H'Hen Nie supports Vietnam in the 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup

The 2018 AFF Suzuki Cup has come to the semifinal that includes fours teams: the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia. On Saturday 1 December 2018, Thailand is going to fight against Malaysia and on Sunday 2 December 2018, Vietnam will play guest to the Philippines on the first leg of the semifinal.

The soccer fans of the four countries are earnestly waiting for two important matches. Vietnam is taking the lead of the group with three wins against Laos, Malaysia, and Kampuchea and a goalless draw with Myanmar. Meanwhile, the Philippines ranks the second in the other group with two victories over Singapore and Timo Leste and two draws with Indonesia and the current AFFcup champion Thailand.

The photograph courtesy of Soha Online

Epson International Pano Award

This is a piece of art by amateur professional Chin Leong Teo, Singaporean, describing two Vietnamese girls clad in ao dai (white long dress), traditional costume, carrying baskets on their shoulders. It is also one of more than 5,000 entries of the Epson International Pano Award contest, which has drawn the attention of 1,251 professionals and enthusiasts around the world. This prestigious competition is dedicated to the craft and art that showcase the panorama beauty.

Founded by Australian landscape photographer David Evans with the support of Epson Australia, the competition has developed thanks to photographic professionals and enthusiastic sponsors. In other words, it has grown on the love and passion of the art. It gives an opportunity to showcase winning pieces of art or top score entries. 

2018 award pool worth over $50,000 includes $20,000 cash.

The photograph courtesy of Tuoi Tre Online

Storm Usagi hit the mainland in Vietnam

In the early afternoon of November 25, 2018, storm Usagi weakened into the tropical depression, then into a low-temperature zone and approached the south-central and southern Vietnam, with unleashing winds at 60 to 90km per hour and gust at up to 130km an hour.

Usagi, which is considered as the ninth storm to hit Vietnam this year, has made its circulation, combined with an enhanced cold front. According to the National Center for Hydro-Meteorology Forecasting, it was anticipated to bring heavy downpours to provinces in south-central and southern Vietnam from November 25- 27.

Storm Usagi has hit Ho Chi Minh City with showers in this city. The local administration has encouraged residents to stay indoors. Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province was battered by torrential rains and strong gusts that is flooding many streets and breaking lots of trees, paralyzing the traffic system of the city. Nha Trang, Cam Ranh, and Khanh Hoa Provinces have also suffered from the same situation.

The photograph courtesy of VN Express Online

Lingerie fitting "angel" Lee Haneul

Lee Haneul recently visited Hoi An Ancient Town in Vietnam that had attracted the local media attention. Haneul along with her group took advantage of a stay at this town, exploring its beauty of the architectural building that combines features of China, Japan, and Vietnam, its authentic cuisine as well as posing for photographs to post on her social media.

Haneul is well-noted as a lingerie fitting model after grabbing the international and national attention due to the lingerie commercial. With her innocent face and graceful body that is fit to woman's underwear, nightwear apparel, and bikini, she becomes more popular in this industry. In fact, her shoot after shoot has gone viral on her Website that has hooked more fans than ever.

The photograph courtesy of VN Express Online

Savour Vietnam

This photograph is one of thousand entries for the competition "Savour Vie3tnam", which is organised by Tuoi Tre Newspaper and Saigon Tourist, Ho Chi Minh-based tourist company. This contest launched in 2017 and has lasted till 2018 that has drawn the attention of thousands of professionals and enthusiasts inbound and outbound. The total value of these awards USD 30,100.

This event inspires authors to promote to international visitors cultural identities, landscapes, and people, including more than 8,100 photos, nearly 900 articles, and at least 180 video clips that laud the culture, history, cuisine, and traditional heritage.

The photo collection of Ban Gioc Waterfall by Le Duc Thanh won the first prize, the second prize was the piece of art "Cat Ba from atop" by Le Ngoc Binh, and the third prize was "Northwestern Region in May" by Nguyen Anh Tuan.

Photograph courtesy of Tuoi Tre Online

A tour to a countryside in VIetnam

The Vietnamese in the countryside live on farming, a characteristic of an agrarian society. If you make a tour of the countryside, you would see uninterrupted green paddy fields, hear cries of farmers to call their neighbours to go to work. The iconic image of a Vietnamese farmer is a man with a conic hat following a water buffalo on rice fields. All contribute to a living picture of a rural area.

For those getting tired of hustling and bustling as in a big city, wanting to avoid skyscrapers, crowded restaurants, and air pollution, the countryside is one of their best choices. They would enjoy a life to the fullest and be surrounded by hospitable people who always give a hand to others.

