Lan Village in Ha Giang Province

Lan Village in Ha Giang Province

Ha Giang Province located in Vietnam’s northern pole has many attractive destinations such as Quan Ba twin mountains, Dong Van Plateau, terraced fields in Hoang Su Phi… Visiting Ha Giang, tourists have opportunity to learn culture of 23 ethnic groups. One of the destinations is Lan Village in Yen Phu Commune, Bac Me District

From Ha Giang Town, following National Highway No 34 about 50km to center of Bac Me District’s town, keeping on going 1km and then turning left over 2km, tourists will reach Lan Village with charming houses on stilts among green fields

Lan Village has been established for many years with typical custom of Tay ethnic group. They concentrate in villages at foot of low mountains. Their typical house building is house on high stilts and roof, wall, stilt, stairs are made of wood

Lan Village’s traditional crafts are brocade weaving, wet rice and maize growing. Entering each house, tourist will see Tay people’s work tool such as steamer for glutinous rice cooking, rice mortar, rice-hulling mill … Place of ancestor worship is in the center of house, family’s activities take place around.

Tourists enjoy maize wine
Visiting Lan Village, tourist will feel villagers’ friendliness and hospitality. They always smile and converse with tourists, introduce about their village, habit and daily activities… Costume of Tay people has simple colour and pattern but still make charm of Tay girls stand out. Tourist don’t also miss enjoy local specialities such as Shan tuyet tea, maize wine, sticky rice, kind of rice-cake… If tourists want to learn about method of maize wine cooking, the villagers will introduce with pleasure and tourists can enjoy taste of this wine beside cooking fire

Visiting Lan Village in festive season, tourists have opportunity to hear the traditional songs of Tay people such as then song, coi song, luon song, umbrella dance…

With traditional culture and unique beauty, Lan Village attracting domestic and international tourists is one of 25 tourism-culture villages of Ha Giang Province.

Con Dao – a pearl island

Con Dao – a pearl island

Through 113 years (1862-1975), Con Dao, an archipelago in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province was a “Hell on Earth” where Vietnamese revolutionary fighters were detained. Now, due to having a sea economy potential, valuable nature reserves and ecological tourism, Con Dao is being built into an affluent and attractive island area.

After a flight of 45 minutes from HCMC, tourists will arrive at Con Dao, a complex of green islands, large forests and smooth white sand banks emerging from the immense sea. Following a new smooth asphalted road, 30km long running from Co Ong Airport through the northeast-southwest of Con Dao to Ben Dam Port, they will reach Con Son Town, the centre of the island district.

Con Son Town has a peaceful beauty. Islands are scattered around the town, such as the Hon Ba, Hon Bay Canh, Hon Cau, Hon Bong Lau, Hon Tho, Hon Tre, Hon Trac..., each of them having its own beauty, making marvellous scenery. Near Con Son Bay there are lines of dracontomelum trees of nearly a hundred years old and gangway 914 where many children like to gather to play, swim and fish.

Tourists can participate in a forest trekking tour in Con Dao National Park which consists of 16 big and small islands covering an area of nearly 20,000ha. The park has a rich treasure of 1,300 species of sea creatures, from small ephemera to big animals and many species of rare and precious birds, such as the Nicobar pigeon, Ducula bicolor and Sula dactylatra. Most forests in the park are primeval forests of the island tropical ecosystem. In this area, the forests and sea still retain wild features and the atmosphere is calm and pure, suitable for developing eco-tourism and various forms of coastal resorts. Con Dao National Park is implementing a programme on protecting and preserving biological diversity, including the programme on preserving sea tortoises, dugongs, etc…

Between March and June when the sea is calm, a great number of tourists go to Con Dao by ship or plane. Every year, about 10,000 people visit Con Dao where they can take a cruise on the sea or relax by swimming, diving, trekking in the primeval forest and visiting islands. On the way up to Thanh Gia Mountain with a summit of 677m above sea level, visitors will go through the forest and see rare and precious animals. Looking down from the mountain top when the sky is blue they will see the overall view of Con Dao with vast primeval forests, immense sea and smooth sandy beaches. Also, visitors can go to Ong Dung Beach to enjoy the view, have a rest, angle and dive. Lucky visitors can watch tortoises laying eggs on Hon Cau or Hon Tre and groups of hundreds of turtles crawling on the white sand.

