Chasing waterfalls: Treo Lake on Mount Da Vach offers a charming and romantic landscape.

High and dry: Rocks by the lakeshore. — File Photos

Backpackers: Eco-tourists are drawn by the mountainous landscape and biodiversity in the park.

Located around 40km from Phan Rang City, the 30,000ha site in Ninh Hai District was first designated a national park in 2003.

It is bounded by the East Sea to the south and east, by Highway 1 to the west and to the north by part of Cam Ranh Bay in neighbouring Khanh Hoa Province.

The Nui Chua area consists of the southern end of the Truong Son Mountain Range of which the highest peak belongs to Co Tuy Mountain, situated at an altitude of 1,039m above sea level.

Located at the park’s centre, the Chua Anh (elder brother God) and Chua Em (younger brother God) mountains, at over 1,000m in height, make for temperate conditions.

“It’s ideal to visit the park during the dry season that extends from November to August,” said park Director Huynh Vinh Kim.

“The harmonious combination of mountainous and marine landscapes, special geographical and weather features plus high biodiversity, makes the park a promising tourist attraction,” Kim said.

Entering the park, tourists will encounter green trees growing amid stones and sand in an intensely hot and dry climate.

The park sports its own ochna tree forest that, rooted in the arid soil, resembles a collection of bonsai trees. During spring the trees blossom yellow to create a beautiful landscape. Typical ochna trees in the area belong to the hong mai family, which has red flowers, some of which have up to 13 petals.

Visitors are additionally afforded the chance to explore the park via 20km of asphalted roads embracing Mount Nui Chua, the Ngoan Muc Pass and Treo Lake on Mount Da Vach at an altitude of 250m.

Trekking the 10km road to a small lake, fed by an array of little streams, takes around four hours.

Lo O Stream in particular, is a historical beauty spot surrounded by cliffs and clear waterfalls, its flat granite stones idyllic for picnics.

The harsh climate combines both romantic lakes and effervescent waterfalls all year round. At a height of around 1,000m, 29,865ha of semi-tropical primeval forests on Chua Anh and Chua Em mountains are extremely bio-diverse thanks to an abundance of rainfall.

Flora in Nui Chua National Park includes 390 medicinal plants, over 100 varieties of bonsai as well as many edible varieties.

It also hosts 306 species of vertebrates, including the rare and precious black-shanked langur, the white-collared bear, and the jaguar.

The magnificent mountain ranges overlook the appealing and pristine bays of Vinh Hy and Ninh Chu Beach.

Guests interested in visiting the only savanna in Vietnam can drive from Ninh Chu Beach in Khanh Hai Commune along provincial Highway 702 to Vinh Hy Bay.

After a few hours of sightseeing, tourists are free to choose among beaches spread over nearly 40km for swimming, as well as coral reefs with diverse marine life, visible via glass bottomed tourist boats.

The farthest border of Nui Chua National Park is Thit Beach where sea turtles come and lay their eggs.

Trekkers can also walk down to Cau Gay Village, home to the Raglai ethnic minority group, and visit local craft shops to catch a glimpse into the lives of the artisans.

Military base CK 19, used by the liberation army in the, anti-American war, lies near Treo Lake on Mount Da Vach and includes traces of guerrillas trench shelters and the smokeless stoves.

The local coast was formerly used to transit weapon and other military equipment from north Vietnam to battlefields in the south.

source form: dtinews

Delegates discussed tourism development plans closely linked to the preservation of unique cultural heritage in the region.

Last year, the region received more than 18 million domestic tourists and 3.6 million foreign visitors, earning over VND31,500 billion and accounting for 28 percent of the country’s total tourism revenue.

However, there is a huge gap between the two main tourism centres, Ho Chi Minh City and Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, and other provinces in the region such as Tay Ninh, Binh Phuoc, Binh Duong and Dong Nai.

The tourism industry in these provinces has developed erratically and they have not taken action to find their own niche in the market. Services are limited and they are not very competitive. In addition, investment in improving infrastructure, preserving cultural attractions, and upgrading tourism resources does not match the region’s potential.

Despite being a convenient gateway to Cambodia and other ASEAN countries, tourism in Tay Ninh is still quite basic.

To boost tourism in the region, participants agreed that these provinces should cooperate with each other to seek out and develop effective, sustainable long-term strategies to create an attractive environment for investment in tourism.

They should also concentrate on upgrading infrastructure, promoting trademarks and developing human resources for tourism.

A number of national tourism destinations in the region, such as Ba Den Mountain, Cat Tien National Park, and the Con Dao islands, also need to be developed.

