Phong Nha Cave

 Phong Nha Cave

Phong Nha Cave. Cre: Hoang Tao

Phong Nha is home to wild animals and caves. Deep into the primeval forest, you'll see rare wildlife such as chamois, deer, wild boar... and explore many magnificent caves. A new package offers the 4-day deep forest exploration tour of Ba cave to attract foreign tourists after Vietnam announced its opening to tourism. 

Cre: Hoang Tao

 Hang Ba Cave expedition leads you through almost the entire way under the canopy of primeval forest in Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park. You'll explore the habitat of many endemic, rare and protected wildlife species in Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park. The national park covers an area of ​​123,000 hectares, ranked as a world natural heritage site by UNESCO with three criteria: geology and geomorphology (2003); ecosystems and biodiversity (2015). 

 

Cre: Hoang Tao

You can record wildlife activities, from which you have the opportunity to see animals realistically through photo and video data from the camera trap. Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park records 3,000 species of plants and 1,400 species of animals. 

Mr. Howard Limbert, Director of Engineering and Safety, said this is a special tour. "What we want in this tour is conservation," said Mr. Howard. The tour focuses on the diverse primeval forests of Phong Nha - Ke Bang National Park. The valleys and forests are still very pristine and less affected by humans. 

The tour lasts 4 days and 3 nights and requires you to have good physical strength and trekking experience. Throughout the tour, you'll experience many terrains such as rivers and streams, crossing rocky hills, climbing steep slopes and standing, using specialized technical equipment. 

Cre: Hoang Tao

In addition to trekking in the middle of the jungle, you'll have a chance learn more about many caves such as Dai Cao, Me Cung, Ba, Sang.

In the photo is the sunlight penetrating the entrance of Me Cung cave. This is a beautiful cave with massive stalactites. Here, on sunny days, you can see the bright rays of sunlight shining from outside into the depths of Me Cung cave creating a beautiful scene. Phong Nha - Ke Bang is an area with limestone geology, making the water in the caves attractive jade green. 

Also, you can enjoy swimming in a dark cave with only a flashlight to feel the difference. Hang Ba has three cave mouths and a beautiful jade green underground river. The spectacular scenery of Ba cave will be an ideal place to freely take pictures. 

Night is the time to experience watching the night sky with thousands of shimmering stars and the endless Milky Way by the Bay of Round Lake - a place completely devoid of artificial light. Each tour has only 6 visitors, in order to protect the forest "to rest and recover". 

The service team in the tour also undergoes a training course to minimize unnecessary activities and make no noise during moving, working and living. The organization of tours in this area also contributes to preventing indigenous people from hunting animals or illegally cutting forests.

Ha Giang Under a Tay Man's View

 

Credit: NVCC

Hoang An (real name Hoang Van Hoan), 34 years old, is a Tay person born and raised in Ha Giang. He loves travelling and taking photos, and Ha Giang is his most attractive place in spring. On the image is Lao Xa village, Sung La commune, Dong Van district, filled with canola flowers at the beginning of the year.

Credit: NVCC

Canola flower season attracts tourists to Lung Cam cultural village, Sung La commune, Dong Van District. Golden flowers create a tourist landscape and have a long association with local life. After being harvested, local people use seeds to process cooking oil and mustard, increasing people's income.

Credit: NVCC

Hoang An is currently the director of a travel company. Besides tour organizing, Hoang An also promotes Ha Giang tourism by providing free advice on forums and Facebook groups. "I have lived and spent many springs in Ha Giang, but the feeling in my heart is still indescribable. The scenery is familiar and straightforward, but through each tour of tour guides or photography, I see a new perspective, a new experience. " he shared.

Credit: NVCC

 

Tea Museum in Da Lat CIty

 

Credit: Bo Design's photo

The nearly 100-year-old tea factory has definitely attracted your attention, including a museum, art gallery and cafe within the tourist complex.

Cau Dat Tea Museum is well-known due to the old architecture of the former Cau Dat Tea Department built by the French in 1929. At that time, Cau Dat was the first place in Southeast Asia to have an establishment. Currently, this destination belongs to Cau Dat Farm in Xuan Truong commune, about 25 km from the centre of Da Lat City. 

