VietNamNet/VNE

Located 12km north of Da Lat city, Langbian Mountain belongs to Lac Duong town, Lac Duong district of Lam Dong province. The mountain is well-known for its beautiful landscape, which climbs to an altitude of 2,169m. Thousands of tourists visit Langbian Mountain each year to conquer its height and enjoy its fresh air and natural beauty, especially during the lunar New Year Festival when Spring has finally arrived.

Local residents have a legend about a young couple who lived on in Langbian mountain. The boy, named K’lang, loved his girl friend, Ho Bian, very much, but they couldn’t marry because their two clans had a long-standing feud. The two decided to commit suicide together to keep their love alive forever. After their death, their bodies were buried on the top of two mountains, which eventually merged into one, called Langbian – the name of the faithful boy and girl.

A project to develop the mountain and its surrounding area into a tourist resort got underway 10 years ago. The mountain has now become an attractive destination where visitors can enjoy its great natural beauty and explore the cultures of the local ethnic minority people.

Nguyen Thi Kim Giang, Vice Director of the Langbian tourism area, says careful attention is being paid to protecting the environment and preserving the natural landscape. Visitors to Langbian resort can climb to the top of mountain, walk down to Dankia hill, and take advantage of newly available food and beverage services, while enjoying Gong performance by ethnic minority groups.

It’s a poignant moment when visitors arrive at the peak of Lam Vien Highland. From this vantage point, the land stretches as far as the eye can see.

Ngo Thi Khanh Ha, a tourist from Nha Trang City, says she was very proud to have conquered this 2,169m peak. Despite her weariness, it felt good seeing Dalat city from high above. This was the second time Ms Ha had been to the Langbian tourism area.

Dankia hill, which rises to a height of 1,950m, lies 4km from Langbian peak. The hill has been made into an inviting rest stop for tourists passing through the area. It has a large restaurant that serves local specialties, and tourists can camp here overnight and enjoy a panoramic view of Dalat City, twinkling with lights.

Liangbian offers gong performances by K’Ho ethnic people and the ‘100-year’ Valley – a modern resort providing guest with accommodations, karaoke and travelling services, and tennis courts.

Last year, the tourism area attracted over 300,000 domestic and foreign tourists, an increase of about 35 percent over 2008.

Ms Kim Giang says tourists come to visit Langbian mainly because it remains underdeveloped. If more infrastructure is built, she says, tourists might no longer love it. Tourists especially like such activities as mountain climbing, ecological research and hang-gliding.

VietNamNet/VOV

Travelers on the Nam River.

The tour operator says this journey is unique because it links the two attractions by waterway instead of the long-distance overland route.

“Tourists normally feel tired with one day by overland from Dong Van to Ba Be. We can shorten the time by the new waterway through the Gam and Nang rivers,” said Tran The Dung, deputy director of the tour operator.

The tour departs HCMC by plane for Hanoi and then immediately heads to Ha Giang Province, around 290 kilometers away, by car.

Dong Van Highlands comprise four mountainous districts in the north of Ha Giang Province, Quan Ba, Yen Minh, Meo Vac and Dong Van, and covers more than 574 square kilometers with limestone on the surface of more than 80 percent of the park.

Visits to Lung Cu Flag Tower, H’Mong and Lo Lo ethnic villages, Ma Pi Leng Mountain Pass and Quan Ba Heaven Gate in Quan Ba District are included.

The trip to Ba Be Lake on the fourth day will mostly be spent floating on the river. From Quan Ba District, tourists will go to Bac Me District by car and across the Nam River to Tuyen Quang Province for some attractions there and then cruise along the Nang River to Ba Be Lake. The next two days are to explore Ba Be National Park and other attractions in Hanoi.

“I wanted to arrange the overland river combination tour early this year. I made two fact-finding trips, by myself and with the national tourism authority,” says Dung.

Dung says the six day tour will save one and a half days compared to the normal tour and give the best feeling for visitors when traveling on the new route that links the two impressive attractions.

The tour costs from over VND8.7 million to VND9.6 million per tourist depending on the type of hotel.

