It’s a nice day for tourist guide Nguyen Manh Cuong and his 11-strong group of visitors when they travelled Ha Long Bay by chartered helicopter.

Cuong, who works for a Ha Noi-based Luxury travel company, has accompanied tourists on a helicopter five times, but it’s his first journey to Ha Long Bay.

He woke up very early in the morning to pick up visitors at their hotel before driving to Gia Lam heliport 15km from the city centre and located on the outskirts of Ha Noi where the flight begins at 8.30am.

Although Cuong was acquainted with helicopter, he feels a bit nervous with the noise from the Russian-made MI-17 helicopter.

As a few weeks earlier, the guide and his group did not waste time getting in the 24-seat helicopter before reaching an altitude of 300m, where tourists can get a bird’s-eye view of the landscape of the Hong (Red) River Delta and Gulf of Tonkin.

“It’s lucky day for us because the sky was so clear that we could see everything on the ground,” Cuong recalled.

“As the tour began during July, the rice fields – which create a mixed colour of yellow and green – were very beautiful from the sky. The Red River looks like a big snake crawling through a colourful garden.”

He said passengers can look at the landscape below through helicopter’s windows, but the engine noise means it’s best not to open them.

The guide also reminded passengers that a helicopter flies slower and lower than a jet, so there is less likeliness of becoming sick when the chopper takes off or lands.

The MI-17 helicopter is quite large and comfortable as it carries 24 passengers and luggage, but it needs air-conditioning, rather than just the current fans.

“During the tour, passengers can visit the cockpit and talk with the four-member crew, but they have to speak loudly,” Cuong said.

The aerial route, which is offered by the Northern Service Flight Company, can take visitors not only to Ha Long Bay, but the other tourist sites in Sa Pa of Lao Cai Province or Dien Bien Province. However, tourists prefer Ha Long Bay because it closes to Ha Noi.

“Flying by helicopter saves tourists lots of time. Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage in Quang Ninh Province, is 165km from Ha Noi and takes nearly three-hours driving. But it’s only 45 minutes by helicopter,” said Luxury travel company’s sale manager, Nguyen Cuu Hung.

“We try to offer tourists a daytrip tour with different vehicles from car, helicopter and cruise. I can say that it’s amazing tour for travellers in Viet Nam,” he said.

The aerial route flies past Cat Ba Island, offshore of Hai Phong city, and just five minutes over Ha Long Bay.

“It’s fascinating. An overview of Ha Long Bay from helicopter is likely a painting with blue of the sea, white sand and green forest, dotting with mountains and islets,” said the guide.

“We can take photos of the bay just five minutes from the windows before the copter lands at the heliport, which was built on General Giap Hill (a hill in Ha Long city that was named of general Vo Nguyen Giap).”

As planned, tourists can take a cruise to explore caves, beaches and around the bay in four hours with a seafood lunch on board.

“We want to provide a variety of views in a day for tourists. They can explore the UNESCO World Heritage with different angles. As Ha Long Bay has been the most favourite destination in the north of Viet Nam, the tour is an option for tourists wanting another perspective on the site,” said Luxury travel company’s director Pham Ha.

Excursion

After 45 minutes, the group arrived at General Giap Hill in the centre Ha Long city and boarded on a wooden cruise boat for a four-hour excursion around hundreds of karst cliffs and caves.

The cruise is equipped kayaks to help sightseers adventure on the quiet bay and see floating aquaculture farms or beaches.

The captain anchored in the middle of two cliffs and seafood was the main course for lunch.

“Summer is always the best time visiting Ha Long as tourists can swim or have a rest on Titov beach, 14km east of Bai Chay port,” Cuong said.

After lunch the cruise returns to port before the helicopter arrives in Ha Noi at 3.15pm.

“We have only had 10 minutes flying over Ha Long Bay, but it’s an unforgettable moment to all visitors,” he said.

Cuong, says tourists should confirm their trip two days in advance because trips can be cancelled due to bad weather.

The Northern Service Flight Company has been offering 20 registered tourist routes by different helicopters such as the French-made EC-130 B4, Russian MI-17, MI-8 and the US manufactured S76C.

