The week, which is scheduled to last through May 6, features a wide variety of activities including a show of traditional costumes of the ethnic minorities living in the province, goat, cow and nightingale fighting festivals, a performance describing the rain worshipping ritual of the Lo Lo ethnic minority people, and an incense offering at the two temples in Khau Vai commune.

Other cultural activities and folk fames will also be held during the week such as the banh day (round cake) making contest of the Nung ethnic group and linen weaving competition of the Mong ethnic minority people.

The annual Khau Vai Love Market is opened for people from the ethnic minority groups in Ha Giang province to meet and exchange each other. It attracts a large number of both domestic and foreign visitors.

(source: VNA)

Hue City

The bid to win back trade and showcase the very best of the nation began with the 2013 Hue Traditional Craft Festival which took place from April 27 to May 1.

During the five-day festival, over 1,000 youngsters from across the city participated in a drawing competition under the theme “Hue through the eyes of its children”.

Elsewhere, a kite exhibition put the wind up spectators at Hue’s cultural museum campus, while the Goddess Ponagar Festival in Nha Trang proved a huge hit on Tuesday, attracting tens of thousands of pilgrims. The latter, an annual event, is held to commemorate the Holy Mother of the Cham community in the central region, who according to Cham legend, taught locals to cultivate land and fashion handicrafts.

Concluding today, the Ponagar Festival combines spiritual rituals with cultural activities, including a requiem and flower floating to pray for peace, happiness and prosperity, together with dancing, singing and the acting out of old stories.

To mark the occasion, Khanh Hoa Province was due to announce a decision made by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to recognise the festival as intangible national heritage.

The 1,200-year-old Ponagar tower, built using unique Cham construction techniques, was already recognised as a national historical site in 1979.

The explosion of cultural festivities is hoped to help reverse the latest data from the General Statistics Office, which revealed the number of international visitors to Viet Nam fell 2.4 per cent in April to 610,000.

Overall the country had seen around 2.4 million foreign arrivals in the first four months of 2013, which represented a decrease of 5.3 per cent compared to last year.

According to experts, the fall could be attributed to global economic conditions and the decision to increase single-entry visa fees from US$25 to $45 at the beginning of January.

The experts added that local travel companies and firms were not working in tandem, which pushed up accommodation prices and other services, especially during holidays.

According to an April 16 report from the national steering committee on tourism, high service fees and unscrupulous pricing, especially by taxi drivers and vendors, also contributed to the decrease in visitors.

The committee called for a visa-free policy for major markets such as Japan, South Korea, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, as well as visa-free stays for tourists of up to 30 days instead of the current 15.

It also called for measures to boost competitiveness, increase the Government budget for tourism promotions and encourage private companies to play a more prominent role in attracting visitors.

(source: VNS)

For several great bars and restaurants to begin your night out in Vienna, you can pay a visit to the museums quartier.  Here, you will be able to find many interesting restaurants where you can relax and enjoy drinks with a pleasant meal.  You will have several different types of cuisine, including both international and local delicacies.

Spittelberg is another great quarter in Vienna where you can enjoy a relaxed and chilled start to an evening out.  There are various bakeries where you can enjoy a bite to eat during the day times and in the evenings; you can enjoy some great French, German and European food in relaxed and comfortable settings.

In Vienna’s Erdberg old factory hall called Arena, you will find that every month a dance party is held.  The mood in this factory turned club is incredibly relaxed in comparison with the atmosphere in many of the more mainstream clubs that you would find throughout Vienna and the music that is played at this venue is uplifting and funky.  You will have a great time if you do attend this venue and it will be a night to remember.

The skiers in Vienna will recommend the Prater Dome to you.  This club plays the most up to date house music and it is always booming with clubbers on most nights that you may choose to visit.

If you like to be in the centre of the most trendy club goers, then you should certainly pay a visit to Passage.  This is a huge nightclub that offers you the chance to dance the night away to an intoxicating cocktail of house music, techno and RnB.  This is one of the more expensive, but you will certainly have a great night here.

When the nightclubs are a little too much, you may like to know which bars in Vienna allow you to simply dance the night away in a great atmosphere.  Bars with dance floors are a better choice for those who are not used to clubbing, or people who just want to have a more relaxing and easygoing night.  Two of the best bars with a dance floor that you will find in Vienna are the Chelsea and the Gnadenlos.

Firstly, you should decide on the venue in which you are going to invite your friends and family for a beach party. The venue could be your garden, courtyard or patio or even in a nearby beach. One of the most important factors that you should keep in mind while deciding the venue is that the age group of your invitees. If you are hosting a beach party for your kids and their friends, then the best venue is your garden and the time would not be any constrain. On the other hand if it is for the adults then you can choose any location but depending on the time slot, you have to make some other arrangements as well. If your beach party is going to continue till late night, then you should approach the car hire firm and make arrangement for an extra rental car that you might need in emergency. But if you are hosting the adult beach party at your place, then you need not take such measures.

