Phu Quy Island - Beautiful landscape

 120 kilometers southeast of the Phan Thiet Sea, lies ten beautiful islands which comprises the known Phu Quy District. From the range of islets, Phu Quy Island is deemed the largest with 16.5 km2 in area and a population of about 25,000. With its long stretch of white sandy beaches and dense coral reefs, only the rocky, northern half of the island is inhabited. Endowed with beautiful landscapes which include vast rows or casuarinas trees, the entirety of the island is very pristine.

Though the place holds a lot of beautiful sceneries and important cultural sites, the speedier development of its neighboring islets have helped Phu Quy maintain its paradise-like visage and its pure state. With cool climate year-round, crystal-clear waters and fascinating coral reefs, the island is a great place to keep close touch with nature and enjoy a calm and serene atmosphere ideal for summer getaways or romantic settings.

Among the places to see around the island is the famous lighthouse that sits on Cam Mountain. Not only the lighthouse provides tourists the best view of the island’s romantic landscapes and beautiful rock formations, the people in the island also take pride on it as it is one of the only two lighthouses in the country that runs on solar energy. On the same mountain lies the Linh Buu Pagoda, one of the many pagodas and temples that have graced the island for so long. An Thanh Temple which holds remains of gigantic whales worshipped by the locals along with the 18th century-built Linh Quang temple are two of the nationally-recognized cultural-historic sites embedded in this beautiful place.

Apart from that, as Phu Quy’s name means “rich and precious”, the island indeed has vast reserves of mineral resources and perfect fishing conditions. In fact, its waters are considered the most important fishing grounds in the central coast of Binh Thuan province where a wide and diverse marine life dwells in. Snappers, groupers, tunas and sharks are among its most common products, yet the abundance of squid makes it the island’s specialty.

Viewing the island from the north, it resembles giant mackerel emerging from the sea, thus, Phu Quy is commonly referred to by the local residents as Cu Lao Thu (Mackerel Island).

What To Expect

Because of its distance, Phu Quy’s major sources of electricity are diesel-driven generators. As the place do not have disco bars and active night life, with a few karaoke bars around however, power in the whole island is switched off every night close to midnight until early morning the next day. However, along with the recent developments around, a network of electricity is developed on top of the modern road systems, schools, medical stations and tourism services put up in the locality.

The island may be pretty far from Vietnam’s mainland, but ATM machines are available as well as hospitals with X-ray services. They also provide a decent mobile phone coverage and internet cafes are easily accessible. As the island does not have as active tourism activities than its neighbors, there are only few guest houses available at present (about 100,000 VND for a night’s stay). Visiting the market gives you opportunity to enjoy the island’s freshest catch and have it cooked for an extra fee. You can take a nice walk along the shorelines while enjoying the stunning view of the beach, or perhaps read a good book or take the opportunity to just simply relax and enjoy the peace and quiet away from the chaotic city noise. Friendly villagers often approach you and offer coconut milk drinks for sale, sugar canes and freshly cooked Cha Gio (Vietnamese spring rolls).

Getting Around the Island

There is no public transport available in Phu Quy, yet renting a motorbike (80,000 VND for a full day, or 50,000 for half-a-day, without fuel) is the easiest way to get around the island. At present, better roads are constantly developed and more vehicles might be expected in the near future.

Traveling to Phu Quy

You can travel via road to Phan Thiet, and from there you can take the ferry boat bound for Phu Quy (140′000 VND one way). Since schedules of ferries greatly depend on weather conditions, there are no fixed departure schedules. On favorable weathers, the boat departs from Phan Thiet harbor every three days.

A phone call to the harbor better helps you plan your trip ahead, but if you have the chance to drop by, they usually put up a sign on the waiting boat which says when the next departure is expected. It is advised to come an hour early before the departure to find a comfortable seat since the travel could get uncomfortable due to cargoes taken aboard. Normally, the trip takes about 6 hours, but when the waters are not calm and weather is not so favorable, it could stretch up to over 9 hours. Don’t forget your visas since registration of passports on their immigration office is required upon arrival.

Ha Giang Stone Plateau

    *Area: 7,884.3 sq. km.
    *Population: 673,300 habitants (2005)
    *Capital: Ha Giang Town.
    * Districts: Dong Van, Meo Vac, Yen Minh, Quan Ba, Bac Me, Hoang Su Phi, Vi Xuyen, Xin Man, Bac Quang, Quang Binh.
    * Ethnic groups: Viet (Kinh), Tay, Dao, H’Mong, San Diu.

