Apart from a display of coloured photos and banners with images of Vietnam, the programme exhibited traditional musical instruments, embroideries, handicraft items, books and publications promoting the country’s tourism and cuisine, and screened videos featuring the land and culture of Vietnam.

Addressing a workshop on Vietnam, held within the framework of the programme, Vietnamese Ambassador to Denmark Vu Van Luu highlighted Vietnam’s achievements on socio-economic development and external affairs in 2010, and the success of the 11th National Party Congress in January.
(Source: VNA)

Vietravel said visitors booking domestic and outbound tours during Tet increased 40% over last year. Notably, its office on 190 Pasteur, in HCMC welcomed a record 2,300 people on the second day of Tet.

The nation’s leading Saigontourist offered 130 tours for 10,000 visitors, including overseas Vietnamese returning home to enjoy the Tet holiday. It also received over 9,000 foreigners on cruises. The number of Saigontourist visitors increased nearly 20% over last year’s period.

Meanwhile, the number of tourists to Hue over the holiday increased sharply, reaching about 50,000, some 20,000 more than last year.

From the first to third day of Tet, Hanoi welcomed over 1,000 visitors through its Noi Bai International Airport, most of them from European countries and overseas Vietnamese.

Other well-known cites such as Danang, Nha Trang, Binh Thuan, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, and Quang Ninh are expected to attract a large number of domestic tourists for the many traditional festivals held in the spring.

(Source: VOV)

According to the town’s documents, major roads in Hoi An, such as Tran Phu, Nguyen Thai Hoc and Bach Dang were formed in the 17th century along the Hoai River. A system of alleyways then gradually evolved to link those roads.

Many alley names remind locals and visitors of historic and folk legends. Sica Alley once had the French Sica alcohol stores, and Ba Le Alley had the Ba Le well with water that was sweetest and coolest in Hoi An.

There are other wells believed to be blessed by beneficent genii, the ancient spirits that were part of the seventh century Champa Kingdom, a Hindu-Buddhist culture with trading routes around Southeast Asia.

Alleys in Hoi An are often so narrow they can only fit two or three people walking alongside each other- and their sides are the sides of houses or garden walls.

The alleys are long and covered with moss and lichen and many contain small well that have witnessed families and neighbours gathering for generations.

Thai Te Bieu lives in a home in an alley on Tran Phu Street with four generations of his family. His son and daughter have set up businesses in the city centre.

“If my descendants must, they can move to other places, but I can’t leave this alley,” said Bieu. “There are so many memories.”

The director of the Hoi An Centre for Monument Management and Preservation, Nguyen Chi Trung, said the alleys were integral parts of Hoi An’s architecture, establishing its links with the past.

“For so many years, the ancient houses have existed along with the lanes to serve them,” Trung said.

“Many tourists have fallen in love with Hoi An just because of the alleys,” Trung said. “They provide a sense of a countryside community in the town.”

For Hoi An people, the alleys are bridges for neighbourly affection. Pham Thi Loc and Tran Thi Cung, who live in an alley on Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, realise this after decades of togetherness.

“We live in two different houses, but it’s just like one,” they said. “Although we are not relatives, we love each other like sisters and are always together.

“A special thing is that tourists quickly acquire our way of behaving,” Loc said. “As the paths are narrow, they always give way to others with friendly smiles.”

Trung said the meaning of alleys would be promoted in the future when Hoi An became a city completely without cars and motorbikes.

“People will prefer to walk through alleys to save space and time,” he said.

Hoi An authorities said they were determined to keep the alleys intact as some had become busy trading points with booming tourism. “To preserve the soul of the city, we attach special importance to keeping waves of traders from entering the alleys,” Trung said. “Streets without motor vehicles were moves to keep that soul.”

“We believe that locals and tourists comprehend the spiritual value of each alley they are living in or walking through.”

