Posted by admin on April 15, 2011 under Vietnam Festivals, Vietnam Travel Info | 
By Minh Nguyet in Hue
Hue Traditional Craft Festival 2011 themed “Vietnamese kitchen in Hue ornamental garden,” to promote Vietnamese culture will be held from April 30 to May 3.
The festival will take place in the three venues of Ngo Mon Square, Dai Noi Imperial Citadel and Huong Riverside in Hue City and is split into the two parts of traditional food and ornamental plants.
Three presentations on ornamental plants titled “Arts ornamental plants and feelings,” “Hue – a green space,” and “Meditation and ornamental plants” start from 5 p.m. on April 29 at Dai Noi Imperial Citadel, Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street and Phu Van Lau Park. There will also be a food show reflecting the three regions’ specialties, North, South and Central, to be hosted on Huong River.
Traditional music takes the form of don ca tai tu (southern amateur music), Khmer dance and folk music or dan ca Nam Bo (Southern opera singing).
The “Northern food and recipes” pavilion will be a visitor magnet with its offerings of Hanoi specialties, folk games and performances of ca tru (royal singing) and hat xam (traditional singing of the North performed by blind artists).
The “Hue vegetarian food” section will introduce royal dishes, Hue sweet soups, Hue rice and cakes together with 100 recipes that teach people how to cook Hue dishes.
There will also be a floating food fair on Huong River in the evening during the festival, and an ornamental tree festival at the Ngo Mon Square, Phu Van Lau Park and Nguyen Dinh Chieu walking street.
An exhibition of ancient cooking utensils will be organized at the Lieu Quan Cultural Center, 13 Le Loi Street on April 29.
The festival will also include a cooking contest for children, a photo exhibition and an environment walk. During five days of the festival, there will be short courses to teach people how to make Hue dishes.
Kite flying is on April 30 from 1.30pm to 5pm, human chess from 4-6 p.m. on May 1 and 2, a boat race on May 3 and a lion dance show at 5pm from April 30 to May 3.
Members of the Vietnam
Ornamental Tree Association and ornamental tree clubs of cities and provinces nationwide including Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Ninh Binh, Hai Duong, Phu Tho, Thanh Hoa, Nam Dinh, Quang Ngai, Danang, Binh Duong, Ben Tre, HCMC and Thua Thien-Hue will join the show.
The opening ceremony will take place at 8 pm on April 30 and the closing ceremony will be held at 8 pm on May 3 at Ngo Mon Square and will be broadcasted live on TV.
Hue Traditional Craft Festival is organized every two years during the peak tourist season to attract local and foreign visitors.
Book Hue hotel today to take part in the great festival in Hue!
Posted by admin on April 13, 2011 under Vietnam Destinations, Vietnam attractions, Vietnam beauty |
HANOI, Vietnam — Close your eyes in the streets of Hanoi Old Quarter and you’ll experience two sensations. The first is the earsplitting cacophony of conversation, cars, clamor and chaos. The second is the realization that closing your eyes for very long in such a crowded place can be unwise, unless you enjoy being jostled, bumped, hustled, shouted at, or maybe even knocked down.
Such is the Vietnamese capital, lurching into the 21st century with the swirl of unfettered street capitalism set to the soundtrack of Communist proclamations.
Everywhere people are buying, selling, hawking goods and offering services, while nationalistic music and announcements about keeping streets clean play regularly in the background. Six million people live in this former colonial metropolis; add hundreds of thousands more who jammed Hanoi last fall for the celebration marking its 1,000th anniversary, and you sense that this already dizzying city is spinning into a new era.
This is not to say that traditions are endangered. The Old Quarter is arguably the epicenter for the city’s connections to its past. Wander its crisscross of streets — with tall trees, narrow buildings, louvered windows and people’s lives spilling onto sidewalks — and you’ll discover a district known as 36 Streets, named for the craft guilds that populated the neighborhood over the centuries, mixing Vietnamese and Chinese merchants and artisans together. Silk Street (Hang Gai), Silver Street (Hang Bac), Sails Street (Hang Buom), among others, all offer their crafts and other goods for tourists or locals. The Old Quarter’s oldest building, the Bach Ma (White Horse) Temple, dates back to Hanoi’s original incarnation as the imperial city of Thang Long — Soaring Dragon.
