BEN TRE — Ben Tre is well-known as the land of coconuts. The province,86km from HCM City,is home to 40,000ha of various coconut species. Waterway travel is an attractive way of travelling the byways and highways of this destination.
The Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Ben Tre is made up of three main islands wedged between the Tien River to the north and the Co Chien River to the south with the Ham Luong River running straight down the centre. All are effectively offshoots of the Mekong as it splits out into many fingers before spilling out into the sea.
Verdant and flat,the province is mostly given over to rice and fruit cultivation. Traditional Mekong life is the norm here,with easy going markets,plenty of opportunities to stop for coffee,take a boat trip or skip through the local museum.
The one-day tour to Phung (Phoenix),the 28ha islet emerging in the middle of the Tien River is a popular choice for tourists.
Tourists begin the trip on large ship departing from the ferry. Arriving at the coconut forests around Phung Isle,they transit to small boats to discover the coconut isle and thread their way through canals which only allow boats to pass one by one.Rowers prove their ability in steering boats through narrow canals sometimes by using their legs. Our first stop is a large house built and roofed from coconut,surrounded by a garden of fruit trees. A young man briskly climbs up a coconut tree and picks fruits to serve us fresh,instant coconut milk.
We don’t have to wait for long to enjoy local grapefruit,papaya,durian,dragonfruit and starfruit. The tropical fruits make us realise how blessed by nature Ben Tre is.
Another speciality of the southern isle is a performance of don ca tai tu (amateur singing) and hat boi (southern classical theatre). All the singers and instrumentalists are locals,and although they are amateurs,their performance is enjoyable. This kind of singing is popular and is a strong feature of people’s ordinary life. They sing while working,rowing,and picking fruits. Enjoying the traditional music performance by local singers under a roof of coconut leaves is really wonderful.
After relaxing,we feel ready to continue exploring the isle. The tour guide leads us to a small irrigation canal and with a smile,promises us a game that we haven’t experienced before.We are to catch some fish. We wade across the irrigation ditch,and use mud to stop the current of water in a section. When the water is bailed out from the section,we find red snapper,anabas and snake-head fish and begin catching them. We use our hands,fishing baskets and bamboo fish traps to catch them. After a long time bailing out water,my friend has an idea. He lies and stretches his arms with the hope of stopping the water running but it’s useless. We have lots of fun but we don’t try to catch that many. We stop when we’ve got enough for lunch and leave some fish for other tourists.
We enjoy the fruits of our labour prepared and cooked in a local style.
The most common tree on the islet is without doubt the coconut. The people are extremely creative,making a range of things from coconut. We have a chance to visit small factory producing coconut products and handicrafts and learn how they are made.
No part of a coconut tree is wasted. Leaves are used for roofs. Fruit is eaten instantly and processed into candy and pancakes. Their shells are dried to put teapots inside to keep warm. Coconut roots are sculpted into masks and the faces of an old man with a long beard. Tree-trunks are used to build houses,make chopsticks and decorative objects. We even don’t realise that some products are made of coconut because they have been transformed into sophisticated objects such as hairpins,handbags and wallets. There are so many things to buy as souvenirs.
Phung Isle is also home for craftsmen producing furniture with materials taken from the coconut tree,and families raising bees for honey from the longan flower. The product is sold on the spot to visitors.
It’s also known as the islet of Dao Dua (Coconut Religion). There are lots of curious architectural features here and some relics of the religious activities such as a nine-storey tower where Nam preached,a huge censer,a yard decorated by nine dragons and a monument showing documents relating to the establishment of the religion.
The one-day tour is not enough to discover the character and uniqueness of the islet but we have really had some wonderful moments and experiences. Source:VNS

The Halong Tourism Festival 2010 will take place in the northern border province of Quang Ninh from April 29 to May 2. Visitors to the event will have an opportunity to participate in various activities,such as a beauty pageant,a photo exhibition of Halong Bay,a concert,boat-racing,a music performance and fireworks display.

A trade fair and an annual conference on the world’s most beautiful bays will also be held.

Currently,Quang Ninh Province is completing preparatory work for the festival in many resort areas,such as Bay Chay Beach and Mong Cai border gate. The province has invested nearly VND40 billion to build a large stage at Bay Chay Beach as a major venue for the opening ceremony of the festival.

