The Northernmost area of Vietnam

October 30, 2011  about News, Travel

The border area of Lung Cu on the Dong Van rock plateau is called the rooftop of Vietnam and is legendary for its very special charm.

The rooftop of Vietnam
Lung Cu is about 200km from the town of Ha Giang. On the road from the town to the border area there are steep cliffs on one side and deep abysses on the other. Lung Cu, or Lung Ngo in the Hmong language, is situated in the Dong Van district of Ha Giang province. On the top of Mount Rong (Dragon) stands the octagonal Lung Cu National Flag Tower with its base decorated with blue stone reliefs featuring patterns of Dong Son bronze drums and illustrating different period of Vietnamese history as well as the customs of the ethnic groups in Ha Giang province. At the top of the tower the Vietnamese flag flutters in the wind. The flag is 54sqm, symbolizing the 54 ethnic minority groups in Vietnam. In the distance are waterfalls and terraced fields and mountain villages with houses on stilts can be seen on the other side of the stone walls.
In the spring time, the forest of Lung Cu is full of white plum flowers spotted with snow while the valley of Lung Cu is full of pink peach flowers. Here, Sa moc trees grow in spite of the frost, snow and cold wind.
Lung Cu still preserves many historical and cultural objects from the reign of the Hung Kings onwards. During the Tay Son dynasty, King Quang Trung ordered a large drum to be placed here and the drumbeat was the only means of long distance communication at that time. The drum is now located in the out-post of Lung Cu.
The Ma Pi Leng, O Quy Ho, Khau Pha and Pha Din mountain passes are praised by tourists as the “four great mountain passes” in northern mountainous Vietnam. Ma Pi Leng and Dong Van Rock Plateau have been called “Geological Statues” by French scholars for a hundred years. Looking down at the deep abyss from this mountain pass, one can see the Nho Que River far below. It takes more than a day to reach it from the top of the pass.
Ma Pi Leng, which means “the bridge of the horse’s nose”, is a dangerous stretch of mountain road. It passes the peak of Mount Ma Pi Leng in Dong Van Rock Plateau, which is about 2000m above sea level, and forms part of Hanh Phuc Road that links Ha Giang City, Dong Van and the town of Meo Vac.
On November 16, 2009, this part of Ma Pi Leng was recognised as a “national beauty spot” by the Vietnam Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Accordingly, the Ma Pi Leng mountain pass is also considered a special geological heritage site. The summit is considered as one of the best observation spots in Vietnam and the Nho Que River Gorge is regarded as a unique tectonic valley.
Unique cultural traditions

Amidst the rocky mountains of Dong Van, ethnic groups such as the Hmong, Dao, Tay, Nung, Lo Lo and Pu Peo attract both domestic and international tourists with their unique cultural traditions and lifestyles. Houses built hundreds years ago in the Old Quarter of Dong Van still maintain many of the local cultural characteristics.
The busy and crowded Sa Phin market in Dong Van is held every week. Women go to the market to shop while men go to meet people, drink wine, eat thang co (a traditional Hmong dish made from different kinds of meat) and play the khen (pan-pipes). Children accompany their parents and many young people go to the market to find future spouses. Tourists from abroad are easily enchanted and may get lost amid the bright colours and boisterous sounds that are typical of this mountain market.
Khau Vai Maket was first opened in 1919 on a hill in Khau Vai Hamlet, Khau Vai commune, Meo Vac District. Today, it is held every year on the 27th day of lunar March. On March 26, crowds of local people in traditional dress travel to the market from all the corners of the mountainous area. Those from distant villages up to three mountains or four or five streams away from the market, leave very early for the market. Despite the rugged rocky mountains, deep streams and dangerous sleeve-shaped stretches of road, they all flood into the market and wait eagerly. Harmonious singing and the inviting sounds of the khen la (leaf pan-pipes) can be heard. Khau Vai Market is also known as a “love market”. Since the 1990s, young people from ethnic groups in the region have gone to the market for entertainment and to look for lovers. Many people have found their future spouses at the market.
A global geo-park
 According to preliminary statistics, Dong Van Rock Plateau consists of 45 geomorphologic vestiges, 33 tectonic vestiges and numerous fossils in the layers of sedimentary rock. Conical and pyramid shaped limestone rocks can be found at the top of Mount Ma Pi Leng and interesting rock “forests” and “gardens” can be found near the Khau Vai Love Market. The Nho Que Gorge, which was formed by a fault in the earth’s crust, is particularly unique. It is more than 1km deep and flanked by steep limestone cliffs about 700m high.
Presently, this area is home to approximately 250,000 people, belonging to 17 ethnic minority groups in Vietnam with their own traditional cultural identities. In addition to the community festivals, local folk arts include an oral inheritance of poems, legends, folk ballads, proverbs, songs and dances, including the dance of the Lo Lo people, the Khen dance of the Hmong people, and the folk songs of the Hmong, Dao, Pu Peo, Tay and Nung. Some ethnic groups are found only in Ha Giang province such as Pu Peo, Co Lao, La Chi, and Bo Y, all together, they make up a diverse and unique culture.
VN Cultural Window

