Đầm Môn Peninsula - Potential Tourism Site of Khanh Hoa Province

Đầm Môn peninsula is potential tourism site of Khanh Hoa province.Đầm Môn Peninsula is beautiful with its stretching sand dunes, about 20 isles with virgin forests, and exotic creatures in the fishing village of Đầm Môn.

Location: Đầm Môn is located in Vân Phong Bay, Vạn Thạnh commune, Vạn Ninh district, Khánh Hòa province. It is about 80km north of Nha Trang City on the National Highway 1A and about 45km by the sea.

Features: Đầm Môn Peninsula is beautiful with its stretching sand dunes, about 20 isles with virgin forests, and exotic creatures in the fishing village of Đầm Môn.

Đầm Môn Peninsula

Đầm Môn Peninsula –boasting an area of 128km ²—is one of the destinations that the World Tourism Organization has conducted a survey on and is highly appreciated. The location has all the natural conditions optimal for the development of eco-tourism: the climate, coastline, forests, landscapes, ecosystem, ports and supply of marine products, etc. And the most important fact is that all of the conditions are completely and originally natural.

In June 2002, an 18.5km road was started from the foot of the mountain pass Cổ Mã to Đầm Môn, and activated the development of tourism in Vân Phong Bay. Taking the new route throughout the peninsula, visitors can see houses as half sunk in the sand, the immense white sand dunes stretching out into the distance with no traces of humans, which provides a sense  of crossing a vast desert. At the end of the dune areas is the road from Đầm Môn to Đại Lãnh. The last point of the journey is a small fishing village located in a bay, quiet and shady all year long with evergreen coconut trees. Its name is Đầm Môn. Đầm Môn has three communes: Lower Đầm Môn, Upper Đầm Môn and Xuân Đừng.

A small fishing village in Dam Mon

In this small fishing village, visitors will find people barefoot, sitting or lying on the sand anywhere. Upper Đầm Môn commune has a high sand hill, where visitors can see the whole view of the deep blue sea far away. In Xuân Đừng commune, we can find fresh water just a short distance deep into the shore ground. This area is also home to the ethnic minority community called Đàng Hạ.

 After having toured Đầm Môn commune, tourists can take a boat around 20 isles and explore their virgin forests. Or tourists can take an expedition under the water. There is an ecosystem of ​​coral reef, which are fairly typical of Vietnam. Tourist can go diving to watch the coral reefs, go swimming or boating in Vân Phong bay.

 In the evening visitors in Vietnam Tourism to Dam Mon can go squid fishing or make a campfire right on the beach.  And what can be greater than enjoying the fresh taste of sea food like grouper or big lobster from a floating cage nearby?

If tourists in Vietnam Travel have chance to visit Khanh Hoa Province,Đầm Môn Peninsula is a must-see place that should not be missed!

The Unique Clay Pagoda in Vietnam

In 1929, Mr. Kim Tong Ngo, the forth abbot of the pagoda, after one time suffering from strong illness, dreamed of Buddha. In the dream, he received the Buddha’s suggestion so he decided to remodel and renovate the pagoda by using clay to mold the worshipping statues, mascots instead of bronze casting or engraving wood.

Clay Pagoda is actually named Buu Son Pagoda. The pagoda was established by the Ngo family more than 200 years ago for their at-home mediation so it has no bonze and doesn’t receive offering money from guests. Nowadays, the pagoda is managed alternately by members of the Ngo family. 

In 1929, Mr. Kim Tong Ngo, the forth abbot of the pagoda, after one time suffering from strong illness, dreamed of Buddha. In the dream, he received the Buddha’s suggestion so he decided to remodel and renovate the pagoda by using clay to mold the worshipping statues, mascots instead of bronze casting or engraving wood.

Firstly, he gathered clay then dry it. After drying, he put clay in the mortar, making it well-kneaded; filtered to leave all sand and impurities; and then used his imagination to form different-shaped statues. All finished products made from clay were covered by paint and varnish so they looked like being made from wood.

All 1991 big and small statues in the pagoda were engraved, subtly molded by him in totally 42 years. After finishing building pagoda and decorating statues, mascots, he suffered from a strong illness and died in age 62.

Of thousands of worshipping stuff, the most special and strange one is 13-floor Da Bao Tower because it is made from clay but no being skew. Beside Da Bao Tower, there is main visiting Buddha tower. Main tower contains a lotus which includes 1.000 petals and in the middle, there stand 1.000 tiny statues of Buddha.   

Contemplating the tower and lotus, most of visitors think that those are works of professional sculptor instead of a person like Mr. Tong who has just finished the third class in the village school. Despite of not knowing anything about art, he created many statues, mascots with extremely sophisticated shapes and patterns.   

In the last years of life, Mr. Tong stopped making statues to cast the candles which are located in the main halls of the pagoda.