For more information, contact Young Generation Travel Company at 209A Hoang Van Thu Street, Ward 8, Phu Nhuan District, HCMC, tel: 08 3993 1238, fax: 08 3842 2245, email: thehetre@hcm.fpt.vn.

VietNamNet/SGT

The entrance to the Champa Museum in Da Nang.

Built in 1915 it houses nearly 2,000 sculptures made by the Indian-influenced Cham civilisation that flourished in Viet Nam between the 6th and 18th centuries, with 475 on display inside and in the garden and the rest in its vaults.

There are some terracotta and bronze sculptures but most are made of sandstone and cover a gamut of styles. They mostly date back to the 12th to 15th centuries.

The artefacts were found in the central region between Quang Binh and Binh Thuan provinces. They are displayed in 10 halls named after the localities where they were discovered – like My Son, Tra Kieu, and Dong Duong.

History

According to its director, Vo Van Thang, the Champa Museum’s first building was opened only in 1919 but many Cham artefacts had been collected and brought to the site over the preceding 20 years.

The collection was begun by French archaeologists and experts from the L’ecole Francaise d’Extreme Orient (the Far East Archaeological Research Institute) in Ha Noi.

Thang said the establishment of a Cham sculpture museum in Da Nang was first proposed in 1902 by the EFEO’s Department of Archaeology. Henri Parmentier, a prominent archaeologist in the department, made a great contribution to the campaign for its construction.

The first building was designed by French architects. The museum has been expanded twice since then, but the character of the original architecture has been preserved.

The museum is being managed by the Da Nang Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Thang said the museum has sent its exhibits to a number of exhibitions abroad. In 2003 it sent two artefacts to an art and history museum in Brussels, Belgium, and the Museum of Ethnology in Vienna, Austria.

In October 2005 it lent 48 objects to an exhibition titled Viet Nam Art Treasure: Champa Sculpture at the Guimet Museum in Paris.

Recently in the US, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and the Asia Society, New York, held an unprecedented exhibition of art from ancient Viet Nam called Ancient Vietnam: From River Plain to Open Sea, introducing new scholarship on the history of Vietnamese art.

The exhibition was held from September 2009 to January 3 this year at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Around 110 objects from the first millennium BC through the 17th century, on loan from leading Vietnamese museums, including the Champa Museum, were on display at this exhibition.

“These exhibitions helped make ancient Viet Nam’s arts better known around the world,” Thang said.

However, the global economic turmoil has resulted in a decrease in the number of visitors to the museum.

Thang said the figure dropped from 190,000 in 2008 to 150,000 last year, with around 110,000 of them being foreigners.

“Very interesting and educational – most instructive,” said Shyllist Roy, a British tourist who came to the museum early last year.

Anggoon Saiboot, a Thai visitor, said: “I’ve come from Thailand to visit the museum. I think I am very lucky and happy.”

After visiting the museum in February 2008, Singapore’s President S. R. Nathan wrote in the visitors’ book: “A rare display of ancient Hindu statues – well displayed for visitors to admire and appreciate a bygone civilisation in Viet Nam.”

The entrance fee to the museum on September 2 Street is VND30,000 for an adult and VND5,000 for a child. High-school students can enter for free.

Dien Bien Phu is now a modern and historical place with a blend of administrative buildings, modern hotels and cultural or historical sites, surrounded by a cluster of ethnic Thai villages. Tourists can enjoy home-stay accommodation there in a wonderful way to discover the Thai culture.

On our first night, my friends and I stayed at a private guest-house in the centre, but next day we decided to visit Men village, just 5km away.

The village is full of traditional Thai stilt-houses. It’s a charming and tranquil spot to enjoy fresh air and the whisper of the nearby stream.

The place is actually a more modern creation-I would prefer the truly rustic experience offered by a simple stilt-house with a thatched roof and a bamboo screen floor.

Accommodation costs VND150,000 per night and includes a meal of sticky rice cooked in a bamboo basket, com lam (grilled sticky rice), boiled vegetables, dried buffalo and grilled pork, chicken or fish. Thai people from Dien Bien cook the most delicious rice I have ever tasted. You might also be treated to local delicacies such as roasted bees or chicken.