Located at the highest latitude in Vietnam. The annual average temperature varies between 24 and 28ºC. Ha Giang Town is 320km from Hanoi. Ha Giang is on National Highway No.2, 34, 279 linking to Yen Bai, Cao Bang, Lao Cai provinces in turn. Tourist can buy embroidery such as handkerchief, haversack, and dress with colorful, fine pattern. They also take part in enjoyable market-day of local ethnics. The people and natural scenes here are unlike anywhere in Vietnam.

Attractions

Khau Vai Love Market
Every year on 27th day of the third lunar month in Khau Vai Commune, Meo Vac District, Ha Giang Province. This is the place for couples in the region to make a date, and it is also the place for former lovers to meet each other, and look for boy or girl friend.

Dong Van Highland
In Dong Van District, 146km far from Ha Giang Town, Ha Giang Province. Dong Van has a lot to offer: mountains, forests, hidden grottoes and caves, and many valuable plants for medical purposes. Dong Van Highland is situated 1,025 m above sea level and is inhabited by the Tay and H’Mong ethnic groups. The temperature is approximately 1oC in winter and reaches 24oC on the hottest days. The plateau provides famous products such as Hau plums, peaches, and persimmons without seeds. Dong Van apples are as big as pears. In Dong Van, numerous valuable plants used for their medicinal value are found, including ginseng, anise, and cinnamon. Dong Van is very beautiful with mountains, forests, hidden grottoes and caves, multicoloured orchid forests, plum and peach trees, persimmon orchards, and more. Visiting Dong Van, one can see Pho Bang, also called Pho Bang Street, which was built a long time ago and features multi-storey houses made of clay bricks and tile roofs. Visiting Dong Van on Sundays, one can shop in a very original mountain market where all kinds of goods and multicoloured clothes can be purchased.

Sapa - lovely town in fog

Despite its commercialization during the last seven years, Sapa is still a must-see on any northern Vietnam itinerary. On a clear day you will treated to views of steeply terraced rice fields, towering verdant ridgelines, primitive mud-thatched villages, raging rivers and astounding waterfalls.

Nestled high in the Tonkinese Alps near the Chinese border, Sape was built as a hill station during French colonial days, to serve as a respite from stifling Hanoi summers. These days, weekends are still the biggest draw in this crumbling hill-tribe center. Visitors from the capital flock to Sapa for a glimpse of the famed "Love Market," a trek to local hill tribe villages, or an ascent of Vietnam's highest peak, Fan Si Pan.

Some eight ethnic groups inhabit Lao Cai province: Hmong, Dao, White Thai, Giay, Tay, Muong, Hao and Xa Pho. The most prominent in town are the Red Dao, easily identified by the coin-dangling red headdresses and intricately embroidered waistcoats worn by the women, and the Hmong, distinguished by their somewhat less elaborately embroidered royal blue attire. Groups of ethnic Hmong youngsters and women can be seen hauling impossibly heavy, awkward baskets of wood, stakes, bamboo, bricks, mud and produce. Deep in the valleys surrounding Sapa, the Muong Hoa River sluices a wild, jagged course among Giay, Red Dao and White Thai settlements, their tiny dwellings poking out of the neon rice fields like diamonds on a putting green. One- to four-day treks are offered by a handful of outfitters. Guests sleep in tents or in the homes of villagers, their gear hauled by Hmong porters. Be warned: Despite what the local innkeepers will tell you, both the Hmong and the Dao really do not enjoy having their photographs taken unless they're paid for it. It's a certainty that any brochure you see of smiling, care-free ethnic hill people was shot under a Screen Actors Guild contract.

Sa pa is famed for its "Love Market" – sort of a cross between a peacock mating ritual, a Middle Eastern arms bazaar, an Amish square dance, a bad Pavarotti concert and Bangkok's Patpong (except here the people wear clothes). On Saturday nights, Red Dao hill tribe youths of both sexes congregate in a weekly courting rite, singing tribal versions of Loretta Lynn love songs to woo the opposite sex. The songs are highly personalized and boast of the composer's physical attributes, domestic abilities and strong work ethic. While Dao women are indeed highly industrious, the men, it seems, prefer to spend most of their time drinking, smoking opium or sleeping, only occasionally slapping the rump of a lethargic bovine moving more slowly than they are. Few of their songs, though, are about drinking, smoking opium, sleeping or slapping rumps.

