You do not want to leave your pet alone at home during your trip in Vietnam? Here belows are some suggestion from one expat in Vietnam and hope it will useful for you.
Archive for March, 2010
A meeting to discuss the organizing plan for the 2010 Halong Tourism Festival held on December 16 under the chairmanship of Ms. Nhu Thi Hong Lien, vice chairwoman of Quangninh province.
Halong Tourism Festival aims at providing tourists and local people with more attractive types of tourism which can enhance the competitiveness of Quangninh tourism industry.
This festival will take place in Bai Chay tourist area, Halong city from April 29 to May 2, 2010. All of the activities in this festival focus on promoting the local tourism industry, encouraging tourists to vote for Halong bay as one of 7 wonders of the world and demonstrating Quangninh’s ability to stimulate the process of international integration.
In addition, the festival will be linked closely with the upcoming 2010 East Asia Inter-regional Tourism Forum (EATOF) which will also be taken place in Quangninh province and looking towards the great ceremony of 1000 years of Thanglong - Hanoi.
Some typical activities in the 2010 Halong Tourism Festival are the 2010 Halong Carnaval Festival, Halong towards 1000 years of Thanglong-Hanoi and other cultural, sports and tourist activities in Mong Cai city, Uong Bi town and Van Don district, etc.
In the meeting, delegates joined in the discussion of the issues involved such as some creative and innovative ways of organizing activities in the festival, etc.
To conclude the meeting, Ms. Nhu Thi Hong Lien told each department and locality to rapidly send their organizing plans to the Department of Culture Sports and Tourism (DCST). After that, DCST will work with the Department of Finance on the full cost of organizing this event and then present a report to the People’s Committee./.
Foreign visitors to Hanoi, after touring the capital’s tourist sites, usually seek out a place to sit, drink tea, coffee or beer, and chat. Ta Hien street in the Old Quarter has been the preferred spot for a long time.
Like other old streets in Hanoi, during the daytime Ta Hien is packed with heavy traffic and crowds of people, including foreigners, who sit in street bars, enjoying meals and drinks and watching passers-by.
After dark, the street puts on another face whose features are particularly intriguing to visitors from around the world, including travellers called Tay ba lo or backpackers.
At night, Ta Hien becomes noisier with local people and foreign visitors drinking draught beer and chatting at sidewalk brasseries which seem to mushroom on both sides of the street. It becomes a street for pedestrians, except for a few motorbikes and taxis passing through to pick up or drop off passengers.
Brasseries here are very small and furnished only with a number of tiny plastic stools arranged in neat rows. When customers arrive, they grab a stool and order beer and food at very reasonable prices.
Today faded into a warm spring evening. Suddenly, a gentle rain began to fall, rendering the atmosphere still more romantic and charming. It was nearly 10 o’clock. Ta Hien began to get noisy while other streets became quiet. The brasseries became packed with customers coming and going, ordering glasses of beer and bowls of food, chatting and drinking toasts.
I felt isolated among the foreign crowd at Hai Loan brasserie. Though I did not understand what they were saying, I could guess where they came from through their complexion, accent, hair and clothing. They boasted of video clips they had shot while travelling around Hanoi and Vietnam.
Foreigners here are very friendly no matter where they come from or what they do, Hai Loan – the brasserie owner – told me.
I noticed that despite the crowd and the noise, they still found a quiet place for themselves. Many sat there, sipping beer, eating something and thinking pensively or just watching passers-by as a distraction from daily pressure or respite from a day of hard work.
“Foreigners normally come here when it gets dark,” Hai Loan said. “Brasseries become crowded from 21.00-24.00, and after midnight, customers continue chatting and drinking inside the brasseries.”
“Because brasseries offer beer and food at such low prices, we have to purchase more barrels of beer to keep up with customer demand.”
Even though he has been in the business for a long time, Hai Loan could not explain why foreigners like to come to drink and chat. He also admitted that if he were a foreigner, he would not be crazy enough to travel a long distance just to drink cheap beer.
