The Vietnam Heritage 2019 award winning photo

The Vietnam Heritage Photo Contest 2019 includes topics of nature, tangible and intangible culture, environment, tourism ...

The main message of Vietnam Heritage Photo Awards 2019 aims to continue to call for the attention of the domestic and foreign communities to discover and share the value of Vietnam's natural and cultural heritage. It includes searching for artworks - stories of heritage with images which propagate and introduce nature, history and culture on Vietnam Heritage, organizing exhibitions of the best works from the contests at the centres of tourism, museums, schools, serving tourist communities and young people.

After a period of launching, the Vietnam Heritage Photo Contest received 3075 photo works among the submission of over 5000 pieces, including single and set photos of 413 authors from 54 cities and provinces across Vietnam. 

Sapa in Cherry Blossom

In the cold weather at the end of year, cherry blossom creates a striking pink among the green of tea hill, mountains and upland forests.

Around December to January, cherry and apricot trees in O Long Tea Hill, near Sapa, blossom, signaling the coming of spring. Cherry trees are planted alternatively, along a path leading to tea hills. This is also the characteristic of Sapa compared to cherry seasons in other localities such as Dalat. The pink of cherry and apricot is a highlight on the green picture of mountains and forests.

O Long Tea Hill has been known for more than one year, thanks to photos of flowering seasons shared by photographers

Green "Queen" Flower Field

About 150,000 green "Queen" Flower fields in suburban gardens in a blooming season create a landscape like the European one. In the last days of a year, these fields become a "virtual living" place where thousands of visitors come to take selfies. Flowers usually bloom in green int the morning and turn purple in the afternoon. Thus, many confuse this flower with Lavander in Europe. It takes about three months from planting to blooming. Flowering remains for two months.

The owner of the garden has set up miniatures for visitors to take photos including a house set in the middle of a purple garden and a brown wooden house, reminiscent of English or French countrysides.  

Photo of family love

 

This is one of the family love photos at the Vietnam Women's Museum. It conveys private messages about happiness, love and family sharing. Making and covering sticky rice cakes on days prior to the Lunar Year is a memory that remains in any Vietnamese, though living in or out of the country. 

The photo captures vivid, idyllic moments of warm, everyday life, moments of reunion, clearly reflecting kindness. touching love of family members. 

Hue known for a poetic place

Hue is famous as a poetic area, however, so far visitors have come to enjoy the ancient capital, music, painting, architecture and gastronomy. Where is Hue's literature located in the system of tourist products?

This place still has the footprint of Vietnam's great poets. This place, a poetic museum, showcases a gallery of works and documents of poetry in Hue. Also, this is for poets to interact with readers, performing art installation, performing poems, and organize extra-curriculum lessons for students.

Nowadays, some companies have designed 5-day tours with all kind of things: visiting mausoleum, temples, gardens and lagoons. 

Isle Nhat Tu Son

There is a special place in Phu Yen Province, named "the yellow flowers on the green grass" where you can make a way through turquoise waves to walk from the mainland to the isle, experiencing the "ocean walking" path to isle Nhat Tu Son.

This interesting floating isle in the middle of the sea is a magnificent island of Phu Yen Province, providing the pristine experiences associated with relaxation. It has a special name Nhat Tu Son as bearing the appearance of the character "first" in Chinese. It looks like handwriting drawn by nature in the middle of the blue sea.

There are 2 ways to experience the island: going around the island or to the top of it. If travelling around, you take about one hour to explore, or climb to its top takes about 45 minutes to walk all four main directions of the isle, admiring the beauty of thousands of lobster cages and fishing village.

In addition to experiencing the walking path through the sea, you also explore the island by canoe, visit the Island's Zoo and Botanical Garden, learn about the people's livelihood activities through the profession of raking and farming lobsters, prying live oysters at low tide.

Houses in clouds

 

If you visit Y Ty, a highland commune in Lao Cai Province, between September and April, especially in the early morning or late evening, Y Ty allows you touch and walk in the cloud. In these days, the temperatures drop to below 5 degrees of Celcius as clouds swoop down over valleys and villages. 

The area is known for its winding roads, tranquil valleys, magnificent terraces and small and simple stilt houses of the ethnic people. Choan Then is an old village founded over 300 years ago. Now it accommodates around 50 households of Ha Nhi ethnic minority group. 

You won't find any deluxe hotels, resorts in this region. Instead, you check out some homestays at the cost of $3, including electricity, tap water, and wifi. If homestays are run out, you may stay at the border station in Y Ty.   

My homeland Ben Tre

"My homeland Ben Tre" is one of the winning photo collection paints the panorama socio-cultural life, economic strength of Ben Tre Province, especially products from trees and coconuts, the main speciality of Ben Tre Province. The photos show the beauty of the traditional professions, festival activities as well as daily life in this land. Also, the fact is that Ben Tre people are gentle and hospitable.

Coming to this land, you may participate in a coconut festival, a cultural event honouring coconut trees, products made from this tree, and workers in coconut-related industries.

