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Vietnam needs to promote its marine tourism more to attract foreign visitors since many of them simply do not know about its beautiful beaches and resorts. 

Foreign visitors play chess at the Sea Lion Beach Resort in Phan Thiet.

The 2009 Vietnam Marine Tourism Festival, held by national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines and the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam at Pierre Cardin fashion house on April 28-29, included 24 booths set up by local travel firms and hotels.

 

Olivier Chiffert, a representative of US travel firm Asia Voyages, said tourists coming to Vietnam mainly come for its culture and do not know about its beaches.

 

She said events promoting its marine tourism potential should be held often to attract tourists since one event cannot hope to make a change.

 

Johan Six, sales representative of Belgian travel company Kales, said Vietnam needs to enhance promotion, diversify services, and create more tourism products.

 

If the country can do these things, its marine tourism can absolutely compete with Thailand’s Phuket, Indonesia’s Bali or Malaysia’s Langkawi, he said, adding it means Europeans would consider Vietnam a spot on the world marine tourism map.

 

Nguyen Xuan Hung, chairman of the Vietnam promotion center for trade, investment, culture and tourism in Berlin (Viethaus AG), said attracting European tourists would be good since they are big spenders.

 

“A German tourist can spend 3,000- 4,000 euros (US$4,000-5,300) to stay at Vietnamese beaches for a week to 10 days,” he said.

 

Bart De Four, an executive of Odysseus, a Belgian luxury travel agency, said many Europeans think of Vietnam as a tour destination and few know that the country is also a leisure destination thanks to its nice beaches and high-end resorts.

 

Tourists living in cold countries would see Vietnam’s beaches as a good place to spend winters if the country’s tourism sector holds more events like this, Irina Bosak from Russian travel operator Valma-M said.

 

Rudy Van Brork, who lives in Paris, was surprised to learn about Vietnam’s coastal resorts at the festival.

 

He said Vietnamese beaches are very beautiful though he had never known they have so many coastal resorts.

 

Pham Ngoc Minh, general director of Vietnam Airlines, said the carrier decided to organize the festival to attract Western European visitors as the number of foreign tourists to Vietnam is falling.

 

The number dropped 17.8 percent to around 1.3 million in the first four months compared to the same period last year as a result of the global downturn, according to the General Statistics Office.

 

Minh said his airline plans to increase the number of flights between Paris and Hanoi/HCMC from six to eight a week starting next October.

 

It would also increase the number of Frankfurt -Vietnam flights to six from five and Moscow -Vietnam flights to five from four, also starting October, he added.

 

The tourism sector, which employs more than 10 percent of the nation’s workforce, expects 4.5 million foreign travelers to visit the country this year.

 

VietNamNet/TN

 

 

Combined with the weekend, the two days of public holidays have led to an increase in tourists around the country.

Traveler flock to Water Park, Ho Chi Minh City in the dry morning, May 1

With rain lasting for hours on May 1, many visitors to Dam Sen, Suoi Tien, zoo and botanical garden and Le Thi Rieng Park went home early, with many outdoor music programs canceled.

 

During the dry morning, 250,000 people visited Dam Sen and Suoi Tien. The Water Park also saw its numbers triple compared with normal days.

 

Over the last two days, Dai Nam Cultural-Historical-Tourist Zone in Thu Dau Mot Town welcomed a large number of visitors.

 

The number of visitors going to Thanh Le Cultural Park also exceeded the number of visitors on April 30 by 500. Many visitors appreciated the clean and green look recently given to the park.

 

Nha Trang Beach attracted more than 1,000 foreign visitors

 

The Bahamas Legend of the Sea set sail from Chan May Port, Thua Thien Hue Province, for Nha Trang on May 1, carrying nearly 1,600 passengers, 1,000 were foreign visitors.

 

They toured Dam Tron market, Ponaga Tower, Long Son pagoda, and the Cai River. They also visited craft villages on the outskirts of Nha Trang City, enjoyed traditional art performances and tasted local specialties.

  

According to local travel agents, the number of visitors to Nha Trang has increased sharply over the past two days.

 

All key tourist resorts have been full.

 

Nha Trang has been welcoming between 25,000-30,000 visitors every day for the four day weekend.

 

Traffic jams in Hanoi

 

Traffic jams occurred in Lang Hoa Lac in Hanoi with heavy numbers of vehicles and people traveling on the street. Jams were created by floods of visitors trying to get into Thien Duong Bao Son Park.

 

Traffic was mostly cleared by the afternoon.

