Diving Tours & Courses

More trains from HCM City to run during holiday

The Sai Gon Railway Passenger Transport Company said it would put more trains into operation between HCM City and Nha Trang, Quy Nhon or Phan Thiet during the Independence Day holiday on September 2.

The increased capacity will last from August 28 to September 2.

For this year’s Independence Day, employees nation-wide will have four official days off, which is expected to increase transport demand. — VNS

Entry fare cut at Con Son – Kiep Bac Historical Area

The entry fee to the famous Con Son – Kiep Bac Historical Area will be reduced by 10 per cent and the accommodation prices by five to 30 per cent, according to the area’s management board.

The cut was done to attract more people to the relics during the autumn season. There will also be free lectures to visiting groups.

Con Son – Kiep Bac is in Chi Linh Town in the northern province of Hai Duong. It has many historical relics related to the life and careers of the national hero Tran Quoc Tuan and noted cultural figure Nguyen Trai. In addition, the area has numerous beautiful sightseeing spots.

In mid-September, an autumn festival will be held in this area, featuring traditional games and performances. — VNS

Visitors to Lao Cai Province increase 25 per cent

Visitors to the northern province of Lao Cai increased by 25 per cent year-on-year in the first seven months of this year, according to the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The department attributed the increase to tourism-stimulation programmes as well as more convenient transportation conditions, thanks to the new Noi Bai – Lao Cai Highway, which helps cut time by 50 per cent.

The province, from now to the end of the year, will organise additional programmes to attract more visitors. It has also invested VND200 billion (US$9.5 million) to upgrade infrastructure to serve tourism demand in the 2014-16 period.

In addition, it plans to open a new bus route south of Lao Cai City to Sa Pa, the border gate and several tourism areas.

Lao Cai currently has 450 accommodation establishments, with a total of 5,400 rooms. — VNS

Northern province adds three ‘standard’ tourist beaches

Three more beaches in the northern province of Quang Ninh have been officially named as standard tourism beaches, according to new decisions released by the provincial People’s Committee.

Hoang Gia and Tuan Chau beaches in Ha Long City and Mai Quyen Beach in Van Don District have met the required standards, which include sufficient transport convenience, power supply, environmental cleanliness, and rescue equipment. The sand quality of beaches is another standard that has to be met.

The province has six beaches that have met the requirement of standards. — VNS

Tay Ho eatery serves up Polish with flair

One of the newest additions to trendy Tay Ho District, Pyza upgrades Poland’s traditional meat-and-potatoes fare. Elisabeth Rosen reports.

In the warm, sticky Ha Noi night, we fought over the last pierogi by the light of a flickering candle. Absent the blaring of motorbike horns, we could almost have been in Europe two centuries ago.

Polish food has been conspicuously absent from the dining scene in Ha Noi, despite the growing number of Eastern European options, like Berezka, Cafe CCCP and Bud’Mo. Young Vietnamese and expats jostle to get their first taste of the hearty dumplings, washing them down with imported Karpackie (VND75,000), at this converted tube house on To Ngoc Van Street. (Follow the branch that juts off downhill from the original street at number 33. If you get to a dirt-road construction site, you’ve gone too far.)

Owners Bach Duong and his wife Ngan, who grew up in Poland, saw the dearth of Polish food in Ha Noi as a business opportunity. They opened a place called V&B (Viet Nam and Ba Lan) in 2012, but despite its location on expat-populated Doi Can Street, the restaurant struggled to attract customers. After a recent move to trendy Tay Ho District and name change to Pyza (“dumpling”), however, they’re consistently packed.

This isn’t your grandmother’s Polish food. Chef Piotr Dabrowski worked at five-star hotels in Poland before moving to Asia; here, he crafts quietly elegant plates that pay homage to the cuisine’s peasant roots. The star of the night is golonka, roasted pork hock (VND110,000). Mounted on a round butcher’s block alongside smooth mashed potatoes and ribbons of cabbage, the tender, fat-streaked slab makes a convincing ambassador for Polish fare.

The pork chop (VND80,000) is also a consistent winner, although minor details can be inconsistent. The first night I ordered it, the dish came garnished with a Black Forest crafted from shiso and coriander; the next, it featured a caramel-hued gravy. Still, you can’t quibble with the result, deftly pan-fried and topped with a perfectly fried egg. More problematic is beef stew (VND70,000) which is a bit of a misnomer: practically drizzled onto continent-sized potato pancakes, it contains so little meat that it could nearly be termed vegetarian.

Polished Polish: Chef Piotr Dabrowski delivers elegant takes on traditional dishes.

The signature pyza come in potato and meat flavors. Made with potato dough, they are denser than the pierogi, large flour dumplings stuffed with garlicky spinach (VND80,000) or creamy cottage cheese (VND90,000) and served the traditional way with fried onions and sour cream. A bowl of the vinegary beetroot soup called borscht, presented on the side, serves to cut the richness.

Despite all the fat and cream, portions are balanced: you won’t stagger out the door feeling more stuffed than the cabbage rolls. The cause of fullness is aided by a basket of black bread baked in-house, which one smears with a generous swipe of smalec, a lard-based spread with bacon and raisins. It’s delicious, though the accompanying pickles lack the requisite snap. Should you want to prolong your feasting, there are homemade pastries like apple cake with vanilla ice cream (VND35,000) and decadent karpatka (VND70,000), a Polish take on cream puffs. The name refers to the Carpathian Mountains, ostensibly because their rugged surface, dusted with confectioner’s sugar, evokes those craggy peaks, although the portions are also suitably mountain-esque.

