An Giang Province offers culture and crafts with tourism

Lying on the west of the Mekong Delta, An Giang Province attracts more than five million domestic and international holidaymakers annually, making it the key tourist destination in the region.

Holidaymakers are excited to join in the village activities

To be able to attract more visitors, An Giang Province has developed several traditional handicraft villages and linked them with tourism. So far these villages have proved to be very effective.

An Giang Province has developed 34 traditional handicraft villages to date, many of which were founded a long, long time ago, with each traditional craft village having a cultural base with its own identity.

These are well-known in the country like blacksmiths Phu My village in Phu Tam District; Tan Chau town’s famous silk of Lanh My A brand– a kind of cocoon silk fabricated by original formulas, making it a unique product that many women dream of in the 20th century; 100-year-old Chau Giang Brocade village, which makes exquisite brocade, a perfect combination between traditional and modern and also unique in producing Cham ethnic minority specialty with a number of patterns; and Cho Thu lumber village in Cho Moi District.

Several new traditional craft villages  to make arts and crafts products from available materials from the countryside like bamboo, thot not tree or palmyra tree for numerous sugars, drinks and food, water hyacinth, are all popular gifts bought by visitors.

Nguyen Van Len, director of An Giang Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said the province is launching a variety of tours such as tours for Buddhist followers, ecological tours, and agricultural tours.

Authorities also held seminars ‘Sustainable growth of arts and craft production in economic downturn’ to help enterprises and businessmen to penetrate markets locally and internationally. In addition, the People’s Committee organized fairs to display arts and craft products.

The province has plans to preserve and develop traditional crafts villages. In the first phase, the province will spend VND60 billion ($2.9 million) on 43 projects and in the second phase, VND4.3 billion will be invested in seven projects.

An Giang Province therefore has offered jobs to more than 33,000 residents with average salary of VND1.3 million a month, said Huynh The Nang, deputy chairman of the People’s Committee.

In some special tours designed for tourists, visitors will have a chance to see artists from traditional craft villages making a shirt for visitors, weaving bamboo products or participating in baking cakes.

Hoang Su Phi terraced fields - new national heritage

 

The terraced fields in Hoang Su Phi District in the northern province of Ha Giang, have been recognized as a national heritage site by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The province will hold a certification ceremony on September 16 which will feature traditional art and culture of ethnic people.

The terraces bear witness to centuries of wet rice cultivation by ethnic minorities in Hoang Su Phi, including the Dao, Nung and La Chi, and they have great cultural and historical value in addition to being aesthetically beautiful. The terraced fields cover six communes including Ban Luoc, San Sa Ho, Ban Phung, Ho Thau, Nam Ty and Thong Nguyen.

Local authorities will create projects to preserve the fields and promote their tourism potential.

Source: SGT

 

Plough casting of the Mong ethnic people

For a long time, the Mong people in Dong Van Karst Plateau in the northern mountainous province of Ha Giang have preserved a technique of casting a special kind of plough that is suitable for rocky soils. 

With its high geological value, the plateau was officially recognised as a Global Geo-Park by the UNESCO Global Geo-parks Network (GGN) in 2010. It is the first certificate ever issued in Vietnam and only the second in Southeast Asia. 

Over the years, the plateau has been home to several ethnic groups, but primarily the Mong people who survive by farming in rare plots scattered on rocky mountainsides.

The image of the plateau is one of an immense, rugged, rocky, mountain area with occasional strips of rocky earth dispersed between mountainous creeks and rivers. Predictably, it is no easy task for local people to farm here.

They cannot use the normal ploughs that are typically used in the plains because the ploughs simply break or are quickly damaged by rocks. 

Grinding clay to make the mould

Mixing the rock and oak charcoal flour to coat the casting mould

Making the mould smooth with a mixture of oak charcoal and rock flour

The mould consists of  two pieces made from clay, mixed with charcoal flour and rock flour and then placed on a wooden stand

Grafting two pieces of the casting mould using a layer of clay

To cast a plough, it requires about 7kg of pig iron

Pouring the melted pig-iron into the mould

After three minutes, the plough can be taken out of the mould

At the market, each plough is sold for VND350,000

To deal with this difficulty, the people in the plateau have built a special kind of plough that is suitable for the rocky soils.

In Sung La Hamlet in Sung La Commune, Dong Van District, the casting technique is now preserved by the Mua family.

The secret and experience in casting the firm and durable ploughs are handed down from generation to generation.

At first glance, the Mua’s casting technique appears to be nothing unusual, but in fact it consists of many interesting secrets.

For example, besides common pig-iron, they add other materials such as rock flour and charcoal from oak trees. Coal for firing the kiln is also from the oak tree.

After completion, the ploughs are kept in ash instead of water just like the traditional plough-casting method.

Thank to the special plough, Mong ethnic people can cultivate on the Dong Van Karst Plateau

Thanks to these techniques, the Mong ethnic people have created their own ploughs that help them till the earth on these rocky outcrops.

Despite harsh conditions, green corn and rice fields are seen on the plateau, promising to bring the local people in the border areas of the country a better life.

Boat race on Tam Giang Lagoon

Vietnam’s Independence Day on September 2 annually holds a boat race on Tam Giang Lagoon in Thua Thien-Hue Province.

 

Boat race on Tam Giang-Cau Hai Lagoon on September 2

The event, organised by people in Vinh Hien Commune, Phu Loc District, is a vivid example of local cultural life.

