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  Vietnam tourism: Who is guiding who?  (March 31th, 2014)

 Stivi Cooke

Updated : 03/30/2014 17:25 GMT + 7 

Editor's Note: The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism has recently said that those travel operators who employ foreign guides will be penalized or even have their license revoked, depending on their offenses. The warning was given earlier this month following media reports that many foreigners are working as unlicensed tour guides in the country. Vietnamese tourism laws stipulate that a tour guide must have Vietnamese nationality and live in Vietnam.  

Stivi Cooke, an Australian, works as an English language and hospitality teacher in Hoi An Ancient Town in central Vietnam. He wrote this article in response to the administration’s warning. The opinions expressed here are his.

A recent announcement by the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism that warns tourism companies which employ foreign tour guides will likely lose their licenses is generating a lot of conversation among locals and expats.

The problem is that the warning denies the realities of 21^st century tourism management, regardless of what country this ruling would apply. As the number of tourists visiting Vietnam grows, the training and number of local tour guides proficient in foreign languages has barely kept pace.

The government is doing what it can. Recently, the central province of Khanh Hoa set up a project to teach the Russian language to locals. Great! But what about the other fifteen major languages of tourists?

Yet, at least in the central areas of Vietnam, tourism is booming with travel agents, tour operators, bus operators, hotels, and homestays popping up everywhere. As each company strives to get some share of the market, the services provided expand. So this is the heart of the problem – how can you sell the services to foreigners with only the language skills of locals? This is not just a question of language skills – there is a wide cultural gap to consider.

I am sure there are great Vietnamese tour guides out there – I have met a few. However, that is part of the problem – ‘a few.’ There are still far too many guides with barely enough English to explain their itineraries, let alone answer difficult questions of local customs, lifestyle and economics. People are paying good money now to travel in some comfort with high expectations of tour services. 

After all, if the tour looked fabulous on the website or on the brochure in the travel agency, we would expect the tour guiding to be great, yeah?

How many times in Hoi An have I seen tour guides confidently striding down the street, talking his head only to discover that his elderly guests are still trying to get off the bus? How many times have I seen a local boy with a guest list wandering around a hotel lobby or the buffet area struggling to pronounce his customers’ names so they can get on the bus for their tour? And I’d love to see a tour guide really explain, ‘Who were the Champa people?’

The vast majority of tours follow a predictable route, showing tourists the same things day in, day out. I like to joke that it is tougher than army training is. Early starts, long bus trips, getting on the boat, racing around, having a small break, on we go – stop for lunch – these are really fit for fifty year olds, aren’t they? Rushing back to the bus, a long trip home, collapsing at hotel, and complaining over beers with fellow travelers until midnight. Hmmm… Sounds like a holiday, yeah, right.

Tour guiding, as many local operators do it, is steering tourists this way and that way to the local cafes, tailor and souvenir shops to gain commissions. Nothing wrong with that… except quality. There are too many small shops that have no idea what international tourists would like to buy or do.

It’s the same with a lot of travel agencies. I’ve seen a lot of bike tours swing the corner pass my house day after day but as I was told by one tourist recently, “I had no idea where we were going and I couldn’t ask him what people were doing in the fields.” Given the rising prices of tours, this is not a sustainable model of business.  Foreigners want ‘value’ for their money now and they really do communicate extensively via the Internet about good tours. The days of ‘getting away with it’ – a basic tour with no service or quality – are fast disappearing.

Foreign guides, as with foreign teachers, can be a model of quality for the Vietnamese to reach for. This does not mean foreigners are better than local guides; simply they are better able to understand the needs for rest, information, some history and background, and most importantly of all, negotiating a happy outcome for the guests.

While employing foreigners might give some tour companies an advantage, it is only a small one and unlikely to last long as other companies copy the idea. Since Vietnam’s tourism goals are to expand, it is time to ‘use’ the foreigners more. Learn from us – let us train you. From the north to the south, there are foreigners working to improve local business practices from bookkeeping, marketing, to sales and above all, creating new and interesting tourism products. It is all about money and that makes sense right? So why not use us more?

