Ta Xua Natural Reserve

Ta Xua, a mountain reserve in Son La Province, is an off the beaten path. It is untouched by tourist commerce, thus retains hallmarks of the natural beauty. The only way to explore this region is to take a motorbike on routes, running through mountains and reserves starting from Son La to Nghia Lo.

Also, Ta Xua is home to Thai ethnic minority who ranks the third most prominent ethnic group in Vietnam. Their population accounts for 2% of Vietnamese one. Their Identities include women's garments and houses on stilt, an effective design to help inhabitants from floods and dangerous animals. 

Tam Coc Cave

As the name says, Tam Coc means three caves, the most attractive destination, in Trang An Complex, northern Vietnam. It sits 90km away from Hanoi, capital of Vietnam has become one of UNESCO's heritage sites.

It is also a place for shooting famed films such as Kong: Skull Island or Indochine that brought many job opportunities to locals and has inspired lots of tourists who want to see magnificent scenes in the films.

Tam Coc features specular canals, karst rock formation, golden rice field stretching along endless canals as is seen as an unspoiled nature.

Playing Wheels

This is one of the most stunning Instagram photos. It depicts children tossing wheels on sand dunes at sunset after a working day, helping their parents in farming. A toy is simply a used wheel.

Vietnamese Farmers Join Hands To Protect The Environment

In cope with deforestation and illegal hunting, many farmers in Hau Giang Province have formed a group to protect Luu Ngoc Hoang Nature Reserve, hailed as "the lung of the Mekong Delta in southern Vietnam. This nature reserve was established in 2002 with a hope of maintaining a natural habitat for several species of animals native to Vietnam. It spans 2800 hectares and accommodates 300 different species of plants and animals.

Seeing the reserve as their second home, they organise regular patrols across the forest to prevent illegal intruders and lumberjacks. They burn beehives to take honey which is the main income of these farmers. An owner of 20 beehives earns up to USD 1,700, a significant profit for rural life in Vietnam.

Many families, in low living condition, seek ways to make money by cutting down trees or illegal fishing. This group of farmers come up with solutions to help families in need live on farming.  

Film "The Third Wife" ceased releasing at box offices

"The Third Wife" is a painterly drama that draws cinematographic enthusiasts into a cloistered world of an 18th-century family whose is a landowner. Through the running time, viewers would experience every moment of touch, be it tolerated, happy and feared. The film starts at a remote, lovely stretch of a river-run valley, 14-year-old May gets married to the old landowner as the youngest of his three mistresses. He desires another son as two other older wives fail to give birth. Later, May is pregnant that brings to her husband happiness and hope. In the meantime, she feels her true sexuality when living closely with Xuan, the second free-spirit wife who falls in love with her husband's son and engages in secret affairs with him.

The film illustrates injustice suffered by Vietnamese women in the feudal regime and old customs such as child marriage, gender prejudice, and polygamy. It won many prestigious awards, including Best Asian Film at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. The indie movie has commercially shown in 28 countries and territories before screening in Vietnam.

After a few days of release at many national cinemas raised a controversy. Under critics' point-of-view, suggestive scenes between a 13-year-old girl and an old man are wholly against the ethics of the Orient. The release of The Third Wife has received such public criticism that producer Ngoc Tran decided to cease screening in the local country. Since she does not want to create an impact on the young actress's personal life and family. According to Ngoc, the film does not deserve to be deliberately criticised. Instead, public criticism should turn on child sexual abuse in reality. Also, shooting these scenes were undergone with the witness of the actress's parents. At the moment, there are a lot of pros and cons of a ban on this film.

Vietnamese Model Criticized for a Scanty Gown at Cann

Vietnamese Model Ngoc Trinh's appearance in the Cann Film Festival has drawn the public attention, not for her beauty but her black revealing gown that leaves little to the imagination. A 29-year-old lady is brimmed with confidence to pose in front of many cameras at the screening of a German film "A Hidden Life". The U.K. tabloid Newspaper Daily Mail said the Vietnamese star was in an ensemble that was cut so high that made us wince.