 

Da Lat: Prices increased

 

On May 1, warm weather brought a threefold increase of tourists, with traffic jams occurring on its major roads and bridges.

 

To take advantage of the situation, many car parks increased prices by VND5,000 per motorbike and VND15,000 per car.

 

Many restaurants also increased prices from VND18,000 to VND30,000 per bowl of pho. Most hotels were fully booked, with room prices having been tripled.

 

Mekong Delta: Green tourism

 

Visitors queue to enjoy traditional food at My Khanh tourist area, Can Tho Province. (Phoro: SGGP)

During the past two days, the number of travelers flocking to the Mekong Delta has also increased sharply.

 

My Khanh and Phu Sa in Can Tho welcomed 3,000 to 4,000 visitors each day, an increase of three to four times usual visitors.

 

Many souvenir shops on the Rach Mieu bridge, which links Ben Tre and Tien Giang Provinces, pier attracted customers. Le Thi Dung, a shop owner, saw takings increase 20 to 30 percent.

 

Rains did not dampen spirits for people visiting crocodile and ostrich parks, fishing ponds and floating markets.

 

VietNamNet/SGGP

 

 

We are contemplating visiting this park on our way from PP to Kep. Its a major deviation and there is little information of it on this forum. Grateful for opinions from anyone who has visited.
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Vietnam’s first entrant in Miss Bikini International knows she can please the judges.

Huynh Thanh Tuyen is ready to take on the world at the 36th Miss Bikini International competition in Hainan, China this month.

“I did a lot of thinking and considered how the public would react before deciding to take part in the pageant,” says the 22-year-old model with an 85- 60-93 figure.

She realizes that its name is rather sensitive in a tradition-bound society like Vietnam’s, but Miss Bikini International also judges talent, speaking skills and national costume, so the only major difference between it and other beauty contests is the more exacting physical side of things.

“Because of the prestige, a contestant in Miss World, Miss Universe or Miss Earth gets generous support from everyone, but Miss Bikini International does not have the same standing so I’m not that fortunate.” says Tuyen.

“After the contest, my name will be associated with the bikini for sure, which is an undesirable thing for a woman, especially a Vietnamese woman.

“But what counts is that I know what I’m doing and believe in myself. I pretty well ignore public opinion.”

Publicity shots of Vietnam’s first contestant in Miss Bikini International Huynh Thanh Tuyen

Though she’s never competed in an international beauty contest, Tuyen is confident of doing well in China.

True, the contest will be full of gorgeous gals, 89 of them in fact, but Tuyen believes she’s in with a real chance.

“It’s not easy to win an international contest as it takes talent, preparation, opportunity and a bit of luck. But I’m confident of myself and know where I stand.

“I realize that I cannot be physically on a par with the Western contestants, but as far as I know we will be divided into continents when we wear our bikinis. I believe I can win if my body is judged alongside other Asian contestants.”

When the start of the 15-day pageant was postponed from April 13 to May 18, it meant Tuyen had more time to prepare, but she thinks it isn’t necessary in her case.

“Social knowledge and life skills cannot be acquired overnight; they must be learned in our day-to-day lives.

“I’m not trying to stuff my head with knowledge or work out intensively as the contest gets nearer. So I feel no pressure at all.”

Still, she is making thorough preparations for everything from costumes to make-up.

Tuyen says she never goes out of her way to land a modeling contract or a spot in a television commercial.

Instead, she waits for offers to come to her.

This attitude partly explains why her modeling career hasn’t really taken off after three years in the industry.

“Though I’m ambitious and always want to be in the lead, I’d rather take it slow and steady. There are some things I’m terrible at, so I don’t try to do many things at the same time. I know my limitations.”

Many models make the leap from photo shoot to film to the recording studio in one fell swoop, but Tuyen would rather stay focused on one thing until it is perfect.

“I want to reach the summit of this mountain before going on to scale other peaks. I give my best in everything I do. If I feel I’m no good at something, I leave that opportunity to others.

“Being a perfectionist means I miss many opportunities, but I want everyone to acknowledge that I have real talent, that I am not a phony.

“Some celebrities try to draw attention to themselves by driving expensive cars, strutting about on the concert stage, or creating scandals, but they will end up nowhere if they have no genuine abilities.”

Tuyen, who was born in 1987, has a head-turning height. When she was younger, Tuyen felt so embarrassed by her “abnormal” height that she stopped swimming, her favorite sport, because she was afraid it would make her taller.

It took a modeling class while she was in the eleventh grade to change her thinking. The class, which was run by the Vietnamese modeling agency Professional Look, taught her to use height to her advantage.

