Co To - blue seas and unspoiled beaches

For beachgoers looking for somewhere relatively untouched, Co To Island’s beaches in Quang Ninh Province are the perfect spot, the best destination in Vietnam. To get to Co To, take a boat ride from Cai Rong Wharf in Van Don Island District. Though the cruise can be rough, it is worth taking to see the breathtaking limestone islands sitting like sleeping dragons on the water. These islands inspired a local legend

Once upon a time, when Vietnam was invaded, the Jade Emperor sent a mother dragon with a herd of little dragons to earth help the people defend their country. When the enemy boats came towards the shore, dragons vomited thousands of pearls and gems that turned into stone islands to prevent the enemy’s approach. After defeating the invaders, the dragons did not return to heaven but stayed on earth. The place the Mother Dragon resided is now Halong Bay and the young dragons turned into the islands of Bai Tu Long Bay which contains the Co To island group. After about one and half hour on the boat, green, misty mountain ranges and white sandy beaches of Co To Island appear on the horizon. East of Van Don Island, Co To Island District comprises dozens of islands on about 46.2 square kilometers. Among them, Co To Lon, Thanh Lan and Tran are three largest and most attractive islands along with three main beautiful beaches and other smaller unnamed ones. From the Co To wharf tourists can easily see a 15 km beach lengthening to the end of the island. It’s commonly called Uncle Ho beach, the main beach of islanders and the most crowded place. A paved path winds along the edge of the sandy beach, lined with houses, shops and a market. The beach is deserted and not quite polluted by modern industrial society. It is typical with white sands and blue water as clear as crystal. On the mountain of 5 km distance from the town lays an imposing lighthouse, the highest point of the island. The pathway from mountain foot to the light house is deserted and tortuous with rough stones. From the balcony of the light house, tourists shall take an overview of spectacular green island with Co To, the farthest inhabited island from the mainland. Wildlife adventure lovers often camp here. Tourist can also spend one day to explore this pristine tiny island in a trip carried out by young islanders in the weekends. Thanh Lan Island is nearer with surrounding white sand beach. On the island, oranges are a special harvested fruit. During harvest time, the island turns a splendid orange-yellow colour. From Hanoi, tourists can travel to Van Don by bus at Luong Yen or My Dinh Bus Station every one hour from the morning to 5.30 pm. Some Popular tourists’ activities: Walking on the romantic beaches; Bathing in the blue water; Trekking, biking to explore Co To or scuba diving in the deep blue waters..... Over the past few years, Co To’s rustic beauty has attracted small groups of young tourists who are seeking adventure Vetnam tours and do not care about hotels and organized tours. Tourists to the islands can’t help but become absorbed by the fantastic, unspoilt beaches. The smooth white sand of the beaches under the shining sunlight creates a peaceful, romantic setting for tourists who would like to explore Vietnam's islands and beaches. (Vietnamtourism)

 

Eat a horse : Bac Ha Market in the north-western province of Lao Cai

If you are so hungry you could eat a horse, Bac Ha Market in the north-western province of Lao Cai is the place for you. And you have it straight from the horse's mouth.

Giang Seo Sau, a 65-year-old resident of Lao Cai's Bac Ha District, is known for his expertise in cooking thắng cố (horse meat soup).

He says the dish appeared in the area nearly 200 years ago when the H'mong people settled down in the district, and to this day, the specialty of the ethnic mountainous people is said to be the most delicious at Bac Ha.

Although the recipe itself is quite simple, experience is necessary to produce tasty thắng cố, Sau says.

He explains: After a horse is slaughtered, the meat, bones and innards are washed and cut into pieces. These are marinated in a mixture of salt, black cardamom and grilled địa điền (a spice used in north-west Vietnam) before being placed in a big pan and fried. Water is then added to the pan and simmered for several hours.

HOW TO GET THERE

- The Bac Ha Market is open every Sunday in Bac Ha District, Lao Cai Province, 354 kilometers from Hanoi. - Tourists can book a tour to the market via travel companies like Sinh Café (http://www.sinhcafe.com.vn) and Viet Sail Travel (www.vietsailtravel.com). - If tourists prefer to travel independently, they can take a train or bus from Hanoi to Lao Cai Town. From here, they can catch a bus for a two and a half hour trip to Bac Ha District.

Visitors are likely to get an enticing whiff of the thắng cố cooking as they enter the Bac Ha Market. The horse is slaughtered earlier at the homes of the soup vendors and brought for cooking to the market.