Different areas have their identities in the style of life and human characteristics. For those living in the lowlands, their livelihood is to grow rice, raise livestock, and make traditional crafts. Thanks to favorable weather condition, they often have good harvest crops that help them earn much more. Thus, their lives is easy, in other words, they don't need to work hard. For those living in Central Vietnam, they suffer from a lot of natural disasters annually that makes their lives harsher. This may be a good thing that makes them diligent, hard-working. Their lives are full of difficulties in livelihood. 

The photograph courtesy of Thanh Nien Online

Sarah Tran

Sarah Tran is Vietnamese Australian has earned millions of dollars thanks to ads on Instagram. On this handle, she shares the know-how of make-up that hooks thousands of people. In addition to posts about beauty, Sarah uploads photos about travel she has made in different countries in Europe and Asia.

Recently, she and her boyfriend travelled to Vietnam, particularly in Hoi An Town, where she shared her feelings about her meeting and talking to peddlers who have lived from the old town being stricken by poverty (luckily, not destroyed by the war) to the town developed by tourism. This trip may be considered a root-finding one as her mother is Vietnamese. She also visited Tra Vinh Province in Southern Vietnam where she sailed on small channels meandering along two sides of coconut trees which brings a cool shade.  

In a post on Instagram, she wrote her feeling about Hoi An Ancient Town in terms of scenery and gastronomy. A moment of sipping Vietnamese coffee (called iced coffee in Vietnam), she felt she was dying or living her life to the fullest. This city is the most picture perfect place that she encourages everyone to come early if they want to avoid the crowd.  

The photograph courtesy of Tuoi Tre Online

Gia Rai Province

Gia Rai is one of the provinces in Middle Vietnam which is home to Jarai People. They live in slash-and-burn cultivation, that is, they cut off trees for land to grow. In their community, the village chiefs and the oldest take roles of running their community. They make a decision in any issues arisen in their village.

There is a community house called Rong where all traditional activities are organized to retain the long-standing rituals that they want to transmit to their following generations. In the matriarchy system, a girl decides to get married to a man she falls in love with. The man follows his wife to live with his wife's family and has no rights to inheritance. The wife is the main bread maker in a family.

In their custom, if the husband dies, his wife has a right to get the brother-in-law and vice versus. All dead relatives are buried in the same place. They think died people turn into the ghost. Thus, there is a grave-leaving ceremony in which they sing and dance to invite the dead to move to a new house.

The photograph courtesy of VN Express Online

Bao Loc Town

Da Lat City is known by over the world due to the mild climate and beauty of nature. Not far from this city, Bao Loc Town has also attracted tourists with its own charm. Recently, more people have come to Bao Loc Town as it hosts cool climate, endless green tea plantations, and romantic waterfalls.

Tourism has developed in this town that leads the rapid growth of homestay. Many farmers have built homestays around lakes or tree houses that hook the interest of young couples or families wanting to live near nature.

An activity that may draw the attention of tourists is to ride a bicycle around green tea fields or along waterfalls on the off-beaten track.

The photograph courtesy of Tuoi Tre Online

Rice Field

This is one of the selection of 107 pieces of art in the photography contest that was organised in 2018 by the Magazine Vietnam Heritage. The exhibition took place from November 2nd to 11in Hanoi. 

These photos describe the beauty of nature and rural life in far remote regions in Vietnam, which promote tourism. 

The image above depicts the scene of working in a rice field in the morning of the ethnic minority people who live on farming. Since the development of tourism in their area, some of their children who can speak English work as tourist guides that bring to them a considerable livelihood.    

The photograph courtesy of Tuoi Tre Online

Prenn Waterfall

Prenn Waterfall is one of the must-visit lists in a tour to Dalat City that sits at the gateway of this city. Once there was an upstream village that bears the name of Prenn. It is why this fall takes after Prenn. From a height of 9 meters, water falls down into a stream, creating a white curtain of a fairy. In 1960, there was a small-scaled zoo that included elephants, bears, pythons, monkeys, tigers, bears, deer, and etc...

The area of Prenn Waterfall used to cover pine forest and primitive trees that account for 90% of this region. Since the development of tourism, the local people have deployed it by building cable car service, suspension bridge, stilt houses and lots of means of entertainment. It is why Prenn Waterfall has now lost its beauty of nature.

However, the positive point is to bring many kinds of activities such as riding ostriches or elephants who take you through creeks, lakes or forests. For those who want to discover the history, it is an opportunity to explore a complex of temples whose kings used to rule Vietnam. 

The photograph courtesy of VN Express Online