Credit: Bo Design's photo

The building underwent the reconstruction and redesign in 2020 to become a cultural destination about tea activities, as well as a new and attractive place for young people from early 2021. Late last year, the Museum Cau Dat tea appeared in the famous American architectural magazine Archdaily. 

Credit: Bo Design photo

The centerpiece sits in the quarters of a French-era factory that becomes a space for tea exhibitions, installations and cafes for visitors. The museum house consists of 5 rooms with different themes such as the historical box, the display of tea making tools, the story of the tea maker and the world tea industry. 

Credit: Bo Design's photo

Stepping into these spaces, you'll see firsthand the tea production machines operating nearly 100 years ago in the factory. 

Credit: Bo Design's photo

 The installation art display area shows 7 paintings simulating the stages of tea making. The paintings describe special materials, which are colors drawn from the soil of the tea hill and Cau Dat tea leaves.  

Taking-Selfies Trending in Da Lat City

 Selfie Trending in Da Lat City

The photo above describes a group of young people lining up to take videos and selfies in front of a mirror in Da Lat City. During the Tet holidays, many videos appeared on the TikTok platform to capture a new trend.

According to this trend, a person hold a cell phone to record, approaching the large mirror, then they move a camera towards the side of the mirror. The cameraman then drags their companion to stand with him in a distance from the mirror.

Taking selfies in front of a mirror attracts visitors. Credit: Huyen Huong's photo

Such videos quickly became a trend and got viral on a TikTok platform, generating many views and groups to flock to coffee shop 'the Green Smoke Valley' and other shops in Da Lat that had a large mirror in the yard to film. 

This platform receives at least two videos with at least one million views and many other videos with several-hundred-thousand views. 

Thanh Tu, the account @thanhtu_1009, who owns a trending video, said, "To have a video like this, it takes a long time to stand in the sun and take a line. In return, the results deserve how he got exposed to the sun. 

Han, the owner of the account @haan4747, said that even though he was tired, he had to wait in line to film for fun. However, many commenters were "bored" at the crowded queue scene when shooting a TikTok video. 

"I see too many videos on TikTok about this mirror; tourism is so patient now", one comment expressed frustration. "It's too crowded; check-in is also not fun," another word shared. "Torturing the body like this is not a tourist resort", one person commented harshly. 

Many people consider this to be an exciting travel trend. "People like to travel to beautiful check-in places. The crowded scene was unavoidable because Da Lat City fell in the Tet holiday season and was overloaded. But now Da Lat City is overloaded, they have to accept it, if you want to relax, stay at home," one person explained. 

"It's too civilized to be able to queue for so many people, so it's better to praise than criticize," said one comment. In addition, many people also suggested that the cafe should arrange more mirrors to avoid long lines of visitors.

Red Maple Leaf in Binh Lieu

 

Red maple leaf on a branch. Credit: Dang Doan Sang's Photo

With so much to see and do in Quang Binh, some red maple leaves on a branch speak volumes for a journey here. Taking travel in spring, Doan Sang was surprised to see red-leaved maple trees. Binh Lieu is famous for the season of reeds and the climbing path like "dinosaur spine".

Credit: Dang Doan Son's photp

 

Dang Doan Sang, 28 years old, chose this place to depart his photo-hunting trip at the beginning of the year, on the 5th of Tet. Before coming to Binh Lieu, Sang and his group thought this was a mountainous border district, so the road was difficult, bumpy, and ugly.  

However, when they arrived, the group was surprised by the beautiful roads, winding mountains and many passes, but there were no sharp and dangerous u-turns like the Northwest. In his mind, Binh Lieu represents the best and must in his trip.

Credit: Dang Doan Son's photo

After returning, Sang posted photos on travel groups and received many shares, likes, and comments after returning. Sang was impressed with everyone's comments; most were interested in the maple syrup, red leaves and compliments on beautiful photos to motivate him to travel and take more photos. 