In addition, the southeastern provinces should offer new routes for tourists that link with other cities and provinces in Vietnam as well as to Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and Myanmar.

source form: vov

Fidi Tourist Company is offering visitors more than 200 local and international tours. The Company is partnering with Vietnam Airlines and offering discounts of VND3.9 million (US$177) to VND6.9 million on tours that cover Hanoi-Bac Ninh-Ha Long-Trang An-Bai Dinh and Hanoi-Bac Ninh-Lao Cai-Sapa; and of VND8 million on a 7 day tour of London-Stonehenge-Wales, departing Ho Chi Minh City on December 9, 15, and 23.

In addition, visitors booking tours 30 days before departure day will receive a discount of VND200,000 per individual person and VND 100,000 per tourist for a group of 4 people.

Saigon Tourist Company is offering more than 50 local and international tours along with many gift offers. Visitors will have an opportunity to take part in a big promotional program and win a special cash prize of VND200 million (US9,000) and five consolation prizes worth VND10 million each from November 11 to February 8.

Tours from HCMC to coastal areas such as Phan Thiet, Nha Trang, Da Nang and Phu Quoc have attracted a great number of visitors for Christmas and New Year over the years, presenting a year-on-year increase of 10 percent, said head of the department for local tour package, Tran Quoc Bao.

Viet Travel Tours has also decreased rates by VND2.5-3 million per person on tours from HCMC to the northern regions; VND1.7-2 million to the central areas; VND4-8 million to South Korea and Japan; VND50,000 to the Mekong Delta Provinces, Phan Thiet, Nha Trang and Da Lat;VND150,000 to ASEAN countries and Northeast countries; VND100,000 to Hanoi, Hue, Da Nang, Con Dao and Phu Quoc; VND250,000 to Europe, the US, and South Africa.

Meanwhile Viet Tourist Company will launch ‘Golden Week’ in November and December this year, a successful promotional campaign.

Lua Viet Travel Company wants to lure young tourists with adventure tours, taking them to conquer the peaks of LangBiang Mountain in Da Lat, the central highlands of Lam Dong and Fansipan in Sapa, the northern province of Lao Cai.

source form: vietnamnet

On June 5, 1911, the patriotic young man Nguyen Tat Thanh left the country on the ship, Admiral Latouche Treville, to begin his quest for salvation. Many changes have taken place over the past 100 years but Nha Rong Wharf still exists and ideals of the young man who later became the great leader of Vietnam are still shining along with the nation.

Nha Rong Wharf – Sai Gon’s trading port on the Sai Gon River – was built in 1863 by French colonialists. The building was a combination of western and eastern architecture and has two dragons “dragons flanking the moon” so often referred to as “The Dragon”, and the port is also called Nha Rong Wharf.

After the French colonial were defeated in 1954, the port was managed by the South Vietnam government which repaired the roofs of the two houses and replaced the old dragons with two new ones that dace outwards.

After Unification Day, the building became a historical relic and memorial area for President Ho Chi Minh.

To mark the 10th death anniversary of Uncle Ho on September 2, 1979, Nha Rong Wharf welcomed visitors to an exhibition on “President Ho Chi Minh’s career for salvation”. The HCM City People’s Committee decided to turn the “President Ho Chi Minh Memorial” into the “Ho Chi Minh Museum” on September 20, 1982. The museum collects, preserves, displays and disseminates information about President Ho Chi Minh’s life and revolutionary career as well as his love for the southern people.

The Ho Chi Minh Museum in HCM City currently has more than 11,000 documents and items and 3,300 books on President Ho Chi Minh.

Today the Nha Rong- Ho Chi Minh museum is a cultural site that hosts a wide range of cultural and political activities including seminars, talks, exhibitions and films about Uncle Ho. This is a glorious landmark in Ho Chi Minh City and for the history of Vietnam.

Nha Rong Wharf – a popular destination for Vietnamese people

 

“Dragon” on the roof 

 

Statue of patriotic young Nguyen Tat Thanh who left the country on June 5, 1911 on
a quest for national salvation when he was 21 years old,  he later became a great leader of Vietnam.

 

The memorial for President Ho Chi Minh in the main drawing room: There is a bronze statue of Uncle Ho on the
altar and two parallel sentences “solidarity, solidarity, great solidarity/ success, success, great success”

 

National declarations of independence through history: the poem “Nam Quoc Son Ha” written by Ly Thuong Kiet
in 1077, “Binh Ngo Dai Cao” by Nguyen Trai in 1428 and the Declaration of Independence by President Ho Chi Minh in 1945.

