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Vietnam Open Tour News & EventsMONDAY 30 NOVEMBER, 2009 |
 Smorgasbord of gratitude
It’s an imported custom that originated with the English Puritans who settled in America in the early 1600s. Their first winter in the New World was grim, many settlers died of starvation, and it was only when the local tribe showed them how to grow corn and catch fish that the survivors could carry on. In gratitude, the Puritans decided to celebrate their salvation with a feast and held their first Thanksgiving at Plymouth Plantation in 1621. These days the custom is observed in Canada as well as the United States and Canada, though on different days. Americans do it on Thursday of the fourth week in November while in Canada the day falls on Monday of the second week. Turkey Day in Vietnam Thanksgiving is also called Turkey Day because that’s what dominates the dining table for the occasion. The traditional Thanksgiving feast is turkey and stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potato, sweet potato, and beans. This is often embellished with lobster and other seafood, watercress, wild fowl, strawberries, plums and dried fruit. Pumpkin pie is the classic dessert and recalls the simple life of the European settlers. Plenty of places in Vietnam augment their menus when Thanksgiving Day comes around. One is the Parkview Restaurant at the New World Hotel, 76 Le Lai Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, where chef David Rejhon is overseeing the preparations for this Thanksgiving. Besides serving roast turkey with herbs, chicken broth, and cranberry or apple-wine sauce at the table from 6-10 p.m. on Thursday November 26, the Parkview will bag hot turkeys for customers to take home. There will also be a Thanksgiving smorgasbord priced at VND790,000 or US$45, including Beaujolais Nouveau and other wine, Tiger beer and soft drink. Roast turkey can be ordered in advance from November 23 through the Parkview’s “Flying Turkey” special for a price of VND1.67 million or $94 including a bottle of Obikwa Cabernet Sauvignon from South Africa. At the Caravelle Hotel, 19 Lam Son Square, District 1, the Nineteen restaurant on the ground floor will feature a buffet of turkey, meat stuffing and seafood from 5:30 to 10 p.m. on November 26. Seventeen Saloon will be doing the same at 121 Yersin Street, District 1, HCMC on November 25 and in Da Nang on the central coast on November 26. While dinners are eating their Thanksgiving food, the likes of Johnny Tri Nguyen and other entertainers of repute will be on stage giving their all for most of the evening. VietNamNet/Thanh Nien/Tuoi Tre An autumn paradise off the beaten track Tourists are able to relax near the tranquil waters in Thung Nai. Located on a section of the Da River in Cao Phong District in the When the biggest hydro power plant in Southeast Asia – the Hoa Binh Hydro Power Plant – was under construction in the 1980s, the Da River was stopped up to keep water for a reservoir. The water level then rose and submerged the valley together with hundreds of mountains, turning them into islands. That’s why Thung Nai has been praised as the "Ha Long Bay
Locals harvest bamboo to use as a building material. Visitors can witness the local daily life of Thung Nai residents. Only 110km northeast of Ha Noi, Thung Nai became a favourite tourist spot for dan phuot (Vietnamese slang for backpackers who like travelling by motorbike). "After two and a half hours of driving on meandering roads along the mountains, I can escape the noisy and dusty city to enjoy the purity of nature here," says Le Trung Kien, a young man who just graduated from the "I found out about the place when I joined a forum on the website. People wrote and uploaded many beautiful photographs on a topic about Thung Nai. I wanted to come here immediately after reading about it." Kien said that he and a group of his friends were astounded by the breathtaking landscape. Islands of
Grilled Thieu - a kind of fish which only lives in Da River - is one of Thung Nai’s special foods. Locals said that Thung Nai should be visited during the autumn season, when the hot summer sun no longer burns and the water level in the reservoir rises high. That is when Thung Nai really blooms. Hoang Mai Lan, a student at the "I’ve had a wonderful birthday in between nature and friends. We spent the day wandering about, enjoying the poetic scenery," she said. For some other tourists, putting their hands into the clear waters while sitting on a boat or waking up at
