Vietnam Tourism: February 2015

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

High-speed boat racing returns to Ly Son island

More than 150 boat racing fans flocked on February 20 to Ly Son island in the central province of Quang Ngai on its first day of business after closing for the New Year holiday.

According to Mr. Nguyen Son from the Management Board of Sa Ky Port, the tourist traffic to Ly Son island is expected to increase markedly over the next few days due to ongoing high speed boat races taking place on the island.

The management board has scheduled more passenger boats to meet the increased demand, Son added.

Source: VOV

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Pagoda Festival to draw massive crowds again

The Tram Gian pagoda festival, which is held at one of the oldest pagodas in Viet Nam, will begin on Sunday and conclude on Tuesday.

Tram Gian pagoda festival. - File Photo

Located in the Tien Lu Village of the Chuong My district, 20 kilometres southwest of central Ha Noi, the pagoda was constructed in 1185 during the reign of King Ly Cao Tong, and has undergone numerous rounds of reconstruction and restoration over time.

During the annual festival, worshippers gather at the pagoda to pay homage to Buddha and Saint Boi, known for having mastered Buddhism and for his many other miracles.

A palanquin procession featuring the God will open the festival, followed by a feast basket procession, which includes chung cake and giay cake made by the pagoda's monks and nuns.

The event also features many popular folk games, such as human chess, wrestling and water puppetry. A vegetarian cooking contest will be held on Tuesday.

Every year, the festival attracts thousands of worshippers.

Source: VNS

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Vietnam’s largest theme park opens for free again

Dai Nam, a theme park within an hour's drive from Ho Chi Minh City, has announced that free admission is available to all visitors from February 21 to March 19 to celebrate the new lunar year.

Tourists visiting a temple in Dai Nam Tourism Complex in Binh Duong Province. Photo: Do Truong

“We decided to open for free during the first lunar month this year for all visitors,” said its director Nguyen Van Sang.

It was the second time Dai Nam, the largest amusement park in Vietnam, offers free entry.

Located in Binh Duong Province, the 45-hectare (1,111 acre) park is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from downtown HCMC.

Last November, tens of thousands of people have thronged here after its owner Huynh Uy Dung announced it would close on November 20.

Dung said the shutdown plan was the result of a long and complicated dispute between him and the provincial government.

After the announcement, which in retrospect looks like a marketing trick, Dung began offering free entry and 50 percent discounts for Disney-like rides and attractions inside the park, including a zoo and an artificial sea.

The announcement created an immediate rush from visitors, prompting its management to extend the original free entry period from November 4-9 to until November 19.

Following the move, streets throughout Binh Duong were jammed, which forced the state government to issue an emergency instruction for the province to clear clogged streets.

Dai Nam’s management later decided to close the park on weekdays to curb traffic.

It is now open daily as usual.

Source: Thanh Nien News

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Tourists experience Mekong Delta during Tet festivities

Amid cheers from other visitors and family members of local resident Nguyen Thi Huong, Swedish tourist Bjorn Emmerik could not help but feel embarrassed while trying to wrap a piece of Banh Tet, a Vietnamese cylindrical glutinous rice cake, just three days ahead of the Lunar New Year.

The foreign tourists are captivated by their surroundings during their walk through a flower market in My Tho City. -- VNS Photo Van Dat

When he finally finished making the less-than-perfect cake with support from Huong and her children, the loud applause he received from the surrounding crowd caused him to feel proud.

"It was interesting and fun," Emmerik said, admitting that it was his first attempt at making this cake and that he was a little self-conscious.

Tourists visit local houses on the Thoi Son Islet by boat.

With his wife Marie and other tourists, Emmerik visited Huong's home on Thoi Son Islet—also known as Unicorn Islet—in Mekong Delta's Tien Giang, where she lives with her six children, while they were preparing for the Lunar New Year holidays like all other Vietnamese families nationwide.

"Before our visit, we knew that Vietnam would be celebrating the Lunar New Year, but we did not know exactly when," Marie remarked.

In his first attempt, Bjorn Emmerik helps a local family wrap a piece of Banh Tet, a Vietnamese cylindrical glutinous rice cake.

After visiting Huong's family, the couple followed their tourist group to visit another family on the same islet.

An 80-year-old man ran out to welcome the visitors from other parts of the globe. Octogenarian Duong Thanh Quang, who had displayed fruits at the altar, offered each tourist a cup of banana wine to celebrate Tet and invited them inside to eat and drink, using gestures to communicate, as he could not speak English.

The highlight of the tour, which was organised by Saigontourist, was their visit to a local family home where they were able to enjoy the traditional feast in a cosy family atmosphere. This part of their trip pleased the foreign tourists the most.

Duong Thanh Quang (middle) welcomes the foreign travellers to his home with a cup of wine, while offering them traditional Vietnamese dishes during the Tet festivities.

