Saturday, March 29, 2008

Exploring the birthplace of Dong Son culture


Saigontourist is launching a new four-day, three-night tour to the origin of Dong Son culture in Thanh Hoa Province, which is the site of the country's largest bronze drum and relic restoration project.
Tam Coc - Bich Dong. (Photo: dangcongsan.vn)Dong Son is an ancient culture that developed in Vietnam's northern and central provinces during the late-prehistoric Bronze Age and early Iron Age. The culture is centered on the Hung King temple and the northern delta's three main rivers - Red River, Ma River and Lam River.
Tourists departing from HCMC will fly to the city of Vinh in Nghe An Province where they will be transported to Sen Village, the birthplace of Uncle Ho, to spend the night.
The following day, tourists will head to museums in Thanh Hoa Province to view archaeological relics from Do Mountain, which is the cradle of ancient Vietnamese and Dong Son bronze drum culture. Next, tourists will travel to the Dong Son archeological site.
Tourists will then visit Lam Kinh, a national historical relic of the province. Lam Kinh, also known as Tay Kinh, is the second largest imperial city built by King Le Loi the first king of the Le Dynasty.
A trip to Tep Temple will give tourists the opportunity to bum incense to commemorate Le Lai, a hero who saved King Le Loi, the temples of the kings and queens and the Vinh Lang memorial that was created by Nguyen Trai to honor King Le Loi.
On the final day of the trip, tourists will return to Vinh to view the cultural relics of Truong Le mountain range at the Sam Son tourism site.
Tourists departing to Hanoi will travel by bus to see Tarn Coc (three caves), Bich Dong (Bich Cavern), the temples of King Dinh and Le kings and will spend one night in Ninh Binh Province.
On the second day in Hanoi, tourists will head to Thanh Nha Ho in Vinh Loc, which houses the architectural relics of the imperial city of the Ho Dynasty (1336-1407).
The city's walls are built using five-metre tall and three-meter wide stones that weigh six tons per cubic meter. All four gates to the imperial city remain intact and the southern gate features a couple of stone dragons.
The tour from HCMC is priced at VND4.5mil per person for groups of 15. The tour from Hanoi is priced at VND1.52mil per person for groups of 15.
To promote Dong Son culture within Vietnam, local brands are introducing products featuring patterns typically carved on Dong Son bronze drums to consumers. Thai Tuan Textile & Garment Co. under the Three Season collection, Nino Maxx with their jeans and t-shirt collection and Sy Hoang with their ao dai fashion collection are participating in the project.
Other participants include Future One with souvenir miniature Dong Son bronze drums, Minh Long Co. with a tea set, Kinh Do Corp. with moon cakes, KTG with electronic switches, SJC with jewelry collection, Vinh Tien with notebooks, ToyCity with toy set, Phuong Nam Corp. with picture books, Nguyen Hoang Corp. with computer screens and mice and Bong Sen Corp. and TTT Corp. will collaborate to refurbish the interior of Vietnam House Restaurant.
The cultural night to introduce the new products took place at the White Palace Convention Center in HCMC late last week and attracted many national and international companies and representatives from the local consulate offices. Christophe Desriac, general manager of Microsoft Vietnam, who attended the cultural night, said that it is "a good idea to combine different companies around a common theme."

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