“We provide various services from oil and gas operations, MIA programme, rescue and aerial photographing or filming with the best and safest helicopters,” said the company’s marketing office’s Vu Thu Ha.

“For the rising tourist demand, the company also offers a bird’s-eye view of Ha Long Bay by helicopter every Saturday, provided that at least 15 passengers book their seats for the flight,” Ha said.

Luxury travel offers the Ha Long Bay tour for a group of between nine and 12 and costs over US$9,300, while the weekend package tour service is priced at $616 per passenger.

More details of the tour are available at: www.luxurytravelvietnam.com

Source: VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

Vietnam’s border provinces need to pay more attention to developing their tourism sector and bring in more tourists to the country, industry insiders say. 

Ly Mon, general director of Ha Long Tourism Joint Stock Company, told Thanh Nien many people often think that cross-border tourism is only for low-income tourists and thus not worth much attention.

However, six travel agencies in Quang Ninh Province just proved them wrong by having a successful program that brought in 296,000 tourists from China and total revenues of VND300 billion over the past three years.

Vietnam shares more than 4,550 kilometers of its land border with China, Laos and Cambodia. According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, cross-border tourists have accounted for more than 30 percent of total foreign arrivals to the country in the past few years, with arrivals from the Southeast Asian region growing rapidly.

Vu The Binh, head of the travel department at the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, said the natural resources and cultures of the country’s 25 border provinces offer great tourism potential.

“It’s the fault of the industry that the potential has not been fully tapped,” Binh said.

Luu Duc Ke, director of the Hanoitourist Company, said that during a recent trip to Lang Son, he found that the northern border province did not pay attention to developing tourism even though the sector contributed nearly 40 percent of its gross domestic product.

For example, many foreign tourists wanted to come and visit the villages where the ethnic minorities live, but the province didn’t consider such places as tourist sites, he said.

Analysts said although border provinces have tried to improve their infrastructure for tourism, the efforts have not been enough. The facilities at many border gates have deteriorated while customs procedures have not been modernized, they said.

Meanwhile, the quality of hotel, restaurant and entertainment services in many provinces has failed to cater to wealthy visitors who tend to spend a lot of money when travelling, they added.

Source: VietNamNet/Thanh Nien

Ho Chi Minh City has reported at least 10 young measles cases every day this month due to an inadequate supply of shots for the disease, doctors said. 

There were only twelve measles cases recorded in Ho Chi Minh City for all of 2008.

Tran Thi Thuy, deputy head of the Infectious Diseases Department at Children’s Hospital No.2, was quoted Friday as saying that this year’s measles rate was the highest in the past ten years.

There were 42 children being treated for measles at the hospital on Friday evening, two of them being assisted with respirators.

The disease normally occurs from February to April, but the hospital had received many emergency cases this month, said Thuy.

As of Wednesday, the hospital had admitted a total of 1,047 in-patients with measles this year, including 158 cases in the first half of this month alone.

A ten-month-old girl died of measles in the hospital last Thursday, with doctors attributing the death to late hospitalization.

Infections Diseases director Do Chau Viet said most of the children were from the city and half were under one year of age.

Viet said the Pasteur Institute in HCMC was exploring the cause of the “abnormal spread of the disease,” stating the preliminary findings showed that around 70 percent of the measles patients hospitalized were not vaccinated for the disease.

Some mothers at the hospital recalled said there was a shortage of measles vaccines more than a year ago and many babies were not vaccinated.

Children in Vietnam are given their first measles shots when they reach nine months old. They receive more shots at ages 1 and 6.

Viet added that hotter temperatures recently had prompted more children to become infected with other diseases.

This did not bode well for the future, he said, as youngsters who are sick now cannot be inoculated for measles, and would thereby become vulnerable to it in the future.

He said that sick children whose immune systems are busy fighting disease cannot receive the vaccine as the inoculation consists of a small dose of measles, which could fully affect a weak child.

Thuy added that some parents had chosen not to have theirs vaccinated as they were scared by headlines of vaccination-related deaths at children this year and last.