Credit: Dang Doan Sang's photo

To take impressive photos of maple leaves, Sang said he needed to find a tree of moderate height. Thanks to the travel community, Sang knew better that this was a maple, a type of maple native to Vietnam, which grows a lot in cold climates such as Cao Bang, Yen Bai, Son La.

Maple is a plant that produces many medicinal ingredients. Trees in cold countries will change colour enormously, but only sporadic leaves change colour in Vietnam and gradually fall. The smell of maple leaves spreads, giving a comfortable feeling to passers-by. 

 

Children in Sa Pa Were Pushed to the Street to Sell Goods in the Cold Rain under 1 Celsius Degree.

 

A church under a cold rain. Credit: Online Tuoi Tre

Many children in Sapa still have to wear raincoats to sell goods. Despite the cold weather, sometimes the outdoor temperature in Sa Pa town (Lao Cai province) is only 1 degree Celsius.

 

A child is selling goods. Credit: Online Tuoi Tre

 

Over the past two days, Sapa welcomed more than 12,000 tourists. Buses constantly ran around the stone church area in Sapa town. Loudspeakers called for tourists not to give money to or buy goods from street children vendors.

"Children, your relatives are taking advantage of and are exploiting your labour to earn money, creating a bad image over the Sapa at tourists' hearts." Therefore, the administration urged visitors not to buy goods or give money. The refusal would stop the children's exploitation. They returned to their families to have fun and study; if tourists continued to provide cash or buy goods, this kindness would unintentionally set children in exploited cases: their relatives still forced them to wander around to ask for money. 

Although the loudspeakers kept working, the children were still clinging and enticing tourists to buy goods. The Sa Pa town government used loudspeakers to urge tourists not to give money or buy goods from street vendors in over a year; many people no longer allowed their children to go out to sell. 

However, there is still a group enticing tourists in the area of ​​the stone church, the courtyard, and Xuan Vien street. These children are under the control of their mothers, who sit in a hiding place to watch them.

Credit: Online Tuoi Tre's photo

Ms Hoang Thi Linh in Hanoi felt very pitiful for children selling in cold rains under one or two Celsius degrees. "In the past, I used to buy goods and give money, but soon after, many children circled me. Since then I haven't bought their goods anymore. I hope this situation will end so that tourists feel comfortable to visit the Sapa and the children can have fun at their home and study at school." 

Ms Hoang Thi Vuong - Head of Information and Culture Department of Sa Pa town - said that although the locality has propagated a lot, mothers still deliberately push their children into the street to sell goods, wandering, enticing tourists.

Credit: Online Tuoi Tre

"This is a form of livelihood for adults. They take advantage of children to take advantage of tourists' pity, buying goods or giving alms. This causes them not to enjoy their childhood and have a good learning environment," said Ms. Vuong. 

In addition, the children are not in the age group to be vaccinated against COVID-19. They come into contact with many people every day and get infectious. The administration has requested tourists's support by not buying children's goods.  

Cherry bloom in Dalat's Suburban

 

Cherry trees on a slope of a hill. Credit: Nguyen Van Quang's photo

Pink cherry bloom in the areas of the Mong Dao Nguyen, Lac Duong District attracts tourists to take pictures.

Credit: Nguyen Van Quang's photo

Nguyen Van Quang, 30 years old, has just had a photo hunting trip in the cherry blossom season in the suburbs of Da Lat. On December 23, he went to the Mong Dao Nguyen area on the slopes of Langbiang mountain, about 20 km from the centre of Da Lat.  

From the centre of Da Lat, you'll move in the direction of Langbiang to Lac Duong district, meet Langbiang roundabout, turn left along road 19/5, go straight for about 5 km and then turn right along a small trail to Mong Dao Nguyen.

Credit: Nguyen Van Quang's Photo

 

The cherry forest on the mountainside of Dan Kia, Lac Duong was blooming beautifully and lasted through the New Year. 

