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Vietnam Open Tour News & EventsWEDNESDAY 17 JUNE, 2009 |
 Cool cascades
Enjoying the cascading waters of Do Brook near Nha Trang The pick of the bunch would have to be Do Brook, also called Nuoc Do (Pouring water), which flows through Phuoc Trach Village at the western end of the Hoang Nguu Range. The water streams down from high up to form a good-sized pool on the mountainside from which two creeks turn and twist their way down to one large pool apiece. All three pools have white sandy bottoms and are surrounded by boulders and small cliffs sharing the space with green grass and trees. The locals like to relate the myth of a huge eaglewood tree that grew there and emitted an instantly recognizable fragrance that permeated the area. Oddly enough, any would-be timber thief who got close to the tree became oblivious to the perfume and assumed they’d made a mistake. Thus did the tree protect itself and its precious timber. It didn’t hurt that there were two large snakes living among the boughs as a second line of defense. The local deity is called Thien Y A Na and is much revered by the local inhabitants. In days of yore, she would often stop by Do Brook to rest and enjoy the cool breeze. Three peals of thunder always heralded her approach. She arrived in true spirit fashion, as a long and broad patch of blue light like a strip of silk that flew from Nui Chua Island or Ba Island and gently touched down. Her temple can be found a little way below one of the lower pools. The cascading waters of Do Brook are great for swimming and skylarking, and the fresh air and lovely scenery make it an ideal picnic spot. VietNamNet/TN Investment in Phu Quoc: the paradise still far away To date, the island development programming remains controversial. A lot of projects have been registered, but investors have made no moves. Many big infrastructure items on the island are unfinished. The Duong To International airport project, which kicked off construction in 2008, still has not finished main items, including a resettlement area. According to the Phu Quoc Island Investment and Development Management Board, 33 investment projects have been licenced by Kien Giang People’s Committee. The projects are expected to cover an area of 1,157 hectares with the total capital of 31 trillion dong. 174 other projects have gotten agreement in principle, expected to cover an area of 7,855 hectares.
However, only four of the licenced projects have become operational, namely Berjaya Long Beach, Veranda, Cataco and Miramar resorts. Eighty-eight projects of the said 174 projects which have got agreement in principle have not followed stipulated investment procedures for many reasons. The projects registered by big names including Swiss Tructsse in cooperation with Vietnam’s Vinaconex (the Euro2 billion project on finance and tourism centre), the US-based Rockingham Group (the $1 billion high-grade tourism and entertainment complex), Starbay Veitnam ($1.8 billion Starbay resort complex) have not moved farther than asking for land. Earning money from project trading Hearing about the great potentials of Phu Quoc Island, a lot of people have rushed to lobby to get the right for investment in projects and rushed to commit fraud, totalling several billion dong. Trinh Van Trung, former Head of the Economics Division under the Kien Giang People’s Committee, was arrested after reportedly receiving 500 million dong from Xa Huong Company and promising to allocate forest land to the company for a tourism project.