Measles shots are free in Vietnam as part of the National Vaccination Program.

Viet said measles is one of the planet’s most infectious diseases and parents should send their children to hospitals if they register fevers for more than 24 hours.

Parents should let their sick children eat and bathe normally while allowing them to rest in well-ventilated places, he said.

Source: VietNamNet/Thanh Nien/Tuoi Tre

In the late afternoon light, the sun is gradually sinking, reflecting off the dark clouds and the surrounding mountains. A few fluorescent lights have been switched on in the stilt houses in Luc Village, Hoa Binh Province.

Bui Thi Hanh, 34, from the village in Lac Son District, is preparing a dinner for her husband and kids and talking about her life before and after the art of traditional weaving become a profitable venture for her family.

Ten years ago, Hanh’s family struggled to make ends meet when their main source of income came from farming a 360sq.m rice paddy and another 1,000sq.m of land for other produce. There certainly was not enough money to send her two children to school.

Ever since the traditional weaving of Lac Son was revived, her family’s life along with the lives of many others in the district were greatly improved, because they were able to get good profits from selling their goods.

“Actually, our Muong ethnic group has been well-known for our weaving for more than 100 years. However, for a long time, we have only woven products for our own families. In the last ten years, this has began to change as we started trading more amongst each other and with visitors to our markets. We consequently gain much profit to improve the daily life of people in our area,” Hanh says.

Everyday, Hanh still works in the fields like most residents in her area. At night, when all of her compulsory tasks are finished, she quietly sits down on a loom to make sophisticated weavings.

“I am a farmer, so I don’t quit my farming works. Weaving is done only when I have leisure time, when everything that can be done for our fields and animals is finished or can not be done due to bad weather.” Hanh readily admits that the traditional weaving brings in more money for her family than farming does. She also confirms that each craftsman may earn at least VND1 million ($55) per month despite the relatively small amount of time spent working on her craft.

Hanh receives extra income, because she is skilled enough to make a special tool used to create patterns on woven products. Sales of this tool bring in an additional $270 per month; this is a huge sum of money for the average farming household.

The lure of extra income is causing more Muong households to start weaving products to sell. Yen Nghiep Commune, home to approximately 1,000 residents, has 300 weaving looms in operation. Luc Village is the most active unit in the commune with 200 looms and has the best reputation in the region for its products.

Like many other ethnic minority groups, the Muong people in Lac Son create beautiful works with bright, cheerful colours and sophisticated patterns. Despite commercialisation, the products still stand out for their distinct patterns, which reflect the exceptional ancient culture of the Muong people.

Symbols, images, and archetypes appearing in many Muong legends are woven into their products. On the two most often traded goods – cap vay (a belt for female’s dresses) and mat pha (a blanket cover), craftswomen express their traditional beliefs with patterns including peacocks, dragon, stag or the chu dong tree (a tree representing wealth).

A cap vay is 2m x 15cm and takes only a few hours to make, while a mat pha is 20m x 40cm and takes about five days.

Hanh and the other women in Lac Son sell the many products they create in their free time in regional markets or sell them to other provinces.

“We receive many orders every time it turns cold. In autumn, winter, and spring, especially when Lunar New Year holidays are coming, our spare time is completely dedicated to weaving, because the demand increases everyday,” Hanh says.

On regional market days, a craftswoman can expect to make between $135-550.

The craftswomen in Lac Son do not have contracts to sell their products, but sell directly to individuals or sell to clients who make bigger orders and then sell to others. There is no guarantee that their products will be bought, so there are concerns about how many products to create and the stability of the market. Muong people have no government support currently to seek out and access markets for their products.

Older craftswomen find it stimulating to pass down their experience to younger generations. “For a fresh learner, it takes one day to learn how to weave. Making co is more difficult, and may take seven working days to become skilled. In Lac Son, there are many 10-12-year-old girls making co without any mistakes. They are our pride and hope for a dazzling future of the traditional career,” Hanh shares.

Men are starting to learn the craft along with their mother, sisters and wives to help out the family economically; when a woman is busy with product orders, husbands step in and take on more of the farming responsibilities.

