Ho Chi Minh – Cu Chi Tunnels – Mekong Delta - Hanoi – Halong Bay

(06 Days 05 Nights)

Day01: Saigon Arrival       Dinner                                    

Arrival in Saigon, meet Welcome Vietnam Tour local guide at Tan Son Nhat International Airport (Flight: 15h45) and transfer to hotel for check in. A short Sai Gon city tour (if time permit): Thien Hau Pagoda, China Town. Welcome dinner on cruise along Saigon River. Overnight at hotel in HCMC.

Day 02: Ho Chi Minh City - Mekong Delta (My Tho) – Ho Chi Minh        Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner                                             

AM: Transfer to My Tho. Boat ride on Mekong river and visit an orchard island where almost all the tropical fruit of southern Vietnam can be found and tasted.

PM: Back to Ho Chi Minh City. The rest of the day is free. Overnight hotel in HCMC.

Day 03: Ho Chi Minh City  Tour And Cu Chi Tunnel                Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner

AM: Transfer to Cu Chi. Visit the underground village, which used to be a bitter battle ground for a long period during the Vietnam war. The amazing network of over 200 km of underground tunnels will offer you impression of the former fierce war in South Vietnam.

PM: Ho Chi Minh Sight-seeing tour: Reunification Palace, War Crime Museum, Notre Dame Cathedral and Old Post Office, former US Embassy, Ben Thanh Market. Overnight hotel in HCMC.

Day 04: Ho Chi Minh City – Hanoi              Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner

Free at leisure till transfer to Tan Son Nhat airport for departure to Hanoi. On arrival at Noi Bai Ai, you are met and drive to the historic complex of Ba Dinh. Visit Ba Dinh Square, where The Late President Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnams Independence on 2 September 1945, Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum and continue to the One Pillar Pagoda, the must-see monument in Hanoi - It is an ancient Buddhist pagoda, built in the early 11th century in the reign of King Ly Thai Tong, all construction supported by only one pillar, resembling a Buddhist lotus. Tran Quoc Pagoda. Quan Thanh Temple.

PM: Transfer to Ha Long. Dinner and overnight at hotel in Halong.

Day 05: Visit Halong Bay - Ha Noi            Breakfast / Lunch / Dinner

8H00: Take a private boat trip to visit Ha Long bay (A Natural World Heritage) with: Thien Cung grotto, Dau Go Cave, Dinh Huong, Ga Choi Islet,... Which is crammed with stalactites and stalagmites. There are numerous rocks and islands, which are predominantly composed of hardened dolomite together with smaller amounts of calcium carbonate. Lunch on boat with seafood.

13H00: Transfer back to Ha Noi. Dinner at local restaurant. Enjoy Vietnam traditional water puppet show.    

Overnight at hotel in Hanoi.

Day 06: Hanoi Departure              Breakfast

Free at leisure, till drive to Noi Bai International Airport for departure. Home sweet home.

Ceramics village fires up tourism

Phan Van Toai, a craftsman in Phu Lang ceramics village in the northern province of Bac Ninh, has been busier than usual during the weekends after launching a new service to introduce craft making to tourists at his own ceramic workshop.

Toai, 28, is the fifth generation of his family to make ceramics in the village, 60km east of Ha Noi's centre. It takes about an hour by bus to get to the village from downtown.

Turning up the heat: Villager Dang Thi Linh cuts a cubic of clay at a ceramic workshop in

Phu Lang Village. — VNS Photos Hoai Nam

Phu Lang has begun welcoming tourists on day trips from the capital over the past two years and has been included on the tourism map as the third most famous ceramic village in the north.

The village, which was settled as a craft centre in the Hong (Red) River Delta in the 14th century, offers travelers the opportunity to explore a typical rural handicraft lifestyle in the northern delta.

"I've been working in the workshop since I was seven. My hands are busy with clay all day with modeling sculptures, jars, pots and various ceramic products, but now I also introduce the process of making ceramics to visitors who flock to the village on weekends," said Toai.

Toai's workshop and those of his neighbors are major destinations for tourists interested in visiting the village and exploring the trade, which has been a part of the community for centuries.

The village administration is promoting the trade with an aim to boost tourism and interest in ceramics.

"I hope to introduce the craft to tourists from around the world whenever they come to visit the village. Tourism would increase my income because I would produce more ceramic souvenirs," Toai said.

The craftsman also teaches visitors how to work with the clay.

"I teach them how to form things with their hands and a slab-roller. It allows them to do a bit of handicraft work during their visit," he said.

Interest in the village has grown recently after it was featured on a popular English-language travel programme on Bulgarian national television called No Luggage.