Foreigners who tour the country during the Tet holidays have a chance to indulge themselves in the festive atmosphere of the Mekong Delta. They get to enjoy a full-day excursion to My Tho, a peaceful town on the banks of Mekong River, 75km south of HCM City.

Before visiting local families to join their Tet celebrations, the travellers stopped by Vinh Trang Pagoda and a local flower market, where people sell and buy flowers to decorate their houses during the festival.

Source: VNS

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Vietnam’s Son Doong Cave to be seen in 360° images by NatGeo

Son Doong, the world’s largest cave, located in central Vietnam, will be featured in 360-degree images in a historic project funded by National Geographic Magazine – the leader in featuring stories about the exploration of natural and heritage sites around the world.

Inside Son Doong, the world's largest cave in central Vietnam

Although the magazine has already published a story and images of the cave, located in UNESCO-recognized Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park in Quang Binh Province, it continued to carry out the Son Doong 360 project late last month for further detailed publications.

The cave has made headlines in other famous media outlets, including national television channels from Japan, Germany, the U.S., England, Italy, and Spain, apart from NatGeo, which publishes nine million copies a month in 33 languages.

VTV, Vietnam’s national broadcaster, plans to feature a film about Son Doong this month.

The cave was first explored in 2009 by an British explorer, Howard Limbert. The cave is believed to be large enough to accommodate 40-story skyscrapers and 100-feet tall trees.

Members of the Son Doong 360 project explore the cave. Photo: Tuoi Tre

The fame of Son Doong

The cave is said to have been created two to five million years ago due to river water erosion of the limestone underneath a mountain.

It was included in eighth place in a list by The New York Times of 52 global destinations to visit in 2014.

It has been accessible to tourists since August 2013 thanks to tour programs organized by Oxalis Adventure Tours, which is the only firm authorized by local authorities.

A tour costs each traveler US$3,000, excluding air tickets, for a six-day trip to explore the cave, and the waiting list is full till 2016.

The project is expected to show exclusive 360-degree images of Son Doong on the online edition of NatGeo.

Martin Edström works in Son Doong Cave. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Son Doong 360 was initiated by Swedish journalist Martin Edström, 27, who graduated from Stockholm Unviersity in 2010 and is now working as a photographer for UNDP and the Kontinent Agency of Sweden.

“With a 360-degree project, readers will be given more chances to interact with the topics and the stories featured,” he said.

With Son Doong, many pictures of each section or corner of the cave will be taken so they can be joined later to create 360-degree images. Readers will be able to drag the mouse to see different corners.

Captions and explanations will also be displayed at the point of a mouse.

Before initiating the Son Doong 360 project, Edström implemented three other similar projects last year about the ancient city Petra in Jordan, a world cultural heritage site, and two others about the lives of Syrian migrants in Lebanon and Jordan.

Petra has existed for over 2,300 years.

“However, the first three 360 projects are nothing compared to the Son Doong 360,” Edström underlined.

Explorers of the Son Doong 360 project discuss before a trip. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Setting up Son Doong 360

The Son Doong 360 project was sponsored by National Geographic’s Global Exploration Fund, which was established in 1888 to encourage exploration and preserve nature and relics.

So far, it has funded over 10,000 projects at a total cost of $153 million. The average sum for each project is around $15,300, and it acts like ‘security’ to attract other sponsors.

Edström gathered his friends to set up a team to come to Vietnam, including his brother Fredrik and his girlfriend Katja Adolphson.

The group includes medicine students, photographers, computer game developers, and construction supervisors.

A porter accompanies explorers during their expedition to take 360° pictures of Son Doong Cave. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Their equipment for the Son Doong trip includes some 40 cameras, numerous lenses, computers, walkie-talkies, global positioning devices, and electricity generators.

All of the equipment weighs 220kg and requires a team of ten porters to carry it.

January 25, 2015 was the starting day of the Son Doong 360 project.

Toan, one of the porters, said briefly, “The cave is so fantastic. I have come here many times and discovered different beauty each trip. It’s ineffable.”

Source: Tuoi Tre News

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Monday, February 23, 2015

Godlewski's Bunting in Ha Giang Prov. : First record for Vietnam

Birding the province of Ha Giang over Tet, we decided to spend the night along the TL182. This is a fascinating area, with black karst mountains dominating, sparsely vegetated, and with small hamlets scattered between the mountains. It is not very hospitable. We parked the car on a little side road to a hamlet for the night. The next morning I took coordinates, but made a mistake with the navigation system and registered the coordinates of a different place. So the only thing I can now say was that it was close to Lung Phin.