Thai beliefs

The Thai believe in Muong Con (the land of the living), Muong Phi (the land of the dead) and Muong Then (the land of God). Dien Bien province, where 40 percent of the population is estimated to be ethnic Thai, is God’s country as here you will find the valley of Muong Then.

According to a Thai legend, God (Then) created human beings in a gourd, which he punctured with a pin to release the humans onto the earth. The first people to emerge from the gourd were the Xa. They were followed in turn by the Thai, the Lao, the Lu, the Mong and finally the Kinh (the Vietnamese ethnic majority). The gourd then became a mountain, which stands today in Tau Phung commune in the middle of the Muong Thanh valley.

There are two main Thai tribes in Dien Bien province: Black Thai and White Thai, which you can distinguish from their head-dresses in black and white colour respectively.

House rules

Every town house has two sets of stairs-one on the left for men and one on the right for women but don’t worry if you forget which way to go. Thai people are very hospitable and easy going. You will often be asked to toast with alcohol during meals. I have learned through experience that Thai women can drink pretty well. Sure enough, one of my male friends, who is fond of a tipple, once had a few too many, then got pissed under the table.

Those who manage to remain sober over dinner are then invited to watch a traditional dance performance by Thai girls around a fire.

The dancing is known as Xoe. There are many different kinds, one called Kham khan moi lau, involving a handkerchief and betel nuts, intended to be used as a romantic dance and a way of showing hospitality. The dance known as Pha xi implies community solidarity and ancestral devotion. The Doi hon dance moves forwards and backwards, implying that human love is unshakable and faithful. The Nhuon khan dance is the most jubilant and is often performed after a good crop or at a wedding or house warming party.

End of the evening

At the end of the performance, everyone is invited to join in the Kham Khan dance where a large circle is formed. The dance signifies both community solidarity as well as a common wish for a happy and prosperous life. Everyone dances hand in hand around a wood fire creating a wonderful social and festive atmosphere.

After a sumptuous meal with a few shots of liquor and an evening of dancing we all fall into a deep sleep on the brocade mats spread out across the bamboo floor despite the wind and the rain that has picked up outside.

In the morning there is enough time to pick up some of the brocades and embroidered products which are all handmade by women in the village. This tradition trade is now part of the local tourism industry which helps the Thai communities prosper and retain their cultural identity.

Source:vietnamnet.vn

VietNamNet Bridge – The representatives of 17 regional travel agencies, including Saigontourist (Vietnam), attended a meeting in Bangkok, Thailand and agreed to establish an Asian Cruise Services Network (ACSN).

Krai Panyarachun, the director of Bangkok-based SEA Tours, was elected as ACSN’s President and directors from the other travel agencies are now members of the board.

Apart from SEA Tours, other members include Saigontourist (Vietnam), JTB (Japan), Aju Incentive Tours (the Republic of Korea), PC Tours (Hong Kong), Bali Triloka Candra (Indonesia), Asian Overland Services (Malaysia), First Travel (Cambodia), Anglo-French Travel (Singapore), Myanmar Voyages (Myanmar), Micato India (India) and Gemini Tours (Sri Lanka).

According to director Krai Panyarachun, besides working out a strategic business plan and operational programme for next year, ACSN will design a website to advertise the network around the world.

Source:vietnamnet.vn

Travelers trek on the trail to Ba Na Mountain in Binh Phuoc Province.

Genie Mountain is about 180 kilometers from HCMC. To enjoy the primitive landscapes at their best, tourists should start in the early morning when Genie Mountain is still covered in fine white mist. Teeming greenery, cool wind, endless forests and magnificent peaks all offer a retreat of stillness, peace, romance and comfort.

Those interested in saving time can take a motorbike to Bang Lang Hill which is about a third as high as Genie Mountain. The asphalted path winds under the shade of dense primeval forest and is intersected by creeks.

Upon reaching the hill, tourists can visit a house devoted to national heroes who fought for the country’s freedom. Just 30 meters away is a tree which is 50 meters tall and wide enough for ten people to encircle.

Those with more time to spend and the desire to conquer nature are welcome to climb the 1,767 steps from Bang Lang Hill to the top of Genie Mountain.

