Posted by admin on July 29, 2011 under Attractions, Vietnam Travel Guide | 
Quiet yellow-sand beaches and historical sites may lure visitors to Con Dao but it’s the old tropical trees that protect them from the scorching sunshine in the archipelago off the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau.
There are a number of cay bang trees which are over 100 years old and hang over Ton Duc Thang and other roads in Con Dao to provide respite from the heat for tourists, who ride past on their motorbikes or stroll around.
Strong winds and sunshine may be not be your idea of a nice break but these noticeable characteristics have turned out to contribute to shaping the trees into distinctive bonsais. The trees are spread out over two lanes of the seaside roads and they shield pedestrians taking a leisurely stroll on the pavement between the tree lines and mossy yellow walls of the old prisons, from the sun.
From tourists resorts, beyond the lines of tropical trees in the esplanade, you can witness the calm of the sea, with fishing boats bobbing on the water and the distant mountains.
At a little coffee shop called Con Son, you can sip a cup of coffee and rest after a long trek at the seaside or in the forests.
Breaths of wind blow in from the ocean sending red leaves of the tropical trees down onto your table as drops of coffee are slowly seeping through the filter, and whet traveler’s appetite for more adventure in the quiet town of Con Dao.
Inside and outside this small town there are other types of ancient trees including the banyan whose roots cover the ruins of historical sites. Underneath these roots contain untold stories about the bravery of revolutionary fighters who shed blood for the independence of Vietnam.
Source: SGT
Posted by admin on April 21, 2011 under Vietnam Travel in the South, Vietnam travel News |
After living in the nation which founded the ancient sport, you would have thought that by now I would have gone at least a dozen times.
But no, for some reason I had maybe gone to the dogs literally but not physically. Greyhound racing is a great spectacle and even inspired Damon Albarn of English BritPop band Blur to feature his favorite pastime, away from music, on the front cover of the award-winning Parklife album.
So a trip to Vung Tau with a group of friends didn’t see me believing I had much chance of fulfilling my ambition. Greyhounds in Vietnam? Not likely.
We checked into the Petro Hotel and when I was coming down the lift I looked out the window and in my amazement saw a greyhound track. Double-take time but yes at reception they confirmed that races were taking place as they do every Saturday evening at the 5,000-capacity Lam Son stadium in 15 Le Loi Street.
I grabbed my friends quickly and dragged them along and what a great experience it was. A seat close to the finish-line and the chance to have a beer as you put a few bets on, what more can a man wish for? A winner, perhaps and with two races to go it duly arrived but not a big lift as it was second favorite. I was unfortunate with my forecasts of 1-2-3. Three times having 1-2-4. I then did a spot of digging and found out this is the only greyhound racing track in the country.
It was the brainchild of Aussie Bevan Williamson in 2002 with the initial investment to finance the air-conditioned 400-meter track coming from Australia but the sand, of course, comes from Vung Tau beach.
Sunday and time to go home but not before we got down to the real business of the trip – the beach and the seafood. The beach I was warned was not great but as it is the closest to Saigon, it is popular but I thought it was nice and everyone I met seemed to be loving being away from the city.
On our way home my friends told me we would be missing the chance of a lifetime if we didn’t go to seafood restaurant Ganh Hao, and boy were they right – it was out of this world.
Honestly, I’d eaten seafood almost daily since relocating to Vietnam but nothing prepared me for the crab and prawn delights of this piece of heaven. Wow. Even thinking about it now makes my mouth water and it was so cheap.
It’s worth going to Vung Tau just to dine at Ganh Hao on 3 Tran Phu Street alone. What’s a three-hour drive or 90 minute ferry journey to this little gem of a restaurant. It’s fair to say my first visit to the Ba Ria–Vung Tau region won’t be my last.
(Source: Saigon Times)
Collected by Vietnam hotel
Posted by admin on September 17, 2010 under Vietnam Travel Guide, Vietnam Travel in the South, vietnam beauty |
VietNamNet Bridge – Mother Nature has been unduly kind to Con Dao, even if mankind hasn’t.
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| Boats carry tourists to visit Con Dao Island. (Photo: VNS) |
The archipelago epitomises picture-postcard prettiness – soft white sand, aquamarine seas, virgin mangrove forests, coral reefs to die for, real-life mermaids that sing like sea nymphs. The superlatives go on and on.
There are few places in the 21st century that can rival Con Dao’s pristine beauty. And as you look out on all this splendour, it’s hard to imagine that it was once a French penal colony and an American prisoner-of-war camp.
“It’s a real heaven on earth, something that I thought could only exist in my dreams,” says Vu Minh Huyen, a tourist from Ha Noi.