Tourism helps traditional arts thrive

October 28, 2011  about Uncategorized

In the five years since HCM City began to back the idea of developing traditional arts as a tourist attraction, some private art troupes have hit pay dirt.
The Rong Vang (Golden Dragon) Water Puppet Theatre, which opened in 2007, has become a favourite tourist site in the downtown area.
Located within the Workers Cultural Palace in District 3, the theatre puts on two shows every night, attracting around 120 people.
Its owner Huynh Anh Tuan and his staff work very hard to ensure quality performances of the unique Vietnamese art of water puppetry.
In a recent interview with Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) newspaper, Tuan said: “The country’s rich and diverse traditional theatre, puppetry in particular, should be made more accessible to tourists, so that it attains value and develops.”
He is building a new theatre at a cost of VND2 billion (nearly US$100,000), also in the Cultural Palace,expected to be completed later this year.
The Non La (Conical Hat) Theatre’s troupe of more than 50 singers, dancers, and musicians will offer audiences traditional Vietnamese music and dance.
Vuong Tuan Hung, a theatre director with 20 years’ experience in the entertainment industry, said shows meant for tourists should have professional producers and stage managers and quality stagecraft.
He got the idea of opening a traditional performance company one day in 2006 while working for a tourist company in Ha Noi, he revealed.
“Many foreign visitors wanted to see a traditional music performance, but we could not satisfy their need,” he recalled.
“Everything available at that time was inauthentic or simplistic.”
He felt compelled “to do something,” and decided to explore opportunities in HCM City.
Hung and some of his close friends made something of a name for themselves with Minh Khang, the city’s first company to organise and produce traditional music shows for foreign tourists.
Their company once had its own theatre on Thai Van Lung Street, equipped with the latest sound and light equipment.
Its 15 experienced artists had worked for many years for professional State-owned art troupes like Bong Sen and Au Co.
They were talented in a broad range of musical and dance genres.
The troupe’s highlights were Cham, Co Tu, and E De ethnic minority dances, and performances on traditional instruments like dan bau (monochord) and tam thap luc (a zither with 36 brass strings).
Unfortunately, Minh Khang had to close in 2008 after losing more than VND400 million ($200,000). Since it failed to attract enough audiences, it could not earn enough to remain in business.
Hung has understood why this happened.
“We went about our business without support from tourist companies. Therefore, we found it hard to attract customers.”
Linh Huyen, owner of the Me Kong Artists Company, agreed with Hung, saying that while traditional Vietnamese theatre has always held foreign tourists’ interest, few tour programmes offered by local agencies included such performances.
“Unbelievably, very few of the 600 art troupes and performance companies in the city have been able to find a way to carry on business.”
She also agreed that foreign visitors loved traditional Vietnamese art and wanted to know more about it.
Tourism could revive traditional arts by helping them succeed commercially, she added.
She set up a company last month to offer a traditional arts show to tourists in co-operation with the Organising Centre for Art Performances and Saigontourist.
The show, Hon Viet (The Soul of Viet Nam), featuring a mix of musical and dance styles from the northern, southern, and central regions is being staged twice a month at the city’s Opera House.
Their audiences so far, besides foreign tourists, have mostly been music students, teachers, artists, and researchers who pay a nominal VND80,000. Foreigners pay around $10.
“Private companies like Rong Vang and Me Kong have invested a lot in both money and human resources to develop their art as well as diversify the city’s tourism products,” Vo Trong Nam, deputy director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said.
“Their efforts have finally paid off.”
VNS