Her appearance in "the most sensitive" suit has raised social media users' criticism in the home country. A high-rank officer said Ngoc Trinh is not representative to Vietnam to participate in a famed activity as she did not star any film that was previewed. Her attendance was quite her business. However, her clothes were inappropriate for Vietnamese customs. Some said this is her intention that shows an objectional behaviour and "scandal causing" attempt, one of the tricks celebrities want to draw the public attention to her.

Tra Que Vegetable Village

Sitting near the centre of Hoi An Ancient Town, a well-known resort city in central Vietnam, Vegetable Village Tra Que used to be seen as a top can't-miss destination in South East Asia, ranked by French daily morning Le Figaro in 2015. It nests in the Cam Ha Commune, northeast of Hoi An, UNESCO's world heritage site recognized in 1999.

This small village consists of nearly 220 households and more than half of them live on farming, occupying 40 hectares, to grow organic green produce to supply Hoi An Town and neighbouring provinces. The outstanding of their vegetable features natural colours, tastes, and flavour that have spellbound gastronomic enthusiasts. The know-how of this attraction is that farmers don't use manure or chemical fertilizers but a sort of algae existed in the ground around Tra Que Village. Thus, Tra Que's vegetable is highly appreciated due to its freshness, tastiness and safety. The last attribute is a great concern of people as Vietnam now has a growing rate of cancer.

The Sxth Festival of Ao Dai (Long Dress)

The Ao Dai Festival that began with an impressive variety of colourful fabric, designs by 26 local and international designers wowed thousands of city people and enthusiasts. This festival featured many celebrities, high-rank officers, and ambassadors of events, especially, H'hen Nie's presence who sealed the top five place at the Miss Universe contest.

The procession was planned in the morning with the participation of thousands of performers and audience as well. The final round would take place in the evening of the same day on pedestrian street Nguyen Hue,  Ho Chi Minh City.

Fishing on Hon Yen Islet

This is one of the stunning collection of photographs by Lesman Tran Bao Hoa. This piece depicts the scene of fishermen pulling out fishing nets to catch anchovies, considered as a Vietnamese condiment, fish sauce.

It is not until night falls, groups of fishermen catch out fishing nets to fish anchovies. The piece of work is full of toil and moil. It ends around 9 p.m., then they come back to their village.

Hearing a tip-off of a friend, a native of this islet that it is time for canary's migration, the author of this collection came to Phu Yen Province to snapshot these impressive moments of this migration and daily life on the beach.

The photograph courtesy of VN Express

Ha Giang Province in plum and cherry seasons

Ha Giang in plum and cherry seasons is time for tourists to discover its natural beauty and get acquainted with ethnic minority people who have the hospitality. Meo people are the densest villagers in this region. They live on grow rice crops in terraced fields that is one of the iconic traits in the mountainous region.

In a wet season, people go out in fields to cultivate rice and corn in a stone plateau. Rains will help them grow fast like a weed that makes a green carpet spreading from the top to the foot of a mountain. In summer, they set aside all of the farming to date at a love market where young people meet and learn about their opposite-sex friends before making a decision on marriage. 

Discovery of a Wonderland

The trek starting from Bo Lu Village and moving up to Coc Tien Village brings a wonderful experience to explore the life that has unchanged for years. During half a day trip, you would visit some minor ethical people's villages such as Na Phai where villagers nearly live in a life of nature on high mountains. They wear traditional ethical minority clothes, grow corns and cassava on terrace fields.  

The photograph courtesy of VN Express

Ba Be Lake

 As the name says, Ba Be Lake includes three smaller lakes: Pe Lam, Pe Lu and Pe Leng and is a meeting point of three rivers such as Ta Han, Bo Lu and Leng. Ba Be Lake sits in the Ba Be National Park in northern Vietnam. In 2011, UNESCO elected Ba Be Lake as a Ramsar site or a wetland of international importance.