The decor is minimalist verging on non-existent. Diners eat in brightly lit private rooms (the better to see your food with?) with sparse white walls. Lucky groups can score the slightly more ambient terrace, which seats about 16 and delivers, on occasion, an accidental Old World experience. One night, a blackout abruptly swept the house into darkness. Servers rushed up with candles. Fortified by the dim light and those rich pierogi, it mattered little. — VNS

Hue offers discounts to heritage sites in September

THUA THIEN – HUE (VNS) — Visitors to Hue get chance to enjoy a month of promotion on occasion of the National Day, September 2.

During the month, from September 2-30, a group of 10 or more visitors will get 20 per cent discount of entrance tickets to heritage sites in the former royal capital city. Visitors will be allowed using tickets bought at Imperial Palace, Khai Dinh or Minh Mang mausoleums to enter other sites.

Cost for shows of nha nhac (Hue royal court music) performed in the Duyet Thi Duong royal theatre inside the palace will be cut in half as well.

The discount is among other promotion that Hue applied for the year’s target of three million visitors, including rowshows in Ha Noi and HCM City and farmtrips of Japanese, Korean, and Thai tourism delegates to Hue.

In the last seven months, the city welcomed 1.8 million visits. — VNS

Off the beaten tourist track, Quy Nhon is ready to be discovered

by Tien Thanh

Are you looking for a peaceful, non-touristy beach free of pesky vendors, and a decent, affordable hotel near the sea?

Quy Nhon City, once a mainstay of the fishing industry of central Binh Dinh Province, should be on your bucket list if you visit or live in Viet Nam.

Though it retains its fishing prowess, as well as its martial arts traditions, the city has changed a great deal in recent years.

Located far from the country’s major urban centres – 650km from HCM City, 300km from Da Nang City and 1,100km from the capital Ha Noi – Quy Nhon is less developed than other coastal destinations popular with foreigners and locals alike, such as Nha Trang or Da Nang.

With a 4 km-long beach and a spacious seafront street with patches of green, the beach provides an ideal place for walking, sunbathing or throwing a small party with friends.

The beach is especially quiet if you are an early bird and want to take a swim or jog on the sand.

The Two Towers: Hung Thanh Tower is one of the most popular sightseeing spots in Quy Nhon. — Photo panoramio.com

“Quy Nhon is less touristy than Nha Trang and people here are also less money-minded,” James Looker, a young Canadian tourist who quit his job to travel around the world for six months, said.

At the beach, James and his friends used baskets and thin plastic cups to make sand structures, while an ice bucket full of cans of beer stood nearby.

“I’m going to stay in the city for a while and see if I can find a part-time job here,” he said.

More restaurants and accommodation services are appearing in the area to serve the growing number of tourists. And, a few mini-bars serving drinks at reasonable prices have popped up along An Duong Vuong Street along the seafront.

With only a few hotels labelled three stars or above, most of the accommodations are inexpensive and perfect for backpackers.

“The city government is encouraging the development of restaurant and accommodation services, ranging from cheap to expensive, to meet the demands of all kinds of tourists,” said an official of the provincial planning and investment department, who declined to be named.

Besides the beach, the city, once an important commercial centre under the Nguyen dynasty, offers tourists historic structures and performances of Vietnamese marital arts and classic drama.

Laid back: A resort in Quy Nhon City. — File Photo

During my visit, a motorbike taxi driver and a car taxi driver both introduced me to the Twin Tower, or Hung Thanh Tower, located three kilometres from the heart of the city in Dong Da Ward.

The edifice has two parallel towers, one 20m and the other 18m, built from the 11th to the 13th century with many intricate patterns on their sides.

The Long Khanh and Son Long pagodas are two other historic sites that deserve a visit.

At Long Son, visitors will have a chance to see a Buddhist statue made of stone, weighing 1.5 tonnes, and 3.1m high.

Quy Nhon is also known as the cradle of traditional martial arts in Viet Nam, and hosts the country’s biggest biennial traditional martial art festival, which was held during my recent stay.

I was stunned to see hundreds of students, martial artists, actors, singers and musicians performing on a stage set up on Nguyen Tat Thanh Street.

The festival, which has been held since 2006, honours King Quang Trung, who taught martial arts to farmers so they could fight as soldiers to dispel northern invaders and unite the country.

The city plans to make use of its traditions to add to its tourism value, with tours to the Quang Trung Museum in Tay Son District and to schools of martial arts throughout the province.

Classic drama like hat bai choi, which is popular among local residents, is another attraction for tourists interested in Vietnamese theatre culture.

For dinner, the central market, which sells inexpensive clothing and small items, is a good place to stop. It has a handful of eateries, many of them serving fresh seafood.

“Most of my customers are local people, and there are also international tourists, but the number is very modest,” said Tran Minh Vu, who helps his parents sell beef noodles, baked cuttlefish and egg-filled bread at their food stand in the market.

With the city poised to be the next big thing, the time to visit Quy Nhon is now, while it is inexpensive and blessedly uncrowded. — VNS

Bac Giang to host sixth festival for ethnic minorities

Northern Bac Giang Province will host its sixth festival of culture, sports and tourism for ethnic minorities in October, according to the provincial People’s Committee.

The event, held every two years, aims to honour the local people’s values and cultural identity and provides an opportunity for ethnic minority groups to strengthen solidarity and exchange experiences in preserving and promoting their culture, sports and tourism potential.

It will feature a conference on tourism, and activities including a series of art performances showcasing traditional customs, costumes, food, folk games and sports. — VNS