Tourism Authority of Thailand issues flooding update

Image via bangkokpost.com

Oct 26, 2011

1. Overview
Over the past several weeks, seasonal rains that are heavier than usual have resulted in widespread flooding in Thailand. While the flooding is having some impact on tourism, most key tourist destinations and attractions throughout Thailand have not been affected by the floods and almost all remain open.
The floods are mainly affecting the provinces in central Thailand including parts of Bangkok and a few provinces in the north and northeast. Flood waters in several provinces in northern Thailand have begun to subside. Provinces in the south of Thailand have not been affected by the floods. Ayutthaya has been the only tourist destination widely affected by the floods, while other provinces where tourists generally go have been slightly impacted.
Major tourist destinations such as Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Lampang, Sukhothai, Kanchanaburi, Ratchaburi, Pattaya, Ko Chang, Rayong, Phuket, Krabi, Trang, and Ko Samui, and all provinces in southern Thailand, are not affected by the floods. They remain fully accessible and are experiencing normal weather conditions for this time of year.
Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok has not been affected by the floods and is operating as per usual. The airport has considerable flood protection measures in place and officials are monitoring the situation closely. Don Mueang Airport, which is located in a northern suburb of Bangkok and handles domestic airlines serving a small number of provinces, has been closed until November 1st due to flooding. All other airports in Thailand are open and operating normally.
Flood waters are being drained through Bangkok's system of canals in a controlled manner. Key areas of central Bangkok where tourists normally go are not flooded. Some of the city's suburbs and areas along the Chao Phraya River are experiencing localized flooding.
Tourist destinations in the north, such as Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and Sukhothai, are best accessed by air as some roads and railways in the central provinces are closed due to the floods. Provinces in southern and eastern Thailand remain fully accessible by road and train.
Train services from Bangkok to northern destinations are suspended due to the tracks being flooded. The State Railway of Thailand (SRT) is offering full refunds on tickets for travelers who want to cancel their trips to destinations where train service is suspended. Train services to other parts of Thailand are available as per normal.
Tourists planning to travel to areas affected by the floods are advised to check the latest weather forecasts for their destination and confirm arrangements with the transportation providers with which they will be travelling. Tourists can call the TAT Information Line at 1672 to check local conditions, or visit the Thailand Meteorological Department web site at http://www.tmd.go.th/en for updated weather forecasts.
Major events going ahead as planned include:
• Phimai Festival, from November 9th to 13th, at Phimai Historical Park in Nakhon Ratchasima province.
• The 5th Thailand International Balloon Festival in Chiang Mai from November 25th to 27th.
• Loi Krathong Festival and Candle Festival in Sukhothai, from November 8th and November 10th at the Sukhothai Historical Park.
• The Royal Flora Ratchaphruek Fair 2011 in Chiang Mai, although the opening date has been moved back from November 9th to December 16th.
     More INFO---   http://www.eturbonews.com/26023/tourism-authority-thailand-issues-flooding-update

US give to Cambodia $35 mn

US to give $35 mn to Cambodia
2011-10-25 22:30:00
Phnom Penh, Oct 25 (IANS) The US will provide about $35 million to Cambodia to help improve the country's health and the education sector, the US embassy here said Tuesday. Agreements on this were signed by Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong and mission director of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Flynn Fuller, Xinhua reported. The money will support a variety of ongoing activities to reduce the transmission and impact of HIV/AIDS, prevent and control infectious diseases, improve maternal, reproductive, and children's health, and strengthen public health systems. The funds will also support ongoing education programmes aimed at improving the quality and relevance of basic education and increasing access to schooling for children, the US embassy said in a statement.

Ha Chau kungfu artist passes away 88 yrs old

Legendary kungfu artist passes away

October 25, 2011  about News, Sports

LookAtVietnam - Great martial art instructor Ha Chau, who is called Ummo – Alien, died at the age of 88, leaving many legends.

Ha Chau (white) and his followers.

Ha Chau was born in 1924 in the southern province of Soc Trang. His father, Ha Chung, taught martial arts for his son when Ha Chau was only 5. At the age of 9, he was sent to Hong Kong to learn Shao-lin kungfu.
Within 15 years under hard training under the instruction of great kungfu instructors in Hong Kong, Ha Chau reached high levels of inner and outer forces. He could break rock and split wood by his hands. He could also let trucks run over his body.
Returning to Vietnam, Ha Chau and Minh Canh, who was a Southeast Asian boxing champion in the 1950s, set up a troupe to perform kungfur art in Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc. The troupe was very famous.

A road-roller runs over Ha Chau.

1957 was a sad memory for instructor Ha Chau. At a fair, he performed a special show on Thi Nghe Bridge: holding two trucks which ran to two directions by chains. The two trucks could not move though their wheels span very fast. The bridge collapsed, causing some deaths and some injuries. To raise fund for victims, in 1958, on the bank of Xuan Huong Lake in Da Lat, he lied down for ten coaches with 50 passengers each to run over.
In 1961, the great martial art instructor made a new record in Tra Vinh province when he let a road-roller of over 12 tons run over his body. The instructor said this was among his most dangerous 3-minute shows. He admitted that he could sustain for around 30 seconds more.
In 1962, Ha Chau used his bare hands to kill a furious bull.
After 1975, the great martial art instructor lived hidden as a worker for a weaving enterprise. After that he traveled many southern provinces to create and make tools for kungfu training.
In 1988, he appeared again with new shows: driving 12cm nails into planks and pulling them out.
At Hanoi’s Hang Day Stadium in 1990, he performed top kungfu, like jumping up and puncturing a dried coconut, which was thrown up to the air, by one finger. He cut a string that was tied to two sugarcane trees by his hand edge, but the sugarcane trees did not fall. He also lied on 12 earthen pots, with a 150kg rock on his body. After that one man used hammer to break the rock but the earthen pots were untouched.
In the 1990s, Ha Chau was invited to perform in many countries.

The kungfu master breaks bricks by his head.

He performed a special show in which he lied on the ground, above him was a 300kg rock which was pulled up to the height of several meters. The rock was then released to fall on his chest, but the rock was broken into small pieces.
At the age of 83, Ha Chau still performed the following kungfu: using his head to break three bricks and chair legs at the Military Zone 7 Sports House in 2006.
He then lived hidden in District 2, HCM City with his French pupil – Philippe Gaudin. The great martial art instructor died last week and he was cremated on October 23 in HCM City.
PV

Con Dao Islands

Con Dao islands-from Hell to Heaven

October 23, 2011  about News, Travel

There is still much evidence of a woeful but noble period of Vietnamese history on Con Dao islands today. Once known as a “hell on earth”, the islands have now become a tourist attraction for both domestic and international visitors.  

For more than 118 years, the French colonialists and then the US imperialists had turned
Con Dao (Poulo Condore) into a “Hell on Earth”, where tens of thousands of Vietnamese
patriots were imprisoned and more than 22,000 of them lost their lives for the cause
of national independence and freedom.

The historical relics on the islands reflect the more than 100 years of unjust wars in
Vietnam caused by the French and US aggressors.

They also symbolize the Communists’ faithful and boundless love for the fatherland
and their willingness to sacrifice their lives for it.

Gangway 914 is the site of the first prison break by revolutionary soldiers, many of whom lost their lives.

914 represents the estimated death toll during the building of the Gangway. The actual number was
 probably much higher.

The Tiger Cages, the Cattle Pen, the Phu Hai Stockade and the Ma Thien Lanh Bridge
are unforgettable names in Con Dao’s tragic history.

Visitors are horrified when they see the hot, stifling cells and learn about the back-breaking hard labour
and heinous tortures that were inflicted on the prisoners.

Very little of the Cattle Pen housed cows and pigs; most of it was used as a place to rack the inmates.

The manure trench was three meters deep and was used to soak the inmates.

Only sick prisoners were allowed to wear clothes. Female revolutionaries were sent to the
Tiger Cages without water to bathe and lime and waste were poured onto them.

After being tortured, prisoners had to stay out in the sun and rain.

The French colonialists imposed hard labour as punishment for the detainees.

In 1908, the great nationalist Phan Chu Trinh received a three-year sentence of hard labour
breaking rocks in Con Dao, where he wrote his famous poem “Dap da o Con Lon”.

Image of heroic young female martyr, Vo Thi Sau.

After 36 years of liberation, the islands have now become a paradise for visitors.

Transportation between the mainland and Con Dao is now very convenient and there are two flights
 per week from Ho Chi Minh City to the islands.

Most tourists to Con Dao want to see the prison…

…and visit the Hang Duong Martyrs’ Cemetery

The island chain consists of 16 small mountainous islets covering more than 72km2.

Ton Duc Thang, one of the most beautiful streets in Con Dao, stretches along the coastline with a row
of almond trees that separate the hotels and restaurants from the beach and the crystal clear azure water.

Google Maps falsely depicts Vietnamese territory

Google Maps again falsely depicts Vietnamese territory as China's: scholar 

October 21, 2011  about Social

A Google map wrongly following China's bogus claims to much of the East Sea, including Vietnamese territory and waters.

Google’s web mapping service has again falsely depicted Vietnamese territory as belonging to China.
In August 2010, Google Maps fixed errors that depicted parts of Vietnamese land territory as belonging to China, following a request from Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
But experts say some of those errors were not corrected and in the latest error, Google Maps has followed China’s un-founded claims to much of the East Sea, also known as South China Sea, on its Chinese-language web mapping page.
China’s false claims to over 80 percent of the East Sea are often illustrated by Chinese propaganda in the form of the now infamous "U-shaped line," which China has placed on maps to encompass what it wrongly claims are it’s territorial waters.
“Google’s web mapping service committed an act that deserves to be condemned when its East Sea map shows the [U-shaped] line, which is a totally unreasonable claim by China,” said Le Van Ut, a Vietnamese scholar at the Oulu University in Finland.
“In a debate with me, a Chinese associate professor showed the Google Map as indisputable evidence of his country’s sovereignty over the East Sea,” he wrote to Thanh Nien.
Ut said the U-shaped line on Google map has ten dots drawn from Taiwan to near the coast of Malaysia and Vietnam, encompassing Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos.
He said the line appeared only on Google’s Chinese-language map.
“Google Maps has either unintentionally or deliberately supported China’s bogus claim," according to Ut. "This has seriously violated Vietnam’s sovereignty over the water and islands,” he said, requesting that the U-shaped line be immediately removed from Google’s web mapping service.
Ut accused China of initiating a propaganda campaign in which the U-shaped line is placed on as many maps as possible to support its unreasonable claim over of a majority of the resource-rich East Sea.
Last month, a group of overseas Vietnamese scholars  strongly protested an article published by an American science journal that features maps falsely portraying most of the East Sea as belonging to China.
The July 29, 2011 issue of Science – an international weekly science journal published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) – carried an article by Xizhe Peng titled "China’s Demographic History and Future Challenges."
The article included a number of depictions of the so-called “U-shaped line” that incorrectly described most of the East Sea as belonging to China.
On September 30, the journal issued a statement saying it was “reviewing our map acceptance procedures to ensure that in the future Science does not appear to endorse or take a position on territorial/jurisdictional disputes."
In the previous error on Google Maps, Vietnamese authorities asked Google to correct mistakes concerning the borderline between Vietnam and China in March 2010 .
In the map published by Google, many areas that belong to Vietnam totaling thousands of square kilometers were presented as belonging to China. The mapping mistakes can be seen from Apachai Town in Dien Bien Province to Quang Ninh Province’s Mong Cai Town.
In August 2010, the Vietnamese Ministry of Affairs announced that Google Maps had re-drawn the two nations’ borderline in the northern province of Lao Cai in an effort to fix its errors.
However, many remain unhappy with the corrections as the new borderline does not run along exactly as it should. Errors found in other parts of the Vietnam-China borderline outside Lao Cai have also not been fixed, critics have said.

By Thanh Nien News

Conjoined twins not to be operated on

Conjoined twins to not be operated on

October 20, 2011  about Uncategorized

LookAtVietnam - Doctors have decided to not perform any surgery on the conjoined twins, born last Tuesday in Soc Trang Province, after the consultation on October 18.

Doctor Dao Trung Hieu, deputy director of the HCM City Children’s Hospital 1, said that internal treatment will continue, including respiratory, blood circulation and nutrition assistance.
Hieu added that if both were healthy and it was considered difficult to perform a surgery now, the conjoined twins would grow up in their current state.
Earlier, doctors made a CT scan, which shows that the conjoined twins has two attached hearts, two spinal columns, two brains, two kidneys, and two stomachs but only one liver which, however, is in good condition.
They said that one of them might have to be sacrificed if surgery was done since they had only one liver, urinary tract, and female sex organ. However, the final decision is not having any surgery right now.
The hospital has asked the HCM City Department of Health to set up a scientific council to make further diagnoses.
Before the babies were born, their mother Lam Thi My Dan of the province’s Chau Thanh District was unaware of the problem that was to unfold. Ultrasound tests during her pregnancy had shown two separate heartbeats.
The babies were taken to HCM City Children’s Hospital 1 the day after birth for evaluation.
TP

Increase in Airfare, HCM city to Hanoi

Ceiling airfare increase killing tourism industry

October 21, 2011  about News, Travel

LookAtVietnam - Travel firms believe that in the current big
difficulties, when people tend to fasten their belt, Vietnam should have to
slash the airfare to attract more travelers. However, Vietnamese air carriers
are doing the opposite thing.

The ceiling airfare for the HCM City-Hanoi route once was raised to 5 million
dong (return ticket) in May 2011, and then to 6 million dong. Meanwhile, the
figure may raise to 8 million dong, if the proposal by airlines to lift the
airfare is approved by the Ministry of Finance.
The information about the ceiling airfare increase has caused big worries to
travel firms which complain that this would kill the tourism industry, because
it makes the industry less competitive.
No need to raise prices in difficult period
Nguyen Phuong Nam, Director of the Phuc Tien Booking Agent in HCM City, said
that the ceiling airfare increase would put big difficulties for travel firms.
“In the past, we sold tickets mostly to the companies which booked tickets for
their staff’s business trips. However, the companies only book tickets when it
is really necessary, because the air tickets have become too expensive,” Nam
said.
“Previously, a lot of companies paid for the air tickets of their staff in
vacation trips, but they have cut the spending,” he added.
He stressed that the 20 percent increase is really a sharp increase in the
context of the current difficulties of the national economy. As everything is
getting more expensive, consumers have to fasten their belt. “Is it really
necessary for airlines to raise the ceiling airfares in such circumstances?” he
questioned.
Travel firms entreating God
Nguyen Vu Manh Ha, Head of the Operation Division of Ha Dat Travel Firm in HCM
City, said that the airfare increase has caused a headache to small and medium
travel firms.
According to Ha, in order to ease the risks from the airfare increases, big
travel firms can set up a booking agent to serve their tours, or they can spend
money to buy all low-cost tickets several months before the departure time,
which allows them to ease the costs, while small firms cannot do that. The firms
have to book tickets from air carriers or from the travel firms and they would
lose contracts if they cannot get tickets.
As such, bigger travel firms would get richer, while small firms would be at a
big disadvantage because of the limited financial capability. Meanwhile, they
still have to pay additional money to buy back tickets from bigger travel firms.
He went on to say that if the domestic airfare increases, it would be more
costly to travel domestically than abroad. This would prompt Vietnamese
travelers to choose to travel abroad, while foreign travelers would rather to go
to other South East Asian countries than to Vietnam.
Travel firms have warned that once the domestic airfare continues increasing,
this may lead to the “foreign currency bleeding.”
Tran Thi Lan Phuong from Dai Hung Son Company in HCM City said that the demand
for traveling has been increasing, and that domestic travelers are really the
important source of income for domestic airlines.
People nowadays usually compare the airfares offered by different air carriers,
while the majority of medium and high income earners now choose foreign
destinations for their trips. Meanwhile, foreigners would have to think about
whether to travel to Vietnam if they have to pay high, while the number of
tourism points is less than expected.
This would push Vietnamese tourism industry against the wall, while the national
economy may face the “foreign currency bleeding,” because Vietnamese and
foreigners pay more money to foreign firms.
“I think that the Ministry of Finance needs to consider if the proposal on
raising airfare is suitable for now, when the CPI increases are very high,” she
said.
Dat Viet

HCM city's High Rise buildings ruin environment

High-rise buildings ruin HCM city’s environment

October 19, 2011  about Uncategorized

The number of skyscraper projects in downtown HCMC is on the uptrend and the public is afraid the overwhelming presence of these structures will badly effect the city’s environment.

According to statistics from property firms, dozens of high-rise office buildings, shopping centers and hotels will be built on a number of main streets in the city center.
For instance, the scheme Ben Thanh Towers belonging to Bitexco Group is set to be constructed in front of Ben Thanh Market, a long-standing market with the southern gate considered the city’s symbol.
As planned, the towers will be built on an area of 8,600 square meters, bordering the four streets of Calmette, Le Thi Hong Gam, Pho Duc Chinh and Pham Ngu Lao in District 1. The towers, including two 55-storey towers of rental apartments, office spaces and shopping centers, are set to be finished in 2015.
Not far away from Ben Thanh Towers is Saigon Hospital located between Le Loi and Huynh Thuc Khang Street where a hotel project is scheduled to be built by Bitexco in the near future.
Meanwhile, Saigontourist Holding Co., and one subsidiary of Gemadept Corporation have plans to turn the 5,600-square meter area next to the above hotel project into a complex scheme with 30,000 square meters for office space and a five-star hotel with 400 rooms.
In front of this high-rise building project is the SJC Tower scheme with an estimated height of over 50 floors.
Singapore-based Keppel Land Ltd. Co., is deploying the second phase of the Saigon Center project with 45 floors next to the existing 25-storey building at the corner of Le Loi and Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street. When in place, the building will be used as retail centers, office and apartments.
A 40-storey building  is to be constructed next to the Eden complex at the corner of Le Loi-Nguyen Hue Boulevard, while the 40-storey BIDV building is under construction. The Times Square scheme with two 36-storey towers will be completed soon and the 68-storey Bitexco Financial Tower has just been opened recently.
In reality, the presence of high-rise buildings has gradually improved the cityscape in the center. However, there are concerns that the already horrendous transport situation will get even worse when these buildings are put into use and attract thousands of more people who go shopping and come to work on a daily basis.
An expert said that developing skyscrapers in downtown HCMC would create more pressure on the infrastructure system of transport, electricity and telecommunications, as well as traffic congestion and a polluted environment.
Since realty service businesses have mushroomed in the city center, the number of people flocking to the area is obviously on the rise.
This will likely create a great challenge for urban administrators to balance benefits of granting construction licenses for skyscrapers, transport infrastructure works and preserving the city’s symbolic architecture, the expert added.
SGT

4,000 ton gold treasure

Binh Thuan authorities license man to search 4,000-ton-gold treasure

October 17, 2011  about Uncategorized

LookAtVietnam - Binh Thuan province has permitted Mr. Tran Van Tiep, 96, to search for “treasure” on Tau Mountain for 270 days.

Tran Van Tiep (right) has been
hunting down the treasure for a half of his life.

“Mr. Tiep is allowed to make exploration from October 10, within nine months, and he has to mortgage VND500 million ($25,000),” an official from the Binh Thuan People’s Committee said.
Mr. Tiep can search for the treasure on an area of 2,400sq.m, using drill machines. However the drilling depth is fixed at 35m maximum.
The local authorities also ask Mr. Tiep to carry out measures to prevent environmental pollution and the $25,000 is mortgage.
The man must report the searching result to the local authorities after the search is complete.
The search will be supervised by a working group, which is led by Nguyen Ngoc Hanh, deputy director of the Binh Thuan Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
Tiep strongly believes that there is a 4,000-ton gold treasure on Tau Mountain, which was buried by Japanese army. Since 1993, he has invested a billion dong to search for the treasure.
PV

lCircus elephant kills 11-year-old girl October 17, 2011

Circus elephant kills 11-year-old girl 

October 17, 2011  about Social

A circus elephant trampled to death a girl in northern Vietnam Sunday afternoon when the girl sneaked into a yard to feed it.
The elephant belongs to a Vietnam Circus Federation troupe that was on a week-long tour in Lao Cai Province.
Eyewitnesses said the elephant was tied to a chain in the fenced backyard of the local cultural center waiting for the troupe’s scheduled last show there in the evening.
They said Nguyen Thao Oanh, a sixth grader of Le Quy Don Secondary School, and several other children sneaked into the backyard.
When Oanh was picking up a sugarcane, the elephant suddenly lifted her up with its trunk, threw her to the ground and trampled her repeatedly until she died, the witnesses said.
The children may have teased the elephant while they were feeding it, the witnesses said.

Pham Ngoc Trien, Thanh Nien News 

Medical Tourims Hub South Korea

South Korea becoming medical tourism hub 

October 16, 2011  about Health

The medical tourism market in South Korea is expected to grow around 30 percent during 2010-2012, according to a study from RNCOS, a global market research and information analysis company

A robotic operation performed at the Wonkwang University Hospital on September 29, 2011
Clean, modern facilities, and a warm welcome greet patients at several South Korean hospitals that have made it their goal to facilitate the growing trade in medical tourism here.
Thanh Nien Weekly visited four Korean hospitals late last month and was introduced to state-of-the-art medical institutions, qualified medical practitioners and the advanced practice of oriental medicine. South Korea is emerging as a major medical tourism destination and the country is trying to surpass Singapore, Thailand and India to become Asia’s new medical tourism hub.
To this end, Korea has over the years built up an impressive one-stop infrastructure to serve medical tourists, an increasing number of which are coming from the United States, Russia, China, Japan and many other nations in the region.
As part of the Medical Korea promotion project, the Korea International Medical Association (KIMA) – a government-private joint initiative founded in 2007 to promote Healthcare in Korea internationally – has held many familiarization tours like the one Thanh Nien Weekly was a part of.
One-stop services
Tourists arriving at Korea’s Incheon International Airport can find the Medical Tourism Information Center, which offers a rest area, information on medical institutions and travel agencies, and free Internet access.
In Seoul, foreigners can visit the Medical Tourism Promotion Center for a professional medical consultation. There, they can also use a BMI (body mass index) machine, a stress measurement device, and a blood pressure meter for free.
All hospitals we visited have reception desks for foreigners providing all services they need, including hospital and hotel reservations, consultations, payments, and more.

A room at Andong Hospital’s Guesthouse. Photo by Fang Pei

Managers at Andong, Bumin, Good Gang-An and Wonkwang University hospitals ensured us that they currently have professional interpreters who can help translate between Korean doctors and foreign patients.
With the growing number of Chinese and Russian visitors to Korean hospitals, many hospitals now provide booklets in Russian and in Chinese.
Good Gang-An Hospital said 90 percent of its foreign patients are currently from Russia. The number of foreign patients there has increased from only 88 in 2009 to 347 in 2010 and 285 in the first eight months of 2011. Bumin Hospital revealed it had so far received 420 foreign patients, including 70 from Russia and 40 from China.
Andong Hospital offers its Good Morning Health Tour program that allows guests to receive comprehensive medical check-ups and health examinations while staying at the Andong Hospital Guesthouse with comfortable and luxurious rooms overlooking the Nakdong River, said Kang Shin Hong, execute director of Andong Hospital Group.
Visitors to Andong have also a chance to discover many tourist attractions there, including the Bongjung-sa Temple built during Chosun dynasty in 672, the ancient Hahwae Village, the Wolyyoung Bridge - the largest wooden bridge in Korea, the Andong City Folk Museum and Gyemyoung-san Natural Forest.
Da Vinci Robot

Hundreds die in Thailand and Cambodia floods

At least 356 people have died since August after flash floods hit south-east Asian countries. Last Modified: 02 Oct 2011 23:27 inShare Email Print Share Feedback

Flood waters have damaged rice fields, schools and Buddhist temples in Cambodia [Reuters] At least 356 people have been killed in Thailand and Cambodia since August in flash floods, according to government officials. The death toll is higher in Thailand, where 206 people have died while 150 were killed in neighbouring Cambodia. Keo Vy, the spokesman of the Cambodian government disaster agency, said on Sunday that flood waters along the Mekong river and other places had damaged 670,000 acres of rice fields, as well as 904 schools and 361 Buddhist temples. Hundreds of people have been killed in China, Japan and South Asia in the last four months from prolonged monsoon flooding, typhoons and storms.

Thailand

Two million people hit by Thailand's worst floods for 50 years

At least 283 people have been killed and more than 110,000 people left homeless by floods that have destroyed crops and livlihoods across Thailand.

 14 Oct 2011

Central rural areas of Thailand are the worst affected by the heavy monsoon rain that has left 26 of Thailand's 77 provinces under water.

Japanese automakers including Toyota have suspended production in the kingdom due to water damage to facilities or disruption to parts supplies.

In Ayutthaya province, Buddhist monks raced against rising floodwaters to rescue their religious texts.

Bangkok is bracing for a large amount of rainwater water this weekend to add to the seasonal high tides that make it harder for the excess water to drain to the sea.

Major tourist destinations remain mostly unaffected by the floods.

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How is Vietnam’s Internet speed: 374 Kbps, 1.7 Mbps or 9.79 Mbps?

October 15, 2011  about Uncategorized

LookAtVietnam - The reports on the Internet speed of the countries in the
world show different figures and rankings.

The US Pando Networks has released its latest report on the global Internet
connection speed which shows that the average download speed in the world is 580
Kbps.
The survey conducted by the US company gives rankings to 224 countries in terms
of Internet connection speed and the proportions of successful downloads. The
results were announced based on the data collected from 27 million downloads
with the total capacity of 35 Petabyte. The survey was carried out on 20 million
computers in the period from January to June 2011.
The report shows that South Korea is the country which has the fastest Internet
connection speed at 2202 Kbps. Romania has been named as the country with the
second fastest Internet connection speed, 1909 Kbps on average.
Also according to Pando Network, Vietnam has the average Internet connection
speed of 374 Kbps, the highest in South East Asia and the third highest in Asia.
Other South East Asian countries have lower Internet speed than Vietnam’s.
Thailand’s speed is 268 Kbps, the Philippine’s 213 Kbps, Indonesia 129 Kbps, and
Singapore’s 335 Kbps.
The other two Asian countries which have faster Internet speed than Vietnam are
South Korea (2202 Kbps) and Japan (1364 Kbps).
However, Akamai’s Internet speed report for the second quarter of 2010 showed
different figures. The report said that the average speed in Vietnam is 1.7
Mbps, which is lower than the world’s average level of 1.8 Mbps. With the
result, Vietnam ranks the 32nd out of the 50 surveyed nations.
If comparing with other South East Asian countries, Vietnam’s Internet speed is
lower than Thailand’s (2.9 Mbps), Singapore’s (3.1 Mbps), and higher than
Malaysia’s (1.19 Mbps), the Philippines’s (0.9 Mbps) and Indonesia’s (0.63
Mbps).
Vietnam has been found as having 70 percent of network connections with the
speed of 256 Kbps to 2Mbps, while only 2 percent of connections having the speed
higher than 5 Mbps.
Akamai’s global Internet report for the first quarter of 2011 does not mention
Thailand and Vietnam. However, analysts have pointed out that the average
Internet speed of Malaysia and Singapore have increased to 1.6 Mbps and 4.2
Mbps, respectively.
Meanwhile, if referring to NetIndex, the website which shows the measurement
result of Speedtest.net, the download speed in Vietnam is now staying at 9.79
Mbps, putting Vietnam on the 39th position among 180 nations worldwide, while
the upload speed is 5.47 Mbps, ranking the 22nd out of 180 nations.
The result was announced after the surveyors considered 365,631 Vietnamese IP
addresses. Hanoi has been found as the locality with the highest download speed
in Vietnam (10.08 Mbps), followed by HCM City (9.16 Mbps) and Can Tho City (6.55
Mbps).
Also according to Speedtest, in Hanoi, CMC’s network has the fastest download
speed (16.64 Mbps), while VNPT’s (the Vietnam Post and Telecommunication Group)
is 15.6 Mbps, higher than that of FPT (10.35 Mbps).
Meanwhile, in HCM City, CMC’s speed is the highest (28.19 Mbps), followed by EVN
Telecom’s and FPT Telecom.
Vietnam has appeared in the list of the countries which have the highest growth
rates in Internet development in the world. According to internetworldstats, in
the 10-year period of 2000-2010, the number of Internet users increased by
12.035 percent, or 100 times, while other regional countries, which are believed
to have impressive growth rates, only got the 10 fold growth rate during the
same time.
Meanwhile, the report by VNNIC, the Vietnam Internet Center, shows that by the
end of 2010, Vietnam had had 26.8 million Vietnamese people using Internet, or
1/3 of the Vietnamese population.
A report by Cimigo, a market survey firm, has pointed out that most of Internet
users are young people, but the number of middle aged people using Internet has
also been increasing very rapidly.
C. V

41st Hanoi Photo Exhibition

“Hanoi feelings” in photos

October 11, 2011  about Uncategorized

LookAtVietnam - The 41st Hanoi photo exhibition opened on October 8, introducing 124 best photos of the “Hanoi feelings” competition.
The 124 photos on display are selected from more than 1,000 works by 218 photographers from Hanoi and 17 provinces, including foreigners.
Below are some of them:

“I love peace” by Nguyen Nhu Hao, first prize.
“Grandmother and niece” by Xuan Chinh, second prize.

“Festival day” by Lai Dien Dam, second prize.

“Lotus season in the West Lake” by Do Phuong Mai., third prize.

“Old friends” by Tran Nhan Quyen, third prize.

“Calligrapher Cung Khac Luoc” by Nguyen Anh Tuan, third prize.

Ten consolation prizes including “Spreading net” by Nguyen Thong Dong.

“Hanoi’s kid” by Bui Dang Thanh.

“Being an apprentice” by Truong Tuan Anh.

“Paper-made lion head makers” by Hoang Thanh Thuy

“Enlightening” by Nguyen Trong Nghi.

“Jubiliant Festival” by Tran Nhan Quyen.

“Ancient words” by Bui Dang Thanh.

PV