HCM City bicycle race gets facelift

HCM CITY — Ten years after it was first held, the Sai Gon Cyclo Challenge has been rejigged and will be organised in its new format at the Phu My Hung Urban Area in HCM City on March 12.

Cycle Challenge Version 2.0 aims to raise US$30,000 to help provide education to poor children.

The race at the Crescent will be open only to platinum and gold sponsors under the new format.

There will be eight of them – VinaCapital Group's VinaLiving, Adidas, HSBC, Hoang Long Hoan Vu, Jardines, Megastar, Halliburton, and VNG, the sole platinum sponsor.

It will be a relay race featuring four riders in each team, with the top three teams qualifying for the finals.

"It is like Formula 1 for cyclos," director of Sai Gon Children Charity (SCC), Paul Finnis, told a press conference on Thursday.

"We hope the HCM City community will join us for an exciting morning of racing and, in the process, help provide education for children," Finnis added.

An online campaign was launched on Thursday, with SCC partnering Zing Me, Viet Nam's largest social network, to launch a new version of Parking Challenge, one of the most popular games on Zing Me.

SCC will use the money raised through the race to support disadvantaged children in HCM City and the southern provinces of Dong Nai, Tay Ninh, Tien Giang, Tra Vinh, and Binh Phuoc.

Since 2001 it has raised $500,000 for building schools and providing scholarships and vocational training, enabling more than 3,500 children to equip themselves with the skills necessary to work their way out of poverty. — VNS

Related Articles

• Transit room
• NA Committee debates Law on Denunciations
• City focuses on apartment upgrades
• Mothers share sorrow of war
• Visit hell then heaven

Piano's journal at Opera House offers glimpse into life

Trang Trinh

Young pianist Trang Trinh will perform her “The Piano's journal” show featuring Chopin, Beethoven, Mozart and other famous composers in Hanoi this Wednesday and Ho Chi Minh City this April.

The show in Hanoi’s opera house at 8pm at 1 Trang Tien Street is designed to display passions in a person’s life cycle from innocence of a child to pain in love and sadness and wisdom in separation, expressed in classical and romantic styles.

Song without word (Mendelsshon), Salut d’amour (Edgar) and the complete three-chapter Moonlight Sonata (Beethoven) will take audience a tour around various human emotions.

Born in 1986 in Vinh Phuc Province, Trang Trinh has just graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in the UK.

She has been invited to work for the London-based All Souls Orchestra, and she has had various performance tours in Italy, Austria, Hungary and Ireland.

In 2007, she won the Francis Simmer Prize for playing solo piano, and the Lilian Davis Prize for her performance of Beethoven‘s Sonatas.

One year later, she was awarded the Gretta GM Parkinson Prize for her outstanding academic records.

Tickets are available at the Opera House at VND300,000, VND500,000 and VND1 million.

Related Articles

• Prime Minister discusses relations, co-operation with Lao counterpart
• Vietnam, China boost trade cooperation
• Australia wants stronger cooperation to vocational education
• Local tour operators honored in Thailand
• Hanoi pagoda houses priceless Buddhist relics

Bob Dylan’s show to tribute legendary Trinh Cong Son

There will be an hour tribute to the legendary song-writer Trinh Cong Son in Bob Dylan’s show scheduled to take place in Ho Chi Minh City-based Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University (RMIT) on April 10.

Trinh Cong Son has been dubbed the “Vietnamese Bob Dylan” for his anti-war songs.

He is widely considered one of the most salient figures of modern Vietnamese music with more than 600 compositions. April 1 this year will commemorate the 10th anniversary of his death.

Bob Dylan’s show organizers have contacted Son’s family to prepare for the tribute. However, the famous American singer-songwriter will likely not perform any of Trinh Cong Son’s songs or music, according to newswire Dat Viet.

“Currently we cannot say anything for certain as everything is still under preparation and we’re in the process of trying to obtain the permit,” said Nguyen Trung Truc, Son’s brother in law.

This is no confirmation from RMIT yet. However, Bob Dylan’s show promises to be a spectacular performance set up by his own crew.

