A beautiful beach with an ever-growing strip of resorts lining the coast, Mui Ne strikes a good balance between having sufficient entertainments to justify a long weekend and being overcrowded. The hotels lie between the sea and the road, with many restaurants lining the opposite side of the road.

Fortunately the majority of the resorts are low rise and well covered by plenty of lush green foilage – most have tried hard to create attractive gardens around their bungalows, and the result is that from the beach there is not too much evidence of the booming growth in hotels – it still manages to look secluded and peaceful, without a concrete block in sight.

It has a wide range of restaurants, with the local shacks providing some of the freshest, cheapest and tastiest seafood you will find in Vietnam, as well as many high-class restaurants selling top notch Italian, European, Indian and Thai cuisines.

There’s plenty of bars too, and hot competition means you can often find two cocktails for $2 around sunset – a perfect way to end a gorgeous day. Some, like Jibes and Wax bar, are well connected with the watersports community and often run big beach parties on Saturday nights. The quality of music being played seems to be on the up too and it is one of the few places I have seen expats shrug off their cool and have a good dance.

There are watersports a plenty as Mui Ne has consistently good winds, and it has become the kite surfing capital of Vietnam. There’s plenty of windsurfing too, and for the less adventurous of us it means plenty of visual entertainment as you watch people flying 20-30 ft into the air while sipping a cool cocktail and enjoying the breeze.

No trip to Mui Ne is complete without a trip to the sanddunes, where young children with exceptional English skills encourage you to slide down the dunes at great speed on plastic mats – its great fun but don’t forget to tip the kids – the fishing village of Mui Ne is very deprived.

There’s also a sandstone ‘canyon’ at the back of the dunes to explore, a ‘fairy stream’ to discover and some wild, secluded beaches if you drive up past Mui Ne to the headland, where you can see the fisherman braving the waves in their corracles.

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The average temperature is is 17°C, and does not exceed 25°C in the hottest season. In the early mornings, the city arises to mystic fog over the lake. Its temperate climate is ideal for agriculture, and in recent years the number of farms and plantations around the city have grown rapidly. It provides most of flowers and vegetables for the massive markets across the south of Vietnam. Dalat is also very well-known for its variety of flowers and orchids as well as expansive pine forests, which may remind travellers of home more than the tropics in the valleys below.

Dalat is another one of those Vietnamese towns that began as a French resort area. Whatever else might be said about the French, they certainly had good taste in choosing sites for resorts, and Dalat is living proof of that. Designed to be almost a Swiss alpine village, the French urban planner Ernest Hebrard designed the highland town with broad boulevards, elegant villas, a golf course, open green spaces, schools, and modest homes.

Luckily for Dalat’s modern visitors, the city was virtually untouched during the American Vietnam War, however its popularity amongst amorous Vietnamese couples has lead to a fair amount of kitsch ‘attractions’ and this combined with the booming agricultural industry means the town is now much busier than the tranquil hill station of the past, with more and more concrete buildings, karaoke rooms and ‘mini hotels’ springing up across town. These days to enjoy the best of Dalat it is best to use the town as a base to explore the hills and nature surrounding it than to expect too much from the town itself.

Sightseeing in Dalat

The first thing the visitor to Dalat will probably notice is the architecture. Since the city was built up primarily by the French and the Catholic Church, Dalat is an interesting blend of French colonial architecture, paired with lovely Jesuit structures and Vietnamese pagodas.

One site almost all Dalat’s guidebooks will lead you to is the Hang Nga guesthouse, known more commonly simply as ‘Crazy House’. Built by Hang Nga, Ph.D. graduate of Moscow State University’s architecture program, Crazy House is a honeycomb of strange rooms and hallways that also serves as a local hotel. Instead of straight lines and corners, Crazy House is all curves, as if its concrete had melted, dripped, and then hardened into its unusual shape.

Another building worth touring in Dalat is Binh III. Emperor Bao Dai built three different villas for himself in Dalat, and although all of them have been restored and made public, it’s Binh III that’s the most impressive.