Secondly, there should be plentiful supply of delicious food, good and rocking music and of course drinks. These are main deciding factors that make a party successful. While arranging for the food and drink you should take into account the number of guests you are inviting. It is always better to have some excess provisions as running out on any of these things can spoil the mood of the party.

Thirdly, if you are arranging the beach party in a nearby seashore, then you should also take up the initiative to hire a expert lifeguard who is going to present at all the time. If any emergent situation arises the trained lifeguards can help you out of such situation with expertise. No matter which age group are you going to invite, a professional lifeguard is a must.

Fourthly, to add up to the fun you can also request your guest to get dressed in a particular theme. While some of them will appear a bit funny in these attires, other might take away the limelight. So, these nice memories will remain with you forever.

Fifthly, do not forget to arrange for fun activities and games where everyone can participate. This would engage the visitors in a lively chitchat session and bring out more fun. It is always a good idea to arrange for a bonfire which has its own enigma to liven the beach party. You should also ask your guest to bring guitars and other instrument that they can play for the guests. This would definitely make your beach party different from the others and a truly unforgettable one.

All said and done you should never forget to carry your camera or handy cam to capture the fun filled moments with your near and dear ones. And consider discussing your plans with someone else so that they can point out the flaws in your plan and help you improvise on these factors to make your party really successful.

]]> http://vietnamtravelservice.com/travel-articles/main-points-that-party-organisers-should-keep-in-mind-before-planning-a-beach-party.html/feed 0 http://vietnamtravelservice.com/travel-news/vietnam-airlines-launches-can-tho-taiwan-flights-for-tet.html http://vietnamtravelservice.com/travel-news/vietnam-airlines-launches-can-tho-taiwan-flights-for-tet.html#comments Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:37:02 +0000 admin http://vietnamtravelservice.com/?p=2762 Read more →

Vietnam Airlines will operate 11 direct flights between the Mekong delta City of Can Tho and Taiwan during the Lunar New Year in January, using Airbus 321 aircraft which can carry 100 to 130 passengers.

There will be six flights from Taipei, Kaohsiung, and Taichung to Can Tho and five in the reverse direction, with the first flight from Taipei to Can Tho scheduled for January 17.

It is for the third successive year that Vietnam Airlines is offering a direct air service between two cities to allow Vietnamese expatriates to return home for the New Year.
(Source: Vietnamplus)

]]>

Located around 40km from Phan Rang City, the 30,000-ha site in Ninh Hai district was first designated a national park in 2003.

It is bounded by the East Sea to the south and east, by Highway 1 to the west and to the north by part of Cam Ranh Bay in neighboring Khanh Hoa province.

The Nui Chua area consists of the southern end of the Truong Son Mountain Range of which the highest peak belongs to Co Tuy Mountain, situated at an altitude of 1,039m above sea level.

At the park’s center are the Chua Anh (elder brother God) and Chua Em (younger brother God) mountains, which are at over 1,000m in height, with temperate conditions.

”It’s ideal to visit the park during the dry season that extends from December to July next year,” said the park’s director Huynh Vinh Kim.

”The harmonious combination of mountainous and marine landscapes, special geographical and weather features plus high biodiversity, makes the park an ideal tourist attraction,” Kim elaborated.

Entering the park, tourists will encounter green trees growing amid stones and sand in an intensely hot and dry climate.

The park sports its own ochna tree forest that, rooted in the arid soil, resembles a collection of bonsai trees. During spring the trees blossom yellow to create a beautiful landscape. Typical ochna trees in the area belong to the hong mai (pink apricot) family, which has pink flowers, some of which have up to 13 petals.

Visitors are additionally afforded the chance to explore the park via 20km of asphalted roads embracing Mount Nui Chua, the Ngoan Muc Pass and Treo Lake on Mount Da Vach at an altitude of 250m.

Trekking the 10km road to a small lake, fed by an array of little streams, takes around four hours.

Lo O Stream in particular is a historical beauty spot surrounded by cliffs and clear waterfalls, its flat granite stones idyllic for picnics.

The harsh climate combines both romantic lakes and effervescent waterfalls all year round. At a height of around 1,000m, 29,865ha of semi-tropical primeval forests on Chua Anh and Chua Em mountains are extremely bio-diverse thanks to an abundance of rainfall.

Flora in Nui Chua National Park includes 390 medicinal plants, over 100 varieties of bonsai as well as many edible varieties.

It also hosts 306 species of vertebrates, including the rare and precious black-shanked langur, the white-collared bear, and the jaguar.