The next morning (February 20) we checked the rocky slopes around when we woke up. Magpies are common here, Russet Sparrow and Green-backed Tit, Rusty-capped Fulvetta and Vinous-throated Parrotbill were some of the goodies. I followed a bunting that turned out to be a Little Bunting when I flushed two larger buntings that made a thin "tsii" call. When one perched on top of a rock I was very surprised to see a Rock Bunting like bunting, with chestnut belly and lower breast, grey upper breast, throat and head, with a brownish-black stripe through the eye, bordered above by a grey supercilium, a black moustachial stripe, and a chestnut crown with greyish crown stripe. Wings bars formed by light tips to median and greater coverts, chestnut rump and striped back completed the picture. Godlewski's Bunting! Although we walked quite a bit in the area, this was the only place where we saw them. There were 3-4 males present, and one of them was observed singing for a while from the top of a rock (the bunting, we were standing somewhat lower observing). I only had my iPhone with me and could not make a usable picture, although I did get a faint recording of the song.

This species is a rare sight in South-East Asia where Robson lists it as uncommon to parts of Myanmar. This would therefore appear to be the first record of the species for Vietnam.

Tom Kompier

Source : vietnambirdnews[dot]blogspot[dot]com

Sunday, February 22, 2015

HCM City to light New Year fireworks

HCM CITY (VNS) — HCM City will hold a fireworks display at eight venues on Lunar New Year's Eve. High-range firework displays will be set off at the entrance near the Sai Gon River Tunnel in District 2 and Go Vap Cultural Park in Go Vap District.

Short-range fireworks will be located in six places, including the Ethnic Culture Historical Park in District 9, Ben Duoc Martyrs Monument in Cu Chi District, Nga Ba Giong Martyrs Monument in Hoc Mon District, Lang Le – Bau Co Historical Relic in Binh Chanh District, Dam Sen Cultural Park in District 11, and the football grounds in Can Gio District.

The firework displays will last 10-15 minutes and start at midnight on Feb.19. — vns

Source : vietnamnews[dot]vn

Nghe An opens tourist info centre

NGHE AN (VNS) — The Nghe An Tourism Promotion and Information Centre has opened a tourism desk located in the arrival station at Vinh airport.

Covering an area of 18 sq.m, the tourism information desk will help provide information, consultancy to visitors and support them to seek local tourism information and nearby areas.

Nguyen Thi Huong, the centre director, said the centre would work with agencies, tourism operators and transport firms to offer visitors the best assistance and a friendly, welcoming environment. — VNS

Source : vietnamnews[dot]vn

Bookings for Tet tours increase

HA NOI (VNS) — Many travel agencies have said their domestic and international tours for the upcoming Lunar New Year Holiday are nearly fully booked. Bookings were up at least 10 per cent over last Tet.

Tour operators said customers prefer short trips to coastal destinations such as Phan Thiet, Nha Trang and other sites in central Viet Nam. Package tours to Phu Quoc Island have sold out.

As for outbound tours, trips to Japan and South Korea have been booked by more people for Tet, while there has not been significant growth in bookings for tours to Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. More families and group of guests have booked hotel rooms, restaurants and shuttle services to and from airports and hired tour guides rather than buying package tours this year. — VNS

Source : vietnamnews[dot]vn

Hai Au Aviation offers free tickets

HCM CITY (VNS) — In celebration of seaplane services in southern Viet Nam, including tailor-made charter flights and scheduled flights between Ho Chi Minh City and Phan Thiet, Hai Au Aviation is offering a special promotion with ticket fares of zero Vietnamese dong.

Customers who book round-trip flights between HCMC and Phan Thiet this month will receive a free return ticket. One-way trips from Phan Thiet to HCMC this month are offered at a 20 per cent discount.

In early 2015, Hai Au Aviation embarked on its first journey in southern Viet Nam with two charter flights, bringing international tourists from Tan Son Nhat airport in HCM City to the idyllic beach town Phan Thiet.

With a fleet of three brand-new Cessna Grand Caravan 208B-EX seaplanes based in Tan Son Nhat and Noi Bai airports, Hai Au Aviation now offers tailor-made private charter flights to more than 20 destinations in Viet Nam and Cambodia, as well as daily scheduled flights Ha Noi – Halong Bay and HCMC – Phan Thiet. — vns

Source : vietnamnews[dot]vn

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Birding Sa Pa / 14-17th Feb

Spent recently some days at Sa Pa – my 3rd trip there. Like more mountain sites in the north of Vietnam, the weather and especially fog can be a disturbing factor for visiting birders. I spent 3,5 days in the area but lost 1,5 days to rain and fog. Very frustrating when you hear birds calling around you and all you observe are shadows in the fog, sometimes few meters away! Fortunately my third day was sunny and I had a fantastic birding and photo session.