Cultural exchanges strengthen characters of Hoi An

Hoi An is speeding up cultural-exchange programmes, especially festivals, to promote tourism in the city whose history stretches back 2,000 years. Phung Tan Dong, a culture researcher at the Hoi An Centre for Culture, Sports and Tourism, talks with Viet Nam News about the subject.

What is the role of festivals in displaying Hoi An culture?

Festivals are indispensable parts of the spiritual activities of Hoi An people. There are hundreds of festivities small and large each year and they all reflect the inner life of a city that has a long tradition of mixing trade and culture with other nations. The way I look at it, cultural exchange is the most special feature of the city.

Can you make this clearer?

Traditional festivities by Hoi An natives include peace-praying ceremonies in villages and anniversaries of trade ancestors in the Kim Bong carpentry and Thanh Ha pottery production areas. The festivals also reflect the living of inhabitants along the river and coast, such as praying for fish.

But some Japanese customs can be seen through the blessing of seafarers. Worship at local Phuoc Kien Pagoda is a good example.

A 400-year-old Chinese community is reflected in buildings and ceremonies at particular temples.

Will the new exchanges make Hoi An’s own culture unclear to be realised, especially now when the city is organising more cultural exchange programmes to promote tourism?

I don’t think so. With such mixing and exchanging, local characters will become bolder. In cultural interaction, people can see what can be imported and what should be preserved. A special feature of Hoi An is the feeling of living in the countryside right in the middle of the city.

My Son Sanctuary is a large complex of religious relics that comprises more than 70 architectural works. They include temples and towers that connect to each other with complicated red brick designs. The main component of the Cham architectural design is the tower, built to reflect the divinity of the king.

According to records on the stone stele, the prime foundation of the ancient My Son architectural complex was a wooden temple to worship the Siva Bhadresvera genie. In the late 16th century, a big fire destroyed the temple.

Step by step, historical mysteries were unveiled by scientists. Through stone stele and royal dynasties, they proved My Son to be the most important Holy Land of the Cham people from the late 4th to the 15th centuries. For many centuries, the Cham built Lip, a mutually linked architectural complex, with baked bricks and sandstone. The main temple worships the Linga-Yoni, who represents the capability of invention. Beside the main tower (Kalan) are several sub-towers worshipping Genies or deceased kings.

Although time and the wars have destroyed some towers, the remaining sculptural and architectural remnants still reflect the style and history of the art of the Cham people. Their masterpieces mark a glorious time for the architecture and culture of the Cham, as well as of Southeast Asia.

Each historical period has its own identity, so that each temple worshipping a genie or a king of a different dynasty has its own architectural style full of different impression.

All of the Cham towers were built on a quadrate foundations and each comprises three parts: a solid tower base, representing the world of human beings, the mysterious and sacred tower body, representing the world of spirits, and the tower top built in the shape of a man offering flowers and fruits or of trees, birds, animals, etc., representing things that are close to the spirits and human beings.

According to many researchers of the ancient Cham towers, the architectural art of the Cham towers at My Son Sanctuary is the convergence of different styles, including the continuity of the ancient style in the 7th – 8th centuries, the Hoa Lai style of the 8th – 9th centuries, the Dong Duong style from the mid-9th century, the My Son and My Son – Binh Dinh styles, etc.

Among the remnants of many architectural sites excavated in 1898, a 24 metres high tower was found in the Thap Chua area and coded A I by archaeologists and researchers on My Son. This tower is a masterpiece of ancient Cham architecture. It has two doors, one in the east and the other in the west. The tower body is high and delicate with a system of paved pillars; six sub-towers surround the tower.

This two-storey tower looks like a lotus flower. The top of the upper layer is made of sandstone and carved with elephant and I ion designs. In the lower layer, the walls are carved with fairies and water evils and men riding elephants. Unfortunately, the tower was destroyed by US bombs in 1969.