Phu Quoc Island Ngoc promised to help Luc with the procedures in the project’s investment, but then ran off with 1.2 billion dong worth of Luc’s money. A lot of government officials have been selling state-owned land and forest land as their own. The police are now investigating a case in Ham Ninh commune, in which local authorities are accused of selling state land to officials. No one questions the potential of Phu Quoc Island, but even a paradise can’t be built in a day. VietNamNet/TP Tour for waterway lovers
Landmark of the country’s southern tip of Ca Mau located in beautiful primeval forest at Ca Mau Cape, a world biosphere reserve. The fruit gardens, traditional houses and pagodas in Tien Giang, Vinh Long, Can Tho and Bac Lieu are familiar attractions to visitors of the region. Ben Thanh plans to offer a special tour consisting of a sightseeing cruise on the Hau River and the Don Ca Tai Tu (Southern amateur opera) performance on a romantic tourist boat. This is a good time to visit Ca Mau Cape, the southern tip of Ca Mau province, as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, just recognized Ca Mau Cape as a world biosphere reserve last month. Ca Mau Cape is home to over 100 rare and endangered species of fauna and is the largest salt-marsh forest in Vietnam. Here, Ben Thanh will take the tourist through primeval forests. Canoes run from Ca Mau city through cajuput and mangrove forests and small canals to the cape. Exciting scenes mark the way along both riverbanks such as floating markets, happy homes, restaurants and shops as well as the forests. The travelers can learn how local people wait on the riverbank, as if there were a bus stop, for boats to take them to the markets or the schools. The river is also full of boats carrying agricultural products to the floating markets. The watchtower at Ca Mau Cape offers tourists a broader view of the cape, the surrounding forest, the sea and far off Khoai islet. One sight of this area and you will understand why UNESCO bestowed the honor of world biosphere reserve on this part of Vietnam. From Ca Mau city, the tours go to Kien Giang province’s Rach Gia town where speed boats make the run to Phu Quoc island. The tourists will have two days to explore the attractions there before they return to Can Tho city. Ben Thanh Tourist will arrange air tickets for those who do not want to brave the overland trip back to HCMC. VietNamNet/SGT Lang Co: pride of the central coast
Fishermen are preparing to catch fish. It’s the third Vietnamese bay to join the club, the other two being Ha Long and Nha Trang bays. Other new members this year are Pemba Bay in Mozambique and Cartagena Bay in Colombia. Ha Long in Quang Ninh Province is where the club will hold its annual conference next year, according to general secretary Bruno Bodard. To celebrate Lang Co’s club membership, the authorities of Thua Thien-Hue Province put on a gala of entertainment and ceremony on Saturday June 6. The event also kicked off a tourism festival called “Lang Co - The Legendary Beach.” Unrivaled beauty Lang Co itself is a fishing village 60 kilometers north of Hue and 40 kilometers south of Da Nang, and lies between Phu Gia Pass to the north and Hai Van Pass to the south. Tourists love the area and are flocking there in droves these days, as are the resort developers. The huge lagoon by the village extends for eight kilometers inland and is lit up at night by thousands of lamps in the fishing boats lying at anchor. The scene has been immortalized in poetry and prose innumerable times. Turquoise water, sweeping expanses of white sand, coconut trees, soft coral extending out for ten kilometers, and a backdrop of seemingly endless mountains characterize the area. The best time to go swimming there is from April to late July, when the temperature averages 25 degrees Celsius and each month has 158 hours of sunshine. Lang Co is rich in marine life with plenty of lobster, shrimp, crabs, mackerel and blood ark shell. At night, local fishermen escort tour parties to the lagoon to catch gobies and to sup on bowls of rice porridge mixed with fresh seafood. Economic potential In one of the speeches at the event last Saturday, provincial Chairman Nguyen Ngoc Thien said that Thua Thien-Hue would build Chan May-Lang Co Economic Zone into a modern center of international trading and tourism. Above all the province is looking for investment in environmentally friendly projects, “human resources” and vocational training, Thien said. Thanks to the 130-meter Chan May Pier and the tunnel under Hai Van Pass, it’s much easier for surrounding areas to trade with Lang Co nowadays, he said. Vo Phi Hung of the Thua Thien-Hue Tourism Department said the province had to make the most of Lang Co’s natural beauty to draw more tourists to the area. He also said it was vital to formulate long-term development strategies and stick to them. For now the focus is on improving “tourism infrastructure” in the province, which is spending VND1.2 trillion (US$65 million) for this purpose. Chan May-Lang Co Economic Zone has already gained 32 licensed projects with a combined investment capital of almost $2 billion. Ten of the projects are foreign and account for 71 percent of the capital. The standouts are Laguna Hue and Bai Chuoi beachside resorts, on which Singapore-based Banyan Tree Group and Cattigara have lavished $977 million. As evidence of Lang Co’s growing popularity, the 300-odd guest rooms in the area accommodated more than 8,000 overnight visitors in the first five months of this year. VietNamNet/TN News for Saturday 13 June, 2009 View all news for Saturday 13 June, 2009 on one page Recent News
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