Beautiful photos of Bien Ho – Pleiku

Bien Ho (Ocean Lake) in Pleiku, which is compared as precious pearl of Central Highland, is just like a transparent sapphire that brings cool fresh air for the sunny mountain city.


In Vietnam travel, tourists can travel to the southern of Vietnam and enjoy the beauty of nature and people in these destinations. Bien Ho is such a precious gift that the Central Highland has been given.

Source: vietnamtourism.org.vn

The North West route Yên Bái - Lai Châu - Lào Cai

Thác Bà reservoir - Yên Bái province

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I was back to Yên Bái city at the end of the trip and
 took this chance to visit Thác Bà hydropower plant. It's 
located 12km away from the center of the city. The boat
 ride on the reservoir was one of the highlights
 on my 7 day trip.

This is Part 4 and also the final part of my 7-day solo trip in the North West of Vietnam by local bus and motorbike. Friday morning (July 20), I got a mini bus from Lai Châu to Lào Cai at 9am (115km). On this section I went on Hoàng Liên Sơn pass (altitude 2,030m) which is one of the most dangerous passes in northern Vietnam. The pass is 45km in length and shared by both provinces Lai Châu and Lào Cai. It was so misty on the Lai Châu side, while the sun was shining on the Lào Cai side. The mini bus also passed by Sapa which is a popular tourist destination in the North West region. I have been there twice, so I decided not to visit it on this trip.

After I got to Lào Cai city, I went to a train booking agent. I hoped I could get a ticket and take a night train to go back to Hanoi on the same day. A local guy at the agent told me that all the tickets were fully booked in advance as it was close to the weekend. I decided to change my plan. I would go by bus back to Yên Bái city (my first destination on the trip) for visiting Thác Bà hydropower plant. It was a very old bus, perhaps the oldest bus I’ve ever traveled in Vietnam.

On the way from Sapa to Lào Cai

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I traveled by mini bus from Lai Châu to Lào Cai (115km).
On the way the mini bus passed by Sapa. I have been to
Sapa twice so I didn't see it this time.

 Fortunately, nothing happened when I was going up and down the moutain road. I met two young people on the bus ride. They are from Yên Bái city and they offered me a great help. The girl took me to a good guest house in the center of Yên Bái city, while the boy invited me to a dinner with his friends and next day he was my free tour guide. We went to Thác Bà hydropower plant by bus (12km away from the city) then rented a boat (US$17) and cruised the reservoir. Thác Bà hydropower plant was the first ever hydropower plant in Vietnam. When the hydropower plant was built, the mountains were party submerged in the water and they became islands. This is one of the three largest man-made lakes in Vietnam. The view of islands and boats from the main dam of the hydropower plant was so stunning. Tourists are not allowed to visit the hydropower plant, so I couldn’t see its turbins. After visiting the reservoir, I returned to Highway No. 70 and got a bus to go back to Hanoi.

Thịt trâu cuốn lá lốt (buffalo meat)

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Buffalo meat and onion are put onto the leaves then
olled on. Fish sauce is used for eating this food. This
shot was taken at a restaurant in Yên Bái city. (Thịt trâu
 xào tái với hành cuốn vào lá lốt rồi ăn cùng nước mắm).

This is the last blog about my 7 day solo trip in 3 provinces of the North West region. When I was planning the trip, I had almost Zero information about the places that I wished to visit. I had searched information over internet, but couldn’t find any information about distances, car rental or guesthouses. I only had a train ticket from Hanoi to Yên Bái in my hand, as well as my wish of seeing Suối Giàng, Mù Cang Chải and Lai Châu. On the way I always asked drivers about names of locations because they were experts of the routes. Whenever I got to a new place, I asked locals where I could find a guesthouse, how far it was to my next destination, and what time the bus would leave. As the towns are small, the bus stations sometimes are located right in the center of the towns. I decided to stay near the bus stations as I could easily get a bus and move on next day.

Cai Luong or Renovated Opera

In comparison with cheo (popular opera) and tuong (classical opera), cai luong is a new type of theatre in Vietnam, combining drama, modeled after French comedy, and singing.