 

 Cu Da ancient village

 

VietNamNet Bridge – The ancient village of Cu Da, in Cu Khe commune, Thanh Oai district, Hanoi, does not only have traditional houses of hundreds of years old, but also French- styled two-story houses of a hundred of years old.

There are vaulted gates. Village roads are laid with slanting bricks. On road-sides, there are old houses in ancient Viet styles, villas in French styles and newly-built ones. Houses are numbered and it might be the one and only village in Vietnam where houses got numbered. There are about two hundred old houses both in Vietnam and French styles, of these, 60 remain almost unchanged.

Houses in Cu Da are low and deep in length, so they are always cool in summer and warm in winter. Architecture is specified in Nguyen feudalist dynasty, nearly made of wood. On beams, pillars, there are delicate sculptures. In the middle of the houses, there are ancestral altars, panels and parallel scrolls.

The main village road is built along a riverside, every lane has a gate. The village pagoda is classified as a national relic. It’s Linh Minh Tu and a stone column is inscribed “the pagoda was renovated in 1695.”

There also remains relic of the village altar to worship “earth and heavens” or Xa Tac, considered to be the most magnificent. There are also houses that were built in years from 1920 – 1940 (in new architectural styles).

On a river bank, there’s a flag-pole built in 1929, a communal house of the village-council, a school. At one end of the village (entry road), there’s a low earthen hill named Dong Gia, it’s thought to be a centuries-old tomb since the old Chinese colony.

Not only well known for a place with many ancient houses and ancestral temples dating back to over one hundred years, the Cu Da Village is also noted for its traditional handicraft of vermicelli making.

 Bac Lieu hosts southern opera festival (24th March 2014)

VietNamNet Bridge – The Mekong Delta province of Bac Lieu will host a national festival featuring the UNESCO-recognized performing art of Don ca tai tu from April 20 to 25. There will be 21 art troupes from 21 southern provinces taking part in the event.

Don ca tai tu has just been recognized as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO, taking to eight the total number of Vietnam’s intangible cultural heritages.

Following this recognition, the southern provinces have rolled up their sleeves in a joint bid to fulfill their commitment to UNESCO in safeguarding and promoting unique values of Don ca tai tu.

Bac Lieu and other southern provinces will also take this great opportunity to introduce their charming images characterized by rivers and canals, and decent and generous traits of southerners.

A number of tourist attractions in Bac Lieu are getting ready to welcome domestic and foreign visitors. Also, a lot of families there who have Don ca tai tu performing skills have been practicing together with the province. Many other Don ca tai tu clubs in the communes of Dong Hai and Phuoc Long are joining the effort to help draw tourists and visitors.

The Bac Lieu Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in collaboration with the Mekong Delta Tourism Association, has introduced the festival to travel agencies.

Don ca tai tu is a musical art that has both scholarly and folk roots and is a popular cultural activity that serves individuals and communities. It resonates with the lifestyle of southerners who work on the fields and in the rivers of the delta. It reflects their inner feelings and emotions, their industriousness, generosity and courage.

The art developed in southern Vietnam in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and originated from musicians during the Nguyen Dynasty, who followed Can Vuong Movement to the southern region.

Nguyen Quang Dai (a.k.a. Ba Doi) in Long An, Tran Quang Quon (a.k.a. Ky Quon) in Vinh Long, Nguyen Trong Quyen (a.k.a. Moc Quan) in Can Tho, Le Tai Khi (a.k.a. Nhac Khi) and Su Nguyet Chieu in Bac Lieu are all well-known and respected Don ca tai tu musicians.

People in the country’s south consider Don ca tai tu an indispensable spiritual cultural activity and a highly valued part of their cultural heritage as it connects people by expressing respect and harmony between different communities, groups and individuals.

It is played with a variety of instruments including kim (moon-shaped lute), co (two-stringed fiddle), tranh (16-string zither), ty ba (pipa), song lang (percussion), bau (monochord) and sao (bamboo flute), violin and guitar. The guitar for this art has a deep, hollowed-out finger board, enabling musicians to play special ornamentation characteristic of Don ca tai tu.