To survive the ascent and a night on the mountain, tourists should equip themselves with canvas shoes, warm clothes, dry food such as bread, noodles and tinned fish and plenty of mineral water. On the peak there are small temples where tourists can sleep overnight. On nights when the moon is large, the view of the forest, with its shimmering moonlit leaves, is spectacular.

Sitting on the mountain under the sparkling diamond sky and moonlight and casting your eyes on the lights of Thac Mo Village in the distance, tourists are guaranteed a unique experience associated with nature.

Gathering with friends, building a camp fire and strumming tunes on guitar all make for unforgettable memories.

Dawn comes with a symphony of birdsong and the dramatic re-emergence of Thac Mo Lake from the night.

Ba Ra-Thac Mo Tourist Site was once a military base and was recognized as a national historical relic in 1995.

Source:english.vietnamnet.vn

World heritage: People in Duy Xuyen District, Quang Nam Province gather yesterday to celebrate the tenth year since My Son was recognised by the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organisation as a World Cultural Heritage site.

Duy Xuyen People’s Committee vice chairman Le Trung Hoa made the announcement yesterday, December 2, as the district celebrated the tenth year since My Son was recognised by the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organisation (UNESCO) as a World Cultural Heritage site.

Hoa said that over the next five years, the district will concentrate on protecting and restoring My Son relics and developing infrastructure as well as human resources to promote tourist potential, in a bid to generate more jobs, reduce hunger and erase poverty.

Representatives at yesterday’s ceremony urged the district authorities to improve facilities such as internet and mobile phone coverage, which are now poor in the district, to attract more investors.

Duy Xuyen had sustained economic growth at an average rate of 14 per cent per year for the past several years, with the service sector alone expanding on average 15 per cent per year, according to Hoa. Per capita income reached around VND9.5 million (US$513) last year.

Duy Xuyen pupils had been taught about My Son in schools for several years, and this would continue to be sped up in the coming years, said the head of My Son relics site, Nguyen Cong Huong.

“With this, pupils would not only be fully aware of the site’s socio-economic values, but also could become good tourist guides here in the future,” he said.

The Sa Huynh – Champa Culture Museum was also opened in the district yesterday, displaying over 200 antiques.

“Duy Xuyen was considered as the focus of archaeological research for various cultures from the dawn of human kind to modern day history,” said an official from the district’s department of culture and information. “The museum would help visitors become aware of the main features of Sa Huynh Culture, an outstanding civilization of 2,000-2,500 years ago.”

“Champa Culture items also make a contribution to enri

Source:english.vietnamnet.vn

Mountain of joy: Lam’s Buddha of Happiness sits atop Cam Mountain.

For the Cam Mountain sculpture, Thuy Lam and his workers spent more than three years making the concrete Buddha. At 33.6m, it’s Viet Nam’s tallest religious structure and is considered among the tallest in Southeast Asia.

More than 2 million people have visited the statue each year since it was erected in 2007.

“Doing this on top of a mountain was hard. Bringing the building materials to the top takes time,” Chau Viet Thanh, one of Lam’s colleagues, said. “Wind, rain, heat and cold also hindered our work.”

Lam also sculpted the 25m-high statue of Phat Thich Ca Mau Ni (Sakyamuni Buddha) at the Van Hanh Zen Buddhist Institute in Da Lat, as well as a 22.36m-high Buddha statue in the front yard of Vinh Trang Pagoda in My Tho City, Tien Giang Province.

Lam and his colleagues are currently putting the final touches to a 65m-high statue of Phat Ba Quan Am, Goddess of Mercy, at Linh Ung 3 Pagoda on Son Tra Mountain in Da Nang.

Lam made the statue at request of Da Nang authorities who expect it to be a tourist attraction.

Lam, whose real name is Pham Dan Chu, is a native of An Giang. He lives in HCM City and travels frequently from province to province working on sculptures at pagodas. Besides dozens of giant statues, Lam has made hundreds of small-sized Buddha statues for many pagodas located from the central province of Thua Thien-Hue to southern provinces.

He is a self-taught sculptor. “My first job as a sculptor was to repair a mermaid statue at a hotel in HCM City in the 1980s,” the 65-year-old said.