 
 You could discover a three-in-one lake - Ba Be by trekking, walking, and boating. 

The photograph courtesy of VN Express 

Reasons why Vietnamese food is favorite.

No topic other than food stirs up the attention of people and is a forever discussion among them. Many signature foods of countries are well-known all over the world, among those is Pho, a Vietnamese beef soup that is renowned. Why is Vietnamese food favourite? There are 10 reasons why they are popular as follows:

1 - Taste: Recipes of food are handed-down from generation to generation. In addition, they are a combination of spices such as sweet, salt, sour, bitter, pungent that makes mouth-watering at first sight and creates an enjoyable taste.

2 - Variety: There are around 3000 dishes in Vietnamese traditional food arsenals. It is interesting that each food is served with various spices and different herbs. If food is not eaten with conventional spices and vegetable, they can't bring in enjoyable taste as they do.

3 - Personalized flavours: Most of the Vietnamese food is prepared with spices and herbs to create a basic version. Additionally, eaters add fresh chillis, chilli sauces and pastes and spicy oils on the side to dial up the heat based on the user's own preference. A range of condiments such as pickled onion, daikon radish, carrot, garlic, or fresh raw garlic, salt, pepper and lemon, fresh mustard green and soybean sprouts would offer a plentiful choice for a gastronomic enthusiast.

4 - Delicious twist: Vietnam is a country that had undergone the rule of many colonials and feudal empires such as France, China, Japan and others, Thus, Vietnamese food is a supply of gastronomy coming from different countries with a little twist. For instance, Bo Ne is a version of beef steak, including beef, French fries, onion and fried eggs. Or Banh Trang Nuong (grilled rice paper) is in between a Mexican quesadilla and an Italian pizza. Better than these is that it costs a fraction as their ingredients come from the locality.

5 - Low cost: There are a lot of best and bad food around that is a tough discovery. Normally, a person spends 4 or 5 dollars per day, including $US 1 for breakfast and 3 or 4 dollars for lunch and dinner.

The photograph courtesy of Tuoi Tre Online

Crown Princess Victoria Ingrid Alice wears a conical hat.

Swedish Crown Princess Vitoria Ingrid Alice paid an official visit to Vietnam from May 6 to 8 during a state tour in Southeast Asian countries. During this stay in Hanoi, she had an opportunity to enjoy a bun bo, Vietnamese traditional food originating from the north-central province Hue. This is a kind of beef soup and rice vermicelli that is served with chilli paste, herbs, onions that make mouth-watering at the first look. She also visited an elementary school in Hanoi where she was gifted a palm-leaf conical hat by a girl student upon her arrival at the school gate. Vietnamese conical hat is an iconic item that many foreign tourists feel like to buy as a souvenir or wear during their visit to Vietnam because it contains a large brim to cover their face from the sun shining. The conical hat and long dress are Vietnamese signature identities.

The photograph courtesy of Tuoi Tre News

Tam Chuc Pagoda

Tam Chuc Pagoda is undergoing under an urgent construction to prepare for United Nation Day of Vesak 2019, which will be taking place from May 12 to 15, 2019. An international conference centre, 31 meters high, is constructed on a turquoise lake. Covering an area of around 2000 square meters, the centre has the capacity of over 2,600 visitors. The Tam Chuc complex consists of 1,000 hectares of lakes and 3,000 hectares of mountains and natural forests. 

Workers are putting finishing touches on a giant mural which will be seen in front of Tam The Shrine. Three giant bronze statues sit in the centre of Tam The Shrine. Murals are carved in volcanic rocks by Indonesian artisans to depict the legends of Buddha.

This year, the event will welcome 20,000 Vietnamese delegates and 1,650 international delegates coming from 112 countries and territories all over the world. International attendants would be professors, researchers, scholars as well as leaders of Buddhist organizations. At the opening ceremony will be partaking the President of Myanma, the Prime Minister of Nepal, the Deputy Secretary General of United Nations and ministers and high-ranking officers of other countries.

