Vietnam at 3rd place in gold medal tally at Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games

In the fourth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Incheon in South Korea, which ended on July 6, Vietnam came third with 8 gold, 7 silver, and 12 bronze medals.

In the fourth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Incheon in South Korea, which ended on July 6, Vietnam came third with 8 gold, 7 silver, and 12 bronze medals.

Of the 30 winning teams, China topped with 29 gold, 13 silver, and 10 bronze medals. South Korea followed with 21 gold, 27 silver, and 19 bronze medals.

Having set a target of nine gold medals, the Vietnamese team had managed to obtain only four gold medals till the last day of the event. However, the tide changed when Nguyen Van Su, Nguyen Thi Tuyet Mai, and Nguyen Thi Tuyet Dung, brought in three gold medals in kick boxing.
Chess also brought in a gold medal for the team. After losing to China in the semi-final round of mixed team rapid chess, the Vietnamese team with Le Quang Liem, Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son, Pham Le Thao Nguyen, and Nguyen Thi Thanh An claimed their previous debt by defeating their opponent in the mixed team blitz chess.
At 6.40pm (Seoul time) on July 6, the closing ceremony of the fourth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games took place at the Incheon Samsung World Gymnasium.

Visiting Tan Trao Historic Site to learn the August 1945 Revolution

Tan Trao, a small valley lying between mountains and jungles in Son Duong District, 40 km from Tuyen Quang Town and 200km from Hanoi, is a historical area - a resistance base before the August 1945 Revolution.

Tan Trao used to be the revolutionary base of Vietnam before the August 1945 Revolution. Today, Tan Trao is not only a historical area but is an attractive destination of Tuyen Quang for tourists in Vietnam travel as well.  

In fact, Tan Trao is a complex of Tan Trao Communal House, Hong Thai Communal House, and a small jungle which used to be living place of Uncle Ho from June to August 1945. Tan Trao used to be a base for resistance before the August 1945 Revolution. It was also place for organizing the National Assembly on August 1945. That period was bearing time of the great policies of Viet Minh as well as a temporary government which was led by President Ho Chi Minh.

At other aspect, Tan Trao is just a small pretty valley which is situated in the area between mountains and jungles in Son Duong District. It is about 40km from Tuyen Quang City and 200km from Hanoi Capital. In order to reach Tan Trao historic site, visitors only need to travel for 80km from Hanoi on National Highway 3 to arrive Thai Nguyen. Next, you continue to travel for 10km to reach Bo Dau. After that, turn left along Highway 37 and travel for more 45km to arrive Son Duong. Finally, turn right for 16km you will reach Tan Trao Historical Site.

The row of romantic bamboo on the way to Na Lua shack house

Coming to Tan Trao, visitors should pay a visit Na Lua shack house where President Ho Chi Minh presented the pledge to win national independence before the national congress.

Na Lua shack house where President Ho Chi Minh lived and worked

This is a small shack house on the mountainside of Na Lua, about 1km from Tan Lap village to the East. Here, on June 4, 1945, President Ho Chi Minh summoned Congress to strengthen the base of revolutionary and established the Liberation Army to prepare for national conference of the Vietnamese Party and Congress.

Other place you should get to is Tan Trao communal house  where on 16-17 August 1945 the National Congress adopted the decision on the general uprising to seize power across the country.

Tan Trao Communal House

In conclusion, Tan Trao Historical Site is an ideal destination for those who like to discover historic sites as well as learn more about history of Vietnam.

VIETNAMESE PRAWN AND NOODLE SALAD WITH LIME, LEMON GRASS AND GINGER DRESSING

No cooking time

Serves 4

200g (7oz) cooked king prawns ½ a cucumber, quartered, seeds removed and finely sliced 2 carrots, peeled and finely sliced 1 red onion, finely sliced 1 red chilli, seeds removed and thinly sliced 1 tbsp coriander leaves, plus 1 tbsp for garnish 1 tbsp mint leaves Finely sliced spring onions, to garnish 300g (10½oz) cooked rice noodles For the dressing: 2 stalks of lemon grass 1 tbsp fresh ginger, finely chopped 2 tbsps fish sauce 2 shallots, thinly sliced 2 cloves of garlic 3 limes, juice and rind 2 tbsps caster sugar Using a pestle and mortar or food processor, blend the lemon grass, ginger, shallots and garlic into a paste. Add the juice and rind from the limes, fish sauce and sugar, stirring well. To assemble the salad, combine the noodles, prawns, sliced cucumber, carrots, red onion, chilli, coriander, mint and dressing in a bowl. Toss everything to mix, divide the salad between four plates and top each salad with a few coriander leaves and spring onions to serve. Handy hint: Don't even try to slice vegetables with a blunt blade. This could be the moment to treat yourself to a cutting-edge knife. http://travel.org.vn/food-drink/vietnamese-food/2013/07/vietnamese-prawn-and-noodle-salad-with-lime-lemon-grass-and-ginger-dressing.html

