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Mr. Tsutomu Mimatsu and Ms. Erika Mimatsu Places: Long An rice field and Dong Thap lotus field (Mekong delta) Pictures: 3ackpackers S&D The landscape of southern Vietnam looks gorgeous in a Japanese couple’s album of wedding photos, which attracted many views after they were posted on social media. Tsutomu Mimatsu, 38, a sales agent at a company in Japan, and his wife, Erika Mimatsu, a dietician, are currently working in Ho Chi Minh City. When they asked a Vietnamese friend to look for a hotel to be the background for their bridal photos, the friend suggested that they try taking Vietnamese-style outdoor wedding photos. Taking their friend’s advice, the couple had a memorable photo shoot in Long An and Dong Thap Province in southern Vietnam. In the background of their beautiful photos are immense paddy fields in Long An and lush lotus ponds and fruit-laden orchards in Dong Thap in the Mekong Delta....

Born in a deep forest without any medical support, four children and their parents have been living in an isolated area in central Vietnam, a five-hour walk (20km) from the nearest village. The 50-year-old father has spent 32 years in the forest, at the border of the two forests Tuy Phong and Song Mao in Binh Thuan Province. Of the four siblings, the oldest brother is 16 years old and the youngest sister is almost three years old. Since they have been living in a forest and rarely communicating with people outside their family, they can barely speak Vietnamese. They can only muster a sentence of five or six words although they can understand the language when they hear it. It took Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper journalists over ten hours to cross five mountains on paths through forests, bushes, and steep hills to come to a flat plot of land about 100 square meters wide. A house stands amid huge ancient trees; it is the residence ...

Tuoitrenews Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex in Ninh Binh Province in northern Vietnam has just been inscribed in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)’s World Heritage List, being the country’s first site to be acknowledged as a mixed natural and cultural property. According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the World Heritage Committee announced the listing during its yesterday’s session in Doha, Qatar. Nestling on the southern shore of the Red River Delta, Trang An is a resplendent complex of limestone karst peaks which are permeated with valleys, including submerged ones, and surrounded by steep, almost vertical cliffs. Archaeological traces of human activity dating back almost 30,000 years have been found within the complex. The Trang An complex boasts several locally-recognized sites like the Trang An ecotourism site, Tam Coc – Bich Dong, Bai Dinh pagoda - the largest o...

VietNamNet Bridge - The work titled "House for Trees" from the Vo Trong Nghia Co., Ltd has won the AR House Awards 2014 in the UK, for the world’s best one-off house, over hundreds of other works submitted from around the world.  Architect Vo Trong Nghia (right) receives the award from the organizer in London. The AR House Awards is an internationally renowned architecture award granted annually by Architectural Review for the best architectural work of the year. Architect Vo Trong Nghia’s "House for Trees" won the prize for its response to the problem of urban pollution and lack of trees in big crowded cities like Saigon and Hanoi. As Vietnamese city dwellers struggle to squeeze potted plants into their homes, architect Vo Trong Nghia decided to build a house that functions as a series of pots for trees. The house includes five separate prismatic blocks, each of which contains a tree planted on its roof. The design beat hundreds of...

20th June 2014 It is the lychee season in the North Vietnam. In Hanoi, lychee is sold at 14,000 - 18,000VND/kg. While in Nha Trang, Ho Chi Minh cities, it is about 23,000 - 25,000VND/kg. (Pictures: Vietnamnet.vn)

16/06/2014 | 11:30:52   The Thien Minh travel group has announced that it will offer seaplane tours this September, becoming the first supplier of this kind of tourism service in the country, the Nhan Dan (People) online newspaper reported. According to the group, Thien Minh, which owns Hai Au Aviation Company, will import two Cessna Grand Caravan EX aircraft from the US Cessna Aircraft Company. The aircraft will arrive at Vietnam’s Noi Bai International Airport in August before taking off for trial flights a month later. They will initially operate on the Hanoi-Ha Long route, before expanding to other routes in the southern region, including those between Ho Chi Minh City and Khanh Hoa, Binh Thuan, Can Tho, An Giang, Con Dao, and Phu Quoc. According to Deputy General Director of Thien Minh Group and CEO at Hai Au Aviation Luong Hoai Nam, Vietnam boasts favourable conditions to facilitate seaplane tourism services with many rivers and stream...

Saigon classics: the stories behind Ho Chi Minh City's oldest eateries  Sunday, May 25, 2014 10:00  Some of Ho Chi Minh City's best food shops are still open, and busy, after more than 70 years. One shop on an alley on Cao Thang Street -- a three minute motorbike ride from Ben Thanh Market--redefined “banh mi” (baguette) thusly:   It is not a fast food, no.  And it is definitely not takeaway. Instead, customers queue up happily to sit and wait on their plastic stools, for a sizzling skillet loaded with a fried egg and an assortment of meats. The eggs are usually served runny (unless one orders otherwise) allowing customers to mop up the near-orange yolks with a piece of bread, or scallions (white parts only). A mixed dish with extra fried pork pie, ham, and pâté is available, just take your time. Pickles are also served and tea is on the house. The cooking is done in the small house facing the street at No.53, ...

Tuoitrenews Updated : 06/16/2014 16:49 GMT + 7  While 32 national teams are vying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup title in Brazil, it is simple to get the prestigious trophy for less than four dollars from a small village in Vietnam. Vuong Hong Nhat sells his World Cup trophy at a shocking price, only VND70,000, or a mere US$3.3, each. His facility in the pottery village of Bat Trang, only a 30-minute drive from the heart of Hanoi, has been flooded with orders when the world’s largest football event is only three days into competition, Nhat said. The cup replicates the authentic trophy with two figurines holding up the Earth, except for the fact that it is made of gypsum, not 18 carat gold, and is painted gold. All of Nhat’s family members have been deployed to complete the orders on time. “We only sleep a couple of hours a day to meet deadlines,” he said. “We are exhausted, but it is fun doing so.”   ...

VietNamNet Bridge – Tomato trees in the garden of Ms. Pham Thi Thu Cuc in Lac Duong district, Lam Dong province yield fruits from 600g to 1kg, 15-20 times heavier than normally species. Cuc's tomato trees are a new varieties originating from the Netherlands. This is the high-class Beef tomato species, which is often used together with fast food.  A special feature of this variety is the weight of fruits, which is from 600g to 1kg each, while for the majority tomato varieties, each 15-20 fruits weigh 1kg. Cuc is the first gardener who successfully grows this Beef variety in Lam Dong. This tomato weighs approximately 1kg. Cuc said a Beef tomato tree can yield 8-10kg of fruits if the planting density is 2,000 trees on 1,000m2. The popular tomato variety grown in Lam Dong now produces a maximum 4kg per tree. The prices for Beef tomato seeds therefore is usually more expensive than other ones, up to VND4,000/seed while the normal seeds usually...