Walking in a springtime path when cherry blossoms dotted the fields in Dan Kia, Quang shared, "Three years ago; the trail went up the jagged mountains, just fit a motorbike. It was hard to take pictures, but I was still eager to hit the road because of passion. I bring water and bread to wander around taking pictures without getting bored when I go. Going down to the coffee garden to take pictures, climbing on the forest slopes to take pictures, many memorable memories from all angles. This year, the road is levelled, so it's a little easier to walk." 

Credit: Nguyen Van Quang's Photo

Cherry flowers represent the spring's flower and see an old year off. According to Mr Quang, this year's flower season bloomed at the right time. The flowers bloomed later in the inner city, especially around Xuan Huong Lake, lasting until the Lunar New Year. The blooming areas were Dan Kia, Da Nhim, Lac Duong and Cau Dat.

 

Credit: Nguyen Van Quang's photo

The photo above describes the rhythm of spring life next to the wooden houses of the Cil people in Da Nhim. In order to successfully hunt flowers, you need to find out information from locals and Dalat's photographers to come to each place and area at the right time.

Life in H'Mong Community

 

A rice terraced field. Credit: Vo Van Phi Long's photo

Vo Van Phi Long, the 32-year-old man, quit his job in Quang Nam's hometown to plant in the village to do his own business in Can Ty 1, Ma Quai commune, Sin Ho district from mid-December 2021.  

The Dien Ban man shared that he used to work for a non-profit social organization so that he could go to many places in Vietnam. Phi Long experiences the ethnic group's cultural identity and culinary specialities of many regions, especially highland villages.  

He celebrated Tet away from his family, but he still felt the warmth because people gave him peach branches, thick cakes and even pork.  

The corner of the wooden house where Phi Long lives the village" still had the Tet atmosphere with blooming peach blossom branches.

Credit: Vo Van Phi Long's photo

Sin Ho Plateau has a cool, cloudy climate, named the second Sa Pa of the Northwest region, with the highlight of the villages lying on the mountainside. The picture above depicts a scene of drifting clouds in Na Ke village.

 "Four years ago, I first set foot in Sin Ho. What impressed me was the wild and beautiful scenery, the friendly and hospitable people. My legs always want to move and help people more this year I return to Sin Ho to celebrate Tet with the people," Phi Long said.

Credit: Vo Van Phi Long's photo

Dotted with plum flowers, houses nest in Pa Chao O village, Hong Thu commune. People in the Sin Ho district grow many peaches, plums and pears, so every spring, flowers bloom. The majority of ethnic groups in Sin Ho are Thai and H'Mong, and the rest are Kinh, Dao, Lu, Khang and Kho Mu.

People's life is still difficult. With his experience, Phi Long stayed in the village on this Tet holiday, with the people doing economic activities, sharing documents on cultivation and animal husbandry.

He supported people to consume agricultural products such as plums, flowers, brown pears, peaches, honey, jade crane mushrooms, and ginseng. Quang Nam boy is helping some people in Can Ty 1 village to grow fruit trees and medicinal herbs. "I'm delighted to do something meaningful like this," said Phi Long.

Credit: Vo Van Phi Long's photo

H'Mong children play spinning tops on Tet. In addition to tug of war, pounding, throwing, the young men and children also like to ply spinning tops. The games of each ethnic group are often different in size, shape, and way of playing, the rules of winning and losing.  

The material of a spinning top is hardwood, cut down round, the lower end gradually shrunk into a sharp point.

Top 10 Most Popular Destinations in Vietnam You Shouldn't Miss on Your 2022 Getaway

 

 Vietnam's Top 10 Tourist Destinations in 2022

Phu Quoc (Kien Giang), Da Lat (Lam Dong), Sa Pa (Lao Cai)... are places Vietnamese tourists want to return to in 2022, according to VnExpress readers' votes.  

Phu Quoc

A lady is standing on the beach in the early morning. Credit: Phan Phuong's photo

Phu Quoc is one of the paradises of sunshine beachs. It's the most favourite destination tourists want to make a getaway this year. VN Express took on a survey on tourist psychology from December 1 to 20, 2021. The survey recorded more than 10,000 responses. 