Mau Son Mountain- An Ideal Destination for nature lovers

Mau Son Mountain is located 30km far from Lang Son City to the East at an altitude of 1.541m above sea level. The climate is mild at the average temperature of 15.60 C that is suitable for those who love relaxing.

Formerly, Mau Son is an ideal destination for vacation and holiday with many spacious and luxurious villas like in Tam Dao and Sapa. However, during the Vietnam war, many of those has been destroyed.

Mau Son Mountain

Mau Son is covered with hundreds of large and small mountains. In the summer, it is cool, and the top mountain is covered with fog in the winter…

From Hanoi, you can take bus Hanoi-Lang son at Cua Dong or Gia Lam station with 50.000 VND/ 1 passenger. Coming to Lang Son, you can rent motorcycles to visit Mau son tourist area.

Mau Son Peak is an ideal place to rest and relax after a stressful working day. The air is fresh and generous, creating a feeling of closeness and friendliness. Coming here, visitors can have an opportunity to visit ancient works from the French colonial period.

Remaining ancient works from the French colonial period on Mau Son Peak

Along the way, you can interact with Dao, Tay, Hmong, and Nung ethnic people who are burdening vegetables or bundles on their shoulders.

There are many motels in Mau Son that are equipped with full amenities at an affordable price, ranging from VND 120.000 to 200.000 for 1 double room.

Food in Mau Son is not available, you should book room and prepare food. The specialties to enjoy: grilled pork, grilled duck meat Lang Son, mountain chicken. Wild vegetable is fresh and sweet with many types: chayote, banana’s flower…On Mau Son peak, you can also buy honey, milk…

Coming here, visitors can also take a chance to relax and bath in herb pools in the night or enjoy a cup of San Tuyet tea- a kind of tea in the high mountain of Cao Loc District and Loc Binh District.

In the future, Mau Son will be developed to become a tourist are with mountain climbing, sightseeing, and recreation.

Ecstatic banana grilled grease and onion

The sweetness of bananas with the greasiness of grease and onion will make you ecstatic when enjoying on rainy days.

Grease and onion grilled banana is one of the most unique dishes and special specialty of Mekong Delta people.

How to make?

First off, you peel banana, then grilling under medium heat to avoid burning so hot that lost of banana flavor. You have to grill banana carefully to avoid burning banana.

Cut a line to separate the body into two, dab a little grease and onion to be salty and sweet.

At first, you may feel strange to this flavor, but try again, you will surely love this flavor.
http://www.vietnamtourism.org.vn/vietnam-cuisine/vietnamese-recipes/ecstatic-banana-grilled-grease-and-onion.html

ARSENAL PLAYERS WELCOMED IN VIETNAM

A plane touched down a Noi Bai International Airport runway early on July 15, bringing Arsenal FC players to Vietnam for a friendly with the national squad.

They took an express coach to travel directly to Intercontinental hotel through a VIP gate instead of going through customs clearance procedures as usual. Hundreds of Arsenal FC supporters converged on the airport on the evening of July 14 hoping to see their favourite stars. Despite changes in customs procedures, many supporters rushed to the VIP Gate, welcoming their icons and singing the FC’s traditional song. The Arsenal players, who played Indonesia one day earlier, showed their friendliness towards the Vietnamese supporters, waving their hands from the coach. The club’s managing board will have a press briefing in the afternoon, and Arsene Wenger’s players will have warm-up exercises at My Dinh Stadium on July 16. Arsenal will take on Vietnam on July 17 in a friendly during their Asia Tour. It will be a challenging game for Vietnam as Arsenal crushed Indonesia 7-0 in an earlier friendly on July 14.  A plane carrying Arsenal managers and players landed at Noi Bai International Airport at 5AM They took an express coach to travel directly to Intercontinental hotel Striker Podolsky thumbed up in response to local supporters' hospitality Coach Arsene Wenger sitting behind the driver Arsenal FC members saluting crazy Vietnamese supporters outside Vietnamese supporters sang the club's traditional song Theo Walcott and his team mates wearing traditional Vietnamese conical hats Vietnam Football Federation officials welcomed Arsenal FC representatives at the hotel

