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Ooc-om-bok Festival

Ooc-om-bok Festival
Time: In the evening of the 14th day and the 15th day of the tenth lunar month. Place: In the yards of the pagodas or of the residents' houses, ngo boat race in the Maspero River (Soc Trang Town).Objects of worship: Moon deity. Characteristics: Moon worshipping ceremony, floating lights on the water, ngo boat race. Participators: The Khmer people in the South, the Hoa and the Viet people.
Ooc-Om-Bok Festival is a religious service that worships the moon deity of the Khmer minority group and prays for good luck, happiness, good weather and bumper crops. The festival is usually held when the dry season begins and rice are ripening on the fields.The Moon-worshipping ceremony takes place on the evening of 14th of tenth lunar month before the moon goes to the top. The ceremony is held in the yards of the pagoda or of residents’ houses. People erect bamboo poles with a crossbar on which they decorate with flowers and leaves. Below is a table of offerings that include green rice flakes, potatoes, bananas, coconuts, grapefruits, oranges and cakes. People sit on the ground with crossed legs, clasping their hands before the altar and look up the Moon. An old master of ceremonies says his prayers, asks the moon deity to receive the offerings and bless people with the best.After the ceremony, the elders ask the children of the house sit flatly on the ground with crossed legs before the altar. The elders then take a handful of green rice, feed each child and ask them what they wish while clapping their backs. If the children answer the question clearly and politely, all the best will come to them that year. After that, people enjoy the offerings together, and children play games or dance and sing in the moonlight. Anyone who visits the Khmer’s houses on this occasion will be tasted com dep (a kind of young sticky rice). At the pagodas of Khmer people, locals hold paper-lantern releasing into the sky and putting on the rivers. The custom of releasing flying lights and floating lights is believed to sweep away the darkness, impure and sadness from the village. Many traditional activities of the Khmer are organised on the evening of 14th.

Lai Thieu Orchard and Cau Ngang Tourist Area

Lai Thieu Orchard and Cau Ngang Tourist Area
Location: In Thuan An District, Binh Duong. Characteristics: This area has become a green tourist site suitable for people of all ages
Situated only 20km from Ho Chi Minh City, Cau Ngang Tourist Area covers 1,200ha including An Son, An Thanh, Binh Nham, and Hung Dinh Communes. This area has become a green tourist site suitable for people of all ages. From the 5th to the 8th lunar month, the fruit trees bear ripe fruits, and visitors can walk through the gardens and taste fruits fresh from the tree such as mangosteen, durian, rambutan, lichee, mulberry… Arriving to Cau Ngang, visitors may go by two roads: walking along bridges, along red soil roads with shady trees and aroma of fruits. There are gardens rich of fruits. Just passing a small ditch, visitors come to a garden. Walking on carper made from leaves under cool shade of trees with all types of rip fruits above and so peaceful and quiet atmosphere, visitors can hear birds singing and rustle of leaves falling. All fatigued of stress and tension are seemed disappear. If the visitors want to have a trip on canals, there are many motorized boats waiting in Cau Ngang. On the boats, they can visit gardens by sailing along canals. Looking at canal’s banks from the boats, they will feel as if they were traveling in hick canal region of rich South of Vietnam. Motorized boats are ready to stop at their request. They also can go along tens of kilometers of canals to see at will the gardens, wallowed in water and cool breeze, really indulge themselves in the nature.

Quang Ninh approves tourism project in Van Don

Van Don Economic Zone in the northern province of Quang Ninh will have a 300-hectare tourism complex worth US$112mil as the provincial government just approved the project last Friday.
Vu Nguyen Nhiem, chairman of the provincial government, told the Daily that he signed the investment certificate, allowing the 167 Joint-Venture Co., Ltd. to develop the luxury tourism complex. It is the biggest tourism project licensed into Van Ron since July when Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung agreed to develop Van Don District into an economic zone.He said the investor would develop many tourism facilities in the complex including a 27-hole golf course, a five-star hotel of 15 stories, villas for rent, resort area, and an outdoor concert area among others.Nhiem said during 42 months, the investor, which is a Vietnam-U.S. joint venture, would build major works for the complex such as the golf course and the hotel. It is also seeking permission from the Prime Minister to build a casino section there.Van Don Economic Zone covers the entire precincts of Van Don District with the total area of 2,200 square kilometers, and comprises 600 islands and islets in Bai Tu Long Bay of Quang Ninh Province. Nhiem said some tourism projects have been licensed into the zone but most of them are of small scale. Currently, some investors are surveying the investment potentials in the zone.The provincial, government will work with the National Institute for Urban and Rural Planning under the Ministry of Construction to organize a contest to seek the best ideas to make an overall planning scheme for Van Don Economic Zone."We have established an organizing committee and will launch the contest soon to call for foreign and local consultants to contribute the best ideas for the zone's development," Nhiem said.

Land issues delay tourism projects

Construction of several tourism projects in the central city of Da Nang is bogged down by land clearance and compensation issues, cumbersome administrative procedures and budgetary limitations, according to the deputy director of the city's tourism department, Nguyen Dang Truong.
To date, the city has granted licences to 16 tourism projects worth a combined VND10.8tril (US$676mil); Of these, eight are foreign-invested with a total capital of $473mil, while the remaining are domestic-invested to the tune of VND3.24tril ($202mil). The city has also given in-principle approval to 26 tourism projects with a combined budget of VND15.58tril ($974mil), including a $150mil urban area, $80mil high-grade tourism resort and $30mil shopping and entertainment complex.Only five of these projects are operational, however, while the pace of construction on 11 others remained sluggish, Truong acknowledged.To address the problem, the tourism department recently asked the municipal People's Committee to the licences of three slow-moving projects worth a combined VND800bil ($50mil), including the Red Star Hotel and Resort developed by the Hanoi-based Sao Do Joint Stock, Co and Khang Hung Hotel financed by the Khang Hung Joint Stock Co.The department has also proposed city authorities offer suitable investment incentives to several major investors who have the financial capacity to carry out the projects.

Tourists to enjoy Vietnam-Cambodia-Thailand sea route

A travelling route on the southwestern sea linking Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand will be launched.
An agreement to this effect was reached by the tourism authorities and relevant agencies of localities from the three countries at a meeting in the Phu Quoc island District, Kien Giang Province, from October 24 to 25. There will be two trips a week along this line by a high-speed ship, capable of carrying 300 people. Visitors will depart from Vietnam’s Ha Tien Township, travel to Cambodia’s Shihanouk Ville port city and finally arrive in an eco-tourism site in Thailand’s Chanthaburi Province. Kien Giang Province, the Vietnamese partner in the project, is mobilising capital to upgrade its infrastructure and entertainment facilities in Ha Tien and Phu Quoc.