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Tuoitrenews Updated : 03/31/2014 19:40 GMT + 7  Shellfish has long been a well-loved snack and delicacy for Vietnamese, appealing to local gourmands and tourists alike. On weekends, Can Thanh Town in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City's suburban Can Gio District, some 60km from the downtown area, is packed with shellfish collectors and dealers. The area is home to such shellfish hot spots as Can Gio wholesale market, Hang Duong seafood market, Can Thanh fish port, and April 30 beach. From rivers to markets Can Gio District features a wide variety of shellfish from salt, brackish, and fresh waters. Apart from the businesses that cultivate shellfish at stationary sites on a large scale, most natural collectors are dependent on the rivers and tides. One night on the April 30 beach, some thousand locals were seen raking for shellfish. The light of their torches glared in the night over a 2-3km stretch of water. According to Kim Thanh, a shellfish de...

Only a 30 minute motorbike ride from the center of Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Thanh District’s Ward 28 in the Thanh Da peninsula offers a different look at an inner city due to its rural appearance. The small road leading to Ward 28 separates it from the nearby crowd of cafes, restaurants, hotels, and resorts. For people who desire a breath of fresh air away from the city, a visit to the paddy fields in Ward 28 is ideal. The area has been supported by rice farming for nearly a hundred years, an occupation locals grew up with and will continue to do until the day they cannot walk in the fields any longer. The beauty of the golden paddy fields, riverbanks, lotus ponds, and white storks found in the area have become an inspiration for artists, attracting several filmmakers. Western photographers have also come to take photos of the beautiful typical Vietnamese countryside found within one of the most crowded and modern cities in the country. ...

Tuoi Tre Newspaper 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 ...

VietNamNet Bridge - The ancient fig trees in Do Son town of the northern port city of Hai Phong have been recognized as heritage trees of Vietnam. There is no historical record or any legend about when these trees were planted. Each tree has its own name. They cling to the Ngoc mountainside to develop and shelter villagers from storms and bombing during the war. This tree is over 1,000 years old. Its diameter is 8m at the root. Local people call it the “Tree God”. It is one of the 17 ancient fig trees that were recognized by the Vietnam Association for Protection of Nature and Environment (VACNE) national heritage.    Mr. Do Van Minh, a local official introduced the hatch of a secret trench dug by guerrillas under the two fig trees during the war or resistance against the French. The hatch is now covered by rock and leaves. ...

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 riv...

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