To cast the candles as aimed, he went to Sai Gon to buy white wax (“bạch lạp”_ a kind of pure wax), cut it into smaller parts, heat them to melting point then pour them in the pattern.

In estimation, the candles had very large size so he couldn’t find the suitable patterns. After many time thinking, he decided to use corrugated iron, rolling it to make the pattern.

To successfully finish a candle, Mr. Tong had to work persistently because the secret for keeping the candle continuously burn without being off was that when pouring wax into the pattern, he didn’t let the wax have horizontal defects. To implement this, he had to pour wax frequently both night and day during a month. After a month, when the wax was cool, it was taken out of the pattern. It took him several continuous months to make six big candles which each was 200kg heavy and two smaller ones which weighed 100kg each.

The two smaller candles have been burnt since the day Mr.Tong died, until now 39 years have passed. There is a weird thing that during 39 years, the two candles have never been off despites of any effects.

After the two smaller candles are off, a couple of big candles will be burnt next. It’s estimated that each one will light in about 70 years. So if burning one candle at a time, it takes over 400 years more to burn all.
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Exploring the pristine Nam Du Archipelago

Nam Du archipelago is located in Kien Giang with many large and small islands that appeal to lots of tourist coming to explore.

It takes you five hours to reach the Nam Du Islands, 52 miles off the coast of Rach Gia City. The archipelago has 21 islands, which can only be reached by boat and covers only 40 square kilometers. The archipelago stretches over two communes of An Son and Nam Du with a population of 10,000 people working in fishing and sea-related services. Formed from a volcano, it has numerous six-meter creeks which are advantageous for transportation. As it is endowed with high mountains, Nam Du also is suggested as a great spot for offshore fishermen to flee rough storms.

You should start the exploration with conquering Hon Lon, the largest and highest island in the center of An Son commune. When reaching to the top of island, you will have the chance to see an overview of 20 other islands in Nam Du; it is an extremely interesting feeling. Overlooking the East is An Son fishing village, the West is Bai Ngu fishing village; a distance is Hon Ngang island including house, boat close together floating on the sea. Besides, Hon Lon has a big and bright lighthouse. At night, the lighthouse is considered as the light heart of island.

Lighthouse in Nam Du

Next, you can travel to other islands: Nom Ngoai, Nom Giua, Nom Trong in the south; Dam, Hang, Moc, Tre, Nhan Island in the North. Here, there are many beautiful cliffs, created from countless rocks, formed the vivid sculptures. Besides, you should not miss Ngang Island because it is center of Nam Du commune; even you can rent rooms overnight with cheap and affordable prices. Not far from here, there are Mau, Dau islands and some peaceful fishing villages; so you will have the opportunity to feel salty taste of fish, of sea, and the friendliness of local people.

Discovering the Variety of Nha Trang Beach inside Oceanographic Museum of Vietnam

Oceanographic Museum of Vietnam has lots of colourful specimens, which describe the variety of Nha Trang Beach.it is a popular destination for both domestic and foreign tourists.

Located at the foot of the outcrop where Bao Dai Village is constructed, the Oceanographic Museum of Vietnam is an interesting aquarium in which you can gain the exact image of Nha Trang marine environment. Opened to the public on September 14th, 1922, it is a popular destination for both domestic and foreign tourists.

 
Many specimens in Oceanographic Museum of Vietnam

All kinds of fish you would find in the sea area of Khanh Hoa Provine are presented there: reef sharks, turtles, living coral, anemones, puffers, lionfish, clownfish, sea horses, and a whole array of colorful reef species, some of which can be found in no other place in the world. Each of them has a label indicating their name, origin and characteristics in Vietnamese and in English. Over its long history, this museum has been holding more than 20’000 specimens of tropical marine creatures. Apart from the real fishes, there are also rare species’ skeletons or bodies preserved in formaldehyde solution. However, kids can be most entertained to visit the big tropical turtles and crocodiles.

Nowadays, the Oceanographic Museum of Vietnam sponsors many ongoing researches and community projects whose purposes are to maintain a high standard of aquatic life in Vietnam, as well as to encourage the protection of Khanh Hoa’s specious coral reefs.

If tourists in Vietnam Travel have chance to visit Khanh Hoa Province, Oceanographic Museum of Vietnam is a must-see place that should not be missed!

Vietnam, Russia promote tourism cooperation

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam (MCST) and the Russia Federal Agency for Tourism (RFAT) inked a cooperation plan for the 2013-2015 period during Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s official visit to the Russian Federation.

Accordingly, the two sides will exchange information and experience in promoting tourism, and delegate tourism businesses to attend annual tourism exhibitions in both countries, including the Intourmarket Fair inMoscow in March and International Tourism Exhibition in Ho Chi Minh City in September.