SQUID FISHING SEASON IN TRA CO, QUANG NINH

Being about 4 kilometers from Tra Co beach (Mong Cai city, Quang Ninh province), the floating city glows in the evening. Coming here, tourists can see fishermen  catch squid.

Squid fishing season in Tra Co takes place from March to June in lunar calendar. It is time for squid to move inshore to breed. In these three months, fishermen here only need to go a few nautical miles to the sea and turn on high-tension bulbs, they can catch dozens of squid each night. The price for a kilogram of squid is about 150,000-300,000 dong. Squid in Quang Ninh is considered as the best. There are many types of squid such as cuttlefish, octopus and squid. The squid hook is a circle hook attaching to a fake fish. Squid feed mainly at night and are attracted to light. That is the reason why we have to turn on the high-tension lights. Catching a squid will be more favorable during high tide on a cloudy or rainy night. These conditions give the nearshore water the depth that squid prefer plus a setting in which the artificial light will be most noticeable. Squid have a defense mechanism - dark ink. They shoot the ink at intruders who come too close. In the water it is an effective defense that creates a cloud behind which the squid makes a quick getaway. Experiencing a night offshore to fish squid with local fishermen will be very great and interesting for many tourists. Therefore, why don’t you take a trip to Tra Co beach. Absolutely, you will nerver be disappointed.

Son Tra - Kingdom of rare primate

Son Tra Nature Reserve is not only a well known ecotourism destination but also the kingdom of brown/red shanked doue langers (Pygathrix nemaeus) with the world's largest number of about 530 doue langers.

The brown/red shanked doue langer (Pygathrix nemaeus) in Son Tra Nature Reserve.

The brown/red shanked doue langer (Pygathrix nemaeus) is called as the “queen of langers” for its five characteristic colors.

Doue langer is listed in the Vietnam Red Book and classified as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

American postgraduate Jonathan said that the brown/red shanked doue langer is a rare specie that has been found in a few locations in the world.

He chose Son Tra Nature Reserve to make Ph.D. thesis research for the highest number of doue langer.

Founded in 1969, the brown/red shanked doue langer has attracted many domestic and international survey research groups and film crews.

According to researcher Nguyen Ai Tam of the Green Viet, a biological diversity center, doue langers have a habit of living in a family group, searching for food at 6 am and at 3 pm, and sleeping at 11 am.

Da Nang City’s government and the municipal forestry have many activities to protect langers’ living environment.

The People’s Committee has also approved the project on biological diversity conservation in Son Tra Nature Reserve costing VND40 billion, and ended forestry tours that badly damaged environment in the reserve.

A trip to Vietnam’s southern

Ca Mau Cape on Vietnam’s southern tip was named a global biosphere reserve in 2009. It has for long been an attraction as the country’s southernmost point, but people also say they feel vulnerable here since it feels remote and cut off from the rest of Vietnam.

To get to the cape one can take a speedboat from Nam Can Town, which is 60 kilometers from the province’s capital, also called Ca Mau. From Nam Can to the cape is a additional 60 kilometers and takes around an hour. Passengers can enjoy the thrill of zipping along on the water, breathing in the salty air, and feeling the tranquility of the global biosphere reserve. Speedboats are available for rent at around VND1.5 million (US$72) for 10 people each. Tourists can also take a boat directly from Ca Mau. Travel by road is also possible right up to the tip. The southernmost stretch of Vietnam’s southern tip in Ca Mau There is an observation station to see the tip of the cape and the ocean. The Cape Hamlet with its low roofs amid the greenery is said to be a great place for seafood delicacies. Taking photos by a large milestone marked with the cape’s name is popular among visitors. But above all else is the biosphere reserve that spreads over 371,000 hectares. Studies by the provincial Department of Science and Technology have revealed an unusually varied ecosystem in the coastal waters thanks to the collision of two currents – north-south and west-east. The reserve itself comprises of two national parks - Ca Mau Cape and U Minh Ha. The Ca Mau Cape National Park is home to 87 animal species, including the endangered long-tailed monkey and the silver langur. The U Minh Ha National Park is home to several species listed as endangered both in Vietnam and globally. It has more than 6,000 hectares of peat bog, and an alluvial area of tens of thousands of hectares created by the meeting of the two currents. Locals said that dozens of meters are being added to the cape’s length every year, meaning the mangrove forests on the west of the cape keep expanding to become the biggest in the country. There is a local saying that in the Ca Mau Cape “the land gets bigger and forests move (further).” But since last year local residents and officials have begun to worry the blessing may not last long since the opposite phenomenon has begun. They say several pieces of land in the cape designated for construction and tourism projects have just disappeared. Ly Hoang Tien, a local Party and administration official, blames it on human activity. He says the mangrove forests that form a protective barrier have been relentlessly logged. Construction works have damaged the peat and alluvial areas, exacerbating the erosion, he says. The authorities have built dykes along the coast but the construction has not been technically right, he adds.

