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Vietnam Open Tour News & EventsTHURSDAY 24 SEPTEMBER, 2009 |
 Travel expo to return to HCM City in October
The expo’s organization committee at the press conference on September 16 (Photo: Truong Son) At the official launch at its press conference on September 16, the Tourism Alliance Awards (TAA) 2009 were introduced, which will award outstanding tourism services in three Southeast Asian countries. TAA 2009 was designed to celebrate and recognize the brightest tourism stars in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, as the tourism industry is playing an increasingly important role in those economies. The list of winners will be announced at Phu Tho Exhibition Center, District 11, on October 1. The two-day conference starting from September 30 will feature topics like tourism plans for the three countries; tourism investment opportunities; creating successful public-private tourism investment partnerships – the Indian experience; public private partnership in tourism investments; and attracting tourism investment and investment financing in key hospitality areas: tourism transportation and hotels and resorts. VietNamNet/SGGP Duong’s Family House: All In One During a business trip to the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho, after finishing work, people usually ask locals if there is any interesting place to visit. There are many answers for the question, and one option is always offered. It is called Binh Thuy Ancient House, or Binh Thuy Orchid Garden, or Duong’s family house.
According to the daughter-in-law of the house’s owner, Duong Minh Hien, the sixth generation of Duong’s family, the garden house covering 6,000 square meters was built around the late 19th century or early 20th century by Duong Chan Ky, first generation of the family. “He loved French designs and wanted to keep design characters of Vietnam, so he decided to invite artists from the North, Central and South to design the house,” she said. “This is the reason why you can see that the outside appearance has the French design while the interior brings Vietnamese characters.” The house is classified into five compartments. The two ends are for bedrooms and kitchen while the three central ones are for living room and worshipping, all equipped with sophisticated ancient wood furniture like beds or a large ancestral altar to valuable ancient things such as lamps, wash basin and jars. One special thing is that when building Ky asked to spread a 10cm-thick salt layer on the house’s foundation. “You can see that the wooden furniture has been living for a long time; moreover, the house is always cool despite the hot season,” the lady cum house manager said. She added one more special thing of the house that has so far attracted a lot of local and foreign guests, it is an exciting address for film directors. The famous French movie L’amant directed by J.J Annaud is an example. Tourists can study these stories by documents and images on the wall. From the windows, tourists can experience a wide range of flowers planted in the garden. Duong Van Ngon (1905-1985), Ky’s son, loved orchids. He tried to collect various kinds of orchids as much as possible, as well as other flowers. His descendents have tried to keep the invaluable property, including a 40-year-old 10-meter cactus named Kim Lang Tru. After having a short tour to understand details of the one-hundred-year-old garden house, tourists can have a seat on two sets of stone-made tables and chairs under giant trees in the yard to have a general look at the house before leaving. During the talk, the daughter-in-law who refused to give her name felt quite sad. She said that families have tried to keep the house that has been granted as the national vestige early this year, but this is difficult work. “We either want to open the door for all visitors to understand the house or limit the number of visitors,” she said, explaining that despite being unintentional or intentional, they (visitors) gradually damage things. On the way back by xe om (motorcycle taxi), the driver told us that in the past, Can Tho was home to several ancient houses like that of Duong’s family, but they were mostly damaged. The Binh Thuy Ancient House is luckily an exception. Binh Thuy Ancient House is located at 26/1 Bui Huu Nghia street, Binh Thuy district, Can Tho city. VietNamNet/SGT
Da Lat ‘Crazy House’ joins bizarre global list
French travel guide Hachette has also highlighted the “Crazy House” as a not-to-be missed hotel stay on any trip to Vietnam. The house, which occupies nearly 1,600 sq.m on Huynh Thuc Khang Street, was completed in 1990 as a personal project by architect Dang Viet Nga. The controversial building once dismissed as “crazy”, has now become a popular destination for tourists visiting the city. The free-form undulating structure is quite unlike anything else in Da Lat, let alone Vietnam. The house is constructed on numerous levels with a naturalistic theme interpreted through its concrete curves, twists and bends, giving it the appearance of an old tree. The interior is equally unorthodox, with almost every surface twisting, curving and running fluidly along the internal corridors, stairwells and rooms. Mismatched windows give the impression of a fairytale house straight from Little Red Riding Hood, while stone tigers, bears, eagles, kangaroos and pheasants decorate the environs adding to the surreal environment. The building has been dogged by controversy since conception, with arguments centering on the structure’s insufficient architectural integrity, its ad-hoc character and lack of formal aestheticism. Nga shrugs off criticism, “Many people have criticised me, even my colleagues. I don’t blame people who don’t understand me.” Instead she believes that the controversial character of the house has won her more attention. “When they first saw the house, people would exclaim that it was a “crazy house”! So that’s how it got its name, and now, it’s one of Da Lat’s leading tourist attractions,” Nga says. Visitors have responded to Nga’s creation, one French visitor noted in the visitors book: “Thanks for showing me the meaning of life. The fairy tale house took me back to my childhood, to when things were pure and natural.” The Lam Dong Provincial People’s Committee has designated the house as a serious architectural work and its owner, Nga, has had the architectural plans and style of the house copyrighted, becoming the first of its kind to receive such recognition in the province. With the new certificate from the city administration, she now can expand and plans to build another house in 2010. The nine other buildings selected by the China’s People’s Daily include the Forest Spiral – Hunder Swasser Building in Germany, the Ideal Palace in France, the Basket Building, the Public Library and the upside down Wonderworks in the US, and the Cubic houses in the Netherlands. VietNamNet/VNA
Empty hotel rooms means cheaper accommodation for tourists Newly released figures reveal Vietnamese hotel room occupancy dropped by 30 per cent in the first eight months of 2009.