The island has the pride in 150- km coastline, where there are many beautiful beaches such as Bai Truong, Bai Khem... and primeval forest in the north of the island. The sea area of ​​Phu Quoc includes 22 large and small islands such as Hon Thom, Hon May Rut, Hon Mong. Especially, in recent years, Phu Quoc is developing with rocket speed, offering many experiences of 5-star resort, shopping, world-class entertainment.

Dalat

A couple is riding a scooter on off-street route. Credit: Pham Minh Tai's photo

Dalat ranks the second on the list. You like the year-round cool weather, romantic scenery, and many check-in points. The city always creates a year-round attraction, especially tourists from Ho Chi Minh City on short trips.  

When Da Lat falls in the cherry blossom season, you'll admire the flowers in Lac Duong (at the foot of Lang Biang mountain), Tuyen Lam lake, and Da Quy slope. 

 Sapa

A church in white in winter .Credit: To Ba Hieu's photo

Sa Pa ranks the third place in the record. The town's all-year-round cool weather adds more impression to a must-visit destination Fansipan Peak. Many captivating attractions include Cat Cat village, Ta Van village, and lots of others. 

The picture shows the snow covering the Fansipan peak in February of 2021. Lao Cai province has many famous attractions such as Y Ty (Bat Xat district) with pristine scenery, Bac Ha where the local still retain the identity of the highland ethnic people. 

Da Nang City

Credit: Vuong Khai Thinh's photo

Da Nang, named as the city of bridges, always stands hing in the ranking of the most favorite destinations. The city represents a convergence of many tourism potentials such as a 30-km coastline, Ba Na - Nui Chua nature reserve, Son Tra peninsula.  

In addition, the city owns beautiful resorts, attractions and experiences such as Ba Na Hills, Ngu Hanh Son mountain, and river cruises at night. 

Ha Long 

Credit: Hello Tour

Ha Long ranks the fifth place in the list. The heritage bay possesses 1,600 limestone islands, undulating in green waters. The land islands are inhabited, possessing a rich flora and fauna. In particular, the bay is also home to many beautiful caves, where there are traces of human life from thousands of years ago.

Nha Trang

Credit: Khoa Tran's photo

In the 6th place appears Nha Trang, the capital of Khanh Hoa province, possessing many beautiful beaches, islands and bays. In addition, the city also has many interesting attractions and photography spots such as the Oceanographic Museum, Hon Chong scenic area, embankment with green moss carpet, and Ponagar tower.

Ha Giang

 

A countryside in Ha Giang Province. Credit: Duc Phuoc's photo

Ha Giang ranks the 7th place as it possesses majestic and pristine natural landscapes such as Dong Van rock plateau, Ma Pi Leng pass, Tu San alley and Nho Que river. In addition, the province also captivates tourists by the identity and life of the highland ethnic people, and the annual flower season such as buckwheat, mustard flower, and peach blossom.

Hoi An

Credit: VN Express

Cultural Heritage of Hoi An Ancient Town (Quang Nam) appears the 8th point on the list. Pho Hoi impresses visitors by the peaceful beauty of the Thu Bon River. Once a busy commercial scene, this place preserves the architectural heritage of hundreds of years ago, with the beauty of mixing between Vietnam, Japan, and China. 

Coming to Hoi An, you'll walk in the middle of the street with yellow-painted houses, mossy roofs and confetti in front of the porch. You'll take a basket boat to visit Bay Mau coconut forest or Cu Lao Cham.

Con Dao

Credit: VN Express's photo

Con Dao is a favorite destination of many tourists. Coming to the island, you have a variety of experiences such as conquering 3 landmarks marking Vietnam's territorial waters (on the photo), releasing baby turtles to the sea, visiting Vo Thi Sau's grave.

 

Binh Thuan

Credit: Tuan Viet's photo

 

Finally, Binh Thuan, a "sleeping princess", possesses a lot of tourism potential, but has not really attracted tourists, part from Mui Ne beach. The province also offers the white sand beach, low hills, unspoiled sand dunes, and many beautiful scenes. Especially, the land has a rich culture and long history such as Champa culture, which retains the ruins of Po Sah Inu tower and Po Klong Mohnai temple.