Kristine and Geoff: Artists on the more

The formerly quiet, winding streets and narrow alleyways of Hanoi’s Old Quarter are now overrun with honking motor bikes and cars.

Crossing the street can be a terrifying rite-of-passage for tourists, and locals complain of the increased stress, exhaust fumes and noise. “The solution for the Old Quarter is to get rid of all the cars and motor bikes – allow bicycles, electric shuttles and pedestrians”, says Geoff Levitus, an Australian artist working in Hanoi. The couple cycling around Truc Bach lake in Hanoi Geoff and his French/Australian partner, Kristine McCarroll, met at an art school in Sydney in 2001. The couple have a special bond with Vietnam: they have visited the country many times, creating individual artworks and collaborating on major installations. “The first time we were here together in Hanoi was in 2005”, said Geoff. “There were no cars and very few motorbikes back then. The road traffic was slower and the air was cleaner with bicycles making up 60% of the urban transport.” Kristine & Geoff ride their bicycles everywhere in Hanoi, day or night – to markets, cafes, art galleries, friend’s homes or wherever. If they are based here for two months or more, they buy a couple of local bikes; for shorter visits, renting is a better option: either way, the couple consider this to be money well spent. “When I was a kid in France, I always had a bike,” said Kristine. “My first bike was designed to be adjusted as you grew taller. It had no gears but I rode it everywhere – I was rebellious and my bike gave me the freedom to explore and be independent.” While many Vietnamese schoolchildren still ride bicycles to school, particularly in rural areas, the bicycle is not generally seen as an appealing option for getting to university or work. Yet, as Geoff put it, “bikes are cheap, good for exercise, and provide a very easy way to get around a flat city. They don’t use any petrol and don’t contribute to pollution. “We do suffer from the pollution here in Hanoi and traffic congestion is bad – but it isn’t so dangerous because the traffic is slow. We’ve never had an accident.” Kristine said one of their bikes was stolen in just 5 seconds when they were looking at shoes at the night market in the Old Quarter in 2009. However, because it was a low-cost local bike, this wasn’t a major financial blow. Kristine and Geoff says cycling inspire them to create new artworks Back in February 2011, Kristine and Geoff were artists-in-residence at the New Space Art Foundation in Hue city. They are now working with five young artists on a collaborative installation project titled Juxtapositions at DocLab in Hanoi. “It’s always stimulating working with young artists, especially with young Vietnamese artists, and seeing their culture through their eyes”, said Kristine. Juxtapositions explores comparisons and contrasts between various aspects of culture: the eating habits of Northern and Southern Vietnam; old archival photographs and video footage of the same site; attitudes of parents and their daughters to marriage – to name just three. It will be held at Goethe after the traditional Lunar New Year 2013 (check Hanoi Grapevine for future info on exhibition dates). Kristine and Geoff’s projects are largely self-funded. Their next sojourn in Vietnam will most likely be in 2014 – unless they receive additional funding to install and open Juxtapositions in-person. They hope that the Australian cultural budget will stretch a bit more, especially since 2013 is the 40th anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic relations between Australia and Vietnam. In the meantime, after returning their two rented bicycles to a Hanoi bike shop, the artist couple will be based in Sydney for most of 2013. As for bike riding, Kristine and Geoff feel that "It is much more dangerous to ride bikes in Sydney than in Hanoi!".