Halong Bay has been twice recognised by UNESCO as the World Heritage for its natural beauty and geology.(Source:VOV)

Unarguably,lots of changes can be seen almost everywhere in Hanoi,particularly in the center of town. More buildings are added to the city’s skyline. More upscale fashion stores,restaurants and hotels line the narrow roads in and around the Old Quarter. More fashion-savvy young people roam the tree-lined streets.Still,the capital city has some special traits that seem to be untouched by time despite all sorts of social change and that can hardly be found anywhere else in the country. And one of these is the popular business of vending tea,coffee or soft drinks on the sidewalk.This kind of business can be seen in other parts of the nation like HCM City. But what makes tea and coffee vending in Hanoi different from the rest of the country are modest-sized tables and stools. Young people who ride both low-priced and big-ticket motorcycles are willing to sit on a small stool made from either worn-out foam sheets or plastics and have their cups of tea,coffee or soft drink on a so-called table made from a foam box.

Strangers to Hanoi might find it embarrassing and even awkward to drop by such a petty tea and coffee serving stall,let alone joining other Hanoi customers to have a round of drinks.

It is really a nice experience to have a cup of tea,though. While drinking iced tea on the sidewalk near the Sofitel Metropole Hotel and the landmark Opera House in the heart of Hanoi on a cool night,a young Hanoian says she likes it this way simply because she enjoys serenity and peace until late at night when there is little or no vehicular traffic on the narrow,tree-lined road,and when the noise caused by honking motorcycles and cars dies down.

The streets are always hustling and bustling from dawn to dusk. However,late in the evening,many of them become quiet with the straight lines of trees on the sidewalks seemingly embracing each other to form green arches.

In the eyes of many Hanoians,the city is very beautiful not because of its new structures and affluence but the soul of Hanoi. What is physical might have been lost in the development process but the long-established traditions and habits like tea and coffee drinking on the sidewalks in town make the city unique and distinct. VietNamNet/SGT

Vietnam’s tourism sector hopes the Impressive Vietnam Grand Sale 2010 program,which will take place in August and September this year,will prompt the development of shopping tours as tourist spending in Vietnam is still small.

Nguyen Van Tuan,Director General of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT),said the tourism sector had received support from provincial departments of trade and industry to organize the program in HCMC,Danang and Hanoi. Members of the Association of Vietnamese Retailers as well as shopping centers had responded well to the program too.

The Impressive Vietnam Grand Sale 2010 is just one of the activities under this year’s “Vietnam – Your Destination” marketing campaign.

“The program is the start. We will try our best to make it a yearly program and carry out activities to develop shopping tours in the long term,” Tuan said.

According to VNAT,foreign visitors spend only 10 to 15% of their total traveling funds on shopping when visiting Vietnam. An average tourist spends a total of just US$800 in Vietnam.

Vu The Binh,Director of Department of Travel under VNAT,said,“It’s very small compared to the 50% to 55% Thailand’s tourism sector earns from shopping. We need to develop it”.

Nguyen Huu Tho,Director of Saigontourist Holding Company,said shopping tours would attract both local and international travelers.

The “One Hundred Excitements” program of HCMC is the tourism sector’s first step as it promotes the city’s best shopping centers and markets. However,the city needs to continue activities to promote shopping centers in the long term.

Tho said Saigontourist’s larger inner-city hotels would have famous brand name shops. For example,the five-star Rex Hotel will soon have a Chanel shop and the Continental Hotel will house luxury shops in the near future.

“However,we need to make more of an effort to attract local guests and others who have lower incomes,” he added.

Tuan from VNAT said that the VNAT would ask the Government to refund VAT to tourists too.

“We will submit the plan at the next meeting of the National Tourism Development Steering Committee,” he said. (Source:SGT)

The central province of Quang Nam will hold a ceremony this week to worship Thu Bon,a goddess believed to bless fishermen and others who earn a living on the river that bears her name.The province’s largest folk festival has been held in Duy Xuyen District’s Thu Bon Village for centuries,with solemn rituals and festive celebrations marking the unity of the Kinh (Viet),Cham and Co Tu ethnic people in the upper parts of the Vu Gia and Thu Bon rivers,the lifeblood of Vietnam’s mid-central and central-coastal provinces.