The Minnesota-originated Bob Dylan dropped out of school and went to New York to pursue his dream of becoming a music professional. At age 20, he was signed to Columbia Records and his career started to take off.

Dylan has both amplified and personalized musical genres, exploring numerous distinct traditions in American music—from folk, blues and country to gospel, rock and roll, and rockabilly, to English, Scottish, and Irish folk music, embracing even jazz and swing.

He was listed among 100 most influential people of the 20th century by the Time Magazine in 1999.

“Clean Cut Kid” and “Masters of War” are two songs he wrote about the Vietnam War.

Related Articles

• Painters show works inspired by nature, nostalgia
• Fergie slams lacklustre United after Crawley test
• Prime Minister discusses relations, co-operation with Lao counterpart
• Mothers share sorrow of war
• Tevez on target as Man City beat Liverpool 3-0

Water buffalo, not bull, fights in Vietnam

Different from bull fighting in Spain where the animals are trained for the specific job, fighting water-buffalos in Vietnam are not professional fighters as they perform their daily job of ploughing on rice field.

They are only turned out to be fighters for a couple of days during festivals held in the first month of a year on lunar calendar for entertainment.

Traditionally, buffalo fighting in Vietnam was originated from annual contest to select strongest animals for ploughing in villages, said culture researcher Tran Ngoc Them.

The tradition has been observed till now and so, fights are held at different venues in the nation in the season of festivals during the first lunar month.

Arena for such a fight is an open place on rice field after harvest, or in the middle of stadium. It is rimmed by a low hedge made by wooden sticks available in rural places.

Only two fighting buffalos and their owners are allowed to step into the arena. Viewers stand outside.

Following are images of a buffalo fight in Hai Luu Commune in the northern province of Vinh Phuc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 After knocking out rival, the winning buffalo will be blinded with the flag available at the fight to cool down his rage before taking the tame animal home

Related Articles

• Mothers share sorrow of war
• NA Committee debates Law on Denunciations
• Culture Vulture
• Vietnam Air accepts web check-in for int’l flights
• Plastic rice found in Ho Chi Minh City?

Photo show explores Mexico

Intensely Mexico: Photos on display at the National Library of Viet Nam introduce traditions and places in Mexico.

HA NOI — A photo exhibition, Mexico, Country of Colours, opens in Ha Noi today, hosted by the Mexican Embassy.

The exhibition is by author and photographer Ricardo Espinosa and features 30 large photos (1.2m by 1.7m) taken during the past 10 years.

The exhibition allowed viewers to feel the intensity and the power of the natural scenery, monuments, architecture, art, festivals and the popular traditions of Mexico, said Mexican Embassy charge d'Affairs Sergio Rivadeneyra Martell.

Espinosa was born in Mexico City in 1958, studied Graphic Design in the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana in Mexico City and worked in photography for more than 25 years.

He has been professor of photography in the Universidad Iberoamericana since 1985.

Espinosa does corporate, advertisement and commercial photography and is director of Spanish-language photography portals: www.antecamara.com.mx. His work has been shown in numerous exhibitions in Mexico.

"The panoramic photography work I have been doing for the last 10 years is mainly focused on interior and exterior spaces in Mexico," Espinosa said.

"I do not see it only as a record of the landscape or description of these places, but also as the portrait of inner personal landscapes.

The archaeology, the deserts, the shorelines, the mountains are somehow self portraits, moods and spiritual searching," he said in a statement.

The photos have been exhibited in South Korea, Ulan Bator, Shanghai and Tokyo, Sydney and Singapore.

The colours of Mexico will be on show at the National Library of Viet Nam, 31 Trang Thi Street, Ha Noi, until next Friday.

Also on the occasion, a book collection of literature and academic works by Mexican artists and scholars will be presented to the National Library of Viet Nam through the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs. — VNS

Related Articles

• Bob Dylan’s show to tribute legendary Trinh Cong Son
• Painters show works inspired by nature, nostalgia
• France keen on Vietnam’s development strategy
• Handicraft workers use own trademarks
• Vietnam’s tra fish export to Egypt still down

Sea Festival to spotlight Spratly Archipelago

NHA TRANG — The fifth biennial Sea Festival will be held in the central coastal city of Nha Trang on June 11-15 with the Truong Sa (Spratly) Archipelago as a key topic.