Bac Lieu is home to many celebrated musicians such as Sau Lau, Muoi Khoi, Ba Chot, Hai Thom, Ba Lat, Bay Kien, and Bay Cao.

The repertoire of Don ca tai tu is based on 20 principal songs (bai To) and 72 classical songs (bai nhac co). These songs consist of ‘skeletal melodies’ which are used as the basis for improvisation and variation. Don ca tai tu performers express feelings and sentiments by improvising, ornamenting and changing the ‘skeletal melody’ of pieces and the main rhythmic patterns.

In the early 20th century, Cao Van Lau (a.k.a. Sau Lau) composed Da co hoai lang which is the most famous song of Don ca tai tu. The structure of this piece changed as it was transmitted over time: its rhythmic structure changed from using 2-bar phrases, to 4-bar, 16-bar, 32-bar and 64-bar phrases.

Bac Lieu now has 158 Don ca tai tu clubs with more than 1,676 members. Its Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism annually holds a local festival for Don ca tai tu artists and musicians from Bac Lieu, Soc Trang, Ca Mau and other southern provinces to participate.

This is an essential job to uphold and promote the art in southern Vietnam.

Source: SGT

 

 

Hanoi cabbie charges foreigners $12 for 1-km ride 

Tuoitrenews. Updated : 03/22/2014 10:50 GMT + 7 

 An illegal taxi driver in Hanoi has been punished for charging his foreign passengers VND245,000 (roughly US$12) for a 1-km distance, 20 times higher than the normal rate.

Yesterday, deputy chief of the Inspectorate of the Hanoi Transport Department Hoang Van Manh said the agency has handled the case in which Hoang Trieu Quy, the driver of a  “taxi dù” – a taxi that operates without a license – overcharged three foreign passengers on Wednesday.

Accordingly, the agency requested that Quy apologize to his passengers, with American and British nationalities, and return the overcharged amount to these foreigners, which the driver obeyed, Manh said.

The foreigners reported that they took Quy’s taxi to go from the Hanoi Railway Station to Ma May Street, a distance of only about one kilometer. However, when Quy stopped at the destination, the taximeter showed a charge of VND245,000 ($11.5).

The foreigner said they told Quy that such a charge was much higher than normal, but Quy still demanded them pay the amount.  
After paying Quy, the foreigners took photos of Quy, his cab and the cab’s number plate. They then, with the help of staffs at their hotel, reported the overcharging case to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, which later refered the case to the Inspectorate.
After an investigation, transport inspectors identified Quy as the driver who overcharged the foreigners.
Quy has illegally used the logo of Hong Minh Taxi Company for his cab, used the taximeter not in accordance to applicable regulations, has neither a driver’s license nor a vehicle registration certificate, said Bui Ngoc Tan, deputy head of the mobile inspection team of the Hanoi Transport Department . 
The team has impounded Quy's cab and the offender is to pay a fine of up to VND10 million (US$470), Tan said.
A similar occurred last month when the Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Hanoi Traffic Inspection Agency have jointly handled the case in which Ngo Thi Nhung, the female driver of a  “taxi dù”, overcharged two British passengers on February 15.
Accordingly, these agencies have requested that Nhung apologize to the two British nationals,  Nicola Iraland and Brianna Solomon, and return the overcharged amount, US$50, to the foreigners.

 Videos: Risky ways to cross waterways in Vietnam

Tuoitrenews

Updated : 03/18/2014 18:12 GMT + 7 

 Villagers across remote areas in Vietnam are risking their lives every day simply by crossing rivers, streams, or canals on their commutes, using their own dangerous ‘techniques.’
Here are some risky crossing ways in Kon Tum, Binh Dinh, Dien Bien, and even in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi.