Legends

According to the legend,Bo Bo was the daughter of a rich man in Thu Bon Village who lived hundreds of years ago. At the age of five,she exhibited an extraordinary talent for using the leaves and roots of different types of trees and plants in the region to treat diseases. She never accepted payment for her services and neither did she ever accept any of the many proposals for marriage given to her,even from wealthy men and royal families.

When she passed away on the 12th day of the second month of the lunar year,she was still a young virgin. The villagers covered her body with leaves and flowers. That night,the lid of her coffin mysteriously opened and an aroma of flowers spread throughout the village. Villagers from Thu Bon have since built the Thu Bon Tomb and the Thu Bon Temple for Bo Bo,whom they now remember and worship as Goddess Thu Bon.

Elderly villagers still tell stories about Thu Bon’s supernatural powers.

One popular tale says a man once visited Thu Bon Temple asking the saint to cure his wife’s infertility. Elders say the goddess then entered the man’s body and rushed to his house with a candle. Through the man’s body,Thu Bon touched the pregnant woman’s belly and she gave birth immediately.

Another tale says Thu Bon Village suffered from a bad harvest in the Year of the Dragon of 1928,and residents had resigned to hold a modest harvest festival. But as they discussed plans to cut costs on the festival,a bull appeared and laid down in front of the temple. From its horns,a string holding 3,000 coins hung and dangled in the air. The villagers knew Thu Bon had given them money to hold the festival. They took the coins and released the bull into the forest. A villager followed the bull and saw it enter My Son,a complex of religious towers built by the Cham people between the 4th and 14th century. There,the bull then turned to stone.

In another story,a mandarin in the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945) questioned Thu Bon’s divinity. A medium then channeled her spirit and Thu Bon told the mandarin she would prove herself by burning down Dong Ba,Hue’s largest market. A few minutes later someone arrived to announce that a fire had broken out at the market. The shocked mandarin beseeched Thu Bon to put out the fire,and immediately it began to rain heavily.

Processions,parties

The Thu Bon Festival is organized on the 12th day of the second lunar month,which falls on March 27 this year.

Every year,a group of young virgin women are selected to carry the Thu Bon palanquin. In the evenings before the festival,the young women in the village make traditional cakes like banh it (sticky rice stuffed with either meat or sweet green bean paste),banh u (cone-shaped sticky rice cake) and banh chung (square-shaped sticky rice cake),and prepare betel quids as offerings to the goddess. Called trau tem canh phuong,the betel quid consist of a piece of a betel leaf,a piece of areca nut and a slaked lime. For the festival,the betel leaves are made in the shape of a phoenix.

On the 12th day,a dozen boats decorated with flowers depart from Thu Bon village at 4 a.m. The boats row against the current of the Thu Bon River to Que Son District,where the Thu Bon Temple is located. The boats stop in the middle of the river,and people fill jars with river water and bring it back to Thu Bon Village.

The boats are welcomed back at the village around 8 a.m. by hundreds of people,including a troupe of people carrying five palanquins called ngu hanh tien nuong,or “the five fairies,” which represent the five basic elements – metal,wood,water,fire and earth. A group of five beautiful young women are also selected to carry five trays of ngu qua (five different types of fruit) as offerings to the goddess.

The people in traditional costumes march along the bank of the river towards Thu Bon’s Tomb in Thu Bon Village to perform a ceremony there. The jars of water are put on the palanquins and water will be used to wash the statute of the goddess and as an offering to the deity.

The festival also has a lighter side,including boat races on the Thu Bon River,parades,folk games,cock fighting and traditional music performances.

Among the highlights is bai choi,a game that is part card-playing,part human-chess,part song and part theater.

Hungry participants can also try specialties like mi quang (Quang Nam-style rice noodle soup),be thui (broiled veal) and different types of cakes made from rice and glutinous rice.

HOW TO GET THERE

• From Da Nang City,travel south on National Highway 1A past Hoi An. At the town of Nam Phuoc in Quang Nam’s Duy Xuyen District,some 40 kilometers south of Da Nang,turn onto DT616 Road,which leads to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of My Son,the ruins of Cham towers dating as far back as the 4th century.

• After about 20 kilometers on DT616,you reach the three-way Kiem Lam crossroad. Here,if you turn left,you go to My Son. You should turn right and go straight for another four kilometers until you reach Thu Bon Village.Source:VietNamNet/Thanh Nien