For culinary traditions, Cha Ca La Vong is a nondescript restaurant on Cha Ca Street that’s been serving up one dish for more than a century. Sit down at a communal tables shared by random guests — common language not required — and forget the menu. Waiters bring out tabletop, gas-fired stoves in which chunks of marinated, turmeric-coated whitefish are fried in oil — by patrons themselves — along with dill, chives and other greens. Dump the mixture over rice noodles, top with peanuts and wash it down with a draft beer known as bia hoi. The fish itself doesn’t deserve many superlatives and tourists have pushed up prices, but it’s still worth the experience. You can also find bia hoi at the corner of Luong Ngoc Quyen and Dinh Liet streets, where backpacker tourists outnumber the Vietnamese sitting on the stools.
Pho is the dish Vietnam is best known for — a steamy broth of beef or chicken with noodles, greens, star anise and spices. It’s served up everywhere, and everyone has their own spice secret. Order a bowl from a sidewalk vendor, squat on a plastic stool a foot or so from the traffic, savor the broth and watch the crush of people go by. You can also sop up good soup in quieter, though less interesting settings in the indoor comforts of the chain restaurant Pho 24.
Vietnam is one of the world’s top coffee exporters, and it’s known for bitter, super-strong coffee, lightened with condensed milk. You may also see ads for ca phe chon, the coffee famously brewed from beans that have been digested — in one end, then out the other — by weasel-like animals known as civets. Real civet coffee is extremely expensive — $100 a cup — so beware of imitations, which are extremely common, particularly in areas frequented by tourists.
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Tourists ride in the Old Quarter neighborhood in Hanoi, Vietnam. / The Associated Press file photo
Getting there: No major international carriers serve Hanoi’s Noi Bai airport directly from the United States or Europe. But travelers can easily connect via flights from Bangkok, Singapore, Seoul, Hong Kong or other Asian hubs.
Tips: May to September is the hottest time of year. Travelers from most countries need visa to Vietnam, usually obtained ahead of time, though if crossing the border by land, it’s an easy procedure to get a stamp for your passport. U.S. citizens can get them through the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington or through online visa processing services.
Accommodations: Hanoi has hotels, hostels, boutique accommodations and bed-and-breakfasts to suit any traveler’s budget. Most Old Quarter hotels are midrange ($25-$65 a night) such as the Classic I Hotel, Ta Hien Street, or the Paradise hanoi Hotel, Hang Chieu Street. Outside the Old Quarter, modest hotels range from the Church Hotel, Nha Tho Street, to upscale hotels (from about $125 a night) like the high-rise Sofitel Plaza, Thanh Nien Street, or the Intercontinental Hanoi Westlake, Nghi Tam Street.
Posted by admin on April 7, 2011 under Vietnam Travel Info, Vietnam beauty |
Vietnam has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to show its beautiful landscapes on famous television channels CNN or BBC, or to advertise on taxis in London. However, Vietnam remains an unknown and hidden charm to foreign travelers.
The arrow that failed to reach the target
In recent years, Vietnam has been paying more attention to promoting tourism. However, the result remains modest. In the second half of 2010 alone, Vietnam spent 5.3 billion dong to run advertisement campaigns on CNN, which gobbled up 12 percent of the total budget for the yearly national tourism promotion program.
A mini survey conducted by the Vietnam Economic Forum conducted on 200 foreign travelers showed that 77 percent of foreign travelers have never seen information about Vietnam’s tourism in mass media, advertisements or at tourism trade fairs. Ninety-three percent of polled tourists said they never see the advertisement pieces on BBC and CNN.
Vietnam also spent money to place advertisements on 27 taxis out of 10,000 taxis in London in the UK for six months. However, local dwellers said they never see the advertisements.
Vu Huy Vu, Deputy General Director of Saigon Tourist, said Vietnam needs to do many more things to popularize Vietnam’s tourism in the world. “Vietnam needs to have more and more publications introducing Vietnam’s tourism potentials. It needs to set up tourism representative offices in other countries to promote tourism,” he said, adding that other regional countries like Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines all have representative offices in Europe and the US for tens years.
