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VGP- Viet Nam will run for a post of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) – a subsidiary of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), a Vietnamese official has said.

VN to run for World Heritage Committee seat

Deputy Director of the Heritage and Culture Department under the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Quoc Hung made the statement at the opening ceremony of the WHC’s 37th session in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh on June 16.

Viet Nam’s participation in the event provides an opportunity for the country to exchange experience and take advantage of international assistance in preserving UNESCO-recognised heritages as well as in preparing dossiers for new heritages, he noted.

According to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, it is a great honour of Cambodia as it is the fourth Asian country to host a WHC session.

He said the event offers his country a chance to introduce its abundant culture and civilisation to international friends, adding that it will contribute to promoting Cambodia’s development, especially in culture and tourism.

He affirmed that the country will work together with other nations to preserve cultural and natural heritages recognized by UNESCO.

UNESCO General Director Irina Bokova also delivered a speech at the ceremony, in which she underlined the important role of the international community in preserving world heritage sites.

The WHC session has attracted the participation of 1,300 delegates from more than 120 countries over the world.

During the event, the Committee will consider inscribing 31 new sites into UNESCO’s World Heritage list.

It will also review the conservation state of sites included on the World Heritage List and decide which properties need to be placed in the World Heritage in Danger List. In addition, it will consider international assistance requests managed by the World Heritage Fund.
The closing ceremony will take place in the temple complex of Angkor Thom in Siem Reap province.

Source: VNA  

Located in Phong Tho district, Dao San is a typical market in the northern mountain province of Lai Chau and the North-western region as a whole.

Young girls dressed in colourfully embroidered costumes

The market, held on every Sunday at the height of 1,600m above sea level, is where goods and friendly exchanges are conducted.

It is also a favourite tourist attraction for visitors from near and far to explore the distinctive lifestyle of various ethnic people in the 8 border communes of Phong Tho district.  

Nobody knows exactly when the market was formed, but it is very important to Mong, Dao and Ha Nhi ethnic people.

In this less populated area, the market day is compared to a colourful picture which is certainly worth a visit.

Let’s take a look at market activities there. 

The market offers a variety of choices for customers

Despite the scorching sun, the market remains crowded 

Children have the chance to show off new clothes

Young ethnic girls also want to boast new clothes

Buying banh duc – a kind of pastry made of rice flour

Colurful embroideries are offered at reasonable prices

The market sells daily necessities such as tomatoes, garlics and vegetables

Baskets are very popular with ethnic people in the highlands

Drinking wine 

Visitors have the chance to eat banh troi (floating cake) – a kind of marble dumplings made of white rice flour with rock sugar fillings

Going home

Source: VOV

– Phu Yen is a coastal province in the South Central Coast of Vietnam.  

This easternmost province of Vietnam is endowed with various types of seafood which prominently appear in the local restaurants’ cuisine. Among abundant specialties of the province are grilled oysters in O Loan lagoon, steamed tuna eyes in Tuy Hoa City and jellyfish salad in the locality of Nau (xu Nau).

Blood oysters in O Loan Lagoon

The O Loan Lagoon is located by the side of the Highway 1A, just below the Quan Cau pass, about 22km from Tuy Hoa City. From the top of the Quan Cau pass, you can see the ravishing sight of the lagoon, like a phoenix spreading its wings in the air. The O Loan lagoon is famous for rare kinds of birds, golden sands and casuarinas forest along the waterside. However, being an inland situated brackish lagoon, O Loan is especially well-known for blood cockles.

Photo: amthuc365

Blood cockles in the O Loan lagoon are always favoured because of their higher nutritious value than others in different regions in Vietnam. Grilled on charcoal until cockle shells open and the medium cooked cockles seep out some fluid, you just take the cockle’s inside, dip in prepared mixture of salt, pepper and lemon juice and eat with some aromatic herbs and grilled rice-paper. A sip of liquor will make the dish much more delicious. You can feel a tasty blend of greasy cockle, hot pepper, savory herbs and spice and strong odour of liquor.

Blood cockles can be boiled, steamed or grilled. Though grilling is an easy and rustic way of preparing cockles, it is the best way to enjoy them. Delicious blood cockle meat can also be used in many other dishes.

However, many tourists prefer sitting on a wherry moving around the lagoon, seeing beautiful sights and watching skillful divers catching cockles while enjoying the tastiest delicious dishes from blood cockles.

Steamed tuna eyes and jellyfish salad

Tuy Hoa City in Phu Yen Province is named the tuna capital of Vietnam because it has the largest tuna wharf in the central region and the largest number of tuna fishermen compared with other localities nationwide.

Tuna flesh, well-known for its delicacy and high nutritious value, can be cooked in different ways, such as: raw tuna slice served with mustard sauce, grilled tuna steak, fried tuna breast, tuna rice porridge and so on. Each tuna dish has its own delicacy and marked with typical cuisine of the windy city of Tuy Hoa.

Photo: monngonvietnam

However, the list of specialties of Tuy Hoa’s cuisine does not complete without a dish from steamed tuna eyes.

Tuna eyes are so exceptional compared to eyes of other genera of saltwater fish because tuna can see as far as three hundred meters. According to local people’s experience, tuna eyes have special nutritious and medical value especially for those who have poor eyesight or eye diseases.