Now, many hotels with modern facilities and attractive tourist sites have been built on Con Dao. Recently, ATC Company has built Con Son Resort, 12,000m² in area, along the coastline. Saigon Tours Company on Con Dao has built a resort near Con Son Bay. MH Golden Sands Company (US) has devised a project on building a 6-star tourist site on Con Dao.

The pearl island of Con Dao is becoming a beautiful and rich island district which has attracted an increasing number of visitors.

Tam rice - a unique Saigon fare

Tam rice - a unique Saigon fare

After harvesting rice, farmers need to separate the grains from the stalk, then husk these grains to remove their outer layer. Each grain contains a small germ called tam, which falls off the grain during the husking process.

These days, the grains, once removed from the stalk, are immediately brought to a rice-milling factory, where they undergo a series of processes, comprising husking, grinding, winnowing, and so forth. The end­products are white, shiny grains of rice and tam.

It is easy to distinguish between tam and broken rice, since a grain of tam is round and smooth. Once cooked, it does not expand as much as a grain of rice and tastes distinctly sweeter. Tam rice is difficult to prepare - the simplest way, it seems, is by soaking the grains in cold water for a few hours before cooking them in a large pot. This way, the rice remains warm, but not dry, for an entire day

In Saigon tam rice can be found virtually everywhere, deep down alleys or in big restaurants. A few hawkers selling this fare are so famous that they open a series of eateries, all numbered, to offer this special dish to people living as far as America. Most claim that their tam rice is original, but how on earth could there be so many original tam rice stalls?

Whether tam rice, a delicious fare itself, is considered high-end food depends on the side dishes, as well as the quality of tam used. Customers can order tam rice with such simple fares as sliced pork skin and fried eggs or more expensive dishes such as grilled chicken and pork, or braised prawn. Fish sauce, pickled vegetables and deep-fried shallots are indispensable and offered for free even if customers just order a plate of plain rice.

Grilled pork rib is the most common side dish, offered by both Vietnamese and Chinese restaurants selling tam rice. There are various ways of marinating the pork rib, but the basic ingredients include salt, pepper, shallot, garlic, sugar, cooking oil or fat. The cooks can use either fish sauce, soy sauce or smashed tomato depending on whether they wish to give the dish a Vietnamese, Chinese or Western flavor

In Saigon there are a few restaurants specializing in grilled food, both Western and Asian. Their menu include grilled pork, beef, mutton, chicken marinated with unique spices from Indonesia, Hong Kong, Russia, Spain or America. The side dishes comprise of salad, French fries, smashed potatoes and even tam rice. This explains why those who first come across tam rice in these restaurants may feel a little puzzled.

However, authentic Saigon's tam rice only goes with either grilled pork rib, sliced pork skin, or cha (steamed minced pork coated with a layer of eggs). The fish sauce must be contained in a bottle, and served with minced chili only, instead of pickled vegetables, cucumber and tomato. In the past, hawkers did not grill the pork ribs near the street, but now they do so as a marketing strategy to entice passers-by with the irresistible aroma. Mix the spring onion, soaked in fat, with the rice, and customers will find all their senses invigorated as they tuck into the dish, until the very last grain.

Sand, stones and surf

Sand, stones and surf

Though there’s a lovely beach, people really come to Co Thach for the famous coloured stones and pagoda.

Long stretches of brilliant white sand, old pagodas and colourful stones are only some of the attractions at the Co Thach tourism area in the central coastal province of Binh Thuan.