To stay in Vietnam like true royalty, however, book your room at the Sofitel Dalat Palace, a luxury hotel that’s been lovingly restored and sits atop a golf course. With a lobby fit for a monarch’s ballroom, artwork adorning its restaurants and suites, together with the modern comforts of satellite television and mini-bars, there’s nowhere else in Dalat that offers such plush luxury. Even if you can’t afford to stay in the Sofitel Dalat Palace, at least have a cocktail and dinner there in one of the three bars and two restaurants. After dinner, dance downstairs at PK’s Disco.

Xuan Huong Lake is a popular destination with honeymooners; you can stroll around its outer banks, or hire a paddle boat and go out for a spin. However, be warned that the lake was recently drained, and won’t be filled back up until January or February 2011.

Xuan Huong Lake isn’t the only lake in and around Dalat, though. Just 5 km north of the city centre is the Valley of Love, where a lake was added in 1972 to make its picturesque, peaceful beauty even more attractive. On the other side of town lies the Truc Lam Pagoda, the second biggest Zen Buddhist centre in Vietnam, surrounded by Tuyen Lam lake and pine forests.

Just 20 minutes from Dalat lies the Lang Bain mountain; at a height of 2169m above sea level it isthe highest mountain in the Southern Vietnam. It is a popular spot to climb and enjoy stunning vistas of the surrounding areas and it is also possible to camp. For those who don’t feel quite so energetic it is also possible to catch a ride to the summit.

Getting to and around Dalat

It is quite easy to get to Dalat as there are daily direct flights from both Saigon and Hanoi. The flight from Saigon takes just 35 minutes while buses run every two hours and take 6-8 hours from Ho Chi Minh City. The best time to visit is November to May, as there is less rain and a pleasant temperature – but be prepared for it to get chilly in the winter months. It is a great place to rent a motorbike of your own to explore the hills, or you could take on one of the ‘Easy Riders’ who have earnt a great reputation as excellent guides to explore the area and Vietnam as a whole.

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I must confess, the highlight of any travelling around Vietnam for me is usually the food, yet the lack of any real eating options outside of the main hotels didn’t still manage to disappoint, as the scenery around Con Dao is so spectacular you’ll want to stay forever. I think of all the places I visited in Vietnam Con Dao was possibly one of the most beautiful I’ve seen.

The islands of Con Dao have a tragic history – they lay completely unoccupied until the French occupied Vietnam and used the island as one large prison complex, where prisoners were shackled, starved and beaten, forced into hard labour and subjected to some particularly cruel and unusual punishment. Sadly when the Americans arrived to ’save’ Vietnam from Communism they kept the prisons running, and made good use of one of the most barbaric elements, the ‘Tiger Cages’; even once their horrific nature had been exposed in the US media they simply built another set deeper in the jungle so the journalists wouldn’t find them.

Today the prisons serve as a stark reminder of the horrors of war, and many of the islands residents are ex-convicts who decided to stay on the islands rather than return to the mainland. These days the main industries are fishing and shipping, and life on the island is very simple and undeveloped, though there are plans to encourage more tourism to the islands in the future.

The entire area is protected by law, so much of the islands are covered by thick forest. A visit to the rangers’ station will explain a great deal about the wildlife living on the island, and they are very happy to arrange tours around the jungle or out to the other islands, to see endangered species and to go snorkelling and diving. There are also a number of diving schools on the island, particularly Rainbow Divers.

On our visit we hired a motorbike to explore the roads around the island, and went for hikes through the forest and swam on completely deserted beaches, as well as visiting the prisons and museums. It was a true escape from Saigon, a complete contrast to the concrete, traffic and noise, and one we’ll remember forever.

One of the key organisations protecting the local habitat in Con Dao – as well as in many other national parks across Vietnam – is WWF. If you’d like to help support conservation efforts in Vietnam and preservation of the many endangered species there, we strongly suggest becoming a member – it doesn’t cost a lot and while in Vietnam you can see for yourself the difference they are making.

Getting to Con Dao
If you want to go by boat there is a hydrofoil service from Vung Tau to Con Dao twice a week at 350,000 VND each way, and also one departing from Tra Vinh in the Mekong Delta which is run by Greenlines. The fares and timetable are no longer advertised on the Vietnamese language version of their website though, so it is worth checking before making the trip to Vung Tau.