I wanted to start a conversation with the foreigners, but couldn’t because of my poor command of English. By chance I made the acquaintance of an experienced tour guide named Thanh who often comes and helps out the brasserie owners.
“The brasserie attracts foreigners from different countries who are businessmen or footballers living and working in Hanoi or nearby provinces, but most of them are backpack tourists,” Thanh said. “They come here by word of mouth or through the Internet, and once they come, they like it immediately.”
Our conversation was constantly being interrupted as Thanh had to serve beer to customers and greet newcomers.
A tall African guy with braided hair entered the brasserie, wearing a hat typical of sea pirates. Thanh said Hello and introduced him to me.
“This is Albert, one of my friends. He is a football player. He speaks Vietnamese very well.”
Albert came across, shook my hands and spoke in Vietnamese, “My name is Chien. I can’t speak Vietnamese, except for English.”
His keen sense of humour made us burst out laughing.
“I come from Ghana and I’ve been here in Vietnam for one year and 9 months,” Chien said. “I’m playing for Vinakansai Ninh Binh Football Club. I’ll miss matches for the next five months due to recent injuries.”
He said he knew this brasserie through his friends, and he comes almost every night to meet people and relieve his homesickness. With a good command of Vietnamese, Chien said, he made friends there with an Australian volunteer who is now his girlfriend.
Ricky is lighting up the bamboo pipe
Another guy came into the brasserie, capturing the beer connoisseurs’ attention by his meticulously trimmed moustache and the big bamboo pipe he had just borrowed from the brasserie owner. Loan said he is a regular customer. He is called Ricky, an American guy who has come to Vietnam for 9 months and is currently teaching at the Apollo Language Centre in Hanoi.
Speaking in both English and Vietnamese, Ricky confided that he loves the Vietnamese culture, street food and draught beer sold on the pavement. He said American beer is much stronger and more expensive than Vietnamese beer and that he never gets pissed even when he has a few too many.
He said he has known this bar for 6 months and he often comes to make new friends, especially when he feels homesick or sad.
“Just over a month ago, I came here to ring in the New Year with other revellers. I was very happy. …. I like walking and observing the Old Quarter at night and find that Hanoi is so tranquil and romantic at that time.”
Ricky lit up the pipe and released smoke as if he was a professional pipe smoker.
“It’s marvellous. I am so addicted to pipe smoking that I can’t live without it,” he said, adding that he learned to smoke a pipe from a tea vendor. At first he found it difficult to use the pipe, but he gradually got used to it.
The wall clock struck 11, but nobody appeared to leave the bar. The owner even refused some newcomers, because there were no more chairs available.
The beer connoisseurs continued drinking, cheering, shaking hands and even whistling which is what makes Ta Hien popular with foreigners when they come to Hanoi, Vietnam.
Having worked in Business for 14 years, Sherry decided to give it all up, and see what was outside of her 6 by 8 foot office. Sherry now travels to more than 23 countries. She finds interesting from trips to destinations in over the world and writes. Here below is her good experience, Sherry shared with everyone after her trip to Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam. This guide will hopefully get you off the tourist trail a bit and experience some of the fantastic culture for yourself!
A foreign tourist at a souvenir shop on Le Loi Street in downtown Ho Chi Minh City.
Ho Chi Minh City has announced a list of “100 Excitements” to promote its image as a tourist destination, but many local expats found that their favorite places were not included.
“I do not know who made the list but it seems not to have been done by local expats. How can you forget the Caravelle rooftop [Saigon Saigon] bar?” said Christophe Lefebvre, an administrator of the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Vietnam (CCIFV).
“In the top-ten list for restaurants, there is no foreign cuisine mentioned. Strange!” he told Thanh Nien Weekly.
The city’s “100 Excitements” announced on February 25 included top-tens in each of ten categories: hotels, restaurants, souvenirs, entertainment venues, shopping, must-tastes, city attractions, coffee shops, city tours and events.
The selection was based on votes by local and foreign tourists over a three-month period, with a judging board from the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Department of Industry and Trade and tourism reporters overseeing the initiative.
However, many local expats said there were many notable “excitements” left off the list.
