Backstreet Boys set to perform in Viet Nam

On tour: The American four-member band Backstreet Boys will perform in Viet Nam in March.

HCM CITY — The male pop group Backstreet Boys (BSB) will perform in Viet Nam in March, following their tour to Latin America.

The American band said on its website that it expected a total of 55,000 concert attendees in HCM City on March 24 and 26 in Ha Noi.

According to organisers, the show is the same as the one performed on other stops during the band's worldwide tour.

"BSB has a very strong and loyal fan base here in Viet Nam. You can sense the excitement about their impending arrival. Water Buffalo Productions (WBP) strives to produce the highest standards and know that the BSB shows will amazing and memorable," says Stephen Bures, the Deputy General Director of the WBP.

"We haven't had a band perform a show of such magnitude in Vietnam, and the WBP is making sure that this show will be on par with any international performance."

The four members of the group, Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell and A. J. McLean, will perform at Military Zone 7's Stadium in HCM City and My Dinh National Stadium in Ha Noi.

They will sing their hits I Want It That Way, I'll Never Break Your Heart, Straight Through My Heart and others from their This Is Us album.

The performance is part of the tour This Is Us that began in fall 2009 and will continue to the end of this year. They have had 20 shows thus far.

This concert tour is the first to feature dancers since the band's 2001 Black and Blue world tour.

After the show in Viet Nam, the group will return to the US to begin a tour with the 1980s-leading band New Kids on the Block.

The vocal group Backstreet Boys was formed in Orlando, Florida in 1993. The band originally consisted of five members, A. J. McLean, Howie Dorough, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter and Kevin Richardson.

They rose to fame with their debut international album, Backstreet Boys in 1996. In the following year, they released their second international album, Backstreet's Back.

The men rose to superstardom with their album Millennium in 1999, with more than nine million sales. The number rose to 13 million in March 2001.

Richardson left the group in 2006 to pursue other interests, leaving the band as a foursome, but the remaining members did not rule out a possible return of the singer.

The Backstreet Boys have sold over 130 million records worldwide, making them one of the biggest-selling artists of all time. — VNS

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Longest Tet break creates the perfect holiday season

by Ha Nguyen

Pristine beach: Hon Thom on Phu Quoc Island in the southern province of Kien Giang attracts thousands of tourists a year. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Vu. Spring season: Visitors enjoy colourful flowers on a bank of Xuan Huong Lake in the Central Highlands city of Da Lat. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Ha

Viet Nam's first eight day Tet ( Lunar New Year) holiday has created favourable conditions for local and overseas Vietnamese to enjoy the longest Tet, starting on February 3.

An increasing number of well-off Vietnamese have chosen to celebrate Tet abroad. That trend is expected to continue this Lunar New Year.

Popular destinations abroad at this time of year when the weather is cool or cold in much of the country are Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Hong Kong – where the weather is more inviting. Meanwhile, those with relations abroad often take the opportunity afforded by the long annual holiday to visit family and friends in the US, Australia and Europe.

My Hanh, who works for a foreign firm in Viet Nam, said her four-member family plans to enjoy Tet in Thailand.

"My two daughters and I are shopping addicts so we are very much looking forward to going to Thailand. We plan to spend all day and night shopping during our four days in the country," Hanh said, adding that celebrating Tet abroad offers a welcome escape from domestic chores.

Hanh said that when she celebrates Tet here in Ha Noi she has to spend days shopping for food in overcrowded markets.

"I have to work very hard and it's exhausting. This Tet will be different. Apart from being able to shop for clothes, I will have time to relax and read books, which I adore doing," she said.

She said "I've already asked my mother-in-law to help me prepare traditional dishes to worship our ancestors for the last evening of the old lunar year and the first day of the new year," Hanh said.

Meanwhile, Hoang Quan, who lives in Ha Noi's Tu Liem District, has booked a holiday in Japan where his daughter is studying.

"I had to book a five-day tour to Tokyo at the start of this month to be sure of being able to get tickets in the run-up to Tet," Quan said.