 Wrapping themselves in plastic bags

 A strong local man holds a female teacher in one hand and swims across Nam Po stream with the other. Photo by Tuoi Tre

 

People across Vietnam have been shocked to see a video clip showing teachers and students in Sam Lang village, located in the northern province of Dien Bien, getting across a fast-flowing stream by wrapping themselves in a plastic bag to be pulled from one bank to the other on their way to school.   
In the clip, female teachers and students were seen waiting for their turn to traverse Nam Po stream in the plastic bag.
Local strong men were captured holding the bag’s mouth in one hand and swimming across the water with the other hand despite the powerful currents.
There is a bridge over Nam Po stream but it is usually swept away by annual floodwater.
The villagers said that every year the bridge is disassembled during flooding periods and it will be reconnected in the dry season.
“It’s normal! That’s the only way to cross the stream because no bridge can stand floodwater,” local kindergarten teacher Tong Thi Minh, who shot the clip, told the newspaper.
After the clip went viral, the Vietnamese Ministry of Transport said on Monday that they will build a suspension bridge in Sam Lang to ensure safety for locals.

 Using a cable system

 A man and a boy in a village in Dak Nong Commune in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum are pictured getting ready to cross a river using a cable with a pulley in May 2010. Photo by Tuoi Tre

Four years ago, people in a village in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum had to go to school, workplaces and markets by sliding across a 150-meter-long cable with a pulley over a river as if they were modern Tarzans.
According to various Tuoi Tre reports in May 2010, local residents in Dak Ang and Dak Nong Communes used this dangerous cable system, which was hung over 20 meters from the fast-flowing water of the river, for several months after a bridge had been swept away by floodwater.
This crossing ‘tactic’ attracted a lot of media attention then. More than one month later, local authorities began the construction of a bridge in that area at a cost of VND1.5 billion (US$.71,000) sponsored by a Vietnamese businesswoman.

 Rowing a raft

 A man in a village in Binh Dinh Province risks his life as he tries to cross a river on a damaged bridge. Photo by Tuoi Tre

Children go to a primary school in the O5 village in Binh Dinh Province without life jackets. Photo by Tuoi Tre

About 260 families in several far-flung villages in the central province of Binh Dinh had to cross the swift-flowing waterway aboard a weak and small raft or even a badly-damaged bridge on their daily travels, as suspension bridges over the local section of the Kôn River connecting their accommodations to the outside world had collapsed, according to a Tuoi Tre report last December.

Many people were concerned that this could pose risks to local children since there were no life jackets or rescue equipment on the raft.
A bridge connecting two banks of the river has been built in the area, according to local authorities.

 Rowing boats with a rope

A man tugs a rope to move his raft with children and women onboard in Ngoc Lieu hamlet in this photo taken in April 2013. Photo by Tuoi Tre

Suffering the same fate as the Binh Dinh villagers were more than 500 people in Ngoc Lieu hamlet, a small riverside neighborhood in Hanoi’s outlying Thuong Tin District.
They used a small boat covered in rust to ford a canal because there was no bridge, according to a Tuoi Tre article in April last year.
The boat, which was the village’s only, had no engine so someone had to stand on it and tug a rope with its ends fixed on both banks to make the vehicle move across the canal.
“The boat capsized several times and my two children and their textbooks got soaked in the water as a result. But thanks to God, they are alive because they were accompanied by adults,” said 36-year-old Nguyen Thi Man, a local resident.
Local authorities said the construction of a bridge in the area would be completed in early 2014.

Saigon shutdowns sidewalk shops in backpacker area  (19 March 2014) 
Authorities in Ho Chi Minh City have enforced a rule to ban all business operations on sidewalks in the Backpacker Area in District 1 in an effort to ensure public order and security there.

Under the newly-issued regulation, all sidewalk shops on Pham Ngu Lao, Bui Vien, De Tham, and Do Quang Dau Streets have been forced to shut down, starting from March 15, according to Le Thanh Tuan, chairman of the People’s Committee of Pham Ngu Lao District.  

Tuan said his committee had informed local people and businesses of the shutdown in a meeting held a week before the rule was officially enforced.