Today's Hoi An

Plentiful visitors to Hoi An Ancient Town makes it a bustling place of business, gradually losing original features of its tourist attraction. The change in owners of old houses rapidly makes Hoi An disappear the native "breath".

On the evening of 12 December 2019, Hoi An was again named by the world as the Asian Cultural Destination at the 2019 World Tourism Award Ceremony. This is the 4th title this city received. Honoured with the 'rain' title, many managers in Hoi An city have had a concern about the fragile reputation.

According to a survey, out of more than 600 ancient houses, 155 are currently used for business. To serve the business, house owners have made a profit of the most area, narrowing down a living space to make more displace of goods. Also, 115 among 470 old houses have been changed owners, even some old houses transfer from 2 to 5 owners. Business people who bought houses have a general trend, taking space for goods display. As a result, many places of worship and spaces for daily life have regularly changed or removed. 

This leads to intangible cultural values associated with monuments such as beliefs, lifestyles, cultural activities to be sunk in silence.

If you liked to check in 'miniature' Sapa

The highland district of Binh Lieu, Quang Ninh Province, is considered as a 'miniature' Sapa, where you take favourites photos. It has mountains that meander like the backbone of a dinosaur.

You may not know about a very different Quang Ninh Province that tourists rarely visit. That is the highland district of Binh Lieu border. The weather and climate in Binh Lieu is the reason for people to call it Sapa. Summer temperatures here are usually 4 - 6 degrees lower than other places, and the snow falls in winter.

As a tourist, you should know Binh Lieu is always in beautiful seasons, but late autumn and early winter are still the most beautiful occasion. When zooming around, you will the small villages on the edge of a forest faintly shrouded in mist, looming the Dao and Thai girls fluttering in the brilliant ethnic traditional dress; or golden terraced fields, fragrant with glutinous rice. Any visitors will not forget taking beautiful photos of the northwestern mountainous region.

Coffee shop in Saigon

A coffee shop with green leafy walls, two indoor and outdoor areas and the space of a bar brings relaxing feelings. It is a favourite place of Ho Chi Minh City dwellers because of the feeling of relaxation from the greenery on the wall. The first impression is the large porch with leafy walls just outside the shop.

The green wall behind the shop is installed with automatic sprinklers and misting systems, making the air here cool, even without air conditioning. Its interior style combines modern and classic features. The menu includes coffees, smoothies, juices, alcohol drink and cakes.

What tourist activities are on the Dam River!

The submerged area near Tam Ky possesses a pristine landscape dotted local dinghies. Reed area, River Da area of Tam Thang commune has a natural area of about 18 hectares, with the beauty of many trees such as reeds, sedge, lotus and water-lily.

Dam River flows smoothly between the reeds and rushes. According to historical documents, Dam Rive and reed area relic with Ky Anh Tunnel is a revolution base area of eastern Tam Ky area during years of revolution. Reeds are mostly overgrown with the water of 1.6 meters deep, so during a war, only terrain-savvy people could use anti-pole boats to go along small ways, leading reed areas.

On rainy days on Dam River, the local people catch snails from 1:30 am to 6 am in the morning, in addition to their additional income from fishing, raising ducks and growing lotus.

What do you know about Dam River in terms of tourism? Recently, fishermen of the wharf of Dam River have joined a 12-member rowing cooperative group to serve you participating in fishing activities, removing fishing nets on the river and visiting fishing villages in this area.

Miss Supranational Anntonia Porsild

 

Anntonia Porsild, a 22-year-old Thai model, surpassed 76 contestants to win the crown in the Miss Supranational final, in the morning of December 7.

Anntonia is the first beautiful Thai to be crowned Miss Supranational. She cried when hearing the result the host announced and received congratulatory hugs of Namibian contestant, who won the 1st runner-up. Anntonia received a crown from her predecessor Valeria Vazquez and a reward of $35,000.

The newly-crowned Miss Supranational has two Thai and Danish bloodlines, 1.73 meters, currently a fashion model. She used to be the top ten in the contest of Thailand's Face version. She has experienced a year of her hometown's success in international beauty contests - winning Miss International and ranking the 3rd in the competition of Miss Grand International.  

In the Q&A of the top 5, the Thai beauty answered intelligently and fluently a question about her big challenges in life. She thinks that people are not treating together well enough. She says "We do not spend time enough understanding other people's personalities and judging their appearance. If we form an opinion about a person in various aspects, the world becomes great and people will be much happier.  

Hoa Binh Lake

Hoa Binh reservoir was constructed after the building of a hydro-electric embarkment dam to prevent Song Da River to build the tank. This is one of the largest artificial pools in Vietnam, with a length of 230 km, extending from Hoa Binh Province to Son La Province.

The blue lake is surrounded by high mountains, vibrant and diverse vegetation with many large and small islands such as Ha Long on land. Hoa Binh has drawn the interest of visitors thanks to its unexploited nature and greenery. Along the lake accommodate many Muong, Tay, Thai and Dao ethnic minority people, who live on farming and growing.