"My wife is a pagoda goer so it's a good chance for her to explore and see how things differ in Japan," Quan said.

Despite being relatively well off, he still worries about hefty shopping bills.

"It doesn't matter. We will spend our time shopping at the Japanese yen 100-per-item shops."

Duong Quang Phong and his family from Los Angeles plan to return to Viet Nam for Tet.

Phong said he had already booked a seven-day tour to Phu Quoc Island beginning on the second day of the Lunar New Year.

"Our six-member family will celebrate Tet on the island by ordering banh chung (square sticky rice cake) and many other traditional specialities such as nem ran (fried meat roll), dua hanh (pickled welsh onion) and canh mang (bamboo shoots cooked with pig's trotters). We've rarely tasted these dishes since we settled in the US in the 80s.

"Spring tours over Tet will be more comfortable and interesting because tourism sites will not be as crowded as during the peak season in summer. The cool weather in the south will make our tour more enjoyable. We are looking forward to exploring the island's natural beauty, as well as relaxing," Phong said.

Like Phong, other overseas Vietnamese plan to return to Viet Nam for the holiday. Most have booked tours to popular destinations such as Ha Long Bay, Sa Pa, Ninh Binh, Da Nang, Nha Trang, Da Lat, Hue, and Hoi An, said Nguyen Cong Hoan, deputy director of Ha Noi Redtour.

"Despite the fact that prices are 5-10 per cent more this Tet compared with last year, almost of our tours have been fully booked," he said.

To meet increasing Tet demand, Viettravel, Fiditour and Ben Thanh Tourist have put on extra tours from the 28th and 29th of the 12th lunar month until the 4th of Lunar New Year.

Saigontourist is expecting 15,000 visitors, an increase of 15 per cent compared with last year, a company manager said.

But Hoan warned that holiday-makers should be wary of unlicensed tour operators. He said they were typically 20-25 per cent cheaper than those offered by mainstream operators, but that standards were suspect.

"Some of them have even tried to ‘resell' their customers to other tour operators for a profit," Hoan said.

Last year, the country's tourism sector welcomed 5 million foreign travellers and 28 million local guests. — VNS

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Special Tet tours for visitors

HCM City-based travel agencies have unveiled special tours for foreigners who want to experience the atmosphere of the Lunar New Year or Tet.

Ben Thanh Tourist has launched a one-day tour to the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long that will take visitors to Vinh Sang Tourist Park and people's houses in Vinh Long to take a look at rural life and Tet celebrations. It costs US$45 per person for groups of ten.

Saigontourist Travel Service Co has launched a tour called Celebrate Tet with Saigonese for five hours which will take in Cho Lon by cyclo, the flower market, and other tourist destinations in HCM City. Foreign guests can also join local people in making banh tet (the cylindrical glutinous rice cake) and have a meal with a local family. The tour is priced at $30 while a tour of My Tho costs $45.

A toast to beer drinking record

The first Viet Nam Beer Festival organised by the Mekong Star JSC will attempt to break a beer drinking record in HCM City later this month.

On each day of the festival from January 21 to 23 at the Ministry Zone 7 Stadium, 5,000 guests are expected to come to enjoy the local and international beers, Vietnamese and western foods, DJs, and live music.

On the first night an attempt to break the Vietnamese record for the most people to offer a toast will be made.

Cebu Pacific adds VN flights

Philippine carrier Cebu Pacific has added two more fights to its HCM City-Manila service, and plans to turn it into a daily service next Friday.

The additions take the number of flights a week to six.

The carrier carried around 30,000 passengers to and from Viet Nam last year, and expects to increase that number in 2011, Candice Lyog, the airline's vice-president for marketing and distribution, said.

Cham culture to go on display

The Cham Cultural Exhibition Centre in Binh Thuan Province will host a week of cultural events from January 30 to February 8 for Tet (Lunar New Year).

The highlights of the events will be an exhibition of costumes worn by Cham royalty, their crowns, seals, swords, and betel nut-making accessories.