He added that vehicles are allowed to park on the sidewalk and local officials will consider allowing local inhabitants who have small houses or are financially poor to run their business in some parts of the sidewalk.  

However, Tuan said there is no longer space for trade operations in the area at night.

Pham Thanh Kien, chairman of the People’s Committee of District 1, told Tuoi Tre that they do not have any plans yet to arrange a night trade area to serve visitors to the city’s popular tourist spot.   

The HCMC People’s Committee had previously given a two-year license to Cuu Long Commercial & Investment Ltd Company to provide tourists with shopping and entertainment services in September 23 Park.

Differing views on the shutdown

On Sunday, one day after the rule enforcement, an expat posted on Facebook a photo showing some foreigners placing their bottles of beer on newspaper sheets on a sidewalk on Bui Vien Street instead of sitting in a chair to drink as they did before.  

The photo has attracted more than 200 comments in just a few days, mostly coming from expats and foreign tourists.

Some people said they love street food in the area so they might not come there anymore if their favorite street food is not available.

Others supported the government’s rule because they said it will give more space for pedestrians.

The photo was taken by Chris Dewaele, owner of Hidden Café in an alley behind Bui Vien Street.

Chris, who has run his shop for five months, told Tuoi Tre: “Maybe more regulations are needed in the area because sometimes there are a lot of chairs on the sidewalk, making it impossible for pedestrians to walk.”

“But some street shops are also good for the animation and the vivacity of the city,” he said.

The French man estimated that the number of visitors to the backpacker area now drops by 30 percent compared to the previous time.

Hoi An ancient town clips

Vietnam: where the unexpected is normal 

Stivi Cooke

Updated : 03/16/2014 10:40 GMT + 7 

Hoi An ancient town, Central Vietnam. Pictures: Vietnamguidebook

You knew when sitting next to the fireplace in freezing, wherever, that booking a trip to Vietnam would be an adventure, right? That it wasn’t Thailand – all dancing girls and choking in the back of the Tuk-tuk. That it wasn’t Singapore, all glistening steel and mega-hotels. That it wasn’t Malaysia, all bargain shopping and street curry. Just checking…

Straight off the airplane in Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi you can just feel it’s all different. The chaos, the noise. The Vietnamese busily chat on the phone even as the plane has just landed and is still rolling towards the terminal. They cart five huge parcels for their auntie’s shop dangerously balanced on their airport trolleys, rushing for the exit. It’s an endless, non-stop "I’m doing my own thing’ in a human cloud of confusion and energy. Welcome to Vietnam!

So you do the tours in both major cities. Yes, good, lovely, hang on honey! I want a picture of you in front of that tiny man with the ice-cream hat! You did the cyclo, the museums, the lake, the river and bought something for your loved ones back home, which you’re going to carry around Vietnam for the next two weeks unless the receptionist’s cousin’s uncle’s shipping business can help you out.

I often wonder about some tourists. It seems like they wander around with a checklist in their heads. Souvenirs – checked. Tried to negotiate with local people for a ride around town – done it. Visited every place the Lonely Planet said I should see – yep. Maybe it’s just me, I do live here after all so perhaps I’m a little bit too harsh towards tourists. I know a tourist’s time is short and often exhausting.  It makes me wonder why we call modern tourism a ‘holiday’ because it seems more like the pain of paying a traffic fine.

You’re getting tired and feel the need to get out of the big cities. It’s all too busy and reminds you of why you needed a holiday from your busy world in the first place. A great holiday is full of surprises.

It’s time to go inland or upland or to the sea. Open Lonely Planet to page whatever and spend the morning reading it out aloud to your partner. Have a small argument – decide on somewhere. Terrific! With any luck, you’ve ended up in my neck of the woods – central Vietnam.

I’m not sure whether you’d agree to my proposition that the trick to enjoying Vietnam is to look beyond the traffic and the quick pace of life. Look at what people are doing, how they do it, how the Vietnamese passion for living plays out right in front of your eyes. The Vietnamese living room is the street. The sofa is the motorbike. The desk, office or kitchen is anywhere handy and the television is chatting with your neighbors.  