Cai Luong (Renovated Opera) appeared in the southern part of Vietnam in the 1920s. Now, this form of music is a new type of theatre.

Scenes are elaborate and are changed frequently throughout the play. Cai luong is similar to the Western operettas and more easily depicts the inner feelings of the characters. Songs of the Cai luong are based on variations of a limited number, perhaps 20, of tunes with different tempos for particular emotions - thisconvention permits a composer to choose among 20 variations to express anger, and as many to portray joy.

The principal supporting songs in Cai Luong is the Vong Co (literally, nostalgia for the past). Cai luong owes much of its success to the sweet voices of the cast, much appreciated by the audience. Upon hearing the first bars of the well-loved Vong Co, the audience reacts with gasps of recognition and applause.
The Cai luong performance includes dances, songs, and music; the music originally drew its influences from southern folk music. Since then, the music of Cai luong has been enriched with hundreds of new tunes. A Cai luong orchestra consists mainly of guitarswith concave frets, and danakim.

Over the years, Cai luong has experienced a number of changes to become a type of stage performance highly appreciated by the Vietnamese people as well as foreign visitors

Ba Be lake - The Great Lake in the misterious north of Vietnam

Ba Be is Vietnam's largest natural lake and is now the centrepiece of an extensive National Park. The park and the surrounding area is limestone country, so lakes, waterfalls, caves and unusual rock formations abound. The whole area is richly forested and home to many ethnic minority communities.

Source: vietnamtourism.org.vn/

I-Resort in Nha Trang

Located closed to Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa Province, I-Resort Nha Trang is a peaceful space with mineral mud bath services that help tourists eliminate stress from their daily lives and feel a deep sense of calm and total relaxation.

I-Resort Nha Trang, located 4 km from Nha Trang, is surrounded by high mountains and the winding Cai River that forms a beautiful scenic complex. The first impression of the resort is its Vietnamese traditional-style design with Nipa leaf roofed houses, ponds of water-lilies, stone walls and vegetable gardens. The resort, covering about 6ha, was built with a lounge, a family mineral mud bath area, an outdoor mineral mud bath area, a spa, a swimming pool and a restaurant.

Panoramic view of I-Resort Nha Trang.

The artificial mineral streams fascinate tourists.

The resort is well known for its mineral mud bath services which claim to have many advantages for health care, health treatment and beauty. Here, the mineral mud bath services are diversified, from popular to high-class. After having a mud bath, visitors can relax in the beautiful swimming pool with shade created by Nipa leafed eaves or enjoy services at the spa using Eastern and Western style therapies or try traditional foods at the resort’s restaurant.

Tran Dang Quang, Executive Director of I-resort said: “We not only provide mineral mud bath services, but also focus on the convalescence demands of clients. By the end of 2012, we will have finished building bungalows on the hill near the Cai River to complete the resort to meet the demand of tourists.”

Water pipes made of bamboo trees help create a rustic space.

Part of the spa at I- Resort Nha Trang.

Relaxing in a mineral mud bath-tub.

Although, the resort was only put into operation a few moths ago, it has welcomed thousands of domestic and international visitors. It is expected that in the future the resort will have a considerable contribution to the development of Khanh Hoa Province’s tourism sector.

Source: Vietnam.vnanet.vn

Hung Yen

Located in center of Red River Delta, Hung Yen shares border with Bac Ninh Province on the north, Ha Nam Province on the south, Hai Duong, Thai Binh provinces on the east, and Hanoi on the west.

The famous site in Hung Yen is Pho Hien relic group, including Van Mieu, Hien, Chuong pagodas, Mau Temple. Other popular sites are Kim Chung, Huong Lang, Thai Lac, Ne Chau pagodas, Chu Dong Tu, Phuong Hoang, Dau An, Da Hoa temples.

Hung Yen is home of famous people like Nguyen Binh, Hoang Hoa Tham, Doan Thi Diem, Le Huu Trac, Chu Manh Trinh, Vu Trong Phung, Nguyen Cong Hoan, To Ngoc Van, Pham Huy Thong.