A tower on the windmill island on "It’s impossible to get such pure air and space in the nation’s cities. All my worries seem to have disappeared in the boundless space of Thung Nai," said Thu Trang, a young woman from the capital. Sightseeing spots Tourists should not miss Ba Chua Thac Bo Temple (Thac Bo Goddesses Temple), which is one of several sightseeing spots in the area. According to legend, two local ethnic women had supplied food and boats for the troops of King Le Thai To when they defeated foreign invaders in 1431. When the women died, the King praised their services and asked local residents to build a temple to worship them. Since then, boatmen often stop off at the temple to pray for smooth waters and a safe trip. Nowadays, pilgrims still strongly believe in the Thac Bo Goddesses’ supernatural powers. They believe the Goddesses can help them with their wishes if they hear their prayers. While the original temple was submerged tens of metres under the water’s surface, the current temple attracts thousands of people nationwide every year. A local boatman, Bui Van Long, said that a huge number of the pilgrims flocked to the temple from the first to the seventh lunar months. "Since I started my job 20 years ago, almost all of my passengers are pilgrims, who come here just to pray at the temple. However, more and more true tourists have been coming in recent years," said the 38-year-old man. Visiting the temple, tourists can also witness old Muong ethnic women displaying their farm products to sell to visitors. Their "goods" include the herbal medicines they collect from wild plants the jungle along with fresh and dried bamboo shoots. Ten minutes by boat from the The Muong people living in the region claim that these sounds are the sounds of their ethnic gongs. The Thac Bo floating market is also among the must-see destinations of this journey. Open every Sunday morning, the market attract boats from around the reservoir to do business with each other. Visitor can expand their sightseeing tours by visiting small villages of Muong and Dao ethnic people, or they can ask the boatman to take them to "There is no word that can describe our pleasure when we saw the lake. While some guys in our group didn’t hesitate to jump into the water, the girls just sat on the rocks and dipped their feet into the clear water," Trang said. Another surprise came when a cluster of small shrimps immediately swarm over to the girls’ feet and began nibbling at their skin. "It was so amazing! We didn’t expect it; it was almost like going to the spa!" she added. Ideal landscape Many tourists come to Thung Nai not only to witness the wonderful poetic landscape, but also to find a perfect backdrop for their photographs. Minh Quan, a television reporter, got sunburned waiting for the right light for his images. "I don’t want to use words to talk about Thung Nai, so I’ll just upload some pictures I took during my trip. I’m pretty sure that many people will want to visit the place once they see my images," said Quan, who brings along his photography equipment whenever he travels with his friends at the Vespa Cau Giay Family – a club for those interested in the Italian vintage scooters. For Nguyen Thong Nhat, a professional photographer, the most impressive moment was when he spent the Mid-Autumn night on the reservoir. "The water surface looked like it was inlaid with gold. The twinkling moonlight was everywhere," he said. And of course, he didn’t miss a chance to capture the scenery of the "Ha Long Bay of the Some other photographers said the Coi Xay Gio (Windmill) guest house, located on a small island on the reservoir, was an ideal place to capture the landscape at different times of day. The guest house’s owner is a Ha Noi resident, who also enjoys travelling. Together with some friends, he purchased some land on one of the islands and built a stilt house on it in 2000. "More and more tourists have dropped by my island, which is quite eye-catching with a red-brick windmill. They asked me for a place to spend the night. So since then I’ve turned the house into a small guesthouse," said owner Tran Duc Duy. The Windmill guest house attracts visitors not only for its nice location, but also for its local specialities, such as fermented fish and grilled and smoked fish, served with ruou can (a home-made rice wine in a jar, drunk with bamboo straws). Visitors also should not miss a chance to taste the crispy roasted meat of the Muong boar. Although it is a domestic animal, the Muong people keep them in a wild environment and never let them grow bigger than 20kg. The Windmill guest house offers a package for tourists for a very reasonable price, from VND250,000-300,000 (about US$13). The package includes a bed, three meals and a sightseeing boat. His three stilt houses are large enough for 100 people to sleep in each night. Duy said that he had re-invested all his profits to upgrade the guest houses. Tourism development According to the chairman of Thung Nai Commune’s People Committee, Bui Van Nhan, "So far, a 25km road from Binh Thanh Commune to Thung Nai Commune and a tourism wharf have been completed in 2007," Nhan said. Thanks to the road, more and more tourists have come to the area over the past few years. "Before the road was completed, most tourists came here by the waterway. Everything changed when the road was opened: now, more and more people visit Thung Nai by land." There were no figures, but Nhan said that Thung Nai greeted its largest-ever number of tourists in 2009. Realising the region’s tourism potential, the local authorities submitted a plan to develop infrastructure as well as to call on investments in the area. A plan to develop cultural tourism at six Muong ethnic villages was also being thrown around. "Together with its natural potential, we will try to use the local ethnic culture as a key element to develop tourism here," Nhan said. Ice and snow paints Sapa pure white The temperature in Sapa fell to 1.5 degrees Celcius on November 21. The town’s O Quy Ho pass, over 2000 meters above sea level, turned white with ice and snow.
Many visitors headed to Sapa to see the winter wonderland. Photos of ice and snow in Sapa on November 21:
VietNamNet/Dan Tri French colonial architecture still marks Gieng Islet Lying peacefully in the Tien River and surrounded by an immense expanse of water and green orchards, Gieng Islet in Cho Moi District, An Giang Province attracts tourists from around the country who come to admire the stunning natural beauty and colonial architecture to be found here.
A view of Cu Lao Gieng Church on Gieng Islet in An Giang Province. With colonial architecture and French materials, the over 100 year old cathedral still remains what it was, despite the ups and downs of its life and history. The church boasts a majestic European design and solemn decorations including a towering bell-tower, large round pillars, vaults and small polygonal towers. The imposing architecture and sacred atmosphere of the church evokes visitors with a feeling that they seem to be tiny creatures. Other structures in the district worth visiting are the wooden houses built in the early twentieth century in traditional Vietnamese design and shaded by bonsai trees, a local custom. Old pagodas such as Ong Dao, Phuoc Thanh and Phuoc Minh are fine examples of Asian décor and are also must-see works which allow visitors to indulge in sacred stillness and peace. VietNamNet/SGT Trans Air to fly in, Garuda to suspend service The Vietnamese aviation market receives both good and bad news this month when Taiwan-based Trans Air will launch flights between Taipei and Vietnam's central coastal city of Danang from next month while Indonesia's Garuda will suspend services to HCMC today, November 25.
Vo Huy Cuong, director of CAAV's Air Transport Department, told the Daily on the phone that Trans Air would become the second foreign airline active at Danang International Airport. Currently, Silk Air of Singapore operates three flights a week to this city. Meanwhile, Thai AirAsia will also launch its direct daily flight between HCMC and Phuket of Thailand from December 3 in an effort to deepen its presence in Vietnam, a market the member airline of AirAsia Group now has daily services from Bangkok to Hanoi and HCMC. However, the impact of global financial tsunami and the declining number of inbound travelers are adversely affecting certain foreign airlines' plans for the Vietnamese market. A typical case is that Garuda Indonesia will call off its daily service to HCMC from today. Syamsul Adnan, general manager of Garuda Indonesia in Vietnam, attributed the service suspension to the low yield on the Jakarta-Singapore-HCMC route for the time being. Adnan told the Daily on the phone on Monday that the average yield of the route stood at only eight U.S. cents per kilometer per available seat, or four U.S. cents lower than that of the flights between Indonesia's capital of Jakarta and the renowned resort destination Bali. "We suspend the aircraft (for the flight to and from HCMC) because we have higher demand in the domestic market. So, we are using the aircraft for the domestic sector," Adnan said. Piercer competition on the route, especially the HCMC-Jakarta section, has sent seat occupancy down. Adnan said the average load factor of Garuda Indonesia's flights to and from Vietnam was 68% from January to October this year. What matters most is the sharp fall in airfares. Adnan said the normal lowest return airfare for the HCMC-Singapore trip was around US$200 but Garuda Indonesia had to sell for only US$80. This is different from Indonesia where the carrier does not have to promote airfares. There are currently around 70 weekly flights between HCMC and Singapore, a route which is also jointly exploited by other carriers including Vietnam Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Tiger Airways and Lion Air. Adnan said Garuda Indonesia would stop the flights using the Boeing B737-800 aircraft to HCMC until further notice, not until December 31 as reported by several print and online publications. "We will consider flying back to HCMC when the global market gets stabilized," he said. Adnan expected Garuda Indonesia would be able to resume the service to HCMC in 2010 when the airline received more aircraft from the manufacturer Boeing. Adnan said how Garuda Indonesia pressed ahead with its plan to launch direct service between Jakarta and HCMC as announced earlier this year would depend on the recovery of the market. This route is currently operated by the low-cost carrier Indonesia AirAsia. According to the Vietnam National Administration of Vietnam (VNAT), the country welcomed just more than three million international visitors in the first 10 months of this year, down 16.3% over the same period last year. The number of international travelers entering Vietnam through airports in the period dropped 13.6% year-on-year to more than 2.4 million. VietNamNet/SGT Ba Den Mountain: creative architecture of nature Those visiting Tay Ninh Town for the first time cannot restrict their curiosity and craving for a famous cultural and historical site of the South, Ba Den Mountain, the most striking mountain in Nui Ba. Conquering the 986-meter-high mountain, which is considered the “roof” of Southern Vietnam, is a stunning experience.
Tourists take a cable car trip at Ba Den Mountain in Tay Ninh Mountain. Climbing Ba Den Mountain is a chance to be closer to nature and get some good exercise at the same time. The feeling of defeating the mountain is a joyful one. The path zigzags through splendid surroundings and under the shade of green trees that protect your skin from the scorching sun. From the peak, trekkers are treated to a perfect view of the valley that immediately relieves the fatigue of the climb. To get down the mountain, trekkers can take a grass slider trip. It is safe as the slope is gentle and tourists can control the brake of the slide. Also, a round trip cable car ride between Ba Temple and the mountain is VND50,000. Soaring on the cable car, tourists catch a view of a sparking waterfall under the glistening sun, mysterious caves and dense forest. The Ba Temple Complex includes old pagodas such as Ha Pagoda, Thuong Pagoda and Hang Pagoda and caves such as Ba Co Cave, Thien Thai Cave and Ba Tuan Cave. All present typical features of Buddhist culture and folk beliefs. Upon reaching the site, tourists can explore the biodiversity here and the folk spiritual life of local Vietnamese. Tay Ninh is about 100 kilometers from HCMC. To get to Ba Den Mountain, take a bus from Ben Thanh Station to Go Dau and another from Go Dau to Long Hoa. On a motorcycle, take Xuyen A Road. VietNamNet/SGT Hoi An now in Hanoi The ancient town of Hoi An has been brought to life in Hanoi – complete with ancient houses, Chua Cau pagoda, lanterns and folk games. It’s part of the Quang Nam Culture and Tourism Festival which was organized in Hanoi between November 19-23 to mark the occasion of the 10th year of UNESCO’s recognition of Hoi An ancient town and My San sanctuary as world cultural heritage sites.
VietNamNet/VNE
Preserving marine life in Nha Trang The central coast city of Nha Trang takes pride in its bay. Actually, the whole country does as this body of water has been recognized as one of the world’s 29 most beautiful bays. With its pristine beaches, Nha Trang attracts tourists to enjoy world class scuba diving, snorkeling, squid fishing and surfing. But if you need a rest from all the sunshine on your skin, visit the Nha Trang Oceanography Museum located inside the Institute of Oceanography.
A visitor inspects a fossil whale skeleton at the Nha Trang Oceanography Museum. Visitors are dazzled by the thousands of specimens of more than 4,000 sea and freshwater species, including live animals, in the aquariums. For a mere VND5,000 per person, groups of ten or more can follow a tour guide through the institute. The shark tanks are a thrill as these ancient animals display their prowess and razor sharp teeth. Many different types of fish in diverse sizes, shapes and colors, as well as colorful corals, mollusks and crustaceans, fill the institute. The institute displays numerous giant fossil shells, the skeleton of a whale which is 26 meters long and three meters tall and was buried underground for around 200 years and the biodiversity of mangrove forests and coral reefs. The first floor of the institute is a gallery displaying fishing boats and nets and modern devices for off-shore fishing such as radars and compasses. The exhibition area also features a skeleton of a Dugong, a large marine mammal. Many creatures have been hunted to extinction or have succumbed to climate change or the devastated ecology. The institute calls on visitors to respect nature and protect the animals. VietNamNet/SGT
Expert says ’non-smoke industry’ kills environment Tourism, often referred to as the non-smoke industry, is damaging the environment in Vietnam, even with the emerging prevalence of eco-tourism facilities, an expert said.
Dalat now is warmer, which is less attractive to tourists. Thanh told the Daily that people have cleared the forest to build golf courses, resorts and ecological zones. In turn, these places add fuel to the fire by discharging untreated water to the environment. The World Bank, in a report in 2008, said that Vietnam suffered losses of some US$70 million a year due to poor waste treatment solutions for the hospitality industry. Environmental pollution also makes Vietnam less attractive in competing with other countries since international tourists are now more concerned about the environment. Thanh explained that Dalat now is warmer, which is less attractive to tourists. Cam Ly waterfall in this resort city has turned black due to the uncontrolled discharge of wastewater. The situation is the same for HCMC, where pollution of water and air is prevalent, let alone deafening noises as another form of pollution. Bui Chi Trung, a professor of Vietnamese origin from Japan’s Aichi Shukutoku University, said that pollution in HCMC discouraged him and many others to return to Vietnam. Noise, dust and impure air directly affect the public health and “I could not recognize my friends since they are all covered in their masks,” he said. The 37-year-old English woman Camilla seconded the idea at the workshop. The woman, who has spent seven years long in Vietnam, said that environment, besides poor services, is one of the major reasons that scare foreign tourists away. “Wastes and emission are scaring Western travelers in Vietnam,” she said. VietNamNet/SGT News for Saturday 28 November, 2009 View all news for Saturday 28 November, 2009 on one page Recent News
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