Here in the center there are a thousand places to visit – sure, not that accessible but doable. A lot of tourists grab the opportunity to ride bicycles in Hoi An and some of the smaller places but you could also just take a boat for the day and throw the travel guide book into the harbor while you’re at it…

Life outside the cities is full of surprises, little unexpected things.

Even as I’m writing this, a gecko, that small lizard with the fat, round fingers that walks up the walls and gobbles up the flies is slowly crawling across the TV screen in the bar where I’m sitting. You never know what will happen that’s nice and usually not dangerous!

Sure, do the sights, but why not get your horoscope read by the local Sharman?  Get a decent map and walk for a few blocks – yes, walk - check how people live for all the world to see – the local hairdresser with a lamp on her head picking out ear wax. Check out the dude down the street welding metal in open toe sandals or the motorbike seat tailors plying their trade between the mobile phone shops.

Shopping is a scream in the local shops. Prepare to be pushed, shoved, nudged and generally treated like a nuisance! It’s even better fun trying to tell the difference between the blue 20,000 dong note and the half million dong note in the dark lighting of a local café. Gotta watch that one! Check your notes by the way and learn to give the cashiers the faded old notes but don’t be surprised if they refuse to take them and demand fresh money!

I love watching the farmers cart pigs in baskets, stacked four or five high on an old Honda cub. I also like seeing the electricity guys carrying a four meter bamboo ladder across four lanes of traffic. Even better is when you have four of these guys in the middle of an intersection – no warning gear – three holding the ladder and the fourth swaying back and forth at the top wiring up festival lights. Cirque de Soleil, you guys should visit Vietnam and take notes!

A motorbike tour is a must-do. Either ride it yourself or get a guide and driver.  There’s nothing quite like having to swerve around a tourist bus, a taxi, and cows crossing the street. You can marvel at the dogs sleeping in the street with the same disregard for personal safety as their owners. The most fun is scratching your head trying to figure out why someone decided to extend their wedding venue to part of the road at peak hour. Wedding music is the only sound I know of that can drown out a construction truck horn! You can’t see or experience this stuff in the big cities.
Unpredictable, unexpected, “what just happened?” moments are all around you in central Vietnam.

For the average Vietnamese in the countryside, foreigners are just obstacles to go around. We’re part of the background as they focus on the need to make a living or chill out over card games in ‘a million’ bamboo shack coffee shops.

 It’s quite easy to get up close and see what they do. A local market outside any main town is a real revelation, a blast from the past; the way humans have haggled and bartered for centuries in between gossip and hard bargaining. Have you ever heard a thousand women shopping at the same time? Do buy some fruit, you’ll quickly discover the taste different to what chemical preservation is in a modern supermarket.

Above all, get to the mountains and look back at the beach. Central Vietnam has some of the best landscapes in the world. The best time to go is on a sunny day after a rainy night.  It clears the sand and dust so you can see for miles. Yet again, be ready for anything. There are trucks rolling around tight corners, ducks crossing the street, wild buffalo staring you down, and views to die for. Go slowly, you’ll see sudden glimpses of sparkling rivers hidden between sharp valleys and cool clouds floating around like daydreams.

Someone once said that the best way to travel is just to pick a direction and go.  Vietnam is waiting to surprise you at every turn, corner, and way. Take it all in stride and remember that’s why you came here – for the unexpected.

(http://tuoitrenews.vn/city-diary/18352/vietnam-where-the-unexpected-is-normal)

Go home with mom! (Picture was taken in Da Lat city) (14th March 2014)

(Trang Le Trung Kien: Tuoi Tre newspaper)

Visa exemption for foreigners to Phu Quoc takes effect

A policy to grant a 30-day visa exemption for foreign passport holders visiting Phu Quoc Island off the coast of the southern province of Kien Giang took effect on March 10.

Visa exemption is also applicable to those foreigners, who are in transit at an international border gate in Vietnam (including by air or by sea) to Phu Quoc island. 