Vinh Hien Commune is located on the area of the Tam Giang-Cau Hai Lagoon which runs to the Tu Dung Estuary.

The Tam Giang-Cau Hai Lagoon covers 21,600ha and is home to 230 fish species, 63 benthos, 43 kinds of seaweed, 70 bird varieties and many other kinds of sea creatures. It is the largest and the most diverse lagoons in Southeast Asia.

Most of people in Vinh Hien Commune live off fishing and aquaculture. The annual boat race is aimed to wish for favourable weather, peace and wealth, good crops and catches.

The boat course runs some 700 metres. Before leaving the departure point or after reaching the finish, each boat has to move around a bamboo stick put under the middle of the race route. The stick is about 30 metres from the departure point.

Boats from the competitor’s families line the race route. A number of households sell confectionery, food and drink, creating an atmosphere similar to a floating market.

 

After three rolls of drum, boats leave the starting point

 

Going around the bamboo stick requires care

 

Moving around the stick after reaching the finish

 

 

 

Cheering

 

Cups for the winners

Phu Quoc international airport in use this December

 

The southern province of Kien Giang has said Phu Quoc international airport will be put into operation in December this year. Construction of the airport began in Duong To commune, Phu Quoc district in November 2008.
The air terminal is being built on an area of more than 900ha at a total cost of VND16.2 trillion. The project includes a runway, a passenger terminal, and a VHF omnidirectional range station (VOR).
The runway, which is 3,000m long and 45m wide, will enable the airport to accommodate Boeing 777s, Boeing 747-400s and other similar aircraft.
Contractors are putting the finishing touch to the runway and passenger terminal to ensure that they will be inaugurated on schedule.
The airport will serve passengers to capital Hanoi, northern provinces, and countries in the region and the world, in order to take advantage of local economic potential, especially ecological and marine tourism, as well as investment and trade.
 
Source: VOV

Hoang Su Phi terraced fields recognised as national heritage

 

According to Ha Giang provincial People’s Committee, the province will organize a ceremony on September 16th 2012 to receive the decision of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on recognizing Hoang Su Phi terraced fields as national heritage.
The ceremony will be broadcast live of VTV channel of the Vietnam Television. An exhibition on economic and cultural products in the district will be held on this occasion.
The event aims to preserve the fields and promote their tourism potential.
Hoang Su Phi terraced field is situated on six communes and established hundreds of year ago by labour force of the community and people of La Chi, Dao and Nung ethnic minority groups.
The fields were among the sites recently recongnised by the MoCST as significant parts of the nation’s heritage, including three other landscapes: the Trang An caves in Ninh Binh province, the Pusamcap cave system in Lai Chau province, and the Chua Tien caves in Hoa Binh province./.
 
Source: CPV
 

The picturesque King Meo palace

The magnificent palace of the Vuong family in Sa Phin, Dong Van commune, located around 125 kilometers from Ha Giang City, is one of the most popular tourist spots in Ha Giang province.

 

The front of the grand palace 

The palace belonged to Vuong Duc Chinh, who was named King of Meo people in Dong Van commune, and is nearly 100 years old. It was used as a fortress to defend Vuong and his subordinates as they drove out the French forces in 1940.

The regime of Vuong became prosperous thanks to his trading of opium from China and surrounding regions into Vietnam.

He was then persuaded by Ho Chi Minh, leader of Communist party in Vietnam to fight against the French and to protect the far north region of Vietnam.

The stone palace backs onto the mountainous borders with China while viewing Sa Phin market, where local minority people, mostly H’Mong, trade agricultural products.

Its architectural design is a mixture between ancient Chinese and Western architecture. In addition to the living space, the construction has a warehouse for food, gold and opium products.

Phu Quoc National Park

Situated in the North-East of Phu Quoc Island in the southern province of Kien Giang, the park has special and unique biodiversity values compared to other national parks across the country.

Located on an island that has a mixture of continental and coastal climate, the park possesses a rich ecosystem of primeval, secondary and indigo forests.

 

Its indigo forests are distributed across sloping hills and lowlands that are flooded in the rainy season.

The topography of the national park is hilly, although not particularly steep, with its highest point at 603m on Mount Chua.

Drained by numerous, mainly seasonal, streams, the only sizeable river on the island is the Rach Cua Can River, which winds through the southern part of the park before flowing into the sea on the west coast of the island.

Remarkably, the national park alone is home to more than 920 species of plants and a large diversity of coral reef. Phu Quoc Island supports 12,794 ha of lowland evergreen forest, 86 percent of which is within the national park itself.

At lower elevations, the national park shows distinctive formations of Melaleuca, a family of trees that sport evergreen leaves, alternately arranged in dark green and grey-green colours.

In regards to local fauna, a list of 43 mammal species belonging to 18 families and 6 orders has been compiled in the park.

Silvered langur, slow loris, pygmy loris, crab-eating macaque, stump-tailed macaque, small-clawed otter and fruit bats are just some of the rare species that conservationists are concerned about.

Due to the plentiful coral reef on the south of the island, there are over 120 species of fish, 130 species of mollusk and 62 species of sea weed recorded in the area.

Interestingly enough, Phu Quoc is also one of only two places in Vietnam where the Dugong, a marine species on the brink of extinction, can be found.

Phu Quoc National Park proves to be a fantastic destination for tourists as it offers a wide range of activities such as camping, trekking and swimming. It is also ideal for those who want to study a wide variety of tropical forests.