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Vietnam Open Tour News & EventsTHURSDAY 31 DECEMBER, 2009 |
 Traveling by sleeping bus Sitting on the bus for dozens of hours to cross thousands of kilometers to go from the South to the North is exhausting. Therefore, travel agents are offering sleeping bus programs for a more economical and relaxing journey.
Seen from outside, a sleeping bus looks like other 45-seat buses, but inside it is equipped with smooth beds instead of chairs. Lying on the beds, tourists can adjust to the desired posture for maximum comfort. Le Hau, a regular customer of the sleeping bus, said, “I used to go to The sleeping bus will also stop by attractions on the way for tourists to enjoy the landscapes as well as to relax. There is also a flexible layover policy that requires no advance notice. For example, when a guest buys ticket from Hanoi to Hue, but the stop-over by Nha Trang City entices that tourist to stay longer, he or she can ask the passenger service to keep the ticket and transfer into next days till he wants to leave In HCMC, tourists can easily find a sleeping bus along Pham Ngu Lao Street at tour operators such as Sinh Café, Hanh Café or Phuong Nam. These agents will get you to Hanoi with stops in Mui Ne, Nha Trang, Hoi An and Hue. Sinh Café is offering Saigon-Nha Trang-Hoi An-Hue-Hanoi at VND580,000 per person and Saigon-Nha Trang-Hoi An-Hue at VND370,000 per person, and open tours Saigon-Nha Trang-Hoi An-Hue-Hanoi at VND600,000 per person and Hue-Hanoi at VND180,000 per person. Hanh Café is offering Saigon-Mui Ne-Nha Trang at US$12, Saigon-Mui Ne-Nha Trang-Hoi An at US$31 and Saigon-Mui Ne-Nha Trang-Hoi An-Hue at US$35. VietNamNet/SGT - Post by Fasolla
Hotels prepare for New Year Saigon-Phu Quoc Resort and Spa (1 Tran Hung Dao St., Phu Quoc Dist., Kien Giang Province, tel: 0773 384 6999)
The Saigon-Phu Quoc Resort and Spa offers a splendid view of the islands, luxury services and a New Year’s Eve party with an ethnic music show by Phu Dong band from HCMC.
* Continental Hotel (132 Dong Khoi Street, HCMC’s District 1) Coming to the hotel, gourmets can celebrate the New Year with a garden party accompanied with a music show of Flamenco band, solo saxophone, music of the Philippines, tea making performance and other programs such as jugglery, circus, Arabic belly dance show and lucky draw. Food is offered in many options including roasted goose, turkey stuffed with mushrooms, rabbit roasted with wine and many BBQ dishes. Tickets are priced at VND750,000 per adult and VND400,000 per child. * The hotel’s Saigon Paris Restaurant will put on a New Year Party program with set menu from 7:30 p.m. to 12 a.m. While enjoying the party, tourists can enjoy the view of the legendary Saigon River. Tickets are priced at VND220,000 per guest, 10% discount on groups of six. * Van Thanh Park (48/10 Dien Bien Phu Street, HCMC’s, Binh Thanh District) Tourists can welcome the New Year in a romantic and cozy space with a buffet featuring 30 dishes accompanied with a music show of Flamenco band. The program will be prepared from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on December 31 and from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on January 1 and will cost VND170,000 per adult and VND100,000 per child. * Thien Hong Hotel (52-56 Tan Da Street, HCMC’s District 5) A New Year’s Eve Party will be prepared from 10:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. on December 31 at the hotel’s restaurant on the ninth floor. The party will feature many artistic programs, promising tourists a meaningful and joyful New Year’s Eve. Tickets are priced at VND229,000 per adult and VND149,000 per child. VietNamNet/SGT
Vietnam Airlines puts up domestic flight prices Vietnam Airlines has announced that from January 1, 2010, airfares will increase by between 14,000 and 81,000 dong on domestic trips using economy tickets.
Insight into Khmer culture in Xiem Can Pagoda Once touring Bac Lieu and visiting cultural and historical indigenous attractions such as Vung Hung ancient tower, Bac Lieu ancient house, Nha Mat sea tourists should take a step to Xiem Can Pagoda to discover old Khmer décor and experience the stillness and peace of the sanctuary.
The pagoda, built in the The pagoda captures romance and tranquility by poetic surroundings of seasoned trees and many kinds of flowers. Interior designs are frescoes telling the life of Sakyamuni. The pagoda is not only a place for locals to worship and pray for good luck and health but also the cultural and education center of the Khmer people. There are training courses for Khmer and Bali languages as well as Buddhist teachings. The pagoda is also a venue to celebrate traditional cultural festivals such as Ok Om bok, Chol Chnam Thmay and Don Ta. Visiting the pagoda on these occasions, tourists can join the animated festive atmosphere and learn more cultural features of the Khmer people. VietNamNet/SGT
Tourism sector targets 4.5m international visitors Viet Nam’s tourism industry is targeting 4.5 million international tourists in 2010, according to Nguyen Van Tuan, general director of the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).
The number would represent a growth of 15-20 per cent against 2009. Tuan predicted an increase of 10 per cent to 4.2 million international tourists if the economy remained the same in 2010. The industry was receiving positive support from the Government and industry associations, added Tuan. Regulations on tourism management and expenditures supported by the national budget would create good conditions for tourism promotion, he said, adding that there were two sources of investment in the industry. One is VND25 billion (US$1.36 million) invested in the National Action Programme on Tourism, and the other VND25 billion in the National Promotion Programme on Tourism. According to the Finance Ministry, the expenditures for tourism promotion would reach VND40 billion in 2010. More promotions Recently, Viet Nam’s tourism sector has organised many events in big markets, including road shows in big cities in China and Japan; promotion programmes in "In the middle of December, we held the biggest promotion campaign ever in France," Tuan said. "The effect of these programmes is clear. China is an example. One company welcomed up to 3,000 tourists per month from the market after the promotion campaign." The number of foreign visitors to Viet Nam in the first 10 months of this year fell 16.6 per cent year-on-year. Tourism improved in November, with a drop of 12.4 per cent compared to the same period last year. The number of foreign visitors to Viet Nam is estimated to hit 400,000 this month, which would take the 2009 total to 3.9 million, a drop of 10 per cent compared with 2008. VietNamNet/Viet Nam News
Visiting village of stones in Danang "Be careful! Stay away from that direction, or else you will probably be hurt by pieces of thrown-out stones,” Nguyen Van Tien gently warned travelers as he saw a traveler who was trying to access too close to a ton of marble for taking snapshots. Then the ear-piercing clatter sounds went on, and the marble was slightly shaken under every beat of the hammer and chisel.
“I am going to carve a lady who is sitting with her hair down,” Tien stopped beating the chisel for a while, explaining his work to visitors and pointing to the table-like cold marble whose surface is marked with the very first carves. Tien, 46, has for ten years earned his living as a craftsman with a simple tool set including a hammer, a chisel and his health in the region of Ngu Hanh Son, or the Marble Mountains, some 11 kilometers from the central coast city of Danang. The destination is a group of five smaller mountains representing Kim (metal), Moc (wood), Thuy (water), Hoa (fire) and Tho (earth). It is also a travel itinerary linking Danang City to the ancient town of Hoi An and Hue City. Time has left its marks on cultural and historical relics in pagodas, temples and towers which were built in the early As the name suggests, the Marble Mountains used to be a place providing input materials for craftsmen in the village, but the local government banned marble exploitation for fear that the five mountains could disappear. Known around the country as a place offering beautiful and sophisticated works of marble, Ngu Hanh Son is not a place creating marble crafts as one may think. “We cannot say for sure who the forefather of marble craftsmanship is,” said Nguyen Hung, the owner of a business active in marble craft products located at the foot of Ngu Hanh Son Mountain. “As far as I know the man who brought marble craftsmanship to the region came from the northern province of Thanh Hoa,” Hung said, adding that most craftsmen in the village had handed down the craft from generation to generation. There are some 3,000 handicraft workers in the village. However, there are only 70 skillful craftsmen who can blow souls into marble sculptures after those workers finish shaping the products. Like other craftsmen in the handicraft village, Hung, 37, thought he would waste away the artful job he learned from his uncle because of the prohibition from the local government in 1983 ordering not to exploit marble from the mountains. However, the stone carving community managed to find substitute marble sources to maintain their jobs. And it works. Most of the marble for the village now comes from northern provinces such as Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa and Thai Nguyen among others. As a further step to diversify products, the marble fine arts village has imported marble from Pakistan. Each year, the village imports three to five thousand tons of marble from Pakistan for materials. Although the local government reorganized another place for the village one kilometer from the Marble Mountains to separate production workshops from shops for fear that noise and dust will discourage visitors. You can still hear the clatter sounds echoing from families along the rough road leading to Marble Mountains. There, in the shops, you can see different marble products in all shapes and sizes, from contemporary works to religious sculptures, from a tiny item worth VND10,000 to works which are priced up to hundreds of millions of dong. And of course you will have a chance to see craftsmen performing their art and turning soulless marble into sophisticated sculptured products. To get to the Marble Mountains take Son Tra Dien Ngoc Street stretching along the beach, then turn to Huyen Tran Cong Chua for the marble fine art village. VietNamNet/SGT
Travel firms receive early bookings from Viet Kieu Tour operators in the country have received early bookings from overseas Vietnamese returning home for the
It is expected that the number of overseas Vietnamese, or Viet Kieu, returning home will be much bigger than that last year, and many of them have booked domestic and outbound tours during the holiday. HCMC’s tour operators say that such travelers are making reservations earlier than the last holiday. Saigontourist Travel Service Co. as of on Monday had received bookings from over 2,100 Viet Kieu, up 20% compared to the same period of last year. Most of these tourists have booked domestic tours to favorite destinations such as Phu Quoc Island, “Guests are booking tours earlier than in pervious years. Many travelers have chosen four-day tours. As for more lengthy tours, tourists are interested in trans-Viet tours for 12 days,” said Doan Thi Thanh Tra, marketing manager of Saigontourist. So far, the tour operator has introduced 15 tours for Viet Kieu during the holiday, including overland and air tours to explore attractions in Hanoi, Halong, Nha Trang, Hoi An, Danang, Hue, the Vietravel has reported an even bigger number of 3,600 overseas Vietnamese tourists during the holiday. Of them, 1,200 people have booked domestic tours and 2,400 have reserved outbound tours. The tour operator also said these visitors are making reservations earlier than last year’s holiday. The local news website VnExpress on Monday quoted the Overseas Vietnamese Committee as saying the country would welcome half a million Viet Kieu this Tet, the ever-highest number for the traditional holiday. No comparison with figures from previous years is given, however. Some other tour operators, meanwhile, said business could not be as good. Nguyen Viet Hung, general director of Fiditourist, said the company has yet calculated the number of these tourists, but estimated a lower number this year than last year’s. Lai Huu Phuong, director of Ben Thanh Tourist Travel Services Center, gave the same downbeat remark. He added that the returning tourists are more interested in tours to the Central and the Northern regions. VietNamNet/SGT
Wild peach blossoms arrive early in Lao Cai This year wild peach blossoms suddenly appeared very early in Lao Cai province. This kind of tree only develops and blossoms at 700 meters above sea level. Dan Tri captured the beauty of these wild peach blossoms.
VietNamNet/Dan Tri
News for Monday 28 December, 2009
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