The visa policy is expected to help transform the world-famous tourist Phu Quoc destination into a national and international hi-end holiday heaven. 

Phu Quoc is Vietnam’s largest island. The 574 – sq.km heart-shaped island, along with 22 other islands, forms Phu Quoc island district. 

Phu Quoc features a monsoon tropical climate. It has two seasons, the dry season from November to April and the rainy season from May to October. The average temperature there is 28 degrees Celsius, allowing visitors to enjoy the island’s beauty at any time of the year. 

On February 14, the first international direct flight, run by Russia’s IKAR airlines, with 250 Russian tourists onboard landed at Phu Quoc International Airport, which is capable of catering for modern aircraft like the Boeing 777 and Boeing 747-400. 

Meanwhile, passengers hailing from Hanoi, the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho and Ho Chi Minh City are offered a variety of services provided by Vietnam Airlines, VietJet Air and Jetstar Pacific, which operate 25 flights using A321, A320 and ATR72 planes in and out of the destination every day. 

The island, dubbed "Paradise Pearl Island", is now included in the eight-day Vietnam voyage itinerary of the luxury Europa II cruise, which services more than 750 customers and crew, mainly German, per tour, Saigontourist has said. 

The Ho Chi Minh City-based travel company said the Hapag-Lloyd-operated ship Hanseatic, with around 1,000 passengers onboard, will dock at the island on April 23. 

In the meantime, hotels and resorts on the island are having 3,000 hotel rooms, including 2,000 three-star rooms. 

In 2013, Phu Quoc welcomed 94,000 foreign visitors out of its total 416,000 arrivals. 

By 2020, the year set for Phu Quoc Island to become a special administrative-economic zone, the island is expected to gross 771 million USD from providing hospitality services to 2-3 million tourists annually, 40 percent of them foreigners.

Source: Vietnamplus

'Japanese garden' opens in HCMC

Tuoitrenews

Updated : 03/08/2014 14:58 GMT + 7 

 A tourism complex in the suburb of Ho Chi Minh City which is modeled after a Japanese garden has recently been open to the public.

 

Tung Son Thach Hoa Vien, in Hoc Mon suburban district’s Xuan Thoi Dong commune, some 20km from downtown HCMC, is  invested with over VND400 billion (US$19 million).

According to expat Vietnamese entrepreneur Ngo Chanh, CEO of Tung Son Thach Hoa Vien Co., 85% of the ornamental bonsai, fish and stone at the 20,000m2 complex along with its construction and decorative materials are imported from Japan.

The complex boasts up to 4,000 tons of rock, some 200 Koi fish - Japan’s signature ornamental carp, which measure some 0.5m to 1m in length. The garden is also home to some hundreds of bonsais and evergreen trees of various kinds. All of them are imported from the Ehime Prefecture in Japan.

Visitors can also relish in Japanese culinary delights such as Kobe beef, dishes with “ohini” (salt from Fuji mountain) and “mochi” (Japanese rice cake). They can also buy souvenirs imported from Japan as gifts for their relatives and friends when they’re back from their “trips” to Japan.

The 3,000-seat convention halls make the complex ideal for Vietnamese-Japanese cultural events. The place will also provide a new choice for Japanese expats living in Vietnam during Japan’s traditional festivals.

The complex has also been picked as the venue for an international competition on ornamental birds, fish, plants and rock next year, which will be hosted by the Vietnam Association of Ornamental Plants and Animals.

Chanh, who has lived in the Ehime Prefecture for over three decades, spent 25 years working on his dream of building such a Japanese-style garden.

“The garden is expressive of my deep gratitude to my home country and the Ehime Prefecture and will hopefully cement the bonds between people in the two countries,” Chanh shared.

Entrance fees are VND50,000 ($2) for adults and VND20,000 for children.

Hanoi in "Sua" flower season (March 2014)

 (iHAY!)

“Beach for nude bath” in the heart of Hanoi

VietNamNet Bridge – It is hard to believe that there is a “beach for nude bath” in Hanoi, especially in the city’s center. But it is real.