Coming to there, visitors enjoy traditional songs such as cheo, a dao, trong quan or take part in Chu Dong Tu, Tu Phap, An Xa Village, Ghenh Temple, Co Le, Tho Hoang hamlets festivals.

Especially, Hung Yen's cape-longan is very well-known. This sweet longan with a thick pulp and a thin peel, used to be offered to kings only.

Source: vietnamtourim.com

Happy 102nd birthday to General Vo Nguyen Giap

Happy 102nd birthday to General Giáp. General Vo Nguyen Giap, our hero, is 102 life springs.
El legendario general Vo Nguyen Giap, creador de la estrategia militar “guerra de todo el pueblo”, cumplirá 102 años de edad ( el 25/8/2013)

General Vo Nguyen Giap (25-8-1911), who is considered the eldest brother of the Vietnam People’s Army, and who played an important role in the national resistance against foreign invaders , is the hero of VietNamese revolution, also one of the greatest military strategists in the world. General Giap is an excellent student of late President Ho Chi Minh and an outstanding leader of the Vietnamese People’s Army.

 

Bun oc, Hanoi’s tasty winter (and summer) treat

The humble snail has pride of place in Vietnamese cuisine, especially in Hanoi. A kind of snail living in ponds and lakes that grows to the size of a golf ball is used to make a uniquely delicious dish called bun oc (snail noodle soup). 

Hanoians usually eat bun oc for breakfast or lunch, particularly in winter. When it gets cold, it is hard to imagine anything more delightful than slurping down a bowl of steaming hot and spicy soup with the chewy but tasty snail in it.

Bun oc is mostly loved for its broth, a blend of sweet, sour, and spicy flavors. Thach Lam, a famous writer, once wrote in his book, Hanoi 36 Old Quarters: “Sour and hot snail broth … makes one shed tears more earnestly than does love.”

The best snails for this dish are oc buou and oc nhoi, two large, rather rounded snails with streaks of color.

After boiling the mollusks, the cook pulls the meat out of the shell and fries it with onions, fish sauce, and MSG.

The broth is made from the water used to boil the snail and cooked with tomatoes to make it sour and pig bones to make it sweet. Tofu, vinegar, cooking oil, pepper, salt, sugar, and dried chili are then added to the consommé.

The snails are placed in a bowl of rice vermicelli and the broth is poured over them.

Bun oc is accompanied by a variety of fresh vegetables and herbs like lettuce, coriander, perilla, knotweed, and basil.

It is said in Hanoi that women frequent bun oc stalls more than men. It could be because the dish is not fatty and can be eaten as a snack between meals.

For Hanoians, the dish is the most sought-after food during the Tet (Lunar New Year) holidays when they are usually glutted with meat.

While a bowl of hot snail noodle soup is perfect for winter, bun oc nguoi (nguoi means cold) is the dish of choice in summer. When customers order for cold bun oc, the vendor will give them a plate of rice vermicelli, a bowl of boiled snails, and a small bowl of dipping sauce.

The snails are served with vermicelli dipped in the dipping sauce which is a mixture of fish sauce, vinegar, ginger, and chili.

Bun oc can be found in small shops along streets and alleys or on a pavement where a vendor has been plying his or her trade for years.

It is not clear why snail noodle soup is much more delicious at street stalls than at home, but street vendors keep their recipes secret.

In Hanoi the most famous streets for bun oc are Mai Hac De, Hoe Nhai, Hang Chieu, and Hang Khoai and the area near West Lake (Ho Tay).

By tuoitrenews

Rare plants make Hoang Lien National Park attractive to visitors

Hoang Lien National Park is very attractive to tourists for its rare and special plants, including many kinds of flowers

The park also includes Fansipan Mountain, with a height of 3,142 metres.
The park was recoganised as the ASEAN Heritage Garden in 2006. It stretches over Than Uyen and Phong Tho districts of Lai Chau Province and Sapa District of Lao Cai Province.
The park is home to 2,024 types of plants, including 66 listed in the Vietnam Red Data Book and 32 types of rare plants and 11 that are facing the risk of extinction.
Visitors will also have the opportunity to climb Fansipan Mountain and O Quy Ho Pass, as well as explore local ethnic minority people’s culture.
Hoang Lien National Park was also ranked Grade A, the highest level, for biodiversity in Vietnam by the Global Environment Fund.

