2021 Expedition Tour in Son Doong

 

2021 Expedition Tour in Son Doong

"Son Doong 2021 expedition tour in Son Doong has attracted a number of around 1,000 visitors who register for a tour in July." said Mr. Nguyen Chau A, director of Chua Me Dat company (Oxalis Adventure) - the only agency operating Son Doong tour. He added that the tour still has about 30 vacant seats, which are being booked but have not been completed due to the lack of the information of bookers. 

In addition, from now until August, there may still be guests canceling the tour. After August, the tour will stop because of the flood season and reopen in 2022. Of the nearly 1,000 registered visitors, 95% are Vietnamese tourists, the rest are foreign visitors, currently living and working in Vietnam. Tourists are among the age of 18-29, 30-40 and over 40. 

Currently, Son Doong tour still applies the stimulus price of 58,200,000 VND. Mr. A said that the company's 2-day expedition tours this year are all between 30% and 50% full. An adventure tour of 4 days 3 nights in Son Doong cave stays at level 6 of adventure, the highest in the tours the company is managing. 

The government of Quang Binh Province permits to organise a tour of a maximum of 1,000 customers to the cave per year. To ensure safety, each tour includes a maximum of 10 tourists, with 30 waitresses, including cave experts, guides, safety assistants, chefs and porters. Tourists should be in good fitness and have experience in trekking. 

Son Doong, the world's largest cave, possesses magnificent stalactites, underground rivers and sinkholes. Especially you find a forest with green vegetation and many unique creatures. At the end of the journey, you will have conquered a 90-meter high stalactite wall, called "The Vietnam Wall". 

In 2020, the company welcome nearly 7,000 tourists to cave tours, a decrease of 50% compared to 2019. The number of Vietnamese tourists is more than 6,000 people, 3 times higher than the previous 9 years of operation when international tourists often accounted for 80% of the total number of tour visitors. 

Conic Hat

A story behind the conic hat

One of the icons of Vietnam is a conic hat. During a business trip in Indonesia, wearing a lotus leaf hat,

Ms. Lan was praised by many international friends and surprised with such unique product. "So I asked the question right away: why are the products so beautiful, but the market is still few, and the designs are not diverse yet?" - said Lan. 

 

After that, she started to study specific materials from which a conic hat is made in Hue, then looking for traditional craft villages in her hometown to connect with more artisans. When coming to the craft villages in Hue, Ms. Lan found that the products here, although they are valuable because they require effort and skills of workers, are sold at low price and need upscaling designs. Many households in Hue cannot live with traditional occupations and have to do other jobs to make a living.

 

"The craft village, therefore, less artisans are younger, only middle-aged, old people stick to their jobs. Understanding that, I tried to import many orders, cooperate with artisans to do more. products on request. After having the goods in hand, I began to transform and commercialize them, turning them into fashion products "- Ms. Lan shared. 

 

Hats, handbags, wallets are adorned by a team of tailors, art painters, and fashion stylists. Ms. Lan wishes to turn these items into trendy fashion accessories, catching trends and the quality is also more guaranteed to match the price of the user. 

 

Within less than 1 year, she had many wholesale orders for sale at home and abroad, she confided: "That is why farmers in the craft village have a long-term supply. People in Pho Trach village have a better understanding of the native products to preserve the environment to grow lotus leaves, and many people return to their traditional profession ".

 

It's an example that connect the livelihood to the environment.  

 

Long Coc Tea Hill

 

Long Coc Tea Hill

The photo depicts Long Coc tea hills in the northern province of Phu Tho, which are shrouded in mist. Long Coc, 112 kilometers from Hanoi, is known as a tourist destination that consists of numerous smaller hills covered in tea plantations. 

The most wonderful moment to selfie is before the sun rises when the mist rolls around gently in front of you. Most of inhabitants live on tea farming, an important occupation and the main source of income for local people. A tea plantation here extent to the horizon, and measures around a hectare.

