Tieng Viet lovers club

[jackbl]

Airfare may be more expensive in 2009
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VietNamNet Bridge – Airlines have said that airfares may increase in 2009, as the Value Added Tax Law, effective as of January 1, 2009, stipulates that air tickets will be imposed 10% in VAT instead of the current rate of 5%.

In general, the Ministry of Finance always releases documents guiding the implementation of laws before they become valid. However, the ministry has not promulgated any documents on the issue, which has made airlines puzzled with their airfare policies.

Jetstar Pacific Airlines, for example, said that it only found out yesterday morning that the airfare is subject to a 10% VAT in 2009. Meanwhile, the air carrier has still not developed airfares for the upcoming year, while old airfares will no longer be valid.

An official from the airline said that while waiting for the new airfares to be fixed, the airline will temporarily charge passengers the old airfares plus 5% VAT.

The official said that the airline is working on developing new airfares for 2009 based on the Circular No 103 promulgated by the Ministries of Finance and Transport. It is expected that there will be different airfares depending on passengers’ choices. The economy ticket for domestic routes is expected to be higher than VND 1.7 million, the ceiling airfare level which was previously applied.

Meanwhile, the national flag air carrier, Vietnam Airlines, said that airfares will not change until the end of March. Therefore, the airline will ‘bear’ the 5% VAT for passengers until the new airfares are announced. The airline has also committed to keep the airfares unchanged for the Tet holiday.

Analysts believe that with the removal of the ceiling airfare scheme, together with the 10% VAT to be applied, it is completely possible that the airfares will increase in 2009.

(Source: VNE)

[jackbl]

A hidden terror
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VietNamNet Bridge - Not many tourists who go to Phu Quoc know that the island was home to one of Vietnam’s most infamous war-era prisons.

Phu Quoc is well known as a beautiful beach destination with white sandy beaches, turquoise waters and pristine forests. When I think of Phu Quoc, I picture myself flopping on a breathtaking beach drinking coconut juices by day and cold refreshing beers by night. But what is paradise for tourists today was once hell on earth for tens of thousands of Vietnamese revolutionaries, who were imprisoned here first by French colonial forces and later by the US-led southern Vietnamese puppet regime.

The French first built a prison on Phu Quoc to keep insurgents, but during the American War, the structure was expanded to cover an area of 40 hectares. It could hold up to 40,000 Vietnamese political prisoners at one time. After the Tet Offensive in 1968, the prison was quickly filled with captured soldiers and was at its peak in terms of prisoners held.

It was modestly surrounded by a wire fence with a number of sentry posts dotted around, no doubt offering prison guards a rather wonderful, if completely incongruous, panoramic view of the breathtaking coast and lush, tropical hills on the island. Today, there is little left of the original prison. Most of the structure was built out of corrugated iron that was easily torn down by locals after all the prisoners were released in accordance with the Paris Accords, which were inked on January 27, 1973.

On the site today, you will find a couple of dilapidated houses made of corrugated iron and a small, two-storey museum. It is only VND3,000 for a ticket into the museum so it won’t hurt your wallet too much to investigate inside – not that there’s a huge amount to see. There is a small bookshop with a number of memoirs written by former prisoners for sale. There is a small office for the museum’s staff and a larger room with a mock-up of Phu Quoc island.

More of the actual vestiges of the prison are displayed on the first floor. On the wall there are black and white photos showing the different ways people were tortured, as well as portraits of people who died there. A board lists 26 types of rather gruesome torture performed, including boiling prisoners in a lotus-shaped iron pot, hammering a nail into the prisoners’ body, or burying prisoners alive, which sounds more like execution than torture.

A piece of text on the board states that three prisoners were boiled to death in 1969 and another three suffered the same fate two years later. One prisoner, Duong Van Men, who came from Cu Chi district of Ho Chi Minh City, witnessed this all first hand. The man was also placed in the pot and only escaped death as the prison guards thought he had died. The museum has other objects, which were used to torture the prisoners, including long, rusty nails.

There are also small wooden and metal instruments that prisoners used to try and dig escape tunnels with. Most interestingly, there is also a rusty dustbin, the centre piece of a daring escape in 1971. Two prisoners hid inside in the bin and then placed wet sacks above their heads before fellow inmates put burning charcoal on top.

The prisoners in the bin could breathe through a metal straw that ran past the burning charcoal. The bin was then left to be taken outside and dumped by the prison guards. The two men successfully escaped doing this and one year later another two also managed to escape in this fashion. Documents state that there were 42 jailbreaks from the prisons with more than 200 inmates escaping to freedom.

Hundreds more were less fortunate and quickly recaptured or foiled from within. No doubt the punishment for those captured might have involved a stint in the “tiger cage” or an isolation cabin, which were both used as isolation-cum-torture chambers. You can see both outside the museum. In the cabin prisoners would have had no room to move around and no sunlight. It would have been cold at night and burning hot in the daytime.

Prisoners could be left inside for long periods; there are reports that some lost their sight as a result of this. The cage was even more brutal. A horizontal cylinder of metal and barbed wire that prisoners were forced to crouch inside. If you moved, fell over or lay down you would continually cut or scratch yourself on the barbed wire. The prisoners were forced in after stripping down to their underpants, so there was little to protect them.