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Tuan and other drivers of Dong Xuan Joint-Stock Co. take tourists from Dinh Tien Hoang Street by the lake and then to nearly 30 streets in Hanoi’s Old Quarter. Shops in old buildings along the way sell food, clothes and souvenirs.

O Quan Chuong, which is the gate vestige of the former Thang Long Palace whose central citadel has just been recognized as a world cultural heritage site, stands intact to greet newcomers in the city. Dong Xuan Market and hundreds of old buildings are historic landmarks that Tuan points out to his passengers.

The tour by electric buggy is a must-try for visitors, either during the day or in the evening. It’s a no-sweat way to observe local life and smell Hanoi’s food specialties sizzling on the hot coals on Ma May and other streets.

The electric vehicle runs around Guom Lake, also known as Sword Lake, before returning to the starting point on Dinh Tien Hoang Street.

Dong Xuan Joint-Stock Co. launched the electric buggy tour about one month ago to provide both foreign and Vietnamese visitors to Hanoi an eco-friendly way to explore the capital city in the run up to the extravagant celebration of the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi.

Tuan told the Daily that Dong Xuan has put a dozen electric buggies into service to transport individuals and groups around Hanoi. The first trip leaves at 8:30 a.m. and the last trip is at 10 p.m. everyday.

You can hop on the buggy at the station by Guom Lake and wait until there are seven passengers aboard for the trip, while a group of seven travelers can hire the buggy for VND105,000 (around US$5.5).

Children under three years old can take a free ride.

The buggy is one of the best ways to travel around the Old Quarter and Guom Lake. The Xich lo or cyclo is also a great way to experience the city from the comfort of a seat.

Many local citizens and visitors still opt for xich lo because it’s inexpensive and slow enough for passengers to see everything.

VietNamNet/SGT

German tour operators explore MICE

Tour operator Asian Trails Co will organise tours for more than 300 MICE (meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions) organisers from Germany who want to look over Vietnamese destinations. The group, which will be here on September 4-10, will visit Ha Noi, Ha Long Bay, Hoi An, and HCM City.

Bui Viet Thuy Tien, managing director of Asian Trails, said Germany and Belgium are the company’s biggest customers for MICE tourism to Viet Nam.

Five-star resort to open on Con Dao

Six Senses Con Dao, the first luxury resort on the famous Con Dao Island in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau will welcome its first guests in December.

The five-star resort boasts “ultra-contemporary architecture designed to enhance the natural beauty of the site”.

All materials and resources have been locally chosen, and from sustainable sources, the resort developers say.

The resort has 50 villas, each with its own private infinity pool and unobstructed views of the East Sea with a total capacity of 200 guests. Each villa has both space and privacy along with indoor and outdoor bathrooms.

Con Dao is part of a 16-island archipelago around 200km from Vung Tau City.

Malaysian food for national day

Malaysia’s National Day will be celebrated with a special menu at the Hotel Nikko Ha Noi from August 21-31.

Organised in conjunction with the Embassy of Malaysia and the Malaysia Tourism Promotion Board, the menu will feature authentic dishes of Penang Island “the food capital of Malaysia”.

The island was influenced by Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Nyonya (or Peranakan) cuisines, the latter being a mixture of Chinese and Malay.

Featured dishes include spicy and sour tamarind fish, spicy king prawn with stinky bean, Malaysian beef stew in oriental herbs, famous Penang fried flat noodles and curry fish head with lady fingers.

In addition, the teh tarik (pulled tea) – a hot black tea and condensed milk – will be brewed using an authentic technique of pouring back and forth from a high container to a low one. A demonstration will be presented daily.

The dinner buffet will cost VND500,000/person. Malaysian National Day is on August 31.

Tourists opt for budget travel

More Vietnamese went or plan to go on vacations this year but mostly on low budgets, a survey by Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) newspaper has found.

More than 64 per cent of the 2,100 people polled between April and July said they made several trips this year, compared with 54 per cent last year, but more people went on budget tours.

Less than 20 per cent were willing to spend more than VND10 million (US$512) on a trip, slightly down from 20.2 per cent last year, while 46.3 per cent agreed to pay VND5 million to VND10 million, down from 57.4 per cent.

Charity caravan leaves for Ha Noi

A Charity Journey from HCM City to Ha Noi 2010, a nine-day caravan to commemorate the 1,000th anniversary of Ha Noi, has left HCM City on its first leg to Binh Thuan.