 

 

Mangrove Ru Cha

 

Mangrove Ru Cha

Thousands of tea trees in the Mangrove Ru Cha are blooming bright yellow, attracting thousands of visitors. Mangrove Ru Cha nests in Thuan Hoa Village, Huong Phong Commune, Thua Thien Hue province is home to thousands of ancient trees. 

Many kinds of birds migrate to forests of more than 5 hectares during the rainy season. Populations of plants densely sprouted, with bright yellow flowers mixed with patches of green trees. This is also the place where shrimp and fish in the lagoon migrate during the breeding season. 

The Mangrove Ru Cha is about 10 km from the center of Hue City, and its free admission for sightseeing makes it a popular destination for many people. Many middle-aged women, clad with traditional ao dai (long dress), come here to take pictures as a souvenir. The scenery in the forest is also chosen by many young people to take pictures. 

Every day, people living in the neighborhood, go to the mangrove for fishing. Many also earn additional income for renting boats. 

"Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot" Collection

Children's Ao Dai Fashion 

As Ao Dai designer for 20 years, for the first time, designer Lien Huong launches a collection of children's ao dai. The collection consists of 10 shirts with three main colors: blue, yellow and red with lovely and playful drawings typical of Mid-Autumn Festival such as "star-shaped lanterns and carp-shaped lanterns", "swan-shaped lantern and butterfly-lantern lantern " 

In addition to the traditional images, there are also images of modern times children such as images of rabbits, pigs, stars or planets of the solar system ... put on delicate and skillful dress. All the lovely drawings printed on the ao dai of the soft, cool silk are made by the creative designer of Lien Huong

Ms. Trisha Vo, a creative director of the company, shared about the special reason for Lien Huong Ao Dai about this Ao Dai collection for the first time: "I nurtured a plan to carry out a children's collection three years ago, but I haven't found any inspiration yet. Until recently, when my son came back to tell my mother, designer Lien Huong that our school will be holding a Mid-Autumn Festival and you are preparing unique costumes to attend the festival. 

And so we got to work, from sketching the first line to finishing in three weeks. Designer Lien Huong also shared about the collection name: "Mid-Autumn Festival does not take place in a day or a session. The mid-autumn festival is a series of days; starting from the beginning of the eighth lunar month, the children in the village gathered to make lanterns and play games together. In order to know which team wins or loses, children often play 'rock, paper, scissors, shoot game'."

As such, designer Lien Huong named the collection 'Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot".

Mu Cang Chai in the Morning

 

 

 

Mu Cang Chai is a mountainous region with many famous terraced fields. Depending on the time of year, the rice fields have different tones of colors. It is about 280 km from Hanoi.  

 

The most beautiful places to see rice in Mu Cang Chai are: Three communes of La Pan Tan, Che Cu Nha and Di Xu Phinh. In Yen Bai, you can combine your journey to explore Mu Cang Chai and Tu Le.

Rice Fields in Y Ty

 

A Rice Field in Y Ty, Lao Cai Province

Y Ty belongs to Bat Xat District, nested at an altitude of nearly 2,000 meters above sea level, and is covered with frost all year round. When the rice is ripe, this land has a impressive beauty that has spellbound tourists and professional photographers.  

The road to Y Ty is more difficult than Sa Pa. Some places are recommended to you to watch the rice field in Den Sang valley.

Nghe Tinh

 

In the days before the Lunar New Year, the village in the western part of Nghe An Province was filled with the white color of plum blossoms. 

The photo describes the daily life of the Mong people in Muong Luong Commune. Muong Luong has an altitude of 1,500 m above sea level, this place is considered as "the heaven gate" of Nghe An, 300 km from Vinh city. 

In winter, the temperature here is lower than the plain. This place becomes the destination of many people to visit and admire the beauty of nature. Plum blossoms take place in many places, lasting through the Lunar New Year. When these flowers fall, the fruit develops. Vegetable garden planted by villagers right under the plum tree adds more beauty.