 

The historic Declaration of Independence read by President Ho Chi Minh in Ba Dinh square on September 2,
1945 proclaimed the birth of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam – the first nation of its kind in Southeast Asia.  

 

Images of Uncle Ho in his international and foreign affairs activities as well as items presented
to him by international friends

 

A display area with the theme “Vietnamese people implement President Ho Chi Minh’s testament to liberate
southern Vietnam to unify the country and build a country of peace, solidarity, independence, democracy
and prosperity (from 1969 to now)”  

 

Both domestic and foreign visitors to Nha Rong Wharf feel deep emotions 

 

A Peugeot car presented to Ho Chi Minh by French Vietnamese Novelgelang in 1964

The most important area is “Uncle Ho’s feelings towards the southern people and southern people’s love for Uncle Ho” After he left Nha Rong Wharf in 1911 he never returned to the south but he said “ the beloved south is always in my heart”. The Southern people’s dream to welcome Uncle Ho on unification day did not come true.

 

 

Thieu Thi Tao wore this mourning shirt in Thu Duc prison

 

President Ho Chi Minh’s photo on the cover of Newsweek magazine from February
20, 1967, has been used on the altar of Phan Ngoc Doi’s family since 1969 

 

Writers, poets and the southern people express their love for Uncle Ho through writings

 

President Ho – President Ton statue 

 

Ceramic vases with images of Uncle Ho and Nha Rong Wharf presented by the Dong Nai Party’s Committee
and people on the occasion of the 94th anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh leaving the country
to seek ways for national salvation

 

Model of the Amiral Latouche Treville 

There are temples in honour of Uncle Ho every where in southern provinces

 

A map of temples to Uncle Ho in the South

 

The map of President Ho Chi Minh temples in South Vietnam.

A temple to Uncle Ho in Ngoc Hien district, Ca Mau province built in 1969

Nha Rong Wharf, a glorious landmark in Vietnam’s national history

 

It is also a cultural area where a wide range of activities take place

 

In front of Nha Rong Wharf is a strongly developing city

source from: vietnamnet

 

Refreshing: Visitors ride bicycles around a Moc Chau tea plantation.— File Photos

Chi, an avid traveller who spends most of the year on the road, recently visited the tea plantation of Moc Chau Plateau, in the north western province of Son La, about 180km from Ha Noi. 

“I’ve travelled all over the country and seen some wonderful places, but Moc Chau was truly breathtaking,” Chi says on returning to Ha Noi. And to cap it all, the temperature is cool, much like Sa Pa in the north and Da Lat in the south, she adds.

A refreshing breeze usually brushes the slopes of the plateau at this time of year. Moc Chau, one of the biggest plateaux in the country, stretches some 80km long and 25km wide, and stands about 1,050m above sea level. As a result, its average temperature is a cool 16-26oC.

The district is home to 3,000ha of tea gardens.

Unlike the dusty city of Moc Chau, the plateau is lush and green as far as the eye can see.

Chi visited the Moc Suong Tea Company in Tan Lap Commune, a private enterprise that has recently begun offering tours to visitors who are given the chance to work in the fields and processing warehouse.

There Chi joined a small group of tourists who were taken on a guided tour of the plantation.

“It is incredible! I have seen rice fields in many countryside towns. They are beautiful but Moc Chau plateau is really much more special,” gushes Chi.

 

Farmhands: Visiting a Moc Suong Co tea farm, tourists will have the chance to join in the harvest and processing of grean tea.

“I would never grow bored of standing in that tea plantation and looking at the lush greenery around me. I feel like I am in heaven. I want more and more.” 

Chi and the rest of the visitors were taken to see trees that are dozens of years old and produce the best quality leaves. (A tea plant will grow into a tree of up to 16m if left undisturbed, but cultivated plants are pruned to waist height for ease of plucking).

After a short lesson on technique from a field hand, Chi is then taken out into the tea garden to pick leaves and buds (technically know as flushes).

“Tourists in effect become one of our workers,” says Nguyen Phu Hau, director of the Moc Suong Company. “Workers are responsible for gardening, caring for the trees and bushes in the fields and processing the picked leaves and buds. They can also take part in collective activities such as eating in our canteen and resting with the other workers, most of whom are local ethnic people,” Hau says.

“It is the best way to learn about the tea-making business and to discover what life is truly like on the plantation. You can’t learn this from a book.”

However, be warned, the work, which requires a certain degree of skill and technique, can be back breaking.

“It is not as easy to pluck the leaves as we see the workers do. You must get as many leaves as possible while not damaging the plants,” Chi says, adding that the post-harvest activities are even more complicated and require a lot of labour.