Vesak is a very meaningful event in the Buddhist calendar, which celebrates three important turning points of Buddha Siddhartha Gautama. This activity falls on the full moon day of May.   
        

The photograph courtesy of VN Express

A 134-Year-old Church on the verge of demolition

A 134-year-old church in north-central Vietnam is on the verge of demolition. Built in1885 under the French administration, Bui Chu church is one-of-the-kind heritage in the history of Catholics in Vietnam that was constructed with local materials and European baroque style of construction. It serves as a religious place of a Roman Catholic diocese in Nam Dinh Province. The reason leading to a snap decision of the demolition as the authority of the church is afraid that the degradation of this spiritual place would cause risks to prayers. The plan of reconstruction will be taking place in May.

A group of 20 architectural experts and conservationists across the country raised awareness of the preservation of this religious relics and called on the Government to cease this plan. A governmental investigation was realised and found out that the moss on the roof causes minor damage to the church while the interior designs are still good enough. They suggested using technical methods to remove this stuff. 

The photograph courtesy of Tuoi Tre News

Tourists pose with buffalo to post their instagram.

The above picture depicts a Norwegian tourist who passed by a tourist city Hoi An and stopped to pose with a buffalo and its owner in front of scenic rice paddy background. It is a trendy model that has attracted the attention of many foreign holidaymakers visiting this resort city to possess a new hit photo prop on their social media platforms.

Recently, many farmers spend their time growing paddies or raising chickens and ducks behind their houses instead, they invest their dough and time to raise and train buffalo for posing with tourists. They just raise several buffalo, clean them, train them to smile or do something quickly on demand. They also put some perfume on buffalo to make them more human. Then they spend their time resting on top of a buffalo in an open rice paddy field to hook tourists' interest. With some bucks, a tourist snaps a buffalo on his/her demand.

It is a new kind of decent business to rake in extra money. It seems to be easy but it requires investment and effort. Formers have to invest money in feeding some of these countryside creatures and learn a bit of English to communicate would-be tourists.   

The photograph courtesy of Tuoi Tre Online

Traditional Festival in tourist site Trang An

An annual festival in Trang An falls on 18th of a lunar month and draws the attention of thousands of people, including local and international tourists. Trang An complex was seen as UNESCO's world heritage site in 2014 which is crisscrossed with many fishing villages surrounded by submerged or emerged limestone hills. Trang As was once chosen for the background of the blockbuster film 'Kong: Skull Island', attracting the interest of foreign visitors who were planning to visit Vietnam.

The festival has drawn the participation of 20,000 people from every corner across the country. The fest features traditional rituals and musical performances presented by renown artists. This form of the festival has been developed to promote Trang An as a must-see spot for those planning to travel in Vietnam.

The photograph courtesy of Tuoi Tre News

Hoi An in the mulberry season

The mulberry harvesting season heralds a start of summer at the corner in Hoi An Town, a resort city in central Vietnam. The mulberry season begins the mid-November to late March. Thus tourists that come on the start of April will discover thousands of mulberry trees. In terms of food, mulberry is used not only to feed silkworm but also to make a tasty drink which includes ice and syrup, a favourite refreshment for children and women in the summer.

In terms of health, mulberry contains much protein and other nutrients to prevent ageing, cancer, liver disease and bacteria infection. With medical effects, mulberry is widely grown and commonly consumed across the country.

There used to be many orchards growing this kind of this fruit. However, due to the development of tourism in Hoian Ancient Town, the local government has cleared the land to build many tourist facilities to serve international and local tourists.     

The photograph courtesy of Thanh Nien News

Fishing on Tuyen Lam Lake

On a visit to Dalat City, a once-a-time romantic city in the highland of Vietnam, photographer Tuan, Nguyen Tan was impressive with an image of a fisherman sailing a small boat on Tuyen Lam Lake. The image is poetic as its ambience is a smoky lake on the early morning.

The piece of arts was sent to National Geographic and selected to post as a photo of the week on its magazine.

The Photograph courtesy of VN Express