Aussie football club holds big party for AFL grandfinal

Vietnam Swans players (L and second L) play the Lao Elephants. The Swans football club in Saigon is organizing a big party to watch the AFL grand final between Collingwood and St Kilda this Saturday - Photo: The organizers

The Vietnam Swans in Saigon have sold nearly 200 tickets so far to their Australian Football League (AFL) Grand Final party in District 1 set for next Saturday.

The president of the club, Phil Johns does not expect any tickets to be left for sale at the door on Grand Final day as interest has been so strong.

“Given the number of tourists, especially Australians, who will want to see the Grand Final and hoping to purchase tickets when they arrive in Saigon, I think they will be very disappointed. I am not expecting any tickets to be available on Grand Final day,” Johns said.

The event will be held at La Cantine on the corner of Dong Khoi and Ngo Duc Ke Streets in District 1.

The final between traditional Melbourne rivals Collingwood and St Kilda is tipped to go Collingwood’s way as they have had an almost unbeatable season.

“They [Collingwood] beat Geelong by a lot in the preliminary final and they will be tough to beat. I hope St Kilda win but you would have to think Collingwood will be too strong,” said Josh Little, a Vietnam Swans member.

“No-one wants to see Collingwood win, because if they do, you will hear about it for the next 20 years,” Little said. He said the party would be “the Swans biggest party yet” and watching the grandfinal in Saigon would more special than it would be in Australia

“In Australia, you would celebrate anywhere and it’s always going to be big. In Vietnam, it brings all the Australians together and who wins doesn’t become as important. It’s the fact that we are all together on such an important day and having fun.”

If there are any enquiries for tickets, please email vietnamswans@gmail.com or contact Jo on 0906 615 958.

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Statue honours patriotic monk

Self-sacrifice: The statue of Bodhisattva Thich Quang Duc is unveiled in HCM City on Saturday. — File Photo

HCM CITY — A statue of Bodhisattva Thich Quang Duc, who immolated himself to protest repression against Buddhism by the former Sai Gon regime, was inaugurated in HCM City on Saturday.

The inauguration ceremony was organised by the HCM City's Culture Department and the municipal Buddhist Sangha to honour the venerable monk's piety, courage and patriotism.

The bronze statue is 6.3m tall and stands amidst a 2,000sq.m park at the busy intersection of Cach Mang Thang Tam and Nguyen Dinh Chieu streets, where the self-immolation took place.

Behind the statue is a 16m long, 3m high relief work depicting the patriotism displayed by both Buddhist clergy and laity in the nation's revolutionary struggles. It is surrounded by trees and a pond with blooming lotus flowers.

The model of the statue was selected after a competition launched in 2007, and the park was designed by the HCM City Architects Association headed by Truong Luu.

At midday on June 11, 1963, the Most Venerable Thich Quang Duc took a ride in a car to the corner of Phan Dinh Phung and Le Van Duyet streets in central Sai Gon (now Nguyen Dinh Chieu and Cach Mang Thang Tam streets). Pouring petrol over himself, he sat in the middle of the junction, struck a match and immolated himself.

The Most Venerable Thich Quang Duc, whose lay name was Lam Van Tuc, was born in 1897 in a small village in a province in central Viet Nam.

In 1963, after four years of increasing oppression by the US-backed Ngo Dinh Diem administration towards Buddhist priests and the Buddhist community, he decided to sacrifice himself to highlight Buddhist demands for religious equality in South Viet Nam.

The self-sacrifice captured the imagination and admiration of millions around the world, and gave added impetus to the nation's reunification struggle. — VNS

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British group to host charity run in City

HCM CITY — The British Business Group Viet Nam (BBGV) expects to raise more than US$40,000 from its 11th annual Fun Run for Charity in HCM City on October 3.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Paul Cleves, a BBGV board member, said that last year's run collected $36,000 from 5,500 participants.

All proceeds from the run go towards helping schools, disadvantaged children and poor patients in need of medical care.

BBGV estimates that 6,000 people will join the event. There will also be musical performances from the Cuban Band and Luna Negra.

The funds are donated to various groups and projects, including the Christina Noble Children's Foundation; Orphan Impact-Support Centre for Development of Children in Ha Noi; infrastructure support for local social organisations that provide educational services to disadvantaged children and youth; and Education Centre for Disabled Children in HCM City's District 4.

The Fun Run will kick off at 6.45am at the Sai Gon Zoo. The run goes through Le Duan, Dong Khoi, Mac Thi Buoi and Hai Ba Trung streets and then returns to the zoo.

The male and female winners will each receive a Viet Nam Airlines business-class return ticket to either Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur or Singapore. A full Adidas running kit will also be included.

The second-place winners will be given vouchers for a one-night stay at the Evason Ana Mandara and a one-night stay at the Six Senses Ninh Van Bay for two people, including breakfast and transfer.

The prize for first – and second-place winners in the 13-18 year-old category is an Adidas full running kit includes trainers.

A bike from Nestle Milo will be the prize for the six-to-12 year-old male and female winners. — VNS

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Hanoi ancient house popular to tourists

The house is located at 115 Hang Bac (Silver) Street in Hanoi's Hoan Kiem district

Photo: Sai Gon Giai Phong newspaper

A Hanoi ancient house with a garden has stood for nearly 100 years and is becoming a popular destination with visitors when they visit the 1,000 year-old-city.

The house, located at 115 Hang Bac (Silver) Street in Hoan Kiem district has been home to five generations of the Pham family.

According to the owner, 96-year-old Pham Thi Te, her family moved from Chau Khe village in northern Hai Duong province to settle in Hanoi in 1890, to make jewelry.