“I have a passion for shaping figures and modelling clay since childhood, “Lam said. “I also spent lots of time studying Oriental philosophy and Buddha’s teachings.”

Before making statues for pagodas, Lam painted hundreds of portraits of Buddha and carved many Buddha statues.

“I’m old now and I’ve thought of rest,” Lam said, but he has yet to retire.

“Monks and my friends call me. They tell me there are new pagodas here and there in need of statues. When I start on a new statue, I work with all my enthusiasm and I forget that I have thought of taking a rest,” he said.

Source:english.vietnamnet.vn

Tourists are able to relax near the tranquil waters in Thung Nai.

Long ago, deer would graze in the mountain and fields near the water of the Da River. It was because of this everyday sight that the valley was named Thung Nai, which translates to the “Valley of Deer”.

Located on a section of the Da River in Cao Phong District in the northern province of Hoa Binh, Thung Nai, with its hundreds of islands and a large number of Muong ethnic people living in the region, can enchant anyone who sets foot into the land.

When the biggest hydro power plant in Southeast Asia – the Hoa Binh Hydro Power Plant – was under construction in the 1980s, the Da River was stopped up to keep water for a reservoir. The water level then rose and submerged the valley together with hundreds of mountains, turning them into islands. That’s why Thung Nai has been praised as the “Ha Long Bay

Locals harvest bamboo to use as a building material. Visitors can witness the local daily life of Thung Nai residents.

of the Highlands”.

Only 110km northeast of Ha Noi, Thung Nai became a favourite tourist spot for dan phuot (Vietnamese slang for backpackers who like travelling by motorbike).

“After two and a half hours of driving on meandering roads along the mountains, I can escape the noisy and dusty city to enjoy the purity of nature here,” says Le Trung Kien, a young man who just graduated from the University of Architecture.

“I found out about the place when I joined a forum on the website. People wrote and uploaded many beautiful photographs on a topic about Thung Nai. I wanted to come here immediately after reading about it.”

Kien said that he and a group of his friends were astounded by the breathtaking landscape. Islands of

Grilled Thieu – a kind of fish which only lives in Da River – is one of Thung Nai’s special foods.

different shapes and sizes are embraced by the spacious reservoir. The water also brings out the green colours of the surrounding countryside.

Locals said that Thung Nai should be visited during the autumn season, when the hot summer sun no longer burns and the water level in the reservoir rises high. That is when Thung Nai really blooms.

Hoang Mai Lan, a student at the Foreign Trade University, had an unforgettable birthday when she decided to celebrate on a boat drifting on the waters in the middle of September.

“I’ve had a wonderful birthday in between nature and friends. We spent the day wandering about, enjoying the poetic scenery,” she said.

For some other tourists, putting their hands into the clear waters while sitting on a boat or waking up at

A tower on the windmill island on Thung Nai River.

dawn to breathe in the fresh air are also enjoyable experiences.

“It’s impossible to get such pure air and space in the nation’s cities. All my worries seem to have disappeared in the boundless space of Thung Nai,” said Thu Trang, a young woman from the capital.

Sightseeing spots

Tourists should not miss Ba Chua Thac Bo Temple (Thac Bo Goddesses Temple), which is one of several sightseeing spots in the area.

According to legend, two local ethnic women had supplied food and boats for the troops of King Le Thai To when they defeated foreign invaders in 1431. When the women died, the King praised their services and asked local residents to build a temple to worship them. Since then, boatmen often stop off at the temple to pray for smooth waters and a safe trip.

Nowadays, pilgrims still strongly believe in the Thac Bo Goddesses’ supernatural powers. They believe the Goddesses can help them with their wishes if they hear their prayers. While the original temple was submerged tens of metres under the water’s surface, the current temple attracts thousands of people nationwide every year.

A local boatman, Bui Van Long, said that a huge number of the pilgrims flocked to the temple from the first to the seventh lunar months.

“Since I started my job 20 years ago, almost all of my passengers are pilgrims, who come here just to pray at the temple. However, more and more true tourists have been coming in recent years,” said the 38-year-old man.

Visiting the temple, tourists can also witness old Muong ethnic women displaying their farm products to sell to visitors. Their “goods” include the herbal medicines they collect from wild plants the jungle along with fresh and dried bamboo shoots.