Traditional weaving has come to be one of the esteemed activities amongst the Muong people in Lac Son. Craftswomen, such as Bui Thi Hanh, have become well-known for their talents. Bui Thi Lan, 46, has been certified as an expert in the teaching of making co by the Vocational Training Centre of the province. Lan goes to every commune to share her knowledge and experience with others. Her endeavour is expected one day to be repaid by the strong growth of the regional handicraft.

In the eyes of Hanh, the return of traditional weaving in her community marks a milestone in her once-poor life. Now, she looks at her little family with a smile of contentment, feeling touched for the happiness that she has helped create with all her efforts.

Source: VietNamNet/VNS

A print shop owner in Hanoi has been detained after his shop was found to have produced around 20 fake university graduation certificates for VND13 million each. 

Police found that customers contacted Bui Duc Thuan via the Internet, paying him VND13 million (US$727) for a university degree certificate and VND12 million for a college or high school certificate, local newswire Vnexpress said Thursday.

Before the print shop was busted this week, police had come across several accounts selling the degrees and certificates on the Internet.

An investigation was launched and Thuan was caught last Friday on Hang Dao Street holding six fake university graduation certificates including those for Hanoi National Economics University, Hanoi University of Polytechnics and Ho Chi Minh City National Economics University, together with notarized copies of academic records.

The 25-year-old told the police that the customers would send him their photos and personal information first and they would set up a meeting, usually for the day after, to hand over the certificates.

Thuan confessed he knows the signatures and stamps of several ministries, departments and ward People’s Committees in Hanoi so he could provide other fake documents demanded by customers, police said.

Hanoi police seized more than 200 stamps with names of colleges and universities in Hanoi, HCMC and other provinces. They have confiscated all the machines used in the business that opened in September.

Thuan said he bought the stamps for VND100 million from a stranger online.

Source: VietNamNet/Thanh Nien

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Information and Communications has petitioned the Ministry of Information and Communications central to promulgate clear regulations for cable television to enable local authorities to monitor service providers.

Accordingly, granting license for the broadcasting of foreign television channels to TV stations should be in accordance with the recommendation of the local authorities.

However, the ministry should limit the number of foreign channels on the air and give priority to domestic TV channels which has influence of preserving the Vietnamese cultural characters in the community, the department advised.

Source: SGGP

“We strongly object to actions that violate Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago,” the chairman of the Hoang Sa District People’s Committee, Dang Cong Ngu, said.
 
The Hoang Sa naval monument on Ly Son Island in Quang Ngai Province, installed in July 2009. Hoang Sa District Chairman Dang Cong Ngu has objected to Chinese authorities establishing two hamlet committees on the Hoang Sa archipelago.

He was speaking to the media on November 19 in response to a decision by Chinese authorities of Hainan province to establish two hamlet committees on the archipelago.

Mr. Ngu said that “the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has assigned the authorities of Da Nang City to manage the Hoang Sa archipelago as an administrative unit of the city.”

Vietnam’s maps and historical documents, dating back centuries, indicate that Hoang Sa belongs to Vietnam, said Mr. Ngu. He added that the archipelago’s name was then Bai Cat Vang or Hoang Sa (Golden Sandbanks).

The Cay and Phu Lam Islands belong to the Hoang Sa archipelago which is administered by the People’s Committee of Da Nang City.

The People’s Committee of Hoang Sa District has collected hundreds of historical documents that confirm Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa archipelago, Mr. Ngu said.

In particular, the Hoang Sa Yearbook, which will be completed by the end of this year, will serve as a valid historical and juridical document that proves Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa archipelago, he said.

Source: VietNamNet/SGGP/VNA

The Vietnamese State encourages Italian and other foreign businesses to invest and conduct business in Vietnam, and stands ready to supply all needed assistance, said State President Nguyen Minh Triet.

Mr Triet made the statement at a reception given to visiting President Roberto Colannino of Italy’s Piaggio Group in Hanoi on November 20.