Topping out at 3,143 meters, Fan Si Pan has become the Mount Everest of Vietnam, with queues of yuppie trekkers in their latest TravelSmith "totally-packable" rainwear forming mountaineering traffic jams at base camps. Footprint Travel can arrange guided ascents.

Sapa itself is a somewhat bedraggled village meshing crumbling, mildewed French colonial architecture with the pencil-thin, brick-and-concrete mini-hotels that have become so ubiquitous in recent years all across Vietnam. This neglected, cultural mishmash would be an eyesore in any place less spectacularly scenic than Sapa. Because of its Shangri-la-like setting, Sapa actually seems quaint – a tranquil, restful village. Which is, of course, what the French originally intended the place to be. Amenities are limited unless you choose to stay at the Four Star Victoria Sapa, a sprawling alpine campus nestled discreetly into a hillside in the center of town.

The best times of the year to visit Sapa are in the spring and fall. Summers tend to be rainy and muddy, while winter temperatures can drop to the freezing mark (Sapa ushered in 2000 with snow!). Weather really does make a difference here, because the spectacular scenery is all but blotted out when there is cloud cover and rain. Ignore the other Nikon-toting tourists in the villages and get out into the countryside, where you just may still catch a glimpse into hill-tribe life of a couple of centuries ago.

Vietnamese people

Although there are as many as 60 different groups of people living in Vietnam, the majority of the population are the Viet people. Of the 78 million people living in the country, 85 percent are what we refer to as Vietnamese. They live primarily in the lowlands of Vietnam. Three-quarters of the population of Vietnam live in rural villages. A vast majority of the citizens are rice farmers, and live in the lowlands where there is fertile, easily irrigated soil. Where the ancestors of the Viet people came from is not completely known. They were probably farmers that moved gradually into the northern part of Vietnam from China, and slowly moved south, pushing other native people like the Champa out or up into the mountains as they migrated along the coast.

One of the larger minority groups in Vietnam are the H'Mong. They immigrated to the lowlands of Vietnam during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Before the war between North and South Vietnam, they were involved in foreign and rice trade, and remained somewhat independent from the Vietnamese people. Later, however; new laws and regulations forced most to abandon their ways of life, and many fled the country.

Two other minorities living in the lowlands include the Cham and the Khmer. The Cham are descendants of the Champa kingdom that existed along the central coast for thousands of years. Now there are only about 50,000 of their people left living as fishermen and farmers in scattered villages along the coast. The Khmer, of Cambodian decent, live and have lived for a long time in the swampy Mekong Delta, south of Ho Chi Minh City. They are more numerous than the Cham people. mountain girl

The other residents of Vietnam live in the mountainous regions of the country. They, as a group, are commonly called the Montagnards. In the northern mountains, along the Chinese border, live tribes that have migrated there in the last several centuries. Some of the more common of these include the Tai, Nung, Meo, Yao, Muong, and the Tay. The Tay are by far the most numerous of the northern people. To the south, in the central highlands, are the Rhade and the Jarai peoples. They are descendants of nomads who came to the central coast in the third or second millennia BC, and have since been pushed up into the highlands. Now they live mainly by slash and burn agriculture. For centuries, the mountain people lived in isolation and were suspicious of lowlanders. They maintained only limited communication and trade with the Vietnamese. In the last fifty or so years, the Vietnamese have tried both peacefully and forcefully to integrate them into their society, and they have found themselves in the middle of several wars. Now the Vietnamese government is implementing programs to improve and develop communities, bring lowland Vietnamese people into the mountains, and educate the children of these Montagnards, while still allowing them to maintain their heritage. people

Vietnam is the 13th most populous country in the world. Their official language, Vietnamese is spoken throughout the country, but dialects vary between the north, south, and center. English is common in larger cities and is taught in schools, and French is also spoken in various parts of the country. Vietnam has an 88 percent literacy rate. Their national script is called Quoc Ngu. It was introduced by European colonists, and utilizes the Roman alphabet (the alphabet used for English).

The Vietnamese people, and the many minority groups living with them have created a unique culture and form of society. They have held onto their heritage and pride throughout countless struggles and wars, and are still striving to integrate and unite all parts and people of their incredible country.