The head of Professional Look, Tran Thanh Long, noticed Tuyen and said “the tall girl” had the potential to become a successful model. After the class, he offered Tuyen an exclusive contract.

She took it and has been on the agency’s books ever since.

Reported by Thu Thuy

Travel News – Arriving in Vietnam and sympathizing with the lingering sufferings of Vietnamese Agent Orange victims, Janet Gardner, an American film director and producer, completed her latest film – The Last Ghost of War

Janet Gardner and the film-making crew on the historicalHienLuongBridge.

Travel News - Arriving in Vietnam and sympathizing with the lingering sufferings of Vietnamese Agent Orange victims, Janet Gardner, an American film director and producer, completed her latest film – The Last Ghost of War

The film deals with efforts by Vietnamese Agent Orange victims to obtain redress in the US courts. The dismissal of their lawsuit in 2005 is being appealed.

The film includes an interview with a lawyer for Dow – the only representative from the chemical companies that agreed to speak. It also features

Janet Gardner and cameraman Lens at the Vinh Moc tunnels (Quang Tri) in 1997.

Vietnam War veteran Frank Corcoran who was active on the Agent Orange issues by the American veterans. And it introduces Vietnamese families in which all three or all four children suffer terrible deformities.

Janet met many Vietnamese children born with grossly enlarged heads, bulging eyes and missing limbs whose parents fought in the southern battlefield. She met Thuy Linh in Ho Chi Minh City, an armless 12-year-old girl, who has learned to write with her feet and is the main character of her film.

Janet traveled to many places in Vietnam and personally witnessed the living conditions of the Dioxin affected victims, propelling her to make the documentary film with a hope that the images in the film will awaken the good sense of many people around the world.

The lingering tragedy of the Agent Orange in

Janet Gardner, Len McClure and Pham Thanh Lien in the studio “Dioxin Bird”.

America and especially in Vietnam is the subject in this hard-to-watch-but-must-see documentary. Newsday stated that the “documentary should be widely seen” and “deserves a far wider audience, as a catalyst to a much-needed national conversation on victims of Agent Orange”.

In 2007, the film was shown on WGBH International Television, SBS, ABC Australia and the Pacific Territories Network in Australia, and the Al-Jazeera Television Network in Middle East.

In 2008, the film was broadcast on Vietnam Television, NHK Television in Japan, KCSM San Mateo Television, California (US) and Norway. At present, there are 66 television networks that have paid for the right to broadcast the film on Veterans’ Day in November and 16 others are considering showing the film.

Ms. Gardner is keen on the cultural and historical

The poster of “The Last Ghost of War”.

theme in Vietnam. She is well-known for many films, including “Precious Cargo” produced in 2001 that reflects on 12 children who left Vietnam for the US as adoptive children and returned to their homeland, “A World Beneath the War” produced in 1997 that concentrates on the Vinh Moc and Vinh Kim tunnels in Vinh Linh District, Quang Tri Province during the war.

Also, the film “ Vietnam – Land of the Ascending Dragon” produced in 1993 provides an overview of Vietnamese history and culture from post-war Vietnam to the present. Her films about Vietnam have been shown widely in schools and libraries in the US and Canada. She was evaluated as one of the excellent American documentary directors. She has won many noble awards in the documentary film category.

What we see in her films about Vietnam shows her deep love and sentiment for the Vietnamese people.

VietNamNet/VNP

Travel News – Thousands of people in extended rural families, or clans, in eight provinces have benefited from a library project named “Tu Sach Dong Ho” (Clan Bookshelf). Started in March 2007, it is the brainchild of Nguyen Quang Thach, 34,

Clan man: Writer Nguyen Huy Thiep (left) offers books to Nguyen Quang Thach for the clan bookshelf project.

The project’s aim is to establish libraries in senior clan households so that family members can borrow and learn at their leisure. An avid reader, Thach has a strong desire to bring knowledge to farmers and is sparing no effort to establish bookshelves in clans throughout Viet Nam.

He became interested in books when he was in fourth grade. When he graduated from primary school, he had finished about 700 books on the family bookshelves.

“My teachers and friends nicknamed me ‘bookworm’ as I always carried a book with me, even when herding buffaloes. Books have been very beautiful to me since then,” Thach said, “There were no public libraries to borrow from, no bookshops to buy books in my village.”

Thach began to realise that Vietnamese people are always linked to family and clan and that the strength of these links can be used to create successful careers.

The idea of clan bookshelf, which facilitate people within the clan to exchange books, sprouted in his mind. “Successful people are always hard working and knowledgeable,” Thach said.