Meanwhile, a cheap but effective communication channel – Internet – has been ignored.
Ben Chua is a Singaporean person who builds and runs vietnam720, an website that uses interactive products like videos, audios to introduce attractive destinations in Vietnam.
“If you access to yoursingapore.com, you will find everything about Singapore. For example, if you type “art”, the website will show all the information about arts, from the events to places for excursions or the hotels near art centers,” he said.
Ben Chua said he has an account on Twitter to listen opinions from people about Vietnam. There is a tweet posted in every 10 seconds, which means 36,000 opinions come every hour. However, no official agency has replied to the opinions.
What is a new image for Vietnam?
In mid January 2011, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism VNAT officially announced the result of the logo creation competition for the new period. The slogan “Vietnam – a different Orient” has won the competition. However, after two months, the slogan has not been approved to become the new slogan of Vietnam’s tourism in the new period.
It seems that foreigners still see Vietnam as a war torn country, rather than an attractive destination in peacetime. It is because Vietnam is still busy looking for a new suitable slogan to be introduced to the world.
“Vietnam is a friendly, joyful country, where the prices are reasonable. However, the images Vietnam introduces to the world do not reflect these things,” said Tim Russell, Managing Director of Come & Go Vietnam travel firm.
He believes that since Vietnam cannot build up a reasonable tourism brand, only five percent of tourists return to Vietnam for the second time, while 50 percent of tourists come to Thailand for the second time.
He went on to say that Vietnam only has been trying to attract the tourists who are interested in the culture and discoveries, while it has not been trying to attract holidaymakers. Meanwhile, tourism does not only mean discovery, but also means relaxing, sunbathing, playing golf and water sports, meals, nightlife and anything that is a part of a comfortable life.
He believes that Vietnam should look for professional consultants and should carry out surveys in many places in order to build up a professional marketing strategy.
Collected by Vietnam hotels
Posted by admin on April 5, 2011 under Vietnam Beaches, Vietnam Travel Info |
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| Foreign tourists on Hon Tam, an islet offshore Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa province. Atracting more tourists to ilands is the main target of Vietnam’s tourism this year. |
Under the title “Exotic Beaches and Islands,” the upcoming National Tourism Year 2011 hosted by Phu Yen Province and its seven south-central coastal neighbors is mainly aimed at developing the region’s sea tourism, creating a base for the whole country’s sea tourism development. According to information announced by the event’s organizing board at a meeting held late last year in Hanoi, over 30 cultural, sport and tourism programs will be held from March to December this year in eight central coastal cities and provinces from Danang City to Binh Thuan Province. Some highlights are an ASEAN traditional festival, the first international chorus festival and a fireworks display contest (see more in the box).
A chance to lure more tourists
This is the first time the national tourism year is held in more than one locality. The hosts have been endowed with beautiful beaches and unique cultural values. But, they have also been notorious about weak cooperation to develop the region’s sea tourism and create unique products and services that are exciting enough to attract local and foreign tourists who will return again and again.
This is the reason why the national and local tourism authorities see this event as a good chance to start developing the regional sea tourism – a strong point of Vietnam with a coastline of over 3,600km.
At the meeting, Phu Yen Province’s authorities said that to carry out the event effectively, the province has prepared for three years, including infrastructure, transportation, re-setting up some festivals and creating some new products and services. It also organized a media trip to the province to promote the event as well as promotion trips to Singapore, Russia, Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia to popularize the national event.
On the online newspaper of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (www.toquoc.gov.vn), Le Kim Anh, vice chairman of Phu Yen Province, says: “We know what our weak points are, so we need prepare carefully to get a good development. Phu Yen is still a poor province despite owning potentials of beaches and islands. So, the National Tourism Year 2010 is a golden chance to popularize and promote tourism to attract more tourists. However, the ambition is not too big. We are happy when more and more people know us after the event.”
Some VND24 billion is needed to organize events in Phu Yen alone, including over VND10 billion from sponsors.
The province has prepared 88 accommodation facilities with about 2,000 rooms and 10 tourism and entertainment facilities. The province will have some more hotels and resorts put into service in the coming time.