Co Thach is a rocky mountain created from thousands of large and small rocks piled on each other as though they were arranged by people, not nature. The rocks form many mysterious caves and grottos.

The tourism area, which lies between the rocky area and the turquoise water, has clean beaches and is distinctive because of the stones of different sizes and colours scattered on the beach.

Said to have existed for hundreds of years, the rocky area spreads over an area 1.5km wide and 20km long, also recognised as a Vietnam Guinness Record for being the largest of its kind area in the country.

Tourists enjoy swimming and looking for beautiful stones in Co Thach. The stones, which have different shapes and sizes, appear in seven colours, including immaculate white, black, light yellow, grey brown, dark violet and cobalt blue.

Another attraction is the Hang Pagoda which is located inside the Co Thach Rock. The pagoda, about 64m above sea level, was built in the mid-19th century by Monk Bao Tang.

It was restored many times from 1956 to 1964 and was officially recognised as a national relic by the Ministry of Culture and Information in 1993. Its varied architectural style is derived from its many restorations over the years.

A three-door temple gate leads to a long path to the main hall, which is surrounded by tall blocks of marble. On the right of the gate is a statue of a sitting tiger and on the left a lying elephant. Ancestral temples, a preaching hall, and a refectory can be seen as well as a bell and drum towers.

The pagoda is adorned with solid altars made of valuable wood, on which stand dozens of Buddha statues of different sizes and ages.

Many rare relics are also kept in the pagoda’s buildings, including parallel sentences inscribed in gilded Chinese and Nom (traditional Vietnamese script) calligraphy and inlaid with mother-of-pearl, netlike panels, scrolls and other old documents.

In addition to beautiful landscapes, Co Thach’s cuisine also lures travellers. Muc mot nang (cuttlefish dried in the sun) and dom nuong (grilled clams of different colours) are among the most popular dishes with visitors.

A must-see beyond landscapes in hilly city

A must-see beyond landscapes in hilly city

Thank to cool weather all year round, the hilly resort city of Dalat in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong is often a chosen destination for many travelers, especially in the hot season of summer.

For many, Dalat seems too familiar with natural landscapes like lakes, waterfalls, houses and old villas nestled in pine tree forests. However, there are still attractions travelers should not miss once visiting the mountainous city in the summer, for their typical features.

Old Railway Station
French architects designed and built the typical railway station in 1930, which was seen as one of the most beautiful works in Indochina. The station is located some 2km from the heart of Dalat, and it is now classified as a relic of national-level architecture.

Once there, travelers can take a distinctive railway tour on an old train powered by steam. The trip will take visitors traveling from Dalat City to Trai Mat, which is located some 7km from the station. On the road, passengers will have a chance to see pine tree forests and fields of flowers and vegetables stretching along the railway.

The train travels two trips per day, depending on the number of guests. Tickets are priced from VND30,000 to VND80,000 per person.

Roller coaster in the forest
This is a thrilled game testing strong heart of gamers. It has just been installed at Datanla Waterfall which is located some 4km from Dalat City as additional entertainment services for guests' options once visiting the city.

Visitors will feel either fluttering or cheering when sliding downward to the foot of the fall, winding through old pine trees. Visitors can leisurely walk on foot, following staircase steps to the foot of the fall for sightseeing. Tickets for the game are priced from VND30,000 per person.

Lac Commune
Lac Commune is located at the foot of Langbian Mountain in Lac Duong District, some 12km from the undulating city of Dalat. It is home for some 1,000 families of ethnic minority people, and place where the French doctor Alexandre Yersin came and was welcomed by the locals with can wine and grilled meat.

Visitors can touch on the daily life of the locals by wandering to ethnic villages for seeing women weaving traditional brocades in their houses on stilts.

For sportive visitors, they can conquer the legendary mountain Langbian, which is imposingly standing some 1,500m above the sea level, from where conquerors will possibly see down there Dalat City looming in clouds in the distance.

Visitors can stay over night there for enjoying can wine and dancing with ethnic girls besides flickering flames accompanied with typical sounds of gongs.