A special feature of the dish is that it is typically served in a cauldron, so customers do not have thắng cố alone. Several people sit around the cauldron and fill up their own bowl for a sumptuous meal, exchanging stories about trading, the crop, hunting and their children.

For young men and women, a turn at thethắng cố cauldron is an opportunity to socialize and even find their soul mates. Many people who have met over a bowl ofthắng cố soup have gone on to solemnize their vows.

For the men, maize wine is an indispensable accompaniment to thắng cố. In fact, there is a saying among the H'mong people in Bac Ha to the effect that those who have thắng cố without drinking maize wine from Ban Pho Commune (also in Bac Ha District) have not enjoyed the dish yet.

When the dish is had as a family, the usual accompaniment is cơm nắm(rice balls) and mèn mén (steamed maize powder).

Thắng cố is famous not only for its taste, but also for the animated and friendly atmosphere in which it is enjoyed.

The traditional dish of the H'mong people has become a cultural glue that brings people closer together.

In the old days, thắng cố was only made with horse meat, but these days it is substituted with meat of the buffalo, goat or pork. All these thắng cốvarieties are available at Bac Ha Market.

A giant thắng cố pan with a diameter of three meters weighing 1.6 tons was displayed at the Bac Ha Market on the occasion of the Bac Ha tourism and cultural week in May 2008. It was recognized as Vietnam's largest thắng cố pan. Three horses were slaughtered and cooked in the pan to serve around 1,000 visitors at the fair.

The market is open every Sunday. Various ethnic groups living in Bac Ha District and surrounding areas bring to the market many kinds of mountainous produce: tea, fruit, honey, wine, brocade, and orchids, not to mention horses, buffaloes and pigs.

The colorful brocade dresses and scarves of H'mong girls as they move about in the market are itself an attraction; and visitors can also buy brocade and handmade pictures here.

In fact, the general ambience here is not of trading, but of a hospitable, amiable place for people to meet and make friends, swap stories and have a good time. It is not surprising that this mountainous market was ranked first in the list of ten most attractive markets in Southeast Asia by Serendib Magazine's first issue in 2009.

 

CRUISE THE OLD QUARTER BY ELECTRIC BUGGY : Dinh Tien Hoang Street

Tuan and other drivers of Dong Xuan Joint-Stock Co. take tourists from Dinh Tien Hoang Street by the lake and then to nearly 30 streets in Hanoi's Old Quarter. Shops in old buildings along the way sell food, clothes and souvenirs.

 

O Quan Chuong, which is the gate vestige of the former Thang Long Palace whose central citadel has just been recognized as a world cultural heritage site, stands intact to greet newcomers in the city. Dong Xuan Market and hundreds of old buildings are historic landmarks that Tuan points out to his passengers.

The tour by electric buggy is a must-try for visitors, either during the day or in the evening. It's a no-sweat way to observe local life and smell Hanoi's food specialties sizzling on the hot coals on Ma May and other streets.

The electric vehicle runs around Guom Lake, also known as Sword Lake, before returning to the starting point on Dinh Tien Hoang Street.

Dong Xuan Joint-Stock Co. launched the electric buggy tour about one month ago to provide both foreign and Vietnamese visitors to Hanoi an eco-friendly way to explore the capital city in the run up to the extravagant celebration of the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi.

Tuan told the Daily that Dong Xuan has put a dozen electric buggies into service to transport individuals and groups around Hanoi. The first trip leaves at 8:30 a.m. and the last trip is at 10 p.m. everyday.

You can hop on the buggy at the station by Guom Lake and wait until there are seven passengers aboard for the trip, while a group of seven travelers can hire the buggy for VND105,000 (around US$5.5).

 

Children under three years old can take a free ride.

The buggy is one of the best ways to travel around the Old Quarter and Guom Lake. The Xich lo or cyclo is also a great way to experience the city from the comfort of a seat.

Many local citizens and visitors still opt for xich lo because it's inexpensive and slow enough for passengers to see everything.

 

 

STONE AGE ARTEFACTS UNEARTHED IN SON LA

The objects, unearthed by Viet Nam Archaeology Institute graduates, have been identified as being from the Palaeolithic era (around 20,000 years ago) to Neolithic (3,000-4,000 years ago). They were found at Huoi So, Tua Thang communes and Muong Lay town of Dien Bien District. 

 

They include simple tools like stone pestles, mortars, and ceramic objects. 

 

Institute Professor Nguyen Khac Su said the objects were from tribes living in connected groups along the Da River, judging from the groups of objects. 

 

From an initial social network, the so-called Son Vi culture was formed in the north of Viet Nam, he said. Son Vi culture (20,000-12,000BC) is the name given to the Upper Palaeolithic tradition of highland Viet Nam. 