Besides, MCST Deputy Minister Ho Anh Tuan and Head of the RFAT Alexander Radkov met to discuss measures to implement effectively the signed document. 

As planned, Vietnamese and Russian tourism businesses will gather at a forum in Moscow in September and the two countries will rotate the hosting of similar events annually.

Russia will help teach Vietnamese tour guides Russian to better serve Russian visitors during their time in the country. The two sides will support each other in promoting the tourism potential of both countries on mass media.

The number of Russian visitors to Vietnam has increased by approximately 50% annually in the past five years, reaching 176,679 visitors in 2012 and 112,000 in the first four months of this year, a 51% year-on-year rise. This helps Russia top the top ten countries with largest numbers of visitors to Vietnam.

CU LAO CAU - ISLAND PARADISE!

The typical characteristics of Cu Lao Cau island are smooth sloping sandy beach, blue seawater, endlessly hills and mountains that create charming landscape...

Binh Thuan Province is rich in human and natural potentialities that are good advantages for developing tourism and service sector. The province has the coastal line of nearly 200 km with many beautiful beaches such as Mui Ne, Ca Na, Cu Lao Cau and so on. Cu Lao Cau is a small and young island rising in the middle of the sea, located in Tuy Phong District, Binh Thuan, about 9 km away from the seashore. Tourists can spend 30 or 40 minutes to get there by boat. This island stays about 119 km away from Phan Thiet City to the Northeast. Cu Lao Cau island is characterised by rocky outcrops, with sandy beaches on the north and south sides. The highest point on the island is 27m. It covers a long distance of over 1.500m with the widest area of nearly 700m and the highest one of 7m above sea level. The entire island is surrounded by tens of thousands of cliff blocks of different colors and shapes. From the main land, it looks like a big warship. It is really interesting when having a condition to observe the whole island carefully. Around this isle, the water is always clean and blue. When the tide goes down, on the seashore we can see numerous beautiful shells and corals pleasing the tourists’eyes. Quite many kinds of sea creatures living around this island. It would be very great if tourists bring a fishing rod and some preys to fish. on the island, there is also a fresh water well, which is called a Fairy Well from an old book. Although the water amount is small, the well is the sort of permanent leaking water. Fringing coral reefs can be found around Cu Lao Cau island and platform reefs on submerged banks. The reefs are pristine, with an average cover of 43%. This site supports the highest diversity of hermatypic corals known in Vietnam. There are more than 65 genera of coral known here, including Acropora, Goniopora, Montipora, Porites, and Favia. There is also a small area of seagrass beds. Sea currents from the north and south converge near Hon Cau-Vinh Hao, with strong upwelling. The area has high productivity, with 175 phytoplankton species, 163 seaweed species, 147 coral species, 80 mollusc species, 46 crustacean species, 26 echinoderm species and 211 fish species so far recorded here. Cu Lao Cau island is one of the places that has Vietnam’s best ecological environment. With beautiful neglected beach, presently, it is has been planned to be a marine life preservation zone and an eco tourist site. The island will promisingly become an ideal ecological tourist attraction.

ATTRACTIVE AND ADVENTUROUS NHA TRANG SEA SPORTS

In the summer, Nha Trang beach is very charming. According to international sports experts, Nha Trang is the only destination in Vietnam being able to develop all types of sea sports. 

Sea sports festival is considered as “a green message” of Nha Trang sea festival, took place every two years. Waking up before the sun rises, thousands of people flock to the sea to cheer athletes on.  There are many sports here such as swimming, shaking basket boats, diving, windsurfing, jet skiing, kayaking etc. The festival has a special attraction to everybody. Many tourists in the Northern or in the Southern of Vietnam pay a visit Nha Trang just in order to try playing water sports. They can experience interesting sports like parasailing or surfing. Even if  visting Nha Trang one time, most people enjoy playing sea sports in Nha Trang. Basket boats racing Parasailing Parachuting Jet skiing

Khau Vai love market culture-tourism week opens

The 2013 Khau Vai Love Market Culture-Tourism Week will kick off on May 4 in Meo Vac district, the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang.

Khau Vai Love Market

The week, which is scheduled to last through May 6, features a wide variety of activities including a show of traditional costumes of the ethnic minorities living in the province, goat, cow and nightingale fighting festivals, a performance describing the rain worshipping ritual of the Lo Lo ethnic minority people, and an incense offering at the two temples in Khau Vai commune.

Other cultural activities and folk fames will also be held during the week such as the banh day (round cake) making contest of the Nung ethnic group and linen weaving competition of the Mong ethnic minority people.

The annual Khau Vai Love Market is opened for people from the ethnic minority groups in Ha Giang province to meet and exchange each other. It attracts a large number of both domestic and foreign visitors.