Truong Van Hoa, a tour manager from Ha Noi-based Focus Travel, said Phu Lang is a popular spot with tourists.

"We include the village as a favorite stop for tourists on their return to the capital after a trip to Ha Long Bay. It offers a few hours for tourists to relax their minds and explore the rural life in the ceramic village," Hoa said.

"Just 3km off the main road, visitors can find a tranquil rural life filled with fantastic clay art works," he added.

Nguyen Manh Anh, a freelance tour guide, said the village is a very new destination in the north while Bat TrangCeramic Village has been well-known for years as one of the most visited site in Ha Noi.

"Phu Lang Village is quieter than Bat Trang, possibly because it takes longer to get here. Roads in the village are a bit challenging for a 45-seat coach, but vans can get through just fine. I think tourists will gain an angle on the craft trade and a rural lifestyle that has been present in the village for centuries," Anh said.

In the works: A clay picture dries before being painted and fired.

Art of clay

Craftsmen in Phu Lang use red clay, which makes the local ceramic products different from those made by the villages of Bat Trang, Tho Ha and Chu Dau, which are also famous for their ceramic works.

Enamel and a firewood kiln are two of the top secrets that help dye the village's products extraordinary dark greens and dull reds.

Craftswoman Nguyen Thi Tu, 58, explained that the enamel was made from a diluted mixture of ash, mud, clay and water.

"It's very simple, but the ratio between materials is the most important secret that local craftsmen inherited from their ancestors. It has been passed down since the 14th century," Tu said.

"The artistry of the local craftsmen and their skilful work are strong features of the local pottery."

The host has carefully set up his workshop to wow sightseers. Tourists find it easy to see the process of how ceramic artists create a product: from grinding the clay to modelling the product on a slab-roller. When the workers have a day off, tourists can explore the kiln which fires up to 800 products at a time.

Dang Thi Linh, a worker working at the Cuong Gallery, said she got a workout every time she kneaded clay and formed jars on the potter's wheel.

"Most women work with slab-rollers because our hands are softer than men's. Sometimes I sculpt or draw on clay pots or jars before setting them in the kiln," she said.

Nghiem Minh Cuong, 31, the workshop owner, said he focused on making artistic products such as ceramic pictures, garden decorations and sculptures.

"We engrave a big picture on a flat clay panel and dry it in the sunlight before painting it with colours. It is then cut into pieces and fired at a temperature of 1,200oC. Burnt pieces of the picture can be resettled with glue but colourful pictures last forever," Cuong said.

He said tourists enjoyed doing their own pottery in his shop as well.

The village has been a sightseeing destination for European travellers for the past two years, ever since the village administration boosted tourism services.

"The increased number of tourists flocking to the village will be an encouragement for local craftsmen, not only for money from souvenir sales, but also for the development of more creativity in art works. The pottery is our lifestyle and we are proud of our long, traditional trade," said Toai.

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Floating market in the heart of Saigon 

The Old Quarter in Hanoi

Festival Hue, National Tourism Year to coincide in 2012

Next year's Festival Hue will coincide with the National Tourism Year to be held across the north-central coastal region, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has told the media in Ha Noi.

The nine-day festival will feature an Imperial Night, an Oriental Night, an enactment of the Nam Giao ritual, an ao dai fashion show, installation art displays, a Hue poetry festival, and culinary shows.

The opening ceremony of the Festival Hue will be held on April 7, showcasing distinctive musical and dance programmes, carnivals, religious rituals, traditional cuisine, and performances by famous artists from several countries.

The biennial event is considered a big opportunity to promote the country's tourism attractions and introduce traditional Vietnamese culture to foreign visitors.

Travel To VietNam With Da Lat Flower Festival 2012

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Hue has the city at night

Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street walk along the river has been chosen to develop the first night in the city of Hue (Thua Thien - Hue).

Talking to journalist, Mr. Phan Trong Vinh, Hue City Chairman, said recently decided to approve Mai Hoa Kim Co., Ltd. (head office in Ho Chi Minh City) construction in the city at night on Nguyen Dinh Chieu street walking.

Night City is expected to open during Christmas, the time from 17h to 24h each daywith about 150 stores from food to fashion, arts and crafts ... extending from Truong Tien bridge to Phu Xuan bridge.

Portrait painting, an active nightlife in attracting tourists to the Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street. Photo: Nguyen Dong.

"We're up specific plans to incorporate the fixed booth at the appropriate location on the street to walk does not affect the landscape and traffic. When operational, the city at night will make the night life activities in Hue ancient capital, introduce are creation, shopping ... for guests, "Mr. Vinh said.

In the Hue Festival and Craft Festival Hue traditional booths spontaneous and community activities on walking street Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street has always attracted tourists and overseas.

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