Plants grow at heights of 2,500 metres

 

Rhododendron or Do Quyen flower

 

Chestnut flower

 

 

 

Trees at 2,000 metres

 

Field mushrooms

 

A 100-year old oak tree growing at 2,200 metres 

 

 

Wild flowers

 

 

Only bamboo exists past the height of 2,500 metres

 

Do Quyen flowers can also exist at the height of more than 3,000 metres

Source:Dantri

VietNam Beautiful Scenery

Photographer & Director: Dang Minh Tung
Author: Marc Lavoine
Production: D.M.T Media
Song: Hello Vietnam - Singer: Pham Quynh Anh

68th anniversary of August Revolution (19/8/1945 - 19/8/2013)

Today mark the 68th anniversary of the August Revolution 19-8-1945
In a short period, with strong revolutionary mettle, under the clear-sighted leadership of the Communist Party, the Vietnamese people brought the August Revolution to success in 1945, putting an end to the thousand-year-old feudal regime, the nearly 100 years of French colonial rule and the five-year occupation by Japanese Fascists and leading to national unification.

New book features Vietnam’s sea, islands

The Vietnam Education Publishing House has launched a new book featuring Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes. 

Entitled “Evidence of Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes”, the book comprises the results of 40-year research by famous historian Han Nguyen Nguyen Nha.
The 284-page volume is based on diverse materials collected both at home and abroad, including some high legal and historical documents such as records of the Nguyen dynasty (1804-1839), documents on exercising sovereignty of the Tay Son dynasty (1778-1802), bibliographies and old maps of the Vietnamese Feudal State, and western old documents and maps.

The book also includes four appendices introducing the chronological table, maps and photographs on Hoang Sa and Truong Sa, and the Law on the Sea of Vietnam approved in June 2012.

VNA/VOV online

The Golden Star Fruit Tree

This story advises us to live honestly, not greedily since the greed brings unpredicted consequences to us.

Long. long time ago, there was a rich man living a village. When he died, he left his two sons a huge fortune.

The two brothers were entirely different. The elder was greedy but the younger was very kind. After the father's death, the elder claimed the fortune and left the younger only star fruit tree. The younger always took care of the tree, he watered it every day with the hope that it would give him a lot of fruits so that he could earn some money by selling them. Meanwhile the elder brother was so happy with his inheritance that he had nothing to worry.

One day, when the fruits of the tree could be sold, there was a bird came and ravaged them all. The wife lamented: "Poor us, the only thing that we can rely on

is what the star fruit tree bring us, but now look, this bird ate they all. We have nothing left". Miracle! The raven upon hearing those lamentations, perched down and replied a human voice: "Star fruits I eat with gold I pay, be ready with a three-foot bag and follow me to get it". Afraid the women ran into the hut to look for her husband. They discussed and decided to sew a bag according to the indicated size, waiting for her return of the bird.

A few days latter, the bird came back, it ate all the star fruits then got down from the tree to invite the husband to take a seat on his back with the bag. Then they disappear together into the horizon.

Frightened, the younger brother closed his eyes. The bird took him very far before landing on a deserted island, full of precious stones.

He was free to take whatever he could. He filled the bad and the raven took him back to his home. From then on the couple could live in a luxury life. They often helped the poor. On the occasion of the commemoration of his father's death, he invited the elder brother to come over. The elder brother and his wife were surprised to see the younger couple's wealth. They tried to ask for the reason. The younger brother frankly tell the story of the giant raven that took him to look for gold.

The elder brother wanted to exchange their fortune for the only hut and the star fruit tree. The younger couple agreed. One day the raven came and gave the same recommendation. The elder bought with him double of two 6 foot bag and filled them with gold. On the way came back home, because the overweight of the two bags, the raven could not hold longer. It swayed and sent the elder to the sea where he drowned.

Source: vietnamtourism.org.vn