The caravan, sponsored by the CT Group, the HCM City Business Association, the Viet Nam Young Doctors Association, and others, will travel through Khanh Hoa, Thua Thien-Hue, Da Nang, Binh Dinh, and Quang Binh to Ha Noi.

At every stop, it will perform charity activities like providing free health checks and medicines and giving away scholarships to the poor it will also engage in cultural exchanges.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

Viajes Indochina Agency (AVI) is brand name of Spain language market where ACTIVETRAVEL ASIA (a largest and most prestigious tour operator in Vietnam) offers professional travel sevices and holiday package which have been widely accepted by customers primarily in Spain, Mexico, Venezuela.

Feel the love and romance in Vietnam. AVI does everything which makes the couples have a sweet honeymoon vacation

with an unforgettable experience and unique. AVI will arrange Vietnam visa on arrival for couples to have more time to prepare the vacation before arriving Vietnam. The hotels and places AVI has chose are amazing and wonderful to the complete satisfaction of couples and spend some quiet time while enjoying life ….

Roses and chocolates that are inside the room will also be included in the offer, thus helping couples have moments of ecstasy and fulfillment during sweet time in Vietnam.

News.activetravelvietnam.com

The world’s most therapeutic robot PARO, produced by Japan, is expected to be presented at the Hoi An – Japan Festival 2010 held in the ancient town on August 21-23.

Visitors to the festival will have chances to carry and talk with the baby harp seal robot, which can interact with humans via tactile, light, audition, temperature and posture sensors.

Sold commercially since 2004 and certified the World’s Most Therapeutic Robot by Guinness World Records, PARO was designed to have calming effects on and elicit emotional responses in patients at hospitals and nursing homes.

It also aims to help reduce stress and improve relaxation.

PARO will attend the annual festival together with two dance groups from Japan.

The seventh edition of the annual event will include a instruction session on the traditional Japanese folk art of folding papers (origami), and also offer visitors the chance to try on the traditional summer kimono (Yukata).

Vietnam LanguageVietnamese (tiếng Việt, or less commonly Việt ngữ), formerly known under French colonization as Annamese (see Annam), is the national and official language of Vietnam. It is the mother tongue of the Vietnamese people (người Việt or người Kinh), who constitute 86%-90% of Vietnam’s population, and of about three million overseas Vietnamese, most of whom live in the United States. It is also spoken as a second language by many ethnic minorities of Vietnam. It is part of the Austroasiatic language family, of which it has the most speakers by a significant margin (several times larger than the other Austroasiatic languages put together). Much vocabulary has been borrowed from Chinese, especially words that denote abstract ideas in the same way European languages borrow from Latin and Greek, and it was formerly written using the Chinese writing system, albeit in a modified format and was given vernacular pronunciation. The Vietnamese writing system in use today is an adapted version of the Latin alphabet, with additional diacritics for tones and certain letters.

- Vietnamese is the official language.

- Almost tourist guides speak languages: English, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish and Japanese.

Vietnamese Currency

vietnamese currency
Vietnamese dong (VND) is the official currency in Vietnam.

- Paper notes include: VND 500,000; 200,000; 100,000; 50,000; 20,000; 10,000; 5,000; 2,000; 1,000; 500; 200 and 100. Coins include VND 5,000; 2,000; 1,000; 500 and 200.

Cheques with value as Vietnamese dong include: VND 1,000,000 and 500,000.

- Foreign currencies and tourist cheques can be exchanged into Vietnamese Dong at banks or foreign exchange agencies.

- Credit cards are popularly used, especially in cities and big tourist centers.

Before leaving Vietnam, Vietnamese dong can be exchanged into foreign currencies at the airport

Vivutravel.com

The ten-day programme which will last through Oct. 10 will include a painting exhibition, a water puppetry, a concert and a Czech traditional gastronomic festival.

Vice Director of the Palace Le Quang Tuan expressed the hope that following the programme, his palace would cooperate with its Czech counterparts to organise exchanges between the two countries’ children to enhance mutual understanding and assistance.

The Czech friends have helped built the palace which has become a major centre for cultural and sports activities for Hanoian children.

Source: VNA