In 1920, her family bought over 500 square meters of land and built a two-storey house with 16 rooms, which has two gates, one in Hang Bac street and another in Dinh Liet street.

The house was built in a French architectural style with wooden staircases, high pillars and many windows. The roof is tiled and curves out at the ends, making the house look very elegant.

Vietnamese culture is reflected by four dragon heads attached to the four roof ends. The balcony is decorated with intricate designs. In the spacious front yard there are pots of ornamental plants, stone miniatures and a big fish tank.

The house has a large garden with traditional ornamental plants such as the Barringtonia angusta Kurj, little bamboo trees and rows of green arecas a dozen meters high and as old as the house.

Through the ups and downs of history, for nearly a century, the house has retained its style with wooden tables and chairs and paintings inside.

The house, particularly the garden, has attracted a lot of attention from domestic and foreign experts and is listed in the book “The 36 guild streets area in Hanoi’s Old Quarter” by Japanese experts.

Visitors see the house to contemplate its ancient architecture amid the bustling streets.

The Hanoi People’s Committee has approved a project to preserve the house, which is the only garden house remaining in the Old Quarter.

Pham Tuan Long, deputy chief of Hanoi’s Ancient Houses Management Board, said that the house will be preserved and developed as a tourist destination and is expected to give visitors a glimpse of Vietnam’s old architecture and culture.

It will also give tourists a still and peaceful environment so they can escape from the bustle of urban life.

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Capital city assured of crafts conservation

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has promised investments in traditional crafts village conservation that will not only target production but also be friendly to the environment.

Deputy MARD Minister Ho Xuan Hung unveiled the plan at a workshop on Friday as part of a one-week festival entitled “Crafts Villages, Crafts Streets of Thang Long-Hanoi” beginning on Thursday.

Hung said the scheme would also aim to harmonize production while maintaining traditional cultural identity and focusing on crafts of rich cultural and economic value for sustainable development.

Along with the conservation of traditional crafts in danger of extinction, such as handmade Nepal paper in Van Canh village and traditional music instruments in Dao Xa village, MARD plans to develop new crafts in several villages to meet market demand, said the deputy minister.

He said the ministry has worked out numerous concrete steps to speed up the work such as upgrading rural traffic and communications systems, integrating tourism into traditional crafts development and intensifying investments in personnel training.

MARD also plans to diversify financial sources for conservation and development of traditional crafts villages, Hung added.

The scheme was prompted by the fact that craft village conservation has been ignored to some extent since 2000 and the work has revealed some problems such as serious environmental pollution, limited market share, poor product design and unknown trademarks.

Hanoi is home to 1,350 crafts villages, accounting for almost 59 percent of the total number of villages nationwide and providing jobs for over 626,000 locals.

Their production value reached over VND7.65 trillion (US$38.76 billion) annually, making up 8.4 percent of the municipal industrial revenues.

The history of municipal crafts villages dates back hundreds of years. For instance, the Bat Trang ceramics village was founded 600 years ago, the Chuon Ngo mother-of-pearl village, 1,000 years ago and the Van Phuc Natural Silk village, 1,200 years ago.

Many of these crafts were typical to Hanoi as they are only produced in the capital city - such as porcelain, gold and silver coating and natural silk making.

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Army painter receives paintings lost during war

One of the three paintings by Le Duc Tuan

US Ambassador to Vietnam Michael Michalak on Friday handed over three paintings, which were lost in a battle in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum in 1968, to army painter Le Duc Tuan.

The paintings are parts of a series of 112 sketches Tuan drew when he was in the army.

Michalak spoke highly of the exchange of war objects, saying that it is a vivid manifestation of reconciliation between the two nations.

He said he hoped that the two governments would step up activities to promote the friendship between US and Vietnamese war veterans and people on the basis of mutual respect and development.

Tuan expressed his thanks to the US ambassador and former US soldier Robert B. Simpson who prevented the burning of and then preserved the sketches.

The painter presented the three paintings to the organizers of a campaign designed to collect and introduce objects and belongings related to the war.

At the ceremony, the Thanh Nien Publishing House introduced the “Painting diary returned from the other side” comprising 109 paintings Tuan got back from American war veterans in 2009.

The diary described the real, lively and romantic lives of soldiers during the resistance war against US aggressors. It also includes articles written by US reporters and specialists about the paintings as well as their journey since they were lost and then returned.

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Central region targeted for global tourism

Hue, the former imperial city in the central region, is one of Vietnam's favorite tourist destinations

A plan to develop the tourist and aviation infrastructures in the central region was discussed at a conference on developing the central region’s tourist industry in Da Nang Thursday.

The plan is one of several efforts to develop the central region into a popular tourist destination.

The conference, jointly held by the national flag carrier, Vietnam Airlines and the People’s Committees of Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai and Thua Thien-Hue, attracted representatives from leading travel agencies around the country and Vietnam’s key markets, including Japan, South Korea, Germany, France, Russia, Australia, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

The Vietnam Airlines representative pledged to play a major role in the plan by developing charter services directly to Da Nang in the near future.

In the past, Vietnam Airlines has liaised with foreign travel agencies to operate flights to the central region. In 2009, the airline ran 15 flights from Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Cambodia to Da Nang, which were praised by passengers.

As the demands for this service are increasing, Vietnam Airlines plans to operate between 20-25 flights to the region.

In the domestic market, the airline operates 50 flights a day on 24 routes between Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City and the central region and the Central Highlands.

Vietnam Airlines also has 25 flights a week on routes from Da Nang to the Central Highlands provinces of Gia Lai, Dak Lak and Lam Dong and to the central province of Khanh Hoa, to link up with large economic centers in the central region.

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