Oct
11
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Travel firms with the plan to sell tour in flooding season
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VietNamNet Bridge – Saigontourist Travel Service Company and Dong Thap Tourist Company have agreed to jointly promote the tour program “Dong Thap – Flooding Season” to local and international tourists.
Local tourists travel on a wooden boat during the flooding season in the Mekong Delta.
This is the first time travel companies have joined hands to offer this special kind of tour to foreign tourists. The two firms will jointly develop and market tours during the flooding season in Dong Thap Province, beginning in October, as a typical product of the Mekong Delta.
Doan Thi Thanh Tra, marketing manager of Saigontourist, said her company began to promote flooding season tours last year. Brochures about this kind of tour have been sent to foreign partners of Saigontourist.
This year, the tour operator starts to seek international tourists for flooding season tours. Especially, the river tour from Cambodia to the Mekong Delta provinces, including Dong Thap, is very attractive to German and French visitors as well as local tourists.
“We are still selling tours so we have yet to sum up the total number of tourists, but the number of local tourists may be 1,000. We also consider this as a new product to lure international customers,” said Tra.
Travel firms over the past few years have offered tours for tourists to travel to the Mekong Delta provinces like An Giang and Dong Thap in the flooding season to experience how local lead their lives there. However, this kind of tour did not attract so many travelers.
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Oct
11
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Getting the kinks out
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VietNamNet Bridge – With endless construction, roads clogged by seas of motorbikes, and a growing number of cars, Ha Noi is definitely not the most conducive city for exercising outdoors.
Group co-operation: A group of local residents conclude their morning exercises
at Hoan Kiem Lake by giving back massages to each other.
The capital is also one of Asia's most polluted cities, due mainly to large-scale building sites producing unhealthy amounts of dust in urban areas, which is inhaled by the expanding number of residents.
There is still hope, however, for those with a penchant for jogging in open spaces, as this marvellous city is speckled with hidden corners which open up vast areas to break a sweat and clear your head.
An area popular with the locals for exercise is the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, nestled in the heart of the city, a few blocks west of the Old Quarter, where giant parade grounds and a lawn area host hundreds of keen joggers and the fitness-savvy.
This sacred area is a spiritual home of sorts for Viet Nam, with Uncle Ho interred only metres from where Ha Noi residents and tourists alike wonder, enjoying the bold Soviet-style mausoleum architecture.
Another advantage of exercising here is the surrounding streets, which are mainly large boulevards, with empty footpaths as big as Old Quarter streets. These roads are ideal for running, and although the traffic is constant, the large amount of trees and open space is enough to separate you from exhaust fumes and drift off into your own thoughts.
For those seeking a more foliage-intense exercise location, the Botanical Gardens, although not a large park, offers a guaranteed no-vehicle area with trees, small hills and even a lake, to help you escape the city. The one major drawback is that it costs to enter, but at VND2,000 (10 US cents) it's quite affordable. There is also ample motorbike parking for those who don't live close to the gardens themselves.
Ha Noi is also witnessing a rapid proliferation of gyms across the city, from expensive full-service clubs, to basic facilities to pump iron or workout on a treadmill.
If you're looking for an inexpensive option, the Olympic gym at 4 Tran Hung Dao Street offers monthly memberships and single entry prices. This particular gym, like many in Ha Noi, is largely a male-dominated space, although women are welcome.
There is a relaxed atmosphere here, with the wide selection of weights often lies partly strewn across the old carpet, and a number of machines sitting idle needing repair.
Yawn: Hoan Kiem Lake is a favourite place for many locals
to get their morning exercise. — VNS File Photos
There is a community of body building enthusiasts who assist each other with heavy weights, grunting and strutting around the gym, which gives the place a surprisingly homely feel.
There is a popular women's gym at 37 Tran Quoc Toan in Hoan Kiem District, which also offers single entry option, and is said to be a comfortable space to exercise.
Another classic locale for burning calories is Hoan Kiem Lake, right in the middle of Ha Noi. The calm waters are lined with trees and flowers, and there is a constant buzz around the lake, which is itself both a Ha Noi icon and an epicentre of the city.
Throughout the day, and particularly in the mornings, you can join elderly men and teams of middle-aged women circling the lake, welcoming in the day by increasing their heart rate with a stroll around the lake, often simultaneously flailing their arms to intensify the workout.
The distance around the lake measures around 1.5km, making it a perfect length to run laps and tailor your run or walk to your desired distance.
Hoan Kiem Lake also offers the best people-watching, with the natural drama of Vietnamese life unfolding before you, from the animated discussions of elderly groups to the frequent pageantry of young couples having their wedding photos taken, there is always something interesting to accompany your exercise.
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Oct
11
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Hongkong travel agencies toward out of central area
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VietNamNet Bridge – Representatives from travel agencies in Hong Kong will join familiarisation (FAM) trips at destinations in Da Nang and Ha Noi on October 8-12, the central city's tourism promotion centre said earlier this week.
The FAM trips, which are organised by Vietnam Airlines and Indochina Travel, are part of a co-operation plan between the central travel agencies and tour companies from Hong Kong.
As scheduled, operators and managers from Hong Kong travel agencies will tour Da Nang's Cham Sculpture Museum, Ngu Hanh Son marble mountains and the Non Nuoc Beach as well as destinations in Ha Noi.
A tourism seminar between Vietnamese and Hong Kong agencies will be held at Da Nang's Fusion Maia resort on October 9.
The national flag carrier plans to open a direct flight from Da Nang to Hong Kong in the near future.
The central city has hosted 1.87 million tourists over the past eight months, earning VND4 trillion (US$190 million).
* Delta floods to become tourist spectacle
Saigontourist Travel Service Co and Dong Thap Tourist Co have agreed to jointly promote trips to the Mekong Delta during the flood season among local and foreign tourists. Starting this month the two firms will jointly develop and market tours to Dong Thap Province during the annual Mekong floods as a typical product of the delta.
Saigontourist has already begun to receive bookings from international tourists for flood season tours. A river tour from Cambodia to the Mekong Delta provinces, including Dong Thap, is very popular with German and French visitors as well as local tourists.
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Develop Green tourism
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11/10/2012 08:23:47
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Food art at children's exhibition
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10/10/2012 08:58:00
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Finding Old classic drama scripts
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10/10/2012 08:56:30
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Bac Giang honoured with official titles
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10/10/2012 08:52:05
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preserving cultural heritage beside Community role
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10/10/2012 08:50:58
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HCM city host Chamber Music Concert
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10/10/2012 08:48:59
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Cham Kate festival has been opened
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10/10/2012 08:46:54
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Finding substitute for Tourism Ambassador Ly Nha Ky
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10/10/2012 08:45:16
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Pac Bo - national special relic site
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10/10/2012 08:39:34
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