It is located at the foot of the Long Bien Bridge, a bridge has a history of over 100 years old. More particularly, this “beach” has two zones, with the number of “nude-bath members” up to hundreds of people in summer.

It's a very different space of Hanoi though it is less than 2 kilometers from the Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi’s heart. 

The space here is very different from a modern Hanoi. It looks like the countryside, with cane fields, corn fields, and farmers working everyday to take care for their fields on the alluvial ground of the Red River.

Nobody knows when the beach for nude bath was formed. They just know that the number of nude-bathers is on the rise. These are the people who share a common hobby: having nude bath and watching Hanoi from amid the Red River.

Members of the nude-bath club gather in two “shifts”: morning and afternoon. In the summer, the "afternoon shift" is more crowded. Meanwhile, in the winter, to avoid the cold, the “club members” gather from 10am to 12pm. 

A “club member” – Mr. Hoang Anh insisted: "I have bathed nude for nearly ten years, on a daily basis."

Members of the nude-bath beach are of different ages, from 20 to 70. Their careers are also different, but most of them are civil servants or retired people. 

Mr. Nguyen Van Binh, a retired teacher, said: "The common thing of almost members of this club is that we all love nature and like cycling. We don’t like noisy and bustling places."

Binh said that the nude-bath beach at the foot of the Long Bien Bridge not only help the nature lovers tune into the natural flow but also see a lot of beautiful scenery of Hanoi. From here, looking to the south is the Chuong Duong Bridge, and then Vinh Tuy and Thanh Tri bridges. To the north, they will see the Nhat Tan Bridge and high-rise building behind.

"Many people think we are sick"

Not all Hanoi residents know about this “beach”. Even if they know, not everyone has enough "courage" to come here to join the club.

In the eyes of many “decent” people, the nude bathers here are “screwballs” or even "morbid”. They think that only men having sexual problems can comfortably be nude in front of each other, showing off their bodies and sometimes they even talk about their penises. 

But the fact is different. They are not “unhealthy” as others thought but thanks to nude bath and tuning themselves into the nature, their health is improved.

Many men who suffered from various diseases before joining this club are now very healthy. They said that this beach is like a miracle to change their lives.

"That's the reason why, despite the temperatures in the winter falling to 5 degrees Celsius, we still gather at this beach,” said teacher Binh.

Here, nude men swim and do exercise together. Some people meditate, some others practice yoga, others run along the river bank. It seems that when tuning into nature, many diseases caused by the age and life have gradually vanished.

"When having a nude bath, we are listening to our bodies," a club member analyzed. "So, nude baths brings a lot of benefits in terms of feeling and mental, not just physical."

"If you care about yourself and your own health, then this is a great address. Two hours a day, regularly for a few months, you will see changes in your health in a very positive direction," many members said.

Many of them used to swim at popular and luxury swimming pools in the city but they could not bear to swim in stagnant water pools. 

There is one more interesting detail: all of them use bicycles and most of them are "original" Hanoians, not immigrants.

Nguoilaodong

Compiled by Phi Nga

 A different Vietnam through the lens of Austrian photographer

VietNamNet Bridge - Through the black and white photographs of the Austrian photographer Josef Höflehner, Vietnam shows up with a strange beauty.

Austrian photographer Josef Höflehner traveled around the world to take photos of many beautiful places. He went to Vietnam twice, in 2007 and 2012 and then he introduced a set of unusual black-and-white photos of Vietnam. 

Höflehner found a lot of different perspectives about the country and people of Vietnam and recorded them in black-and-white photos. The pictures are highly praised by the audience.

In the 2nd visit to Vietnam in April 2012, the photographer spent two weeks to visit the three regions in Vietnam and returned to the places he had visited five years ago. From Hanoi to Ha Long Bay, through Höflehner’s lens, the beautiful landscapes of Vietnam are both familiar and strange, because of the colors as well as the obsession that they give the viewer.

Below are the most beautiful photos posted on Höflehner’s site: