Tet flower street in Vietnam’s southern province to offer air balloon view — Talk Vietnam

Tet flower street in Vietnam’s southern province to offer air balloon view

February 16, 2015

Visitors to the annual flower street held in celebration of the Lunar New Year, or Tet in Vietnamese, in a southern province will be able to view it from above the sky with a maiden hot air balloon service to be inaugurated tonight, February 16.

Two big air balloons will be in service to allow visitors to enjoy the beautiful flowers from 30 meters above the ground, according to Tran Dang Ninh, director of the Tran Bien Temple of Literature, the organizer of the event in Dong Nai Province, around 40km from Ho Chi Minh City.

“Each balloon can serve three to four passengers, and a journey lasts for five to seven minutes, enough time for visitors to take aerial photos,” Ninh was quoted by Dong Nai newspaper as saying.

The hot air balloon will be controlled by a foreign professional crew.

The Tran Bien flower street is running from February 16 to 24, or the 28^th day of the current lunar year to the sixth day of the next one at the Temple of Literature in the provincial capital city of Bien Hoa, according to the newspaper.

This is the third time Dong Nai organizes the flower street. The event this year is held under a series of activities to celebrate the 300^th anniversary of the foundation of the Tran Bien Temple of Literature.

Built in 1715, Tran Bien is one of several such temples in Vietnam that honor Confucius, along with sages and scholars.

Themed “Dong Nai Spring,” the 1.2km street features models and decorations that reflect the province’s history, culture, and people.

Visitors to the VND11 billion (US$512,629) event will also be treated to many music and culinary activities.

The Ho Chi Minh City street flower, now in its 11^th year, will also kick off tonight in the city’s downtown. This year’s flower street, themed “Vietnamese Identity and Spirit,” will run for seven days.

Today is the 28th day of the lunar year, meaning the Vietnamese Tet, the country’s largest public holiday, is only three days away.

Below are some photos taken at the Tran Bien flower street by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

Tet flower street in Vietnam’s southern province to offer air balloon view — Talk Vietnam

Tet tickets sell

Airlines sell tickets cautiously, passengers buy hesitantly

VietNamNet Bridge – Air carriers have begun selling air tickets for Tet flights, a bit later than usual. Meanwhile, passengers still keep listening to the news, not hurrying to book tickets right now.
 

The significant fall in the number of passengers has forced domestic airlines to be very cautious when drawing up their business plans. All of them launch Tet sale season later than usual, offering air ticket sales in different stages, exploring the situation while selling.

NHP, an office worker in HCM City, began searching for the information about air ticket sales for Tet flights in August. Since there were not many choices, P had to book business-class return tickets to Hanoi with the state owned Vietnam Airlines at the sky high airfare of over 5 million dong per person, totaling 20 million dong.

By that time, Vietnam Airlines had not launched the Tet sale season yet.

One month later, P successfully booked tickets with a budget airline at 2.4 million dong per person only. Finally, she decided to cancel the flights with Vietnam Airlines, accepting the fine of 1.2 million dong. However, the decision to fly with the budget airline would help her save nearly 10 million dong.

Air Mekong was the first airline that launched Tet sale season. Its first sale campaign, lasting 20 days, began on September 20. Twenty days later, the two budget airlines VietJet Air (VJA) and Jetstar Pacific Airlines (JPA) also launched the Tet sale season.

JPA announced the sale of 110,000 tickets for Tet flights since October 11. It also launched the sale of 24,000 seats for the HCM City – Hanoi flights to take off within 15 days before Tet and the Hanoi – HCM City flights within 15 days after Tet.

It is expected that the travel demand would be 10 percent higher for the flights between Hanoi and HCM City on Tet days in comparison with the same period of the last year, and 13 percent higher on the HCM City – Da Nang route.

In the latest statement, Vietnam Airlines said it would run two Tet sale campaigns. In the first one, commencing from November 1, it would provide 75 percent of the total seats for the peak season, while in the second one, slated for mid December 2012, it would provide the remaining 25 percent.

The national air flag carrier has also informed that from January 25 to March 2, 2013, it would provide 1000 more flights, or 174,500 seats on the 10 air routes with high travel demand. Of these, 82,600 seats would be reserved for the HCM City – Hanoi flights.

It’s still unclear about the airfares. However, the passengers who want to fly on the days between February 5 and February 15, or the peak days, would have to bear high airfares.

As for budget airlines like JPA or VJA, the average level is 2.6 million dong for a seat on HCM City – Hanoi flights, not including VAT and airport fee.

Airlines keep cautious with their Tet sale campaigns, because they need to consider the expected profits thoroughly in Tet conditions. In general, the flights from HCM City to Hanoi are always overloaded on Tet days with the higher number of people flying to the north to celebrate Tet holiday with their families, while there are few passengers on the Hanoi – HCM City flights.

The sharp fall of the domestic aviation market in the first seven months of the year has also forced airlines to think carefully when setting up their business plan. Vietnam Airlines, the “eldest brother”, has reported the decrease of 7.5 percent of the domestic carriage output.

Ngoc Ha

 

The tragedies of students living far from home - News VietNamNet

The tragedies of students living far from home

VietNamNet Bridge – A lot of students have got shocked since the day they entered universities. The discriminatory treatment has reduced them to despair.

The “origin discrimination” brings tragedies to students

“Where are you from?” – “Hai Phong. How about you?” – “Hai Phong? You must be very sharp-tongued like other people from there.” This is the conversation between Duyen, a first year student, and three other students sitting near her in the class.

Duyen felt a bit ashamed with the comment and she decided not to make friends with the other students. “At first, I got angry about the jeer. But should I quarrel right in the class and on the first day at school?” Duyen said

La Thi Phuong, a student of the Academy for Journalism and Communication, said that she did not communicate with other students in the same dormitory for one week, just because Phuong is from Nghe An province where local residents have a special accent. She said the friends always complained that they could not catch Phuong’s words because of the accent.

“When talking with them, I felt as if I was a laughing stock for them, because they did not understand my ideas,” she said.

Since the day, the girl has been trying to hide herself and not to communicate with others in order to avoid the attention from the classmates.

A student related that she has been boycotted by the friends in the living quarter, just because of the origin discrimination.

“When I said I was from Nam Dinh, they just laughed hollowly and they keep glacial with me,” she said.

“There are six students living in the same room, but the other five never go out with me. They try not to talk to me,” she said. “They always go together when having lunch or going shopping, but they never accept me.”

The problem is that the people from Nam Dinh are believed to be mischievous. People from other regions whisper in each others’ ears that it would be better to keep away from those from Nam Dinh.

The “preconception” about Nam Dinh’s people has made the student’s life at university terrible.

The undertow

Phan Thi Thanh, a first year student, said that there exists a group of “aristocratic students” in her class. The group comprises of the members from well off families who go to school on luxurious motorbikes, spend money like water and they are all from Hanoi.

Thanh said that the students always go together and keep far away from the students from the countryside. Especially, even the students who are called “rustic” because they are from villages, and also communicate in separated communities.

That explains why, Thanh said, classmates do not know each other. “I feel a complex about my origin, therefore, I only make friend with the ones who are friendly and have good nature,” she said.

Therefore, Thanh, like many other students from provinces, feel a hard pressure in their lives and study. They live and go to school in quietness, refuse the opportunities to communicate with other people, refuse the support from the community and do not intend to help others.

Nguyen Thanh Loan from the Hanoi Industry University admitted that on the first days at school, she had no sympathy for the students from other provinces, because of their “strange behaviors”. However, Loan said she has changed her mind about the friends, thanks to the excursions and extracurricular activities.

“It is not important where you are from. It’s more important who you are and if you are a good friend,” Loan said.

Nguyen Huong

Ho Chi Minh City to open tourist bus route 6 miles .19 cents

Ho Chi Minh City to open tourist bus route 

Last Updated: Wednesday, August 08, 2012 09:00:00

Vietnamese singers and movie stars boarding a bus to Ho Chi Minh City's Binh Tay Market to promote public transportation

The Ho Chi Minh City Transport Department announced Wednesday it will open a bus route connecting major tourist attractions in the city center on September 15.
Bus number 127 will stop at major tourism destinations like the Reunification Palace on Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, the Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden and several museums in downtown area, said Van Cong Diem, deputy director of the city's Center for Management and Operation of Public Passenger Transport.
The bus will depart from Ben Thanh Bus Station at the Quach Thi Trang roundabout, located across from Ben Thanh Market and September 23rd Park and just a few minutes walking distance from the “westerner quarter” -- a neighborhood filled with hotels and foreign eateries centered on Pham Ngu Lao Street in District 1.
The route is 9.8 kilometers (6 miles) and takes 35 minutes to complete.
The line will run from 5:30 a.m. to 8:12 p.m. with 8-10 minutes between each bus.
Pham Thanh Kien, deputy chairman of District 1 People’s Committee, said ten new buses with automatic ticket selling systems will be used on the route.
The buses are also designed to serve handicapped passengers in wheelchairs.
Tickets will cost VND4,000 ($0.19) for the whole route or VND90,000 for a monthly pass.

American artist exhibits 3D street painting in Vietnam

June 19, 2012

LookAtVietnam – Internationally recognized American street painter, Tracy Lee Stum, has completed a 3D painting called Snow Lotus, which is open to public on June 16-17 at Youth Cultural House, 4 Pham Ngoc Thach, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City.

Arrived in Vietnam on June 13, Tracy immediately spent four days working on the painting, whose canvas is the ground of the Youth Cultural House.
“3D paintings require the artist to be meticulous, taking care of small details and calculating precisely, to bring the best effects to viewers,” she said.
Tracy said there is always a best position to stand and take pictures of a 3D painting. However, sometimes it is the visitors who discover new angels to take photos which show best the 3D effects.

“I love street painting as it is only kept for a short time. This may sound awkward as artists love to keep their works for a long time. But to me, I appreciate the process more than result,” she said.
Born in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, Tracy privately as a child and completed a 4 year Bachelor’s degree program at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. She continued her studies in naturalism at the Florence Academy of Art in Italy.
Tracy has participated as an invited featured artist in many festivals and events in the US, Canada, Japan, Korea, China where her paintings have won numerous awards accolades.
Currently, she holds a Guinness World Record set in 2006for the largest street painting by an individual.

3D paintings by Tracy:

The last Supper, 2006, a world record.

The bridge, 2012, USA

Tuoitre/VNE/VNN

HCM City votes on ‘100 exciting things” | Look At Vietnam

HCM City votes on ‘100 exciting things”

June 16, 2012

LookAtVietnam – The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism launched yesterday a campaign that seeks to identify 100 “exciting things” about HCM City by opening up several categories for people, locals and foreigners, to vote on.

Photo: VOV

The HCM City: 100 Exciting Things campaign aims to recognize and promote the city’s outstanding cultural values and prominent tourism products and services.
The campaign is being launched after six months of preparations that included consulting with experts in many fields including travel, culture, history and cuisine. Its advisory board gathered and short-listed 218 “candidates” that people will vote on to decide the final list of 100 things.
The “candidates” are categorized under 20 groups, which include luxury hotels, business hotels, tourist restaurants, exhibition-conference centers, travel tours, tourism events, health and beauty care, by-night entertainment locations, sightseeing locations, artistic, cultural and historic vestiges, transport companies, art performance locations, Southern delicacies, varieties of fruit, architecture, museums, markets, coffee shops, shopping centers and souvenir products.
Local and international tourists can vote on these “things” between June 14 and July 30 at www.excitinghochiminhcity.vn, www.saigon100dieuthuvi.vn, www.nhungdieuthuvitphcm.com, and dulich.nld.com.vn.
Besides the online voting, 2,500 ballot papers for each category will be sent to experts in the mail, and distributed to tourists via travel companies.
VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

Viet Nam to get tough on English

June 16, 2012

LookAtVietnam – Education and training departments in many provinces and cities have drawn up plans to improve the quality of local English teachers through further training after discovering that most achieved very low scores in international English tests.

Students study English at Cao Loc Secondary School in Lang Son Province. (Photo: VNS)

The Ministry of Education and Training’s National Foreign Language Project requires, by 2020, primary and junior high school teachers of English to score at least 525 in the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or 5.5 on the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).
Teachers at high school and higher must achieve 575 or 6.5.
Surveys in many provinces and cities have found that few achieve these scores.
In southern An Giang Province, for instance, out of 1,500 English teachers at all levels, only 165 managed to achieve them.
In neighbouring Tien Giang Province, only 10 per cent out of more than 900 did.
In HCM City, it is just 171 of 1,100.
Nguyen Ngoc Hung, the project manager, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the ministry conducted the surveys in 30 provinces and cities. On average, only 97 per cent of high school teachers and 93 per cent of primary and junior high school teachers meet the ministry’s standards, he said, explaining teachers’ listening and speaking skills were found to be very low.
The ministry has been surveying the 34 remaining provinces and cities, he said.
Poor training at pedagogical universities is to blame, according to local education and training departments.
Nguyen Ngoc Vu, head of the HCM City University of Education’s Foreign Language Faculty, said besides there was no opportunity for teachers to practise English listening and speaking skills because school curriculums focus just on grammar and vocabulary.
Van Cong Sang, head of the HCM City Department of Education and Training’s staff office, said training courses were set to start for English teachers who had failed to meet the ministry’s benchmarks.
The department would give priority to recruiting teachers who achieve high scores in international English tests from 2012-13, he added.
Vinh Phuc and Quang Ninh Provinces and Ha Noi in the north said they would send English teachers for training in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore.
Hung said the ministry has completed assessment of a pilot training programme for primary school English teachers at pedagogy universities, and it would be introduced at all teacher training schools next academic year.
It has also instructed 18 universities and colleges to train An selected primary school teachers in English so that they can go back and teach the language, he said.
It provided training in English for 2,500 primary school teachers last year and will do so for another 2,500 this year to serve the National Foreign Language Project.
Besides, 2,800 English teachers at junior high schools and 400 others at high schools for gifted students will receive training this year as part of the project.
VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

Passion Fashion Show Vietnam HCM City

‘Passionate Style’ fashion show

June 14, 2012

Fashion designers Chung
Thanh Phong, Devon Nguyen, Le Thanh Hoa and Kim Khanh introduced their summer-autumn collections at the ‘Passionate Style’ show in HCM
City on June 12.
.

Truong Nam Thanh

Hong Que

Ngoc Bich

Truc Diem

Truong Thi May

Quanh Di

Minh Trieu

Tran Quy

Phuong Mai

Hong Que

Truong Thi May

Truong Tri Truc Diem

Kim Dung

Minh Tu

Hoang Oanh

Thao Nhi

Quynh Trang

Hong Que

Miss Vietnam 2008 Thuy Dung

Thanh Hoai

Truong Thi May