Tuna eyes of a fist size is rinsed, marinated with onion, garlic, pepper, chilli, herbs, some salt and seasonings for about 15- 20 minutes. And then each eye is put into a small ceramic pot and steamed for half an hour. Tuna eyes permeated with spices and herbs have appealing smell, is so greasy, tasty and savoury. The dish is served with some kinds of local herbs, and is much more delicious if going with some sips of strong rice liquor.

Tuy Hoa is commonly called the locality of Nau (xu Nau). No one knows when and why the city was given that name, however “xu Nau” is considered the calling to show endearment to the city and local people. People visiting xu Nau should not pretermit jellyfish salad, a specialty that captivates the hearts of those who ever try it.

Pieces of jellyfish are mixed with local aromatic herbs, coconut meat, roasted peanuts, and fish sauce prepared with chilli, garlic and lemon juice. The salad is served with crispy grilled rice-paper. The cool sweet taste of crunchy jellyfish is blended with the savour of spices and herbs. The savoury and delicious taste remains on your tongue and in your mind for long.

Source: Source: VIR – VietNamNet

The US’s Cable News Network (CNN) recently named the two beaches in Vietnam’s Hoi An Town and Phu Quoc Island among the world’s 100 best

Phu Quoc’s Bai Dai (Long Beach) stands 93rd in the recent CNN’s list of the world’s 100 best

The network released the result based on opinions garnered from its “most well traveled friends, colleagues and cohorts” and readers, but didn’t publicize information on the number of people surveyed.

Hoi An’s An Bang Beach is ranked 86th in the list while Phu Quoc’s Bai Dai (Long Beach) stands at the 93rd position.

An Bang, situated some three kilometers east from the heart of the popular ancient town of Hoi An and boasting an almost four-kilometer coastline, makes a strong impression on CNN for its gentle waves, soft white sand and picturesque landscape.

Meanwhile, CNN said that Bai Dai, which has a 15-kilometer coastline spanning from Ganh Dau cape to Cua Can creek, reminds of some of Thailand’s beaches during the late 1980s.

On the splendid beach, which is likened by tourists to a paradise with radiant sunlight, and cool, clear sea water,   local families offer an exciting activity for holidaymakers by leasing motorcycles for US$5 per day and bungalows for $20 a night,.

Bai Dai is located in northwest Phu Quoc, which CNN said has fast become Vietnam’s best known island destination.

Seychelles’ “archetypal” Grande Anse Beach topped the list, followed by Italy’s Rabbit Beach. The others in the top five are Grace Bay (Turks and Caicos Islands), Anse Source d’Argent (Seychelles) and Anse de Grande Saline (Saint Barthélemy).

In 2008, Bai Dai was ranked first by Australia’s ABC News among the world’s top five “hidden beaches”, which mean the most gorgeous and cleanest beaches, though it remained relatively unknown to foreigners.

An Bang Beach earned the 43rd position among the world’s top 50 beaches selected by CNNGo, the channel’s travel website, two years ago. Source: Tuoitrenews

Although many provinces and cities have launched their travel stimulus programs and airlines have offered discounted airfares, prices of domestic summer tours in general are still inching up due to high demand, travel firms said.

She noted that only tours combined with discounted airfares from Vietnam Airlines are priced a little lower, while most of other tours have higher prices this summer.Cao Pham Hang, director of SPSC Tour, said that the average price of this year’s summer tours is 10-20% higher than normal days due to a hike in transport cost and room rate.

Vietnam Airlines and VietJetAir have cooperated with some travel firms to lower the prices of some domestic packaged tours. However, the number of travel firms benefiting from discounted airfares is small, and there are few air services having the fares lowered.

Therefore, in general, prices of summer tours do not change much.

Vietnam Airlines has offered discounts of 40% on five one-way air services from HCMC to Danang, Hanoi, Haiphong, Nha Trang and Phu Quoc, and four other return fares, comprising Can Tho-Hanoi, HCMC-Quy Nhon, HCMC-Rach Gia and Rach Gia-Phu Quoc.

As such, travel firms can provide promotional tours for tourists taking these routes only. In fact, only 12 travel firms based in HCMC can enjoy such low airfares.

According to Tu Quy Thanh, director of Lien Bang Travelink, many provinces and cities have announced their travel stimulus programs, but in fact the service fees have not declined much. As a result, the firm can lower the price of a couple of tours, especially ones supported by airlines.

In addition, in response to travel stimulus programs, hotels also offer a 40% discount on the quoted price, rather than discounts on the selling price. For instance, a room has a quoted price of VND1 million per night, but travel firms are often offered at VND550,000 only.

Therefore, given the promotion, the room rate with a 40% discount will be lowered to VND600,000, still higher than the tariff without promotion, making travel firms unable to reduce the tour price.

At Lien Bang Travelink, there are around 25 promotional tours while other tours have the price equivalent or 10-15% higher than the normal price.

Besides, the fees of many other services, especially car rental, also rise this summer.

According to Thanh, tours in the travel stimulus programs sell well, with promotional tours departing this month sold out. The firm is waiting for more discounted airfares for next month.Source: SGT