The Vietnamese State leader highlighted Piaggio’s investment project in Vietnam, emphasising that Vietnam firmly backs foreign investors in their pursuit of success, as they will contribute to Vietnam’s development process.

He proposed that Roberto Colannino continue to publicise the opportunities available in Vietnam and attract Italian businesses to seek investment in the country.

Roberto Colannino informed his host of the status of the Piaggio Group’s operations in Vietnam as well as its plan to expand its activities and its strategy to diversify products in the country in the coming time.

He said that his group is happy with the performance of its business in Vietnam and plans to increase its investment to make Piaggio Vietnam become the group’s central hub in Asia.

Both the host and guest engaged in an exchange on the two countries’ relations and prospects for future cooperation.

In his capacity as President of the Italian flag-ship airline Alitalia, Roberto Colannino affirmed his wish to cooperate with Vietnam Airlines in opening a direct air route between the two countries.

President Triet said that bilateral relations have been developing soundly, suggesting that Vietnam and Italy should promote cooperation in economics, trade, investment and cultural exchange.

He reiterated his hope that Alitalia and Vietnam Airlines will soon study the opening of a direct air route between the two countries.

Source: VNA/VOVNews

Four pharmaceutical multinationals have offered to sell swine flu vaccines to Vietnam at US$6.5-10 per dose. 

Truong Quoc Cuong, Vietnam Drug Administration Director General, said on Wednesday that his office is assessing the applications submitted by Baxter, Sanofi Pasteur, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), and Novatis.

The National Institute for Control of Vaccines and Biological Agents, will test the vaccines’ safety.

Vietnam wanted to import 500,000 doses of vaccines in addition to 1.2 million sponsored by the World Health Organization, which is expected to arrive next month, Cuong said.

Also on Wednesday Nguyen Van Kinh, director general of the Hanoi based National Institute of Tropical and Infectious Diseases, told a meeting that the number of swine flu patients in critical condition was increasing.

It is estimated that 10 percent of the 100-150 H1N1 positive patients admitted to hospitals every day are in critical condition, he said.

Since it was first detected here in May, swine flu has claimed 42 lives nationwide with a 23-year-old woman from the southern province of Binh Phuoc the latest victim, the Department of Preventive Health and Environment reported at the meeting.

Source: VietNamNet/Thanh Nien

Cooperation between border regions of Vietnam and China has helped improve living conditions for inhabitants and boost the socio-economic development of both sides, said Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem.

Mr Khiem made the remarks at a conference held in Hanoi on Nov. 20 to review the economic corridor cooperation between Hanoi, Lao Cai, Hai Phong and Quang Ninh of Vietnam and Yunnan of China.

Participants said that cooperation among these localities brought about positive and comprehensive results in various fields, particularly in trade, investment and services despite adverse impact of the global financial crisis and economic downturn.

At present, Yunnan province has 57 businesses operating in Vietnam with a total investment capital of US$115 million. Two-way trade turnover via Lao Cai-Hekou border gate was estimated at US430 million in 2009. The Chairman of Yunnan province said that Vietnamese localities have become Yunnan’s second largest trade partner.

Recently, Hanoi granted 7 Yunnan businesses licenses to set up representative offices in the city. Also, four commercial banks in Lao Cai province were allowed to provide international payment services to commercial banks in Yunnan province.

In addition, Vietnam-China border regions have effectively cooperated in other fields, such as transport, tourism, culture and education. Some key traffic routes are being developed, including the Hanoi-Lao Cai, Noi Bai-Ha Long, and Mong Duong-Mong Cai highways. A Vietnam-China bridge crossing the Red River is being built, while maritime transport of goods on the Kunming-Quang Ninh-Hai Phong route has been strengthened.

Nguyen Huu Van, Chairman of the Lao Cai provincial People’s Committee, said that once the traffic network on the economic corridor route is completed, trade and investment cooperation between Vietnam and China will be further accelerated.

In the future, border regions between the two countries will focus on trade and investment promotion, tourism development, transport investment, cultural exchange, healthcare services, epidemic prevention, agricultural development and cooperation in social issues.

Source: VietNamNet/VOV