Ten minutes by boat from the Goddesses Temple, tourists can get to Thac Bo Cave, which was recognised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a national heritage site in 2008. There are different shapes of stalactites inside the 100m-long cave, and each stalactite brings about a specific sound when a visitor beats on it.

The Muong people living in the region claim that these sounds are the sounds of their ethnic gongs.

The Thac Bo floating market is also among the must-see destinations of this journey. Open every Sunday morning, the market attract boats from around the reservoir to do business with each other.

Visitor can expand their sightseeing tours by visiting small villages of Muong and Dao ethnic people, or they can ask the boatman to take them to Ngoi Hoa Lake. Located on the top of a mountain, the lake can be seen after an hour’s climb through the green landscape.

“There is no word that can describe our pleasure when we saw the lake. While some guys in our group didn’t hesitate to jump into the water, the girls just sat on the rocks and dipped their feet into the clear water,” Trang said.

Another surprise came when a cluster of small shrimps immediately swarm over to the girls’ feet and began nibbling at their skin.

“It was so amazing! We didn’t expect it; it was almost like going to the spa!” she added.

Ideal landscape

Many tourists come to Thung Nai not only to witness the wonderful poetic landscape, but also to find a perfect backdrop for their photographs.

Minh Quan, a television reporter, got sunburned waiting for the right light for his images.

“I don’t want to use words to talk about Thung Nai, so I’ll just upload some pictures I took during my trip. I’m pretty sure that many people will want to visit the place once they see my images,” said Quan, who brings along his photography equipment whenever he travels with his friends at the Vespa Cau Giay Family – a club for those interested in the Italian vintage scooters.

For Nguyen Thong Nhat, a professional photographer, the most impressive moment was when he spent the Mid-Autumn night on the reservoir. “The water surface looked like it was inlaid with gold. The twinkling moonlight was everywhere,” he said.

And of course, he didn’t miss a chance to capture the scenery of the “Ha Long Bay of the Highlands”.

Some other photographers said the Coi Xay Gio (Windmill) guest house, located on a small island on the reservoir, was an ideal place to capture the landscape at different times of day.

The guest house’s owner is a Ha Noi resident, who also enjoys travelling. Together with some friends, he purchased some land on one of the islands and built a stilt house on it in 2000.

“More and more tourists have dropped by my island, which is quite eye-catching with a red-brick windmill. They asked me for a place to spend the night. So since then I’ve turned the house into a small guesthouse,” said owner Tran Duc Duy.

The Windmill guest house attracts visitors not only for its nice location, but also for its local specialities, such as fermented fish and grilled and smoked fish, served with ruou can (a home-made rice wine in a jar, drunk with bamboo straws).

Visitors also should not miss a chance to taste the crispy roasted meat of the Muong boar. Although it is a domestic animal, the Muong people keep them in a wild environment and never let them grow bigger than 20kg.

The Windmill guest house offers a package for tourists for a very reasonable price, from VND250,000-300,000 (about US$13). The package includes a bed, three meals and a sightseeing boat.

His three stilt houses are large enough for 100 people to sleep in each night. Duy said that he had re-invested all his profits to upgrade the guest houses.

Tourism development According to the chairman of Thung Nai Commune’s People Committee, Bui Van Nhan, Hoa Binh Province has some guidelines to develop tourism in the area. However, some projects have not been implemented due to the province’s limited budget.

“So far, a 25km road from Binh Thanh Commune to Thung Nai Commune and a tourism wharf have been completed in 2007,” Nhan said.

Thanks to the road, more and more tourists have come to the area over the past few years.

“Before the road was completed, most tourists came here by the waterway. Everything changed when the road was opened: now, more and more people visit Thung Nai by land.”

There were no figures, but Nhan said that Thung Nai greeted its largest-ever number of tourists in 2009.

Realising the region’s tourism potential, the local authorities submitted a plan to develop infrastructure as well as to call on investments in the area.

A plan to develop cultural tourism at six Muong ethnic villages was also being thrown around.

“Together with its natural potential, we will try to use the local ethnic culture as a key element to develop tourism here,” Nhan said.

Source:vietnamnet.vn