Two years ago, Thach used his savings of VND10 million (US$560) to set up three bookshelves for three of the clans he was connected to in his home territory, namely the Nguyen Quang clan (his father’s clan), the Nguyen Duy clan (his grandmother’s) and the Tran clan (his mother’s).

Since then, city dwelling members of the clan send books and money home to diversify the printed material available.

“I strongly support Thach’s initiation and enthusiasm as well as effective actions to build up bookshelves in rural clans,” said Nguyen Quang Than, a member of Nguyen Quang clan.

“There seems to be too many books in cities, where city dwellers rarely have time to read, while people in the countryside have plenty of free time and books are still a luxury,” he said.

“The problem is similar to rich people letting food spoil in the fridge while poor people have nothing to eat. Please bring as many books to rural areas as possible to fix that problem,” he said.

Thach said reading material was so short in the countryside that he found in many provinces dozens of households shared one copy of Nong Thon Ngay Nay (Today’s Countryside), a newspaper that focuses on rural issues. In more remote areas, the number of households sharing a copy is even larger and issues are often well out of date when they arrive.

Thach also found that 60,000 family clans throughout Viet Nam ran study-encouragement funds, but there was no similar book collecting movement.

“The most effective way to broaden the knowledge of rural people is to set up libraries and let the clans manage them,” he said. “The strong urge to help family members become successful will force the clans to increase the number of the books.”

According to Vu Quoc Ai, book-keeper for the Vu clan in Mo Trach Village in Tan Hong Commune in the northern province of Hai Duong, about 50 members of the clan throughout Viet Nam have sent books home since a library was established.

“Clan members flock to my home to read books,” he said, “Children and the elderly read books and discuss them with delight. Farmers even tell one another to apply farming techniques they read about in the books. Our clan will get out of poverty this way.”

Under Thach’s guidance, 19 clans in eight provinces have established bookshelves, which he then helped to stock from his own savings of between VND700,000 to 1,000,000 ($39 to $56) a month.

The results are very satisfying. Thach is always moved as he watches country children rush to grasp the books. “They are like myself when I was small - thirsty for books and new things,” he said.

Thach plans to make a trans-national trip by motorbike later this year to raise people’s awareness of the need, and opportunity, to establish clan bookshelves and improve rural people’s reading culture.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News 

HCM City musician Huu Thanh, who has several CDs of traditional folk music and poetry already on the market, has just completed a series of 40 CDs of story telling.

VietNamNet Bridge - HCM City musician Huu Thanh, who has several CDs of traditional folk music and poetry already on the market, has just completed a series of 40 CDs of story telling. The new series will soon start being published. He talks about his passion for this audio project.

The stories on his CDs are always performed by several voices, and the background music is specially composed for the products. He hopes that the CDs will be enjoyed by those with eye-impairments, as well as the mainstream market.

As a musician, what made you interested in this audio book project?

I wanted to introduce as much music into my project as possible. Music in the audio books is not just for fun, but it is a fairly important factor in bringing the content of the works together with the voices to enhance the quality and attractiveness of the CDs.

Apart from serving people with eye-impairments, the CDs will be interesting products for literature lovers, so that they can “read” while doing other activities like driving, walking, doing morning exercise or doing housework.

Are there any other products on the market in Viet Nam today that compare with your audio books?

In similar products on the market, there are only one or two voices, and not much care is given to having good background music. Sometimes, the music is not very good, and it does not even match content of the books.

In my audio books, music has been brought into full play. Each character in a story has a different person do the voice. Music is composed for the books and helps describe the characters’ moods. Music can include a song or a piece of music describing the content instead of dialogue.

All features blend well to make audio books artful products rather than simple story telling.

What are the topics of your new products? When will they be published?

I chose various topics for the literature works including family life, patriotism, love and even sensitive issues like homosexuality. I have completed all 40 audio book CDs, which have been permitted to be published. The first four CDs will be released in mid May.

Who did the voices in the CDs?

The voices are dubbed by 18 members of Dream dubbing group from the city’s UNESCO Communications Centre; the songs are performed by singers Yen Xuan, Khanh Du, Duc Minh, Vu Van, Tuyet Mai, and Doan Viet Phuong, saxophone by Quang Trung, violin by Thanh Thao and music background by musicians Quoc Dung, Thanh Nga and myself.

What do you think about your products?

This can be considered a new kind of culture product, which will have a new market. That’s why I have paid much attention to the quality and invested properly on that.

After releasing the CDs, I will donate a certain number of free CDs for the national blind association.