HCM City The information, provided by commercial real estate CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), also shows numbers of foreign tourists coming to In It’s a situation that has been mirrored in In general, the room rate in Though the survey makes for gloomy reading for the tourist industry, according to global hotel index provier STR Global, According to Robert Mcintosh, a senior executive of CBRE Hotels Asia Pacific, hotels are taking the right course of action in reducing room rates in order to attract more clients. However, in some cases, hotels fear reducing room rates will badly affect brand names. Some have opted instead for launching promotional campaigns. Mr Mcintosh added that He adds that big hotel management groups like Accor, Intercontinental and Marriot may well bring more mass market and top level brand names to further develop the market. VietNamNet/VNE Choi Voi wins Venice Festival Critics’ Prize Bui Thac Chuyen’s salacious, steamy film, Choi Voi, has won a prize at the Venice International Film Festival. VNExpress online newspaper interviewed Chuyen as he and his two leading actresses were about to fly on to another film fest in Toronto.
VNExpress: What did the jury, the audience and foreign colleagues say about your film?
Chuyen: Choi Voi was screened at the two largest theatres of the festival, with 1300 and 1700 seats each. Many audiences watched our movie. Afterwards, they surrounded us and clapped their hands warmly for a very long time. Some congratulated us and praised the movie. Among them were many filmmakers. Certainly, the jury never expressed their opinions.
VNE: The two leading actresses in Choi Voi, Pham Linh Dan and Do Hai Yen, joined with you in all activities in Venice. What could you say about your beautiful colleagues?
Chuyen: Each of us had a separate working schedule. Yen and Linh Dan were escorted by their families, So we were only together at the press conference and for taking photos. Many audiences praised them for their roles in Choi Voi. Actually, I was proud to stand beside two such beautiful women!
After watching the movie for the first time in Venice, Linh Dan told me that she was very happy to have made the film and she was willing to participate in my future projects. I think that is the biggest compliment.
VNE: What did the Choi Voi film crew do in Venice?
Chuyen: Choi Voi was screened three times, including an official show with red-carpet ceremony. We also had a press conference and some interviews. We spent a lot of time watching films and we will attend the closing ceremony.
I’m very happy to have seen my French friends, who gave some technical support to Choi Voi. We shared our memories of making the film together. Everybody was very happy to join in this project.
VNE: What do you think about the Venice Film Festival 2009?
Chuyen: Venice is the only world renowned film festival that doesn’t have a film market. It is a simple movie festival. Perhaps for that reason, Venice was not as eventful as other festivals.
According to the festival’s director, Marco Muller, this year’s festival attracted the highest number of participating countries. I didn’t have sufficient time to watch every movie, but all the films that I saw were very special.
VNE: You complained about financial problems before going to Venice. . . .
Chuyen: This is an expensive tourist city. A cup of coffee can cost around thirteen Euros (350,000 dong). We had to limit our comforts as much as possible. I’m not ashamed of it, but I don’t want to boast about it either.
VNE: This is the first time a Vietnamese film has officially taken part in the Venice Film Festival. Will it open opportunities for other Vietnamese movies?
Chuyen: There will be no opportunity if the Vietnamese movie industry doesn’t try at its best to survive and develop. The goal of a film or any film industry is not to participate in festivals. Roger Garcia, a professional film festival organizer, explained that to Vietnamese filmmakers.
I am joyful that Vietnam has appeared on the world movie map, but we’re still only a dim spot. That’s all! It is not a door opening to the world. My short film entered the Cannes Film Festival 2000 and now, eight years later, I had a second short film chosen for Venice. We should not talk about opportunities, but the effort of each filmmaker.
What have you learned from this film festival?
Chuyen: Investment for this film was too low and we lacked time to prepare the copy and subtitles. In movies, any error can ruin the efforts of many people. We also have to gain experience in press conferences, meeting with the media, attracting audiences and other aspects.
Entertainment capitalists dominate big film festivals. They bring team of professional organizers to Venice to advertise their movies. This year Oliver Stone invited the Venezuelan President to Venice to advertise his documentary. So how could the film crew of a group who had to save two euros for drinking compete with these guys?
VNE: What is your plan to introduce Choi Voi in Vietnam and at the Toronto Film Festival?
Chuyen: Thien Ngan Company will distribute this film in Vietnam. I think this movie will be distributed in a completely new way in Vietnam because it has many sensitive features that are not suitable for mass audiences.
VNE: Some people fear that Choi Voi will not meet the requirements to join the Oscars for commercial screening. . . .
Chuyen: Oscars? I’m interested in how our film will be distributed globally. We have missed some opportunities, so we will have to exert ourselves to create a good life for it. It is joyful to walk on the red carpet, but is it necessary to think much about it? I know where I am now.
VietNamNet/VNE News for Tuesday 22 September, 2009 View all news for Tuesday 22 September, 2009 on one page Recent News
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