“Even though Vietnam is an emerging market for the Hong Kong tourism sector with a remarkable growth rate in the past five years, we estimate the [...]]]> Hong Kong’s tourism industry has started a promotion program to try and make a foray into the Vietnamese market by conducting a marketing strategy to attract young travelers.

“Even though Vietnam is an emerging market for the Hong Kong tourism sector with a remarkable growth rate in the past five years, we estimate the potential market will grow even more in the next 12 months,” said Patrick Kwok, sales manager of Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB).
Kwok told the Daily that HKTB is carrying out new marketing strategies with leisure tourists and young people – the two groups they are targeting. He was speaking on the sidelines of a seminar organized in HCMC last Friday with the participation of 40 Hong Kong-based and 80 local travel agencies.
This is the first time HKTB has sent tour operators to set up direct trade cooperation ties with Vietnamese partners. It will offer local travel firms and media agencies outbound tours to Hong Kong to create a connection between tour operators, airlines and recreation parks to introduce new package tours and hot promotion programs.
HKTB is expected to open its representative office in Vietnam in the near future.

Source: Saigon times

Located on the southern bank of the Cau River, Phu Lang pottery village (in Que Vo District, Bac Ninh Province) is well-known as [...]]]> Eco Travel Vietnam – With modern color, diverse forms and charming decoration and patterns which still maintain the sturdy style of traditional products, Phu Lang pottery products are exhibiting new vitality.

Located on the southern bank of the Cau River, Phu Lang pottery village (in Que Vo District, Bac Ninh Province) is well-known as northern Vietnamese pottery center. According to village elders, pottery making dates back for about eight centuries. Eel skin glaze is a trademark of Phu Lang pottery products. The typical traditional products include water jar, small coffins, bowls, plates and pots. Phu Lang pottery products used to be extremely popular, especially among farmers all over the country.
However, changes in consumer tastes and out-moded products saw the village lose its popularity. To overcome these difficulties, young people in Phu Lang Village have made enormous efforts to study and improve their products. According to Nguyen Tien Nen, the deputy chairman of the Phu Lang Commune People’s Committee, the first person who deserves credit for improving traditional pottery products is Vu Huu Nhung, a young artisan. Based on traditional eel skin glaze combined with diverse forms, Vu Huu Nhung has created attractive fine art pottery products which continue to preserve the popularity of traditional Phu Lang pottery.
After a decade, Phu Lang fine art pottery has strongly developed with many types of products, including flower vases, pot, decorative items, wine bottles and lampstands which are decorated with lotuses, landscapes, pagodas, old streets and different shapes. Apart from the domestic market, Phu Lang pottery products are becoming better known all over the world. Businesses from Japan, Australia, Republic of Korea, Canada and the US have made large orders, and every year, export revenue from 15 fine art pottery production facilities in Phu Lang village totals more than VND5 billion. The development of pottery production has led to improved living standards. In 2000, the income per capita of Phu Lang people was just VND10 million per year. This figure increases to VND15 million today.
However, according to Nguyen Tien Nen, rapid development has created difficulties in terms of the quality of human resources, challenging the sustainability of the village’s craft. At present, apart from 15 artisans who are being trained by Vu Huu Nhung, most of workers in the village can only produce basic products. They are not able to create sophisticated decoration. Workers are trained when producing at workshops, thus the quality and quantity of labor force remains limited. Some production facilities do not dare to take export orders or pass up export orders to other production facilities due to a lack of workers, thus losing opportunities to increase revenue and expand export markets. However many Phu Lang workers want professional training courses in order to continue preserving and promoting Phu Lang’s craft, and continue exporting their products all over the world.

Source: VEN

The Tay Ninh or Cao Dai Cathedral is around 5km southeastern from Tay Ninh town. This is a complex of religious works and also the Holy [...]]]> Eco Travel Vietnam – Ba Den Mount, Cao Dai Cathedral and Dau Tieng Reservoir are among the most famous tourist attractions in the southern province of Tay Ninh.

The Tay Ninh or Cao Dai Cathedral is around 5km southeastern from Tay Ninh town. This is a complex of religious works and also the Holy Land of Caodaism.

Caodaism (Dai Dao Tam Ky Pho Do or Third Great Universal Religious Amnesty) is a syncretic religion that had its beginnings in Vietnam, then part of French Indo-China, in the 1920s. Its founder, Ngo Minh Chieu (or Ngo Van Chieu), was a French civil servant and was also a mystic who was well-versed in western and eastern religions. In 1919 he began receiving revelations about the truth of religions from God (Caodai) that told him to combine the teachings of Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism, Christianity, Islam and other religions into one religion to promote peace. In 1926 he revealed his séances to the public as a new belief system. It soon became quite popular.