 

(The Upper or late Palaeolithic era is the latest of the three periods of the Palaeolithic era, about 40,000 to 14,000 years ago, when modern human beings first appeared). 

 

Su said further study of the relics would identify special cultural features of the region as well as the process of developing prehistoric cultures in the north of Viet Nam in the context of other civilisations in Viet Nam, south China and Southeast Asia. 

 

The project of excavating and moving objects from excavation sites in the Son La Hydroelectricity Plant's reservoir has been implemented in the north-western provinces of Dien Bien, Son La and Lai Chau. Dien Bien was the first to be completed. 

 

In Saigon, Vietnam, shopping is great frenzied fun

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam — GOOD morning, Saigon: Another shopping day is breaking on the wide, tree-lined boulevards of the city's central business district. Proprietors are sweeping sidewalks, saleswomen are rearranging displays, tourists are drifting out of their hotels in search of bargains.

They won't have much trouble finding them. Hong Kong and Tokyomay be the hot spots in Asia for high-end shopping, but Ho Chi Minh City — which most people here still call Saigon — is a low-end shopper's fantasy.

With tourism flourishing, shops and boutiques are springing up and offering designer wear and artwork at a fraction of what they cost in the West. The best buys: clothing, especially custom-tailored suits ($100 to $200) and silk fashions (a woman's raw-silk jacket and skirt, $55); also ceramics, ethnic fabrics and lacquerware.

More than 30 years after the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War, the nation is on the rise. In the last decade, the economy has mushroomed, growing an average of 7.4% annually, second to China.

And leading the race is Ho Chi Minh City, bulging with more than 7 million residents in its metropolitan area and 4 million motorbikes. The commercial capital of the nation is also Vietnam's most populous city, packed with young adults who came from the countryside looking for work. They can expect to earn an average annual income of $1,800; elsewhere in the nation, it's less than $700.

Ho Chi Minh City, once called the Paris of the East, has evolved since the war, which residents call the American War. The city is noisy, crowded and lively. Shady boulevards still grace the downtown, but there's a kind of chaotic energy that's at its most frenzied level during rush hour, when the crush of motorbikes and the honking of horns is nearly overwhelming.

The city draws most of the tourists who visit Vietnam, which has meant continuing improvement in facilities. In the '90s, clean, efficient hotels were difficult to find. Now international brands are staking out prime real estate.

The Park Hyatt Saigon Hotel, which opened in July 2005, added high-end luxury downtown and joined several other mid- and upper-range hotels. Restaurants continue to develop, featuring Vietnamese or Western cuisine. Most have English-language menus.

And then there's the shopping. Low labor costs have made prices attractive to Westerners; Vietnam's burgeoning fashion industry has made the merchandise interesting.

"In the past, local designers focused on traditional styles, such as the ao dai, or long dress, and relied heavily on locally made textiles like silk and taffeta," said Luong The Phuc, editor of Heritage Fashion, the in-flight magazine for Vietnam Airlines. "Today's young designers are mixing Western and Asian styles and playing with unusual fabrics."

Many of the designer shops are on Dong Khoi, the street that originally inspired the city's nickname as the Paris of the East. Trees and colonial-era buildings flank it, along with busy boutiques and galleries.

And for bargain-basement shoppers, there's hyperactive Cholon "Big Market," in the Chinese district, where you can get almost anything at a discount. Cholon's wholesale Binh Tay Market is a colorful maze of walkways and stalls where you can find heaps of cooking utensils, produce, spices and clothing, even ducks bound for the dinner table.

At the center of the market is a small shrine where sticks of incense burn. "Sellers come here when the day isn't going well," a guide said. "They pray for better luck."  source

 

Fruit and floating markets: Life in Vietnam's Mekong Delta

Can Tho, about 100 miles southwest of Ho Chi Minh City, is the Mekong Delta's largest city. Picturesque and modern, the city is one of the region's most popular tourist destinations. But it's less touristy than Ho Chi Minh or Nha Trang, so its hotels and restaurants here are relatively inexpensive. Nice meals average $5 per person. Comfortable hotels cost about $30 a night.

Vietnam's Mekong Delta

Vietnam's Mekong Delta is a vibrant, lush landscape of increasingly modern cities amid sprawling rice fields and jungle. The Mekong River and its branches shape life in the region. People live, shop, sell and eat from and in their vessels and homes on the water.

Here, the sun rises on the Hau River. Like much of the rest of Vietnam, the day here begins at the crack of dawn when the weather is still cool.