Khanh Hoa People's Committee deputy chairman of Le Xuan Than said the festival would introduce the archipelago in a photo exhibition, a music show and a conference on the Truong Sa District.

Various activities will be held at Nha Trang and Doc Let beaches in Ninh Hoa District and Bai Dai Beach in Cam Lam District of Khanh Hoa. Such events like the Salagane Festival, Miss Khanh Hoa contest and Made-in-Viet Nam Goods Fair will be held for the first time.

The festival will open with a fireworks display. The provincial authorities expect foreign partners from France, South Korea, Cuba and Japan to join in the event.

The festival will also host many environment protection activities including rubbish clean-up in the city and a scientific conference on preserving Nha Trang Bay.

Nha Trang ranks second as best pageant host city

HA NOI — Beauty pageant website Globalbeauties.com has announced the winners of the Global Beauties Awards 2011 in categories including Best in an Evening Gown, Face of the Year, Best Host City and Sexiest Woman Alive.

The website ranks Nha Trang city, in the central coastal province of Khanh Hoa which hosted Miss Earth 2010 as the second best host city after Sanya, China.

Miss Earth Viet Nam Luu Thi Diem Huong stands in third place in the Best in Asia category after Miss Earth India Nicole Faria and Miss Universe Philippines Venus Raj. — VNS

Related Articles

• Blue seas and unspoiled beaches
• Vietnam’s tra fish export to Egypt still down
• HCMC begins to think about giving up meat
• Water buffalo, not bull, fights in Vietnam
• Culture Vulture

Cyclo Challenge announces bigger better format

Cyclo riders compete at the Saigon Cyclo Challenge 2010 at the Taipei School in District 7 - Photo: Ngoc Hung

After 10 consecutive years the Saigon Cyclo Challenge has changed its format to the Cyclo Challenge Version 2.0,  Formula 1 – with cyclos! at 9 a.m. on March 12 at The Crescent in Phu My Hung Urban Zone in HCMC’s District 7.

In addition to raising funds for Saigon Children’s Charity (SCC), the Cyclo Challenge Version 2.0   includes a digital campaign designed to introduce the work of Saigon Children’s Charity to the community to encourage young people to participate in making positive change through working in their communities and volunteering.

This year’s race has new rules and designs that could surprise veterans to the event. The racing teams will be made up of representatives from the event’s exclusive Platinum sponsor and event Partner, VNG, as well as seven Gold sponsors including VinaLiving of VinaCapital Group, Adidas, HSBC, Hoang Long Hoan Vu, Jardines/ JLT / Schindler, MegaStar and Halliburton. These eight teams will face each other in a thrilling team vs. team time trials to find the best and the fastest among them. The three fastest teams will enter the final round.  The event is free for spectators.

Another exciting feature of Cyclo Challenge Version 2.0 is the online campaign which  was  launched  on Thursday,  three  weeks  before  race  day.  Cyclo Challenge Version 2.0 , SCC has partnered with Zing Me, Vietnam’s largest social network, and launched a completely new version of the game  Parking Challenge, one of the most popular online games on the Zing Me network. By introducing Cyclo Challenge Version 2.0 to the Zing Me audience, Saigon Children’s  Charity hopes to reach out and inspire young people to effect positive change for the community.

Previous Cyclo Challenges attracted 2-3,000 people a year. With the increased promotion as well as the elimination of ticket fees, the organizer hopes many more will come and help raise the target of US$30,000 to support disadvantaged children in the southern provinces of Vietnam.

Since 2001 Saigon Children’s Charity’s annual Saigon Cyclo Challenge has attracted thousands of participants and over US$500,000 to help educate children in poverty and those who are disabled or vulnerable by building schools and providing scholarships and vocational training, enabling these children to gain a good education and equip themselves with the skills necessary to work their way out of poverty.

Related Articles

• PM launches news channel
• Plan to bury overhead cables
• MobiFone to hasten equitisation process
• Electricity market lacks IT systems
• Timber suppliers learn about legal issues