A US expat advisor of an NGO in Vietnam, who has been living in Vietnam for eight years and wanted to remain unnamed, said she felt that the Caravelle Hotel in downtown HCMC should be included in the list of ten hotels.
She also said Minh Long ceramics should have been mentioned in the souvenir category and bun thit nuong and bun bo hue in food category.
Jonathan Pincus, Dean of the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program, said everyone has their favorites but “the Café Terrace at Saigon Center is a favorite restaurant for many locals and tourists alike.”
“Lots of tourists like Lemongrass and Temple Club restaurants as well,” he added.
We are beginning to fear that our guide is leading us astray. Earlier in the day we embarked on a private-jeep tour of the main attraction in southern Vietnam’s remote coastal town of Phan Thiet: large, golden sand dunes whipped into submission by swirling gusts of wind. Now, instead of heading back to our hotel with its pristine, palm-lined beach, our guide has us speeding out of town, beyond the cozy cove that shelters the locals’ colorful fishing boats beyond, in fact, any sign of civilization. Where are we going?
Traveling to Vietnam, people know Hoi An City is a world cultural heritage site with ancient houses and an ancient town. To me, spending a day in Hoi An, I find out that the city is worth to visit not only by its ancient cultural and historical works but also by rustic images of craft villages living hard with ups and downs of modern life, embankments which is always bustling with noise of tourists as well as traders, and old streets blanked in shimmering rays of lanterns as well as images of where local people are always gentle and hospitable with a great smile on their faces.
Nowadays, Hoi An has many craft villages such as lanterns, mattresses, wood sculptures, conical hats, embroidery and silver. Along Tran Phu Street, people sell souvenirs in impressive and eye-catching styles.
In addition, travelers who buy tickets to visit the ancient town will be taken to the Hoi An craft village to hear an introduction of some typical traditional crafts and cultural features of Hoi An.
After that, visitors should come to Tra Que vegetable village and join local people to plant some vegetables.
To wrap up a day of discovering the city, travelers should hit the beach to relax in the sea waves under the specific sunlight of the central region and enjoy some seafood.
Although it’s just a day in Hoi An, travelers can harvest treasures of this land and experience many activities. So why not pack a toothbrush and discover Hoi An City.
Tan Thanh Beach in Go Cong Township in the Mekong Delta Province of Tien Giang is not as famous as Vung Tau, Mui Ne, Nha Trang or Phu Quoc beaches but it boasts its own beauty with primitiveness and purity.
The beach is very wide and not ideal for swimming, but tourists can walk offshore for some kilometers while the water level just comes up to the ankles. Afternoon is the time for villagers and visitors to catch clams and have them boiled to eat on the spot.
That is why many cottages, which are just five meters high, stand on the sand for villagers to catch clams. And this is a very weird image in comparison with other beaches with their many resorts and umbrellas.
But it is not interesting to go to the sea without swimming. Tan Thanh Beach is often gentle and shallow, but when the tide rises, the waves are strong. However, to ensure tourists are safe while swimming, people have built a one-kilometer-long bridge. When the water rises high, swimmers can jump down from the bridge and swim into the bridge wall. When the water drops, the bridge becomes an ideal place for tourists to enjoy the wind, look into the distance and breathe the salted smell of the ocean.
“The beach is not too crowded like other beaches, so I really love to wander along the shallow beachside, keep silence to wait for the dawn and wallow into sunset. That is a wonderful sensation in Tan Thanh,” said Hoang Khanh, a visitor.
Once visiting Tan Thanh, tourists should stop by some wooden stilt houses covered with simple leaves along the beach to try indigenous specialties. The fleshy, good-sized clams are the main food specialty of Tan Thanh but it is also known for its crabs.
When the tide is high, tourists can ask for a ride in a basket boat to one of the many stilt houses in the sea where they farm clams. Tourists can climb into the houses to look out to sea and in the evening the twinkling mountains of Vung Tau Town in the north can be seen.
Visitors can spend a night in simple one-bed bungalows along the beach, which are illuminated with electric or oil lamps and priced at about VND100,000 per night. Behind them in the green forest, the wind whistles all night long.