The 16-island archipelago lies in sublime loveliness 180km south of Vung Tau City – at the moment at least. The nation now wishes to exploit its natural charms, which is why Belgian engineer Stijn Verdickt fears for its future.
“Go before it’s too late,” he warns.
The 10-year Con Dao development master plan is expected to be given the nod of approval by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung later this year.
In fact, beach-view land plots on Con Son, the only inhabited island in the archipelago, have already been sold, says Bui Van Binh, deputy chairman of the district’s People’s Committee.
“As soon as the master plan is approved, construction will start on a massive scale,” he says.
Binh admits that developing Con Dao while preserving its natural beauty and breathtaking biodiversity is a “paradox” – a really tough job.
But development will come, says Dao Xuan Lai, head of the UNDP Sustainable Development Department in Viet Nam. But he is hopeful it will be done with discernment.
“Development and preservation are not necessarily opposing forces,” he says.
Preserving the island is to attract tourists to boost the incomes of the local people and ensure sustainable growth and ensure sustainable growth, he says.
Preservation of the archipelago has been given top priority under the National Action Plan on Biodiversity and National Global Environment Facility over the past 15 years.
Con Dao became a national park in 1993 – only one of four officially protected areas in Viet Nam to include both terrestrial and marine values.
Con Dao is home to the biggest population of sea turtles in Viet Nam. Among those are the endangered green and hawksbill species. Park director Le Xuan Ai says about 350 mother turtles come to Con Dao to lay eggs each year and that about 50,000 baby turtles hatch and make their way to the sea.
The islanders also cherish the dugongs, the so-called “singing mermaids”. At least 10 can be found serenading off-shore.
The 20-ha national park is also home to more than 40 other endangered species that are named in the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List and Viet Nam’s Red Book.
Fringing the archipelago is about 7,000ha of coral reef. About 300 species of coral have been counted and coral fish has the highest density recorded off the coast of Viet Nam.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan likens Con Dao to a blank sheet of paper “on which we should carefully draw”.
The archipelago, where the French built tiger cages to hold political prisoners nearly 150 years ago, has drawn special attentions from the Government and the Party. In fact, such is the importance given to the archipelago that development can only proceed with prime ministerial approval – a rare distinction.
However, development on Con Dao has been slow and small-scale, something that Ai says is ‘lucky”.
“Great care and consideration have been paid to development of the archipelago so that it proceeds in the right direction,” he says.
Binh says an important milestone was made in 2005 when then Prime Minister Phan Van Khai approved the Con Dao Socio-economic Development Plan, which would have come to full fruition in 2020.
The strategy, known as “Plan 264″, has “completely changed direction of Con Dao’s development in a much more sustainable way,” says Ha Van Nghia, deputy director of the province’s Agriculture and Rural Development Department in.
Plan 264 dictates that development of Con Dao should only focus on sustainable tourism services on the basis of the archipelago’s preserved historic relics and protected national park, which accounts for 83 per cent of the land area.
The first plan, signed by former Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet in 1997, mistakenly stated that development should be “multifaceted and comprehensive”.
Ai says Kiet himself then admitted that if it had been carried out, Con Dao would have been destroyed.
However, Plan 264, the second development proposal, remains a far cry from a report by the UNDP. The plan aims to raise the archipelago’s current population of 6,700 to 50,000 and attract 500,000-700,000 tourists annually by 2020. About 30,000-50,000 tourists now visit Con Dao each year.
The UN’s Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use in Con Dao project however states that these targets are well beyond the archipelago’s carrying capacity. “The natural ecological systems on the archipelago are very sensitive to human interference. Thus every distortion and interference beyond its capacity will result in major disruption. Con Dao’s attractive green and natural appearance will be lost,” Ai says bluntly.
The third master plan is currently being considered by the Prime Minister. It has revised down these targets to 20,000 residents and no more than 500,000 tourists a year, Nghia says.
It also prohibits industries, such as aquatic product processing, which can harm the archipelago’s marine environment. Any development will have to be environmentally friendly and in keeping with the islands’ marine and terrestrial ecology.
The new plan has the support of Nguyen Thi Hong Xinh, the former deputy chairwoman of the provincial People’s Council. “It is a positive development and a reflection of the progress in official sensitivity,” she says.
Ai, however, says there is no room for complacency.
“Good evaluation of any planned investment projects is crucial to Con Dao’s sustainable development,” says Ai, who has spent 25 years, half his life, fighting to preserve the archipelago’s natural beauty.
He is not alone. Watching from their resting places are late heroine Vo Thi Sau and former Party leader Le Hong Phong, whose love for Con Dao lives on.