Spring in Y Ty

 

 

 

Around January 10, the first snowflakes fell in the highlands of Y Ty. The cold air continued to strengthen, and at Y Ty the temperature dropped below 0 degrees Celsius. This was the first time in the winter-spring 2020-2021, there was snow. under the influence of a long cold air wave. 

 

If you come to take photo, check-in from the weekend. Villages of Y Ty such as Mo Phu Chai (photo), Phin Ho, Trung Chai, Phan Can Su are places where significant snow falls on the night. A girl from the Ha Nhi ethnic group is fascinated by the white snow scene. Snow formed thick layers, covering the grass and branches on the ground. 

 

As noted by local people, snow is about 3 cm thick. By 10am on January 11, the snow stopped falling. Tourists enjoy covering the roadside snowman. The pine tree in the snow looks like a European winter scene.

Dong Thap Province

 

Dong Thap is a southwestern province known to many people through the poem "Thap Muoi is the most beautiful lotus flower". If you are from Saigon, you can spend 2 days exploring. But from other provinces, it will take you more time to go all the beautiful places and delicious food in this country. From December to April is the time the land is sunny, suitable for outdoor activities.

Transportation in Dong Thap is quite affordable for a taxi, motorbike, motorbike taxi, ferry boat. You can rent motorbikes in Cao Lanh and Sa Dec cities for between US$5 to US$10 per day.

Ninh Binh Province

 

Ninh Binh

Less than 100 km from Hanoi, Ninh Binh inherits many beautiful landscapes suitable for those who have a passion to explore and selfie. The top beautiful places in Ninh Binh are Cave Mua, Van Long Lagoon, Tam Coc - Bich Dong, Trang An - Bai Dinh, Cuc Phuong Reserve which have spellbound many domestic and foreign tourists. 

If you visit Ninh Binh Province, you can take a boat to explore the cave system, take a lunch break in the cool foliage houses and enjoy popular traditional dishes.

The beauty of Simplicity

 

In the days nearly Lunar New Year, when the South is still full of golden sunlight, the North always has to face bone-chilling northeastern winds. Recalling a past period of the 60s - 70s and earlier, you see that life was very poor at that time, not everyone had enough warm clothes to wear. The simple cotton shirt was considered a dream outfit of the poor in the city. 

No matter how hard and difficult life was, everyone tried to save up for themselves and their loved ones to afford a new cotton shirt for Tet holiday. The poor wore cotton and denim. The richer people put on brocade and velvet ones, particularly luxurious velvet-colored blouses,

But no matter what fabric it was, the cotton shirt was still an art piece, bringing the feeling embodied in stitching and the cultural quintessence of the old Hanoi people. There was a time when it seemed that the tufted cotton shirt associated with the memories of the old Hanoi people was forgotten, because the flow of fashion has made people change their minds in dressing to keep pace with current trends of fashion. The image of the old cotton shirt only appears in a very few long-standing tailors in Ha Thanh land and Van Phuc silk village. 

In recent years, with a love for traditional values, the Vietnamese recall culture of the past, a number of tailors and designers have revived the tufted cotton shirt with a new look, bringing it to life, coming closer to the modern life and fashion world.

Spring Trip with Ao Dai

A collection of ao dai for both men and women with extremely graceful and elegant designs has just released. Traditional cultural motifs have made the collection create a strong impression. 

The collection focused on main colors of Tet such as red, yellow, green .. . along with golden dragon, crane, bird, and lion. The highlight of the collection is the meticulously printed and drawn patterns. 

This is not only considered as a creativity but also a special feature for Vietnamese ao dai to be more powerful and elegant.

The beauty of Son Doong Cave

The photo describes the beauty of Son Doong in the rainy season. Due to the weather conditions, you don't see the bright light coming from cave holes. Hang En is the third largest cave in the world, discovered and announced in 1994. There is a large lake with natural turquoise color. 