On the online newspaper of the Saigon Times Group, www.thesaigontimes.vn, Tran Quang Nhat, deputy director of the province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, says that the central coastal province of Phu Yen expects to welcome half a million tourists during the national tourism year in 2011, up about 180,000 compared to 2010.
The province also expects the festive year will help Phu Yen make a big change for tourism development, and make Phu Yen better known to tourists.
The national tourism year has been made an annual event and is alternatively organized in each potential province or city each year. The ministry has asked the Government to allow provincial governments to organize the annual national tourism promotion program from 2012 to 2017.
The national tourism year 2012 will take place in Thua Thien-Hue Province, followed by Haiphong City in 2013, Lam Dong Province in 2014, Thanh Hoa Province in 2015, Kien Giang Province in 2016 and Lao Cai Province in 2017.
Since the event was first organized in the northern province of Quang Ninh in 2003, the year-long annual program has been organized in Dien Bien, Nghe An, Quang Nam, Thai Nguyen, Can Tho and Hanoi. |
| Source: Saigon times
Collected by Vietnam hotel |
Posted by admin on under Vietnam Beaches, Vietnam Destinations, Vietnam Travel Info, Vietnam attractions, Vietnam beauty |
The National Tourism Year 2011 will take place in many localities in the south central coastal region. On this occasion, Saigon-Phu Yen Tourism Joint Stock Company introduces many events to attract tourists.
The National Tourism Year in south central coastal region, Phu Yen 2011, is expected to go with more than 30 cultural, sport and tourist events of national and international levels.
The event, hosted by Phu Yen Province together with other localities in the central region – Danang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan, aims to mark the 400 years of its establishment and development.
Throughout this year, south central coastal provinces, especially Phu Yen, will hold a series of activities for the National Tourism Year. The key of them are the sea and island tourism, meeting and parade to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Phu Yen on April 1, international seminar on “Cultural legacies in Vietnam’s south central region” on April 2 and 3, and the cultural exchange night between Vietnam and South Korea and some other countries on April 3.
Phu Yen has a 189-kilometer coastline with sceneries of wild beauty such as Cu Mong and O Loan lagoons, Vung Ro and Xuan Dai bays, and Dai Lanh Cape. In particular, this province has Da Dia Rock as the country’s exclusive scenic spot and more than 10 desolate, beautiful beaches.
Phu Yen is also a land with a cultural tradition and many historical events. The inhabitation of various ethnic groups creates an abundant folk culture. Visitors to the province will enjoy the sounds of Tuy An District’s rock music instrument, attend fishermen’s festivals, or festivals of ethnic communities with people playing gongs around a big fire.
Saigon-Phu Yen Tourism Joint Stock Company, which is an affiliate of Saigontourist Holding Company and runs Saigon Phu Yen Hotel and Huong Sen Hotel in the provincial city of Tuy Hoa, will welcome the national tourism year with its business activities.
Saigon Phu Yen Hotel, one of the biggest accommodation facilities in Tuy Hoa, has 87 rooms, 10 suites, a hall for 300 people, restaurants with five sections to serve Vietnamese, Asian and European cuisines, and bars. Providing places for conferen-ces and parties are among its servi-ces. The four-star hotel was brought into operation in August last year.
The hotel has launched two new programs. That is, it serves dinner buffets with more than 30 selected dishes for VND49,000-59,000 on weekends and offers rooms with a price discount for VND400,000 per night.
Huong Sen Hotel, accredited with two-star standards, consists of 56 rooms. Competitive room rates make it one of the best venues for visitors to the city.
Saigon-Phu Yen Tourism Joint Stock Company is strong in providing tours. A wide range of tours meet diverse tastes of guests and visitors. These tours include visiting Da Dia Rock, watching sunset and dawn at Dai Lanh Cape, and trekking in primeval forests.
Saigon-Phu Yen Hotel:
541 Tran Hung Dao St., Tuy Hoa City, Phu Yen Province.
Huong Sen Hotel:
22B Nguyen Tat Thanh St., Ward 2, Tuy Hoa City, Phu Yen Province.