The magnificent mountain ranges overlook the appealing and pristine bays of Vinh Hy and Ninh Chu Beach.

Guests interested in visiting the only savanna in Vietnam can drive from Ninh Chu Beach in Khanh Hai Commune along provincial Highway 702 to Vinh Hy Bay.

After a few hours of sightseeing, tourists are free to choose among beaches spreading over nearly 40km for swimming, as well as coral reefs with diverse marine life, visible via glass bottomed tourist boats.

The farthest border of Nui Chua National Park is Thit Beach where sea turtles come and lay their eggs.

Trekkers can also walk down to Cau Gay Village, home to the Raglai ethnic minority group, and visit local craft shops to catch a glimpse into the lives of the artisans.

Military base CK 19, used by the liberation army in the anti-American war, lies near Treo Lake on Mount Da Vach and includes traces of guerrillas trench shelters and the smokeless stoves.

The local coast was formerly used to transit weapon and other military equipment from northern Vietnam to battlefields in the south.

(source: VNA)

‘Hanoi Autumn’ on Tuesday opened at the HCMC Fine Arts Museum, 97A Pho Duc Chinh Street in HCMC’s District 1.

‘Milk flower season’ by Nguyen Thi Lan Huong at the exhibition ‘Hanoi Autumn’ in HCMC Fine Arts Museum
The exhibition features 156 works made of oil on canvas, lacquers and sculptures by eight artists including Pham Chinh Trung, Nguyen Thi Lan Huong, Nguyen Thi My and Tan Dinh Cuong.

Pieces depict famous landscapes in the north and some have been inspired from daily life, others are still-life objects.

Those who love Hanoi’s old quarter will see romantic and beautiful settings in Trung’s lacquers. Street vendors, lines of old houses, milk flower trees, cyclos riding along old streets are displayed by Trung’s lively brush. He also depicts other landscapes such as terraced rice fields in Mu Cang Chai, stilt houses in the mountainous region of Ha Giang and Sapa.

Along with bass color tones of Trung, Cuong brings to viewers young and vivid colors in festive seasons in the north such as the flower festival in Hanoi, spring festival in Ha Giang, love duet festival in Bac Ninh or animated spring markets.

Huong is dreamy with flowers and countryside scenery. Her paintings focus on color with the greenness of leaves, white and red or pink of flowers, or golden autumn which will see viewers get lost in the flowers and if they close their eyes they can imagine the peace and calm of the countryside.

Some other pieces capture daily life and human fate.

The exhibition runs until November 7.

The seminar is part of activities to attract more foreign tourists to Ho Chi Minh City entitled “Next Ho Chi Minh City” with many promotional programmes. Due to the impact of the recent tsunami and earthquakes, the number of Japanese tourists to Vietnam has fallen sharply, but Ho Chi Minh City is still an attractive destination for Japanese visitors.

Japanese businesses expressed hopes that Ho Chi Minh City will be a key destination for Japanese visitors to other famous tourist sites, such as Nha Trang, Hoi An and Hue and then to other countries in the region like Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism plans to set up a representative office in Japan which is the third largest market of the Vietnamese tourism sector.

Vietnam received nearly 381,000 Japanese visitors in the first nine months of this year.

The seminar also introduced many images and documents on Vietnam’s important tourism destinations to Japanese travel agents.

(Source: VOV)

The New Year flower festival in HCM City this year will feature traditional culture, modern life and focus on sea and island topic, said the city’s Vice Chair Hua Ngoc Thuan.

This year HCM City will continue organizing annual programs to welcome the New Year, including: decorating Nguyen Hue road with flowers and trees, holding a flower festival at Tao Dan Park and organizing 45 flower markets.

Vice Chair Thuan instructed event organizers to combine the sea and island topic into these events, to feature national sovereignty.

Accordingly, Nguyen Hue flower road will have a zone for displaying flower-made mock-ups of Vietnamese coast and sea-related activities. The New Year flower festival will have music shows on sea and islands, etc.

Nguyen Hue flower road will open from January 20-26, 2012, while the New Year flower festival will be held from January 18 to 28, 2012. Flower markets will open from January 16 to 22, 2012.

Nguyen Hue flower road has become an annual event since 2004.

The second Hai Phong Culture – Sports – Tourism Week 2011 opened yesterday at the Hai Phong Exhibition and Fine Arts Centre in the northern port city of Hai Phong.

Under the theme ‘Welcome Dawn at Sea’, the event includes a variety of cultural and tourism activities, including an art and cultural exhibition, a culinary and brewage festival, arts performances and a tourism exhibition featuring fifteen booths from businesses in the Hai Phong Tourism Association.

The event, which runs until October 28, is co-organised by the Hai Phong municipal Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Hai Phong Tourism Association to welcome Hai Phong Tourism Year 2012.