Especially when you come here, you can not only enjoy the majestic and poetic beauty of nature but also experience the community-based tourism models. You can't find any hotel or resort here but enjoy a few days at stay homes of these groups. Your visit would contribute to the livelihood of these people. Also, it provides opportunities for you to learn more about traditional stilt houses with cultural practice rich in national identity and the lifestyle in this region.

Thuan Viet traditional fashion collection

Designer Thuan Viet has just launched the first-ever collection of rural fashion named 'Chiec ao Ba b
Ba" (long sleeve, buttoned-down dress). Miss Universe of Vietnam H'hen Nie participated in posing for this album.

The collection is inspired by the rustic lady's shirt, close to the Vietnamese countryside. What makes the collection stand out with this simple name is the mix of hot colours and vivid hand-drawn motifs, describing a daily life of a farmer.

The combination of velvet material makes Ba Ba shirts catch up with modern fashion. Besides, the theme Mai-Lan-Cuc-Truc embroidery and elaborate attachment are also used to refresh the image of a familiar Ba Ba shirt.

Thuan Viet fashion collection was an opening performance of Asian Kids Fashion Week 2000 that was taking place on November 21 and 22 with the participation of Miss Universe of Vietnam H'hen Nie.

This is the 3rd edition of Asian Kids Fashion Week in Ho Chi Minh City. This year, this fashion event attracts 20 collections of different designers coming from 12 countries in Asia such as Japan, Korea, China, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Myanmar and Vietnam.

The 30th Seagames in the Philippines

Miss Earth 2017 Karen Ibasco accompanied Myanmar's sports delegation

The 30 November 2019 is the opening ceremony of the 30th Seagames in the Philippines. 11 beauty queens are highlights at this event when walking with the parade of sports teams of the Southeast Asian Countries. 

This is a great effort of the Philippines to organize sports competitions among countries. The host country has built the over-$250-million New Clark City Complex for 18 months. The quality of this work completely meets the most stringent requirements, including athletic stadiums, water sports centres and athletes' villages. 

However, the 30th Seagames has faced a traffic problem. The traffic congestion is not only an obsession of the people of the host country but also sports teams of the countries. Many teams are late for their rehearsals before official competitions.

H'hen Nie clad in bà ba suit

H'hen Nie is wearing a bà ba suit ( a long sleeve, buttoned-down silk shirt), which is a fashion icon of the women in southern Vietnam. The first image of Miss Universe Vietnam clad with a country-side traditional suit surprises many people and receives a lot of appraisals of her fans.

On her personal page, she uploaded her new series of photos which is quite different from previous ones that show her fashion style at showbiz events

The photo is a hit on social media to attract the attention of viewers. Many commented the suit highlights the gracefulness and slenderness of a girl. The "long legs" appears in three rural traditional dresses with her long feminine hair.

This is one of the new designs of Thuan Viet. Nie wrote on her Facebook to thank him for bringing peaceful and simple features to the countryside fashion style. She loves these clothes because they represent the rural characteristics and simplicity of Ba Ba shirt.

These images promote Vietnamese girl's tradition suit that may sinks in silent for years.

Is it Vietnamese or Chinese traditional dress?

China's fashion brand Harbin Fashion Week released a collection of Chinese traditional dress, named 'a new innovation' in 2018, that looks like Vietnamese ao dai. Its founder Zhang Zhifeng declared his point-of-view that his collection emphasized the beauty and dignity of traditional Chinese clothing.

Accordingly, in the Spring-Summer Fashion Week 2019 in Bejing, opening on October 25, 2019, Ne Tiger has launched many fashion collections that include ao dai which has irritated the Vietnamese. It shows the reproduction of Vietnamese traditional long dress, but the firm was proud of its "creativity" of designers.

Recently, many comments on the online forum accusing the move of Ne Tiger with Vietnamese dress and national costumes, which is like a second cow's tongue plot in the field of culture and fashion.

Y Ty is home to Sapa

Have you heard of Y Ty, sitting 360 km (224 miles) north of Hanoi, Vietnam. After collecting golden rice crops, the highland community of Y Ty is the best-known tourist attraction because is covered with a sea of white clouds, a place for cloud hunting.

Choen Then is a 300-year-founded village and home to around 50 ethnic minority families who live on farming. You can't see any hotel or resort, but spend some days at some homestays where you learn more about the culture and tradition of this region.  

On these cold days, clouds swoop down over empty fields, valleys, and villages. It brings to you a feeling that you seem to walk in white clouds, enjoying magnificient scenes of mountains. 

Buu Minh Pagoda

Buu Minh Pagoda sits in the north of Pleiku. The above photo depicts the pagoda standing next to coffee plants in bloom. The plants flower two or three times in December and March, which lasts around ten days.

This is one of the photo albums by Phan Nguyen, which showcases the magnificent and scenic landscape of Gia Lai Province. Gia Lai is known for coffee, pepper, rubber and mighty waterfalls.