I hope my products will be welcomed by literature lovers, who have little time to read. The audio books will offer a new way to bring literature works to an audience. They will also help diversify audio products in our present market.

VietNamNet/VNS 

 

A practice session of the Co Bo drumming team in Bac Ninh Province’s Thi Cau Ward

Co Bo drumming, once used to serve the kings of the Nguyen Dynasty, is being preserved in a northern village.

Music researchers believed the traditional art of Co Bo drumming, used to serve the last monarchy in Vietnam, died out in the central ancient capital of Hue.

But this echo from the past has resurfaced and is being preserved by people in a northern village, 750 km from Hue.

The sound is enthralling, as a group of men passionately play drums. A man who stands in the middle plays a pair of cymbals, while the other four men play on drums that hang in front of their stomachs.

These drums, 40 cm high and 25 cm wide, carry images of dragons and clouds.

Co Bo music, which once graced the courts of the kings of the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945), can now be found in Thi Cau Ward, in the northern province of Bac Ninh.

In ancient scripts, Co means drum, and Bo means Ministry. Co Bo means “drums of Ministry of Rites” (one of the six main ministries of the feudal dynasties). Researchers thought the ancient art form of drumming was truly lost to time.

“In 1996, while I was studying Hue’s royal music, I searched for information on the Co Bo drum but I found no answers,” said Bui Trong Hien, an ancient music researcher.

The town that’s preserving Co Bo has a musical history. Thi Cau Ward used to be the village famous for quan ho (traditional northern folk songs) of Bac Ninh Province.

Local elders said the drumming skills came into the town through an instrumentalist whose family name was Hoang. He served as a member of a music band in Hue’s Royal Citadel.

When Hoang returned to his home village, he passed on his drum playing skills to local villagers. He taught them 12 compositions of drum performance, but today people only remember six.

Tran Anh Tu, local cultural official, said people taught the drumming skills orally and through listening to each other.

“The band often performs their drum playing during annual ceremonies to worship village gods and other local festivals,” he said. “In addition, most local families have their own drum bands, who perform in their own family ceremonies and funerals.”

Tu said the local authorities have encouraged people to preserve the art and to find a better way to teach the skills.

“Oral transference is not safe enough, so we need scientists and music researchers to do official studies and make recordings on this art of drumming,” he said. “We are asking the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to have a specific plan to help us maintain this ancient art.”

Researcher Bui Trong Hien said these drumming pieces were used regularly to serve the kings and their royal family.

“The drums were used to welcome the kings, when the kings met envoys from other countries, and when the kings prayed during the Nam Giao ceremony,” Hien said.

“The drums were also used while servers brought the kings tea, wine and offerings.”

But in Thi Cau, local musicians perform them in ceremonies to worship the village gods. It’s a skill that others from nearby villages have tried to learn, but haven’t completely mastered.

Most people do not have access to this tradition early on, said Nguyen Van Cau, 76, a well-known drummer from Thi Cau.

“We’ve heard these drum sounds since we were very little children,” he said. “We have practiced drum beating since childhood and we have been attached to the art for many years.”

Cau said the drum sound can sometimes be heard nearly every day around this area.

The lengths of the drum pieces are short, he said.

“All six drum pieces can be performed in 30 minutes,” he said. “Each is then repeated again and again.”

The lone cymbalist in the group of drummers controls the rhythm of the group, he said. The cymbalist must be aware of each stage of the worship ceremonies to lead the drummers into a new composition.

Currently, Cau is the only person who has mastered all the drumming compositions and performance skills, along with knowing the stages of the worshipping ceremonies. He now teaches other men in the area.

With Cau’s help, people in the nearby Thanh Phuong Village, in Vu Ninh Commune, have also established their own drum teams: one team with older men and another of younger players. They can perform the six drumming compositions fluently.

Reported by Hoang Trung Hieu

A sculpture depicting the Maitreya Buddha to be displayed at an exhibition in Ho Chi Minh City for the Buddha’s birthday

Buddhist and other art works will be on show in Ho Chi Minh City from Sunday until next Friday for the 2553rd anniversary of the Buddha’s birth.

The profits from the exhibition of paintings, calligraphy, sculptures and decorated stones by local artists and monks will be given to 80 city workers with fatal diseases.

As well as art to examine and buy, there will be poetry chanting, martial art demonstrations, and performances of cai luong (southern folk opera) and other music.

La Pagoda in Go Vap District is the main organizer of the event at the HCMC Labor and Culture Palace, 55B Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, District 1.

Reported by Ha Dinh Nguyen