Complex of Hue Monuments

The Hue complex is located approximately 100 km northwest of Danang, the largest commercial city in the middle region of Vietnam. The city is divided into old and new sections on either side of the Fon River, extending nearly 4 km in all directions. Although it has high temperatures and humidity (except during the dry season from November to April) with an average annual precipitation of 2,900 mm, the summer is not as oppressively humid as in Japan.
Hue, the ancient capital of Vietnam, is a city with a long cultural heritage unparalleled anywhere else in the country.
The northern bank of the Perfume River contains the relics of palaces, constructed as an arc of defensive ramparts 11km in length. This valuable site comprises more than 100 architectural works from the Nguyen dynasty. Situated in the hills o¬n the southern bank of the Perfume River are the beautiful tombs of the Nguyen kings. Four of these tombs are particularly notable as their designs reflect the opinions, personalities and tastes of the emperors they incarcerate. They are the majestic Gia Long tomb, the imposing Minh Mang tomb, the poetic Tu Duc tomb and the magnificent Khai Dinh tomb.
Hue is also an important center of Buddhism. The city and its surrounding area still contain dozens of pagodas constructed more than 300 years ago.
The city is renowned for its traditional dishes and sophisticated handicrafts as well being the place where royal music is originated.
Hue still retains its original layout from the Middle Ages and therefore the whole city is in effect a vast and invaluable museum. The historical sites of Hue have been classified by the Vietnamese government as very precious property and in December 1993 Hue was recognized as a World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO.
World Heritage Site : The archaeological sites of Hue are the remains of the capital of Nguyen, the last Vietnamese dynasty that was prosperous from the early 19th to the mid 20th century. Although based on an architectural style from China, these structures incorporate both Baroque and traditional Vietnamese architecture. Now recognized for their historical and artistic value, they were included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site list in 1993.

Bach Ma National Park

Bach Ma National Park is located in central Vietnam in the province of Thua Thien Hue, around 700 km south of the country's capital Hanoi and 1,000 km north of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). The national park covers an area of about 22,000 ha in the districts of Phu Loc and Nam Dong. It was created in 1991 to protect the centre of the last corridor of forest stretching from the South China Sea to the Annamite mountain range at the border with the Lao PDR. With steep mountains and dense forests, this area is home to a wide variety of animals and plants. At the base of the mountains there is tropical monsoon forest, with sub-tropical forest above 900m. There are species from both northern and southern Vietnam, and Bach Ma is recognized as o¬ne of the areas of Indochina with high biodiversity. Bach Ma mountain peak is the highest point in the park at 1,450 m above sea level and is o¬nly 18 km away from the coast.

Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park

The Park is considered a paradise for researchers and explorers of grottoes and caves and is the home to 140 families, 427 branches, and 751 species of precious plants