There are a number of important figures in the Cao Dai pantheon. The major saints are Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen, the 19th century French writer Victor Hugo and the 16th century Vietnamese poet Nguyen Binh Khiem. Lesser dignitaries who have manifested themselves in séances include notables such as Joan of Arc, Descartes, V. I. Lenin, William Shakespeare, and Winston Churchill. The organizational structure roughly follows that of the Roman Catholic Church with a pope, cardinals, bishops and priests. There are several million practitioners in (mostly southern) Vietnam and perhaps over a thousand temples, mostly in the Mekong Delta.

The Cao Dai Cathedral or the Great Temple – Holy See, is the center of the sect. It was constructed between 1933 and 1955.

The Great Temple is 140m long and 40m wide. It has 4 towers each with a different name: Tam Dai, Hiep Thien Dai, Cuu Trung Dai, and Bat Quai Dai. The interior of the temple consists of a colonnaded hall and a sanctuary. The 2 rows of columns are decorated with dragons and are coated in white, red, and blue paint. The domed ceiling is divided into 9 parts similar to a night sky full of stars and symbolizing heaven. Under the dome is a giant star-speckled blue globe on which is painted the Divine Eye, the official symbol of Caodaism.

Ma Thien Lanh

Located at Tay Ninh town less than 30 minutes drive, is covered by Big mountain (also called Lady mountain), Phung mountain and Heo mountain, Ma Thien Lanh appear as a group of toponymic place created by the Tiger cave, gold spring, stone cellar …

Start from the foot of the mountain, sitting on car you can enjoy the wonderful scenery as Da Lat because there are hillside and valley on 2 sides. Stop the car at the end of the path, visitor skirting crooked stone steps beside the poetic golden spring to step up to the Tiger cave.

However, there are many legends about the birth of this cave but whatever, this place also acknowledged the respect of local people for a mysterious belief. From above look down, tourist can easily identify the secular Bodhi tree rising up on big flat stones. From the highest peak of the highest mountain in the plain, we can spread the eye-shot observing throughout surrounding areas, with the fields look like a chessboard from above with Dau Tieng Lake as a sparkling mirror.

When passing the erect ramps, old bamboo forest, a cool steam from small cave will make us feel extremely refresh, up to the top, wavering dew looked virtual and romantic as Sapa.

In the afternoon, if anyone is still attached to the wild and tranquility of this place, please do not leave quickly and spend the night in the row of luxury guest-houses are raised in Ma Thien Lanh.
That is interesting if you catch mountain snails in person, angle mountain lizard to show your cooking skill.

Go back the path to the foot of the mountain, a modern and stature shooting area will be opened to help us to entertain with hunting. Arch road will also help visitor easily pass the other side of mountain mouth; continue the journey conquering from the eastern foot of the mountain to the top Lady shrine and group of pagodas and temples.
Source: PV. VNN

All structures of the Forbidden City, the homes of kings and royal families that [...]]]> Eco Travel Vietnam – All major monuments of Nguyen Dynasty in the former feudal capital city of Hue and its surrounding areas will be fully restored by 2020 under a plan announced by the People’s Committee of Thua Thien-Hue Province.

All structures of the Forbidden City, the homes of kings and royal families that were once off-limits to the common people, will be restored according to their original architecture and designs.

The restoration of Thai Hoa Palace, or the Palace of Heavenly Peace, where coronations and the court’s premier ceremonies took place, hallways in the Forbidden City, mausoleums dedicated to Kings Thieu Triand Dong Khanh, among others, will be completed by the end of next year.

From then until 2017, work will be carried out on the Can Chanh Palace where kings held court; the Phung Tien Palace which houses altars worshipping the Nguyen Kings; the left and right wing pavilions of Thai Hoa Palace; mausoleums of kings Gia Long and Thieu Tri; and the Tinh Tam (Peace of Mind) Lake.

The Can Thanh Palace, where kings had meals and slept, and the Khon Thai Palace, home of queens and senior concubines, and the Ngu tien van phong (King’s Office) as well as the system of walls and gates of the Forbidden City will be restored between 2017 and 2020.

Other structures outside the Forbidden City, like the Kham Thien Giam (court’s observatory and meteorological agency), Nam Giao Platform where kings worshipped Heaven, mausoleums dedicated to Tu Duc King and Nguyen Lords (ancestors of Nguyen Kings), and waterways in the feudal city will also be restored by 2020.

The plan will also give a facelift to natural landscapes around the monuments and relocate residents who have encroached into monument areas. The restoration of intangible cultural values, preservation of traditional handicrafts and training the next generation of artisans are also envisaged in the plan.

Total investment for the restoration and preservation works will exceed VND2.5 trillion (US$120 million), according to Nguyen Minh Bieu, director of the project’s managing board.

He said the project is part of a 10-year (2010-2020) conservation plan prepared by the central Government for the former feudal capital of Hue, he said.

Around 20 sub-projects have been approved so far and some of them have already begun implementation. Another 27 other sub-projects are at the formulation stage.
(Source: VNS)