of Cuc Phuong is spread over limestone mountains, which abound in relaxing hot springs and fascinating caves and grottos. Flying lizards and yellow monkeys can be spotted here.


Cat Ba Island, the largest island of the Cat Ba Archipelago, offers some of the most beautiful terrain and diverse ecosystems in Vietnam, including primeval forest, coastal mangroves, waterfalls, limestone lakes, freshwater swamps, and hot springs. The island's abundant fauna includes boar, wild cat, porcupine, deer, and monkey.


Activities

Snorkeling, diving, and deep sea fishing are available at most beach resorts. The Pong Nha River caves offer excellent spelunking. Cycling is ubiquitous, as are backpackers. Hiking and horseback riding are ideal in the serene countryside.


North Vietnam

Hanoi

Vietnam's capital and second largest city retains its French colonial ambiance and is dotted with lakes and lovely parks. West of Hanoi are the Son La mountains, known for their sanctuaries, grottos, and pagodas. The traditional cultures of Vietnam's ethnic minorities still survive in the northern province's mountains, but these regions might be inaccessible because of border disputes between Vietnam and China. If a visit to the northern mountains isn't possible, travellers should be sure to visit the montagnard regions of Central Vietnam.

Also in the north is Halong Bay, which the Vietnamese consider a wonder of the world. This tranquil, magical bay is dotted with more than a thousand limestone islands, which rise from the water in dramatic rock formations and harbour extensive grottos and caves. The most notable of the caves of Halong is Dau Go, an extensive cavern filled with stalactites and stalagmites that resemble a menagerie of birds and beasts.

Central Vietnam

Nghe An

The province is divided into one city (Vinh), two towns (Cửa Lò and Thái Hòa), and 17 districts. The province contains 437 communes, the highest in any province in Vietnam.


Districts:
Anh Sơn
Con Cuông
Diễn Châu
Đô Lương
Hưng Nguyên
Kỳ Sơn
Nam Đàn
Nghi Lộc
Nghĩa Đàn
Quế Phong
Quỳ Châu
Quỳ Hợp
Quỳnh Lưu
Tân Kỳ
Thanh Chương
Tương Dương
Yên Thành

Education

There are two universities in Nghệ An, both of them are in Vinh city which is the capital of Nghệ An province. The biggest one is Vinh University.

Notable inhabitants

Nghệ An is the home province of Phan Bội Châu and Ho Chi Minh.
Ethnic groups

In addition to the majority Vietnamese people, some Ơ Đu people also live here.

Etymology

The province's name derives from Sino-Vietnamese (Hán Tự: 乂安), meaning “governance in peace.”

Country	Vietnam
Region	North Central Coast
Capital	Vinh
Government
• People's Council Chair	Nguyễn Tham Nhung
• People's Committee Chair	Phan Đình Trạc
Area
• Total	16,487 km2 (6,366 sq mi)
Population (2004)
• Total	3,003,200
• Density	180/km2 (470/sq mi)
Demographics
• Ethnicities	Vietnamese, Khơ Mú,Thai, Thổ, H'Mông
Time zone	ICT (UTC+7)
Calling code	38
ISO 3166 code	VN-22
Website	nghean.gov.vn

Hue

In the heart of the coastal provinces, between North and South Vietnam, is the imperial city of Hue, a non-westernized enclave of Vietnam's traditions and an important repository of its ancient past. Dominated by majestic temples, ancient tombs, and the imperial citadel, Hue is a place in which time seems to have stopped. In the inland highlands of Central Vietnam are found many of Vietnam's ethnic minority groups.

Central Vietnam also offers one of the country's most picturesque and uncrowded beaches at Nha Trang. Nearby Hon Yen island is home to the famous sea swallow nests, which are esteemed as culinary delicacies. The idyllic Central Vietnam coastline is also the locale of the Mui Le dunes, de rigeur for photographers.


South Vietnam

Westernized, bustling, cosmopolitan Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, is Vietnam's largest city. Inside this dense, teeming metropolis are countless links to the past, including a number of notable shrines and temples. Gia Lam, Ngoc Hoa, and Giac Ven pagodas are the best-known. Modern sites include Reunification Hall and Cholon Market. For a different perspective on the city, visitors can take a boat cruise on the Saigon River.

East of Ho Chi Minh City is the Con Doa Archipelago, with fourteen islands of primeval forest, pristine beaches, coconut groves, coral reefs, and crystal clear waters. The Mekong Delta, which stretches from Cambodia to the South China Sea, is a vast network of canals and rivers amid a seemingly endless patchwork of rice paddies.