I focused on 3 places: Ham Rong Gardens, Tram Ton pass (the “Gold stream/Love waterfall” area) and the scrubby hillsides en route to the pass. All of my birding was at elevation between 1500 and 1800m. To go up higher you have to follow the trail to Mt. Fansipan peak (3143m) which is demanding logistically (for security reasons, the rangers will not allow you to enter the trail without a local guide) and time-wise. But most of the birds below the Camp 1 (2200m) can be seen in the “Gold stream/Love waterfall” area.

-Ham Rong Gardens: just a short walk out of the town. The lower parts are planted with forest-like patches of ornamental trees. Towards the top, grassy and scrubby vegetation takes over, and it is here that most interesting species can be seen.

I spotted there Daurian Redstart, Hill Prinia, Buff-throated Warbler, Brown-breasted Bulbul, Kloss's Leaf-Warbler, mixed flock of Vinous-throated and Ashy-throated Parrotbills, singing Grey Bushchat, Black-throated Sunbird, Little Bunting, Rusty-capped Fulvetta, Black-headed Greenfinch, Olive-backed Pipit, Verditer Flycatcher, Blue-winged Siva, singing Rufous-capped Babblers, singing Brownish-flanked Bush-Warblers…

Note that towards 10-11am a set of mega-loudspeakers is turned on to play pseudo-traditional music at ear-shattering volume!

-Tram Ton pass (15km from Sa Pa) - the “Gold stream/Love waterfall” area: mixed flocks up here are amazingly species-rich. But the birding is slow between flocks - on average, I encountered 1 flock ("bird-wave") every 30-45 min.

Minlas included all three species (Bar-throated, Red-tailed and Blue-winged), 2 Nuthatches (Chestnut-vented and White-tailed), 3 Tits (Yellow-cheeked, Yellow-browed and Black-throated), 2 Yuhinas (Stripe-throated, Wiskered), Ashy-throated, Chestnut-crowned and Black-faced Warblers, Great Barbet (h), a small party of Red-billed Blue-Magpies, female Red-flanked or Himalayan Bluetail, Golden Parrotbill (in the bamboo stands), Rufous-winged Fulvetta. Ground skulkers are present in good numbers with Pygmy Wren Babbler (only heard) and Grey-bellied Tesia (“crippling” views) sharing the dense undergrowth near streams. Along the Gold stream Whistling Thrush, singing Plumbeous Water Redstart, Slaty-backed Forktail.

Forest below Tram Ton pass

-Scrubby hillsides en route to the pass:

Best there were the cool Finchbill duo (Crested and Collared), Black-eared Shrike-Babbler, Spectacled Barwing, Spot-breasted Parrotbill, many singing Kloss's Leaf-Warblers, Rusty-capped Fulvetta, Green-tailed Sunbird, Black-throated Bushtit.

All in all it was a good trip, although the weather was not very cooperative. Again I missed Pale-throated Wren-Babbler, Golden Fulvetta, Black-streaked Scimitar-Babbler, White-browed Laughingthrush... I also never spotted a single Hwamei in the wild, but dozens in cage at Sa Pa town!

The cable car to the top of Mt. Fansipan will open on Vietnam’s National Day, September 2, this year. It will provide easy and quick access to the bamboo forest at 2800-3000m... but I don't think I will take it.

Vietnam seems to have this deep insecurity that its natural beauty and scenic landscapes are not enough -- they must be ‘improved’ with cable cars, touristic complexes and other recreational facilities, even in the heart of national parks… It’s a real shame.

Sebastien

Black-throated Bushtit
talifuensis race (N Myanmar, north Indochina) with rufescent crown

Vinous-throated Parrotbill

Quite easy to find at Ham Rong Gardens, in mixed flocks with Ashy-throated
Check the scrubby/grassy margins !

Vinous-throated Parrotbill - foggy atmosphere

Rusty-capped Fulvetta, with 2 Parrotbills (Ashy-throated on the left, Vinous-throated on the right!)
In Ham Rong Gardens, this skulker is common in the scrubby margins

Golden Parrotbill prefers bamboo stands

Golden Parrotbill

Green-tailed Sunbird

Kloss's Leaf-Warbler P. ogilviegranti, one of the splits of the White-tailed Leaf-Warbler complex.
I made some recordings of singers.

Kloss's Leaf-Warbler, a common year-round resident

Kloss's Leaf-Warbler, more pictures

Yellow-browed Warbler
An abundant winter visitor

Black-faced Warbler

Blue-winged Siva

Crested and Collared Finchbills

male Yellow-cheeked Tit (north indochinese race rex, blue-grey above, broad ventral stripe)

A typical component species of bird-waves in forest

female Yellow-cheeked Tit, with olive-yellow ventral stripe

Another female

Yellow-browed Tit

Wiskered Yuhina

Stripe-throated Yuhina

Rufous-winged Fulvetta

Bar-throated Minla

Grey-bellied Tesia
No playback used to lure it into view. Heard its call and found it foraging in the open along a stream, quite indifferent to my presence