Hau points out that tea leaves are harvested for nine months of the year, from April to December. It is commonly believed that the tea leaves picked in April produce the best-tasting tea because the very first leaves of the harvest season have had four months to rest and contain valuable extracts.

The leaves are picked from 9am to 3pm – considered the best time of the day.

After several hours in the fields, the visitors take their plucked leaves to the workshop, where the drying and fermenting [tea leaves soon begin to wilt and oxidise "ferment" if not dried quickly after picking.] They are then rolled and vacuum-packed.

Among the teas produced in Moc Chau are Oolong, Kim Tuyen and Shan Tuyet. Shan Tuyet is grown on the greater part of the plateau, and was first to be planted some 50 years ago.

Each variety is processed differently. Chi and other tourists were shown how to make Oolong.

Hoang Van Thu, a visitor from Hai Phong, who was enjoying a relaxing cup of tea after working in the fields, was relishing her first trip to a tea plantation.

“I have really enjoyed my time here. I have been picking in the fields, processing the tea, and now enjoying the final product. For me, drinking the tea that I have helped to make is just fabulous. And I am sure that my friends will be jealous when they hear my story,” Thu says, while sitting in a tea hut.

“After one day working hard there is nothing better than a tea party in the heart of the field. Here we can taste perfect hot tea while breathing in the aroma of the plants and listening to the rustle of the leaves in the breeze.”

Hau is delighted with the success of the tours.

“Moc Chau is a destination of unknown beauty. Tea field tours are just one of the many ways to lure more tourists here,” Hau says.

Tran Thanh Hai, chairman of the Moc Chau District’s People’s Committee, is also delighted with the popularity of the tea plantation tours.

“These tourism activities are new to Moc Chau. Here we have created comfortable conditions for visitors to experience first hand the beauty of our surroundings and to work in the fields alongside our other workers. This is not done anywhere else in Viet Nam.

“If there is the demand, we will also take visitors on tours of the surrounding ethnic villages.”

Chi, on returning to Ha Noi, is still relishing her visit to Moc Chau. She says she plans to have her wedding photos taking on the plateau – while enjoying a nice cuppa.

source from: vietnamnet

Before you start on your travels in Vietnam, take your time to learn a little about the local culture in Vietnam. Not only will this ensure you don’t inadvertently cause offence or, worse, spark an international incident, but it will also endear you to your hosts. Here are a few top tips to help:

Dress code
Respect local dress standards: shorts to the knees, women’s tops covering the shoulder, particularly at religious sites. Always remove your shoes before entering a temple. Nude sunbathing is considered totally inappropriate, even on beaches.

Meet and greet
The traditional Vietnamese form of greeting is to press your hands together in front of your body and bow slightly. These days, the Western custom of shaking hands has almost completely taken over.

Business cards
Exchanging business cards is an important part of even the smallest transaction or business contact. Get some printed before you arrive in Vietnam and hand them out like candy.

Mind your chopsticks
Leaving a pair of chopsticks sitting vertically in a rice bowl looks very much like the incense sticks that are burned for the dead. This is a powerful sign and is not appreciated anywhere in Asia.

Watch your feet
Like the Chinese and Japanese, Vietnamese strictly maintain clean floors and it’s usual to remove shoes when entering somebody’s home. It’s rude to point the bottom of your feet towards other people. Never, ever point your feet towards anything sacred, such as a Buddha image.

Hats off
As a form of respect to elderly or other esteemed people, such as monks, take off your hat and bow your head politely when addressing them. In Asia, the head is the symbolic highest point – never pat or touch an adult on the head.

source from: lonelyplanet

The white-sand Cat Co beach make a great place to lounge around for the day. They are about 1 km southeast from Cat Ba town over a steep headland; and can be reached on foot or by motorbike.

Cat Ba is the biggest island (100 sq. km) out of the 366 islands on the Lan Ha Bay. It is a tourist spot, attractive for its natural beauty and wonders endowed by nature. Right from the moment you set foot on Cat Ba gangway, looking afar to contemplate the enchanting scenery of immense sky and magnificent mountains and breathing the fresh air from the sea, you will feel comfortable and your tiredness after a long trip will disappear. Surely, you want to go on with your journey at once.

Cat Co Beach is separated by a small hillock that can be climbed over in about 20 minutes. However, you can take the easier route along a new wooden seaside walkway around the mountain. The beach offers simple accommodation and camping.