 

From the mouth of the cave, you have to go down to the bottom about 80 meters down with a rope. The road is steep, dark and slippery, taking you about 2 hours to travel. In Son Doong cave, the terrain is extremely diverse, you will see many narrow and slippery roads.

 

Some points, you have to wade through cold water, in the narrow gap just enough an outstretched arm, and moves in complete darkness, with the help of a flashlight. 

 

Son Doong is about 9 km long, 160 m wide and has a ceiling height of 200 m, large enough to accommodate a 40-storey building. The stalactite block is called the "Wedding Cake". In the cold weather, water pouring down from above makes the road slippery. The scene is very ghostly with misty mist like cave clouds. 

 

Son La In Spring

 

 

 

 

 Another year is coming around. It is the time for flower blooming throughout hills. Since the beginning of December, Moc Chau is covered with white color.

The picture describes a daily life of Hmong People, who are living in Moc Chau. Two Hmong girls carry flowers on their back under plum blossoms in Na Ka Village, a place local visitors call "Spring Paradise" in the middle of a mountain, about 16km from the town center of Moc Chau Farm.

 

Xuan Huong Lake

At present, Da Lat City in midst of cold weather, apricot blooming every corner; cherry trees fill the garden in Da Sar Commune, Lac Duong District on the hill Lang Biang Plateau, about 12 km from Da Lat City.

This is one of the photos "Da Lat in pink cherry blossom" by 9x photographer Tran Ngoc Anh who is working and living in Da Lat City.

If you take pain, you go into Da Sar Commune, you enjoy apricot trees planted side by side coffee gardens and tea hills. 

To get a right opportunity to visit Dalat City, you should have information from the local people for apricot blooming.
 

Cherry Blossom Dying Pink Dalat

 

At present, in the midst of cold weather, cherry flowers blossoms on a route in Lac Duong, the direction to Lang Biang and is about to blossom in romantic Dalat. 

If you take pains to ride a motorbike into Da Sak, you will enjoy cherry bloom in middle of coffee gardens and tea hills. 

Depending on the weather and soil, cherry flowers bloom soon or late in different places in Dalat. Thus, you should have the information from the local people to arrive in on the right time to enjoy the beauty of cherry flowers.  

 

Hoi An Ao Dai Collection

The fashion show in Hoi An Ancient Town took place for the first time on January 2 2021, in the archery area of ​​the Cau Bridge. This is one of the tourist activities of the project "Wake up Hoi An", organized by the city government and the business community, to attract tourists, restore tourism. 

The show is held at 17:30 every Saturday, with many different themes and performances. At the beginning of the program, artists performed traditional ao dai along with bicycles and tricycles around the old town area. This fashion in harmony with the ancient and quiet beauty of the city has created a new vitality for the old town, after the effects of epidemics and natural disasters.

 

 

 

 

Lonely Planet lists central Vietnam in top 10 Asia-Pacific destinations

 

The Middle Vietnam is proud as the sixth out of Lonely Planet's top 10 must-visit destinations in Asia-Pacific.

It is bookended by the hustle and bustle of Ho Chi Minh City and the historic environment of Hanoi Capital, and bring visitors a most diverse region as featured by the U.K. travel magazine. 

Hue's attractive cuisine embodies the city's imperial legacy, while south in Hoi An's well-known paths where showcase local dishes, including fragrant cao lau noodles. Seafood is well-known in neighbouring Danang, which is alongside the Han River, one of Vietnam's most charmful urban destination. 

Hue is the former imperial capital that ever witnessed the glories and falling of the Nguyen Dynasty, the last ruler to govern the country, is well-known for a food paradise.

Tuyen Lam Lake in Dalat

 

Compared with Dalat in 10 years ago, Dalat and neighbouring areas nowadays lose a lot of immense space. The encroachment of green houses and houses built in the city inner to the suburb have tore up the deserted ground. Spaces that is believed to unable to afford are disappeared and vanished.

If you visit Dalat now, you can not find wild sunflowers within it, just empty valleys inside the city. If you want to see wild sunflowers, just go to outside of Dalat.