After the My Son ancient tower complex was discovered, many of its artifacts, especially statues of female dancers and genies worshipped by the Cham people, worship animals and artifacts of the daily communal activities, were collected and displayed at the Cham Architecture Museum in Da Nang City.

Although there are not many remnants left, those that remain display the typical sculptural works of cultural value of the Cham nationality. Furthermore, they are vivid proof, confirming the history of a nationality living within the Vietnamese community boasting of a rich cultural tradition. With its great value, in December 1999, the complex of My Son has been recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Cua Dai Beach, about 4km from Hoi An ancient town in Quang Nam, is considered one of the most beautiful beaches not only in the central region but also in Vietnam. It is over 3km in length and up to 300m in width. The beach boasts fine white sand, clear and blue water, moderate slopes and small waves, which make it ideal for recreational activities like swimming and other sea sports. This special beach stands out with restaurants, hotels and newly-built modern resorts. Roads are lined with colourful clusters of wild flowers planted to relax visitors.

After checking in the hotel in the centre of Hoi An city, tourists often decide to head to Cua Dai Beach immediately in a bid to steer clear of the scorching heat of the centre. However, some others, after visiting the relics in the old town, they go to Cua Dai Beach to enjoy sea food specialities in an ideal environment of immense sky and sunshine.

At the low cost of VND15,000 per day, renting a bicycle is popular among visitors to Hoi An City. Beach goers, especially foreign visitors and young people, tend to enjoy pedaling a bicycle the short distance from town to Cua Dai Beach. It took us about 30 minutes to pedal. Motorbikes and taxis are also available for families with children and elders.

The beaches are stretches of white sand, with moderately salty, shallow water which stays a lovely shade of blue year-round. You can lie on canvas chairs to breath in the sea air and sunbath or do other beach activities such as volleyball, football or building sand-castles. Cua Dai’s waters are plentiful with sea life, making fishing a popular form of entertainment for tourists. Visitors can hire small boats to go fishing. Afternoon seem to be the best time for visitors to swim and relax in the soft waves. At night, the surface of the sea is filled with the pinpoints of lamps from thousands of fishing boats. It was imagined as a lantern city on the sea.

Sea food dishes prepared by local cooks are excellent and especially fresh. The foods were fresh-caught and purchased from local fishermen on Cham Island in the early morning. The taste was different from other places. The sea air and the skills of the local cook brought the fresh flavours of the sea. In addition, prices here were reasonable.

Many people like Cua Dai Beach because it was not overloaded with visitors and the local people are warm and honest. It is also found that the local people are trained and cultivated with the essential skills needed to serve guests, including foreign visitors.

Friendly young female servers with healthy sunburn complexions talked easily with foreign visitors in English, happy to take the opportunity to introduce their home town.

“They (local villagers) are friendly and speak English very well. The beach is clean and the sea is blue. I will come back,” an Australian visitor said with a smile.

Up to now, there are 48 vestiges which have been recognized as national vestiges in Quang Nam. However, only Phu Ninh Lake, placed in districts of Phu Ninh and Nui Thanh, is classified as National Landscape Vestige.

Phu Ninh is the name of a small village on the Que River. In 1927, the French colonial government had plans to dam the river and create a lake.

But nothing happened until 1977 when construction finally began after a strong push by Quang Nam residents backed by national experts. For 9 years, tens of millions of tonnes of soil and stones were moved into place to dam the Que River and create the lake. And it was inaugurated on 29 March 1986.

The dam, the biggest in the Central Region and the second biggest in Vietnam (after only Dau Tieng Lake in Tay Ninh Province), is a major tourist attraction.

It is 7km to the west of Tam Ky City on a road that links two World Heritage areas, Phu Ninh Lake is endowed with beautiful landscapes, a diversified ecosystem, plenty of mineral water and wonderful weather.