The mountain adjacent to Cat Co Beach has a tunnel and fascinating caves and grottoes, such as Hang Luon, Khe Sau, Trung Trang, Gia Luan and Kim Cuong. Visiting these caves and grottoes you will get the feeling of the explorers, discovering the wonders and mysteries endowed by nature. The fauna living on the Cat Ba National Park is diverse: 20 kinds of animals, 69 kinds of birds, 20 kinds of  reptiles, rare wild white – headed langurs. Coming out of the caves and grottoes you should spend a little time to contemplate the sunset over Lan Ha Bay. On the golden background of the horizon and the dark blue of the sea, the heaving islets become multiform, the white sea-gulls hover and sea-eagles make circles in the sky, all beautifying the immense and fascinating space, and enchanting the visitors.

Cat Co Beach is a tourist spot, attractive for its natural beauty and wonders endowed by nature.

source from: vietnam-beauty

The new routes comprise Na San – Ladon – Aksag, Nam Ha – Vilao – Pakse, Cam Ranh – Mesox and Phu Cat – Bunta.

The Na San – Ladon – Aksag will help shorten flights from Hanoi to France, Germany, Russia and vice versa.

The Nam Ha – Vilao – Pakse routes is expected to shorten flights from Hanoi and Da Nang to Siem Reap and Phnom Penh (Cambodia). Flights from Hanoi to Siem Reap will be 25 minutes shorter.

The Cam Ranh – Mesox route will make flights from Japan and South Korea to HCM City three  to four minutes shorter while flights between HCM City – HCM City and Northwestern Asia will save between four and six minutes thanks to the Phu Cat – Bunta route.

Photo tours demand expertise, flexibility, understanding and patience only a fellow enthusiast like Nguyen Huy Son can offer.

It can be, and is, called many things – photo travel, photo fieldtrips, guided photography tour, specialized travel and photo workshops. But it is basically a journey of discovering a nation through your own lens – figuratively and literally.

And whatever the discoverer’s interest is – landscapes, people’s portraits, historical landmarks or sites, or a combination of many things – Nguyen Huy Son can be a friend and guide on the journey. This is his livelihood.

The forty-year-old Son started out as tour guide in 1996, but the idea for tours focused on photography flashed through his mind when he started to learn the skills from his uncle, a senior photographer.

After three years, in 1999, his new tour was first presented. Immediately it drew lots of attention, especially from foreign guests, such as travel photographers, photo journalists and television production crews.

Since then, many other noted Vietnamese photographers like Huynh Ngoc Dan or Thai Phien have designed their own photo tours, but Son is still holding his own.

That he has “survived” several years of competition shows his photo tours meet clients’ expectations. The fact that Son is a professional tour guide fluent in English gives him an edge over other photographers, and he does not find it difficult to make the tour an attractive one.

Vital ingredients

“Backpack, camera and heart – these are three indispensable parts of my photo tour. I want to give my customers the best native Vietnamese images possible,” said Son.

In Son’s photo tour, there are no limitations or strict schedules or set routines. Your moods and needs are priority. Son keeps in touch, understands your wishes through daily emails, and gets you to the right locale at the right time with the right lighting for the best photo opportunities. He works along, but Son’s connections with well-known firms offering transportation and accommodation serve him, and his customers well.

“No matter what level of experience the tourist has, the trip is always fun and useful, with life’s tiny lessons captured on your way through the lens.“

Son provides detailed consultancy about the best months to travel, best time to shoot and specific local events that will bring you home with unique photos and memories lasting a lifetime.

“My tour is open to every walk of life, any person who has real passion in photography and travel. Usually, for each tour, I guide groups of ten or under, the less the better.”

“Most of my clients have basic knowledge of photography, some of them are extremely professional. Good discipline, respect for each other and sharing the journey’s fruits always make for a happy ending.”

Son also works in association with a government-owned tour company, Ho Chi Minh City’s Ecotour. This ensures safe financial arrangements. The length and location of each photo tour depend on the client’s wishes, including the subjects covered and the region visited.

Time to settle

Son ruefully admits the constant journeying over the last decade has taken him away from a family life.

At 40, he feels the need for it. “It’s time for me to turn into a man with a cozy home to return to.”

Besides being a noted photo tour operator, Son is a proficient photographer in his own right, having exhibited abroad in California, with numerous national photography awards under his belt including: third prize for Vietnam Tourism Photography Contest in 2005, first and third prize for Vietnam Tourism Photography contest in 2004.

At present, Son is working on a “top secret” plan and intends to broaden his photo tour by linking it with bird-watching and bike tours.

TOUR INFORMATION

The cost could be at least US$1,000 for a week-long tour all inclusive – accommodation, ground transportation, food, on-vehicle snacks and bottled water; and airport transfers.

More details about Son’s photo tours can be found at www.vnphotoguide.com

Source:vietnamnet.vn