VietNamNet/Viet Nam News
Posted by admin on August 28, 2010 under Attractions, Vietnam Travel Guide |
Vung Tau is the city of Ba Ria – Vung Tau, in the Southeast of Vietnam. Vung Tau is a coastal city, a famous tourist destination of Vietnam.
Vung Tau borders Ba Ria and Long Dien district, located on the peninsula of the same name and the Long Son island, distance
Ho Chi Minh City 125 km to the southeast by road and 80 km as the crow flies. If you look at the way North Vietnam, Vung Tau is located around to change direction from South to West section under the letter “S” (map of Vietnam) and jut out the mainland as a strip of land about 14 km in length and 6 km wide. This is where one can look both the South Sea at sunrise and sunset. There is Con Dao – a famous place with historic in Vietnam war – the hell prison.
Some pictures about Vung Tau:
Sun rise in Vung Tau Beach
Sun set in Vung Tau beach
Vung Tau beach is very beautiful
Jesus statue in Vung Tau is a famous place
Kite festival in Vung Tau
Con Dao prison
Life in Con Dao
Posted by admin on August 20, 2010 under Attractions, Vietnam Travel Guide |
by Adam
Many travelers have precious little time to spend in Ho Chi Minh City or even Vietnam as a whole, and wish to see as much as possible within a matter of days. Fortunately, beyond the sights the city itself has to offer there are a number of day trips from Saigon that will give a short term visitor the opportunity to sample a bit more of what Vietnam has to offer, and more often than not to tempt them back.
1 – Beach life – Vung Tau
Vung tau can be visited with ease in the space of a day – it only takes one hour on the hydrofoil from downtown Saigon, and is small enough to get a feel for the town and the coast within a day. Although the beach may not be the prettiest in Vietnam as its location at the mouth of several major rivers affects the clarity of the water, the hills surrounding Vung Tau are very picturesque, and there are numerous attractions to visit like as the statue of Jesus Christ overlooking the bay, a scene reminiscent of Rio de Janeiro which offers great views of the coast from the top.
2 – History and Culture – Cu Chi + Tay Ninh
One of the most popular day trips from Saigon is to the famous Cu Chi tunnels, where the Viet Cong resistance forces tunneled underground to hide from the US forces and to launch surprise attacks, with families spending months or even years living beneath the earth. It a remarkable example of the ingenuity and resourcefulness of the Vietnamese people.
On the way most tours make a stop at the Cao Dai temple in Tay Ninh, a religion unique to Vietnam that brings together elements of Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism, Confucianism and Islam. It has had an eventful history in its short existence; during occupations by foreign powers the religion formed its own nationalist struggles against colonialism. The temples are brightly colored and very distinctive, and the monks are very happy to sit with you and explain more about their religion.
3 – Life on the Water – My Tho in the Mekong Delta
Wherever you are in Vietnam you are never far from the coast or a river, and so water forms an integral part of life in Vietnam. The Mekong Delta is known as the rice bowl of Vietnam due to the extremely fertile flood plains, and is responsible for growing massive quantities of fruit as well as being one of the major sources of Vietnam’s rice exports.
A day trip to the Mekong Delta will normally only take you as far as My Tho, the closest city to Saigon that is within the delta, and although a boat trip through the canals may be brief and not explore as deeply as other trips further into the delta, it certainly offers you the chance to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery as you gently row between the palms and bamboo.
4 – Rural Vietnam – Can Gio and Thu Thiem
Although amongst the hustle and bustle of central Saigon it can feel like the concrete goes on forever there are two places that allow a complete escape from noise, concrete and chaos of the inner city, and they are surprisingly close to the center.
Thu Thiem is literally just across the water from downtown Saigon and can be accessed by ferry. As soon as you land on the other side it is like being in a small village rather than a bustling metropolis, and it’s a great place to explore on a bicycle, stopping off at small coffee shops and stretching out in hammocks. Be quick though – the area is changing fast and within a few years this place will be redeveloped beyond recognition into the new central business district of Saigon.
Can Gio is a province thick with dense mangrove forests that is best explored by boat. Full of wildlife and known as the lungs of the city, a trip to Can Gio can convince you that Ho Chi Minh City could be a million miles away. The few villages here are small and quiet, and the forest that was near destroyed during the war is making a considerable comeback, teeming with bird life.
( Source: http://vietnamtravelnotes.com)
Tags: Can Gio, Cu Chi, hcmc, Ho Chi Minh City, Mekong Delta, saigon, short breaks, Tay Ninh, Thu Thiem, travel, Vietnam Travel Blog, Vung Tau