Phu Ninh Lake is an irrigation scheme with a water area of 3,443 hectares and a protecting forest area of 23,000 hectares. With 30 beautiful islands and islets, Phu Ninh Lake looks like a miniature of Halong Bay. This area has varied fauna and vegetation, where is home to more than 142 plant species and 148 kinds of animals, including 14 listed in the Viet Nam Red Book of threatened species.

To tap into the tourism potential of Phu Ninh, the local government has created a development plan in consultation with the French As Conis Group and sponsorship from the French province of Nors Pas de Clais.

Nearly 700ha out of the total 23,000ha Phu Ninh Lake area is included in the plan. So, in the future, tourists will have access to eight different areas, including the Tu Yen Tourist Centre, a mountain resort, mineral bathing resort, accommodation, residential complex, eco tourism and camping. Phu Ninh Lake aims to become an ecotourism area of international stature in the central region.

Some services are already available for tourists. Others are underway, including the mineral baths. “When the baths are developed, people will be able to swim and enjoy the warm, healthy water, which has high value for treating health problems and for relaxation,” said an official from the provincial Tourism Development Centre.

The first impression when visitors arrive in Phu Ninh is the vast lake, blue skies, mountains, islands and pure air. Even when the sun is shining, the weather is usually cool.

From the entrance gate to the tourism area is about 5km. The Tu Yen centre has comfortable hotels and restaurants, an eco tourist boat fleet and places for fishing and camping.

Visitors can visit Black Stone Hill, examine the model of the whole ecological area and visit small islands. One island is known as Rua because it resembles a swimming turtle, another is called Sixty One Island because it is 61m above sea level. Su Island is named after its rubber trees and Khi Island is full of monkeys.

The day begins in Phu Ninh with the songs of birds echoing through the forests – time to wake up and breathe in the freshest air imaginable and go for a swim in clear, blue water.

As the sunlight spreads across the surface of the lake, visitors can catch a boat to visit the great dam wall blocking the river. Old temples and pagodas lie at the base of mountains stretching as far as the eye can see.

They are often wreathed in mist and light swirls of smoke wafting up from kitchen fires in a village at the base of one of the mountains.

For those interested in fishing, small boats are available for those who wish to go it alone. It is not difficult to maneuver one of the small vessels.

Many say there is nowhere where it easier to catch fish than in Phu Ninh. Fish seem to lie in wait for a baited hook. Some tourists light little fires to barbecue their catch – others get restaurants to do it for them.

There is especially an open air mineral source which has refreshment and curing values. With a mild temperature, protected by mountains, the Phu Ninh Resort is being developed with various exciting services: sightseeing, fishing, water-skiing, hot-water bathing, medical treatment, accommodation for rest and recreation after strenuous work or treatment.

When night falls, tourists often gather around camp fires on one of the islands singing merrily as the moon and stars shine overhead.

The sounds of light breezes in the leaves and waves lapping on the shore eventually put everyone to sleep.

This place is attracting a large number of visitors. The people in the region are friendly and live close to nature. Phu Ninh is a place to visit for those wishing to get away from noisy, crowded and polluted cities.

Individually, they are known as Lao (Pear), Dai (Long), La (Leaf), Kho Me (Large Rocky Islet), Kho Con (Small Rocky Islet), Tai (Ear), Mo (Tomb) and Ong (Grandfather). Together, they present 40,000ha of extraordinary beauty and vast ecological diversity.

Cham Island also presents a pristine lifestyle with most residents living on fishing off the Lang and Huong beaches. A small portion is engaged in agriculture, making handicrafts or hiring out their labour.
The island is situated 20km off the coast of central Quang Nam Province’s Hoi An Town.The biggest islet, Hon Ong, has a population of 3,000, mostly fishermen.

Cham Island is home to 1,500ha of tropical forest and 6,700ha of sea featuring a wide range of marine fauna and flora, which include many endangered species. Two of them, salangane (swallows) and the long-tailed monkey, are listed in the Viet Nam Red Book of endangered species.