Phong Nha - Ke Bang is a national park in the center of Quang Binh province in north-central Vietnam. It protects one of the world's two largest karst regions with several hundred caves and grottoes. Its name derives from Phong Nha cave, the most beautiful one, with numerous fascinating rock formations, and Ke Bang forest. The plateau is probably one of the finest and most distinctive examples of a complex karst landform in Southeast Asia.
Location:
Geographically, the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park (PNKBNP) is located in central Vietnam, about 500km south of the capital, Hanoi, within the Quang Binh Province.
The western boundary of the Park partially forms Laos-Vietnamese border, which is only 42km from the sea. The Park is found within the geographical co-ordinates of 170 20'-170 48' N and 1050 46-1060 24' E in Bo Trach and Minh Hoa Districts.
Recognition by UNESCO in 2003
Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park was first nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998. The dossier submited to UNESCO was for the recognition of Phong Nha nature reserve as a world natural heritage under the name “Phong Nha Nature Reserve”. The reason given for the nomination was that this nature reserve satisfied the criteria of biodiversity, unique beauty and geodiversity (criteria I and iv).
It was recognized as a world natural heritage site at the UNESCO's 27th general assembly session being held in Paris in June 30th – July 5th, 2003. At the session, delegates from over 160 member countries of UNESCO World Heritage Convention agreed to include Phong Nha-Ke Bang park and 30 others worldwide in the list of world heritage sites. Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park meets with criteria viiii in accordance with UNESCO’s appraisal scale since it displays an impressive amount of evidence of earth’s history and is a site of importance for increasing human understanding of the geologic, geomorphic and geo-chronological history of the region.
Physical features:
Criterion (viii): Phong Nha is part of a larger dissected plateau, which also encompasses the Ke Bang and Hin Namno karsts. The limestone incontinuously demonstrates the complexity interbedding with shales and sandstones. This, together with the capping of schists and apparent granites has led to a particularly distinctive topography.
Looking into the caves, you may recognize discrete episodic sequences of events, leaving behind various levels of fossil passages, formerly buried and now uncovered palaeokarst (karst from previous, perhaps very ancient, periods of solution); evidence of major changes in the routes of underground rivers; changes in the solutional regime; deposition and later re-solution of giant speleothems and unusual features such as sub-aerial stromatolites. The location and form of the caves suggest that they might owe much of their size and morphology to some as yet undetermined implications of the schists and granites which overlay the limestone. On the surface, there is a striking series of landscapes, ranging from deeply dissected ranges and plateaux to an immense polje. There is evidence of at least one period of hydrothermal activity in the evolution of this ancient mature karst system. The plateau is probably one of the finest and most distinctive examples of a complex karst landform in SE Asia.
Cultural heritage:
The oldest evidence of human occupation of the area are Neolithic axe heads and similar artefacts found in some of the caves. There are some relics of Ham Nghi King, a final King of the Nguyen dynasty before the French colonial period, at the Maria Mountain in the north of the Park. Currently the Arem, Ma Coong and Ruc ethnic groups live in two villages in the core zone of Phong Nha Ke - Bang National Park. Until 1962 these indigenous people lived in the forest in houses made of bamboo and leaves or in the caves, living from forest products and hunting. They used simple tools and their clothes were made from the bark of a toxic forest tree (Antiaris toxicaria) and lianas.
Since 1992 the Government of Vietnam has set up two new settlements for these 475 people, who are the two smallest ethnic groups in Vietnam. These people are familiar with a number of economically valuable species, especially precious timber such as Mun and Hue (Diospyros spp., Dalbergia rimosa), and oil-extraction from species such as Tau (Hopea hainanensis) and many medicinal plants. The Phong Nha Cave has long been a site of religious and touristic importance, with an old Cham Temple discovered in the cave and it was a site of worship in the ninth and tenth centuries. During the war with the USA the Phong Nha - Ke Bang forest and caves were a garrison and weapons store for the Vietnamese army.
Conservation value:
Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park is of high conservation value as one of the largest areas of intact forest habitat remaining in Vietnam. As part of a continuous forest block with the neighbouring Him Namno Biodiversity Conservation Area in Laos it forms one of the largest areas of forest on limestone karst in Indochina. The presence of tall lowland forest, which is regionally threatened as a habitat type, in the National Park increases the area's conservation value.
Tourist activities
The number of tourists has increased dramatically since the park was listed in UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. Tourism activities in the area are the responsibility of the Trading and Tourism Department of Quang Binh province, with 280 international standard rooms in the province and 8 vehicles with capacities of 4 to 15 seats for tourist transportation. The forest guards of Son Trach commune in Bo Trach district are placed on tourist security duty.
Quang Binh Province has invested into upgrading the Phong Nha-Ke Bang visitor site to turn it into one of Vietnam's major tourist destinations.
Multiple eco-tourist projects have been licensed for development and the area is being heavily developed by the province to turn it into a major tourist site in Vietnam. Phong Nha Ke Bang is part of a tourism promotion program called: "Middle World Heritage Road" which includes the ancient capital of Hue, the Champa relics of My Son, the city of Hoi An, nha nhac and the Space of Gong Culture in the Central Highlands of Vietnam.
Tourist activities in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park are organized by local travel agencies and vary in form:
• Tour for expedition of caves and grottos in boats and with professional cave expedtion means.
• Ecotourism, discovering the florae and fauna in this national park in the Ke Bang Forest.
• Mountain climbing: There are extreme sloping mountains here with a height of over 1,000 m, which is a real challenge for adventurous climbers
In order to facilitate the increasing flow of tourists to the site, the Dong Hoi Airport was constructed and is due to be operational at the end of 2008.
Phong Nha-Ke Bang, together with Ha Long Bay and Fanxipan of Vietnam, is listed as a candidate for 7 new world natural wonders vote. As of February 12, 2008 it ranked 10th in the voting list
In summary, Phong Nha displays an impressive amount of evidence of earth’s history. It is a site of very great importance for increasing our understanding of the geologic, geomorphic and geo-chronological history of the region.