Exploring life along Hau River

Exploring life along Hau River

Chau Doc Town is located in the southern province of An Giang on the border with Cambodia. Visitors to the town can learn about the daily activities of people who live on the river in the Mekong Delta in the Hau River, also called Bassac River, the popular entry and exit road between Cambodia and Vietnam.

For a tour of life on the river, tourists should start at the T-junction section of Hau River and Chau Doc River, where the bustle and hustle begins in the wee hours of the morning.

First stop would be the floating fruit market in a traditional sampan where hundreds of boats of all sizes gather to unload and pick up many kinds of fruits of the region in line with the season.

The best time to visit is between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. and, like other floating markets, to advertise their goods the vendors tie samples of what they sell onto tall poles so that everyone can see their goods.

The route from the market passes by a floating fishery village along the river which is made up of many fishery houses where the locals raise fish, mainly catfish. Each floating house is about 4m wide and 7m long and has an 8m deep cage under the water where from 20,000 to 150,000 fish are raised. The fish farmers and their families also live in these floating houses and have small rafts next to their houses to grow vegetables.

At the fishery houses tourists will observe a scene of hundreds of fish eating the food released by the fish farmers; the fish-food, which is a combination of fish stomach and mash, is also produced at the fishery house.

The next stop is the Cham weaving craft village on the bank of Hau River, where the young Cham ladies weave textile, embroidery and sewing products on their looms. Each day the girls in his family weave about seven pieces of cloth 1.6x2.3m in size.

The Cham people here still preserve their traditions, for example they do not eat pork, snake or tortoise and they visit their Islamic temple five times a day. The children in the village go to regular schools with other Kinh people and learn the Cham language at night at the temple

Further downstream at T-junction section is Chau Giang Ferry from Chau Doc Town to Phu Hiep, a Cham community with several mosques, especially the Mubarak Mosque which was designed by an Indian architect.

Early morning in Truc Lam Zen Monastery

Early morning in Truc Lam Zen Monastery

Millions of tourists have dropped in Truc Lam Zen Monastery when they come to Dalat. Some just want to enjoy the beauty of this pagoda, which is located on Phung Hoang Hill side above Tuyen Lam Lake and surrounded by pine wood.

Others come here to have some peace and get away from their hectic lives. Only a few people have been fortunate enough to contemplate the sunbeam streaming in the Truc Lam Zen Monastery.

Truc Lam Zen Monastery is about 7km from Dalat. Designed by Ngo Viet Thu, it was built in 1993, and inaugurated in 1995. There are three separate areas: an external monastery and two internal areas for Buddhist monks and Buddhist nuns.

This is the biggest research monastery of the sect of Vietnam's Truc Lam School of Zen, which was founded 8 centuries ago. In the pagoda grounds there is a huge bell tower with a large bell called Dai Hong Chung (great bell), 1.98m high and over 1 ton in weight, which was made by Hue artisans. A poem is carved on the bell expressing the philosophy of human life by King Tran Nhan Tong.

Inside the pagoda is a sanctum, flower garden, ornamental plants and stairs down to the orchard next to Tuyen Lam Lake.

About 50 Zen students take rums every day from 5a.m. cutting the grass, picking up garbage, cleaning the paths and such. On arriving there guests are allowed to view the sights and take photos or videos freely around the external monastery.

However, the internal monastery is different; it is just for meditation. The monks do not recite the Buddhist scriptures in Sanskrit or Han language, rather in Vietnamese, so that everybody can understand. This pagoda does not organize sumptuous sacrifices or resort to sortilege, or tell fortunes by the traditional Chinese diagrams.

Near the sanctum is a guesthouse. There are three shifts for sitting in religious ecstasy at 3:30a.m., 2:30p.m. and 7:30p.m., each lasting two hours. After the first sitting everybody gathers to clean before tourists visit the monastery. That is when the early sunbeams pour into the monastery, signaling a new day