Lecturer Hans Dilev of Denmark’s Aarhus University says the Cham Island is one of the few places in Viet Nam that still possesses a large area of vegetation and a wide range of rare and endangered animals.

Its crystal clear waters are also a great place for tourists to go scuba diving or take a ride a glass bottomed boat and partake of the magical sights beneath the water.

Huong and Ong beaches are particularly popular because the waves here are smooth and gentle.

Despite its proximity to the world famous heritage site of Hoi An Town, the Cham Island offers unspoilt vistas and glimpses into a way of life that has altered little over the last several decades.

A boat from Hoi An is the only way to access the islets. Visitors can breathe pure air, enjoy the limpid sunlight of the central region and watch flying fish skim over the surface of the water while taking a cruise in a wood boat offered by local tourism companies.

A boat trip takes about an hour and a half, and a speedboat finishes it in just 25 minutes.

An ancient-looking wooden pier welcomes visitors to the Cham Island.

One of the first things a visitor can do is to take a stroll along the beach and see rocks piled up in special shapes very close to the forest.

Small tea shops with thatch-leaved roofs on the beaches of the Cham Island are renowned for a special kind of drinking water which has a dark yellow colour like eugenia tea.

“We boil ten kinds of leaves which are picked in the forest. Residents of the island rarely get sick because they drink this gentle and nourishing water,” said the owner of the tea shop.

Islanders are learning quickly about responding to tourist needs and the hospitality industry is developing rapidly. Visitors can easily go on sightseeing tours by boats around the islets, hire fishing and diving gear, and have special dishes at reasonable prices.

The Cham Island never fails to win kudos for its seafood and delicacies like octopus, lobsters, fish fin, abalone, bird’s nest, shellfish, cua da (rock crab) and sea cucumbers.

The signature dish of the island, though, is steamed or boiled vegetables served with mam nem, a type of fish sauce. More than ten kinds of vegetables, each its distinct flavour – buttery, bitter, acrid and tart – combine superbly with the hot, salty and sweet dipping sauce.

Tasty rock crabs

Another famous product and dish of the island is the rock crab. These creatures live in springs and small caves in the mountain. They play an important role in the local inhabitants’ livelihood. Almost all islanders can catch rock crab, which is tastier than those got from the sea.

Rock crabs are kept for sale in iron baskets in front of every house, together with dried and spiced fish, or squid.

Stories about the life of fishermen are another highlight. “I love to go fishing in September and November. A shark catch is worth days of fishing or cuttlefish,” says veteran fisherman Dinh Day who owns two fishing boats. For a price, tourists accompany local fisherman as they go shark fishing.

“Shark fishing is very dangerous but its fin is nutritious and expensive. Fishermen have to be brave, smart and combine forces to not get eaten by them,” says Day.

Day says he usually catches sharks that weigh about 70kg, but there are times when he lands one that is over 200kg. Traders will pay VND8 million (US$420) per kilogram for the big fish.

Visitors can also observe swallow nests that are perched precariously among the island’s towering cliffs, or visit a temple built to honour the ancients who first discovered the birds’ nests.

According to archaeologists, Cham Island was first settled in about 3,000 years ago, and its inhabitants established business contacts with external countries some 1,000 years ago. A quantity of ancient artefacts of the Sa Huynh, Champa and Viet cultures can be found here.

Cham Island has been added to UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves, areas that focus on sustainable development and environmental protection.

Viet Nam currently has eight UNESCO-recognised biosphere reserves. Others are Can Gio Mangrove near HCM City, the Cat Ba Island in the northern port city of Hai Phong, Cat Tien National Park north of HCM City, the Kien Giang Biosphere Reserve in the southern province of Kien Giang, the Red River Delta Biosphere Reserve near Ha Noi, the Western Nghe An Biosphere Reserve and Cape Ca Mau.