Visitors can also see musical instruments and objects used by the Cham people in festivals, farming equipment such as buffalo carts and fish traps, stone jewellery, stone statues of Apsaras — the heavenly nymph of Hindu mythology – the gods Ganesa and Avalokitesvara, and a lion, linga-yoni, and documents written in the Cham language.

Rija Nugar (New Year Festival) and folk art performances will be held every night.

Saigontourist offers yacht tour

Saigontourist Travel Service Co has announced a four-day tour to Nha Trang from HCM City which includes a yacht tour in Nha Trang on board the four-star yacht King.

In Nha Trang, the yacht tour will start at the wharf in front of King Bao Dai's palace before cruising to Tre, Mun, Mot, Mieu, and Tam islands.

Visitors will cruise around Mun for swimming in the ocean, coral reef diving, and fishing before stopping at the Tri Nguyen Aquarium. Tourists on board the $1 million yacht can also request to stop at sights along the way.

The first batch of tourists will leave HCM City on January 22 and there will be one every Saturday. More information about the tour that will cost VND3.4 millon to 5.7 million is available at www.dulichtet.com . —VNS

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A rural taste for international tourists

Finland President Tarja Halonen (R) laughed a lot as she tried to practice rowing coracle in Hoi An ancient town

Photo: Tuoi Tre

The “Farmer – fisherman” tour offering tourists a chance to catch fish and collect rubbish like real farmers on the Thu Bon River in Hoi An ancient town has attracted many international tourists.

The tour is not to discover and sightsee the landscape, but is aimed at turning tourists into true fishermen who would live in the countryside and collect rubbish on Thu Bon River, Bay Mau Coconut Village, and the Hoi An’s Cua Dai sea.

Finland President Tarja Halonen selected this tour several years ago.

She also tried to practice rowing coracle and to be a fisherwoman during a week in Vietnam. Before returning to her country, she thanked the tour operator for offering her a meaningful and interesting holiday.

She said she was happy to be a fisherwoman, and to enjoy the life of the rural people and shared happiness with gentle and optimistic fishermen.

“Especially, I can taste the local traditional culture. Those are my unforgettable moments in Vietnam.”

The tour founder Tran Van Khoa hailing from Hoi An said that he formed this tour because 80 pct of the Vietnamese population earns a living from agriculture like fish catching and breeding.

“Vietnam has exported millions of tons of rice and seafood each year”.

This green tour not only helps promote Vietnamese culture to the world, but also contributes to protecting the environment.

On average, 4,000 international tourists book the tour every year, said Khoa.

Here are some photos of the tour “Farmer – Fisherman”: 

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Thang Long-Hanoi in the eyes of foreign friends

Photo: Tuoi Tre

Hanoi, the 1,000-year-old city, is developing rapidly, yet still maintains its own unique character and traditional values.

This was stated by German journalist Maris Kristin, who agreed with 14 other reporters, who went on a week-long tour of the city called “the Heart of Vietnam”, organized by the municipal People’s Committee last week.

Moved by Hanoi’s beauty, Park Hae-Yoon from the Republic of Korea, wrote 7 pages on Hanoi, describing it as active, but ancient and peaceful.

Coming from a country which is famous for its culture, Refat Ablelsamiaa Abbas Abdelmoaty Hussein from Egyptian Television, learnt about Hanoi through its folk songs. He said he loved these melodies and intended to use them as background music for his report on Hanoi.

He added that he wants to get a CD of Vietnamese folk music.

Meanwhile, Vansili Bounthi, a reporter from the Laotian daily newspaper the Pasason, described the tour as his return to his home. “ Hanoi is very close to my heart and I have with many memories of when I was a student there,” he said.

During the tour, the foreign reporters visited world heritage sites recognised by UNESCO, including the Thang Long Royal Citadel and the Temple of Literature, the country’s first university. They also visited the historical sites of Son Tay citadel and Duong Lam village and the craft villages of Van Phuc for its silk and Bat Trang for its ceramics.

While writing about the capital city’s culture, traditions and economic development, all the journalists on the tour said they believed that Hanoi would have wonderful 1,000 year birthday celebration.
 

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