We have also noticed more of a Chinese influence now were heading further North. We have enjoyed walking around the small town, especially in the old town as motorbikes are banned, so it’s relaxing walking around knowing you’re not going to be run over. We were going to hire bikes for a day but out of the old town we witnessed a bike crash and decided not to risk it.

I have been really impressed with all the art galleries around the old town and I can’t help but think it would be nice to own one of the works. Instead I have settled on another dress!

Tailor shops are everywhere I decided to go online to find reviews about the good ones. I found one that was not too expensive. The quality was not as good as the dress I got made in Thailand but this one was $40 USD cheaper. I was quite happy and if I had more money would have brought more.

Japanese bridge is impressive. At one end it has a dog, and the other has a monkey, no one is too sure why but think it’s the year in which the construction started and ended. It is just a small bridge but is one of the main sights in Hoi An.

Lanterns light up the town at night and add to the charm of the town and on our last night Dale and I watched an amazing lightning storm over in the distance lighting up the nights sky.

It’s just a 45 minute drive to Danang where we fly to Hanoi. We have had one day in Danang to look around but it’s not really set out for tourists. It has been raining the whole time but we still managed to go to China Beach to look around. Wish I brought my bikini because the surf was great!

Bloger: Katrina Larsen

We arrived at the site around 7:30 and began the trek in. First stop is the ticket booth, excercising local and foreigner prices, like most other sites in the country. Our tickets were the standard 50,000 VND, approximately $2.50 US. Following ticket purchase, you take a jeep in the first part of the way to the ruins. The driver of our old US military jeep drove along quite happily singing Ho Chi Minh propaganda songs to himself.

Once the paved road ended, it was another pleasant twenty minute walk to the ruins. There was virtually no cover, however, and we were glad that it was morning and cool. On arriving at the site, we were also glad to have come early as we had it all to ourselves. Many thanks to the Banana Split Cafe guy for advising an early morning visit.

My Son contains anywhere from 25 to 70 buildings (depending who you ask) from the ancient Cham civilization of Vietnam. The Hindu religious complex was built in stages from the 4th to the 13th century and has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site for its example of cultural interchange as it show cases Hindu architecture in Southeast Asia in addition to be an excellent remnant of Cham culture. I’m sure anyone who has been to Angkor Wat might be disappointed with the significantly smaller display at My Son, we were somewhat surprised by the small size ourselves. However, the site is several centuries older than and is very different from the pictures I have seen of Angkor Wat, and is worth seeing in its own right.

Unfortunately, the site was heavily bombed during the war as US intelligence believed the Viet Cong were hiding among the ruins. Bombing was stopped in 1969 after strong public protest, but the impressive central temple had already been destoryed. Shell craters can still be seen around the deep red brick buildings. There is no mortar holding the bricks together and no one knows how the buildings were constructed. Some say clay was used between the bricks while others suggest a vegetable resin

Into the buildings are carved beautiful, if crumbling, pictures of Cham kings, soliders, and dancing girls, windows into a long vanished culture. The site is still being excavated from the war and the wilderness and we saw a few teams working on various sites. The jungle encroaches on the complex on all sides making for some interesting wandering off to the less central ruins. The scenery in the valley is also impressive, closed in by verdant green mountains, including the aptly named cat tooth mountain pictured at the beginning of this entry.

We spent a little over an hour wandering in solitude and departed just as the first busloads of tourists were arriving.

Duy Xuyen People’s Committee vice chairman Le Trung Hoa made the announcement on Dec. 2, as the district celebrated the tenth year since My Son was recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as a World Culture 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 the 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 the average annual rate of 14 percent per year for the past several years, with the service sector alone expanding on average 15 percent per year, according to Hoa. Per capita income reached around 9.5 million VND (513 USD) last year.

The Sa Huynh-Champa Culture Museum was also opened in the district on Dec. 2, displaying over 200 antiques.

The museum’s expected to help visitors become aware of the main features of Sa Huynh Culture, an outstanding civilisation of 2,000-2,500 years ago./.