In the cold weather, the jail keeper threw water all over the prisoner in a routine known as “refreshing the tiger.” On hot days, the jail keeper would throw salty water all over the cage, which was called “seasoning for the tiger,” which quite literally rubbed salt in the prisoners’ open wounds. It also made the sun burn their skin more quickly. Sunburned, scabby and scalded and left in the outdoors, numerous prisoners are said to have died inside the cage.

It is estimated that more than 4,000 prisoners could have died because of the brutal treatment and torture dished out at Phu Quoc prison. A recent exhumation discovered more than 800 remains, bringing the number of remains exhumed to date to more than 1,200; there is a collective grave with more than 100 remains. The search continues for the remaining corpses. There is also a project to restore part of the prison to educate present generations of its brutal history and highlight the horror of war.

(Source: Time-out)

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Ha Long Bay welcomes 5,000 tourists on New Year’s Day
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VietNamNet Bridge – 386 tourist ships carrying 4,900 passengers, including 3,700 foreigners, left Bai Chay tourist wharf in the northern province of Quang Ninh to Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO-recognised World Natural Heritage site, on the first day of 2009.

According to the Ha Long Bay’s Management Board, the Bay welcomed more than 2.65 million tourist arrivals in 2008, up by 48.8 percent against 2007. The number of foreign tourists reached 1.71 million, increased by 67.6 percent over 2007.

Quang Ninh is launching a campaign to encourage locals and foreigners to vote for Ha Long Bay to be one of the seven world wonders on New7Wonders: Welcome to the official global voting platform of New7Wonders website.

(Source: VNA)

[jackbl]

Let the sunshine in
==============

VietNamNet Bridge - With a beautiful beach, an endless supply of fresh seafood and a string of hopping bars in the evening, you simply can’t go wrong in Nha Trang.

Nha Trang has long been a popular destination for both local and international tourists. Its long sandy beach lined with coconut palms is the stand-out attraction of this large city located on Vietnam’s south central coast. Entire days can quite easily be whiled away relaxing in the sun, chasing a tan, recovering from a hangover or simply de-stressing. In fact, a beach city like Nha Trang can be a highly therapeutic place.

It is tourist friendly. In Hanoi, the tourist patch is the Old Quarter. In Ho Chi Minh City, it is District 1 and the strip that runs along Pham Ngu Lao. In these areas, many of the local folk can speak English reasonably well. This means information on tourist services, onward journeys and local sights is easy to obtain.

Nha Trang also has its traveller’s zone, where you can book boat trips, rent motorbikes and pick up tickets for planes, trains and automobiles to your next destination. Located along and parallel to a few blocks of beachfront, the place to stay in Nha Trang is in the small district known as Biet Thu. Mini-hotels and guesthouses abound in this area and the beach is never more than a five minute walk away.

More up-market accommodation in high rise hotels is available further up the beach road, if you don’t mind a long walk or a taxi ride at the end of the night. This is worth bearing in mind, because a night or two of your holiday will inevitably be spent in one or more of Nha Trang’s great bars. The jewels in the crown of the bar scene here are the Nha Trang Sailing Club and the Louisiane Brewhouse, two long established watering holes right on the beach.

The former is a stunning complex with restaurants, a bar and a nightclub, where drinks after a hard day on the beach can be followed by a meal and some jiving on the dance floor. For many, it is the last stop of the night. The latter is a beer lover’s paradise, open all day but not so late into the night. Four different beers are brewed on the premises and can be enjoyed on the brew house’s waterfront beach lounges or by the pool.

Away from the beach, you will find a number of popular bars, such as Crazy Kim’s, Guava, Shorty’s and the Why Not Bar, which all have their own unique atmospheres. There are eating options galore in Nha Trang with Indian, Italian, Japanese and other international cuisines well represented. But, by the seaside, the choice is obvious: seafood. Outside restaurants throughout the tourist area, you will find fresh prawns, squid, lobster and fish.

Customers can specify which creature they want to dine on and watch it flipped onto the barbeque. However, you can find better seafood experiences where the locals eat. One such place is Bien Tien Hai San, a restaurant about three kilometres along the main beach road, north of town. In fact, there are many seafood eateries out this way, which are worth a visit.

Other local specialties, available away from the tourist strip in the streets around the main market, include fried rice-flour pancakes (banh xeo), fish noodle soup (bun ca) and fresh roll-your-own spring rolls (nem nuong). Going hungry in Nha Trang is not even remotely possible. Apart from the above-mentioned sedentary activities of sunbathing, drinking and eating, Nha Trang does have a few more active pursuits on offer.

Diving is big here, with a few operators competing for business underwater. All-day-boat trips to the surrounding islands with frequent stops for swimming and snorkelling are also popular with the young backpacking crowd. The Cham Towers across the river are also worth a visit for those hungry for history and architecture.

Despite all of the possibilities, whenever I go back to Nha Trang, I find myself gravitating toward the beach by day, the street food and seafood at meal times and the bars by night. It’s a failsafe routine that I thoroughly recommend.

(Source: Time-out)

[jackbl]

1) Chuc Mung Nam Moi!

Originally Posted by zhu star

New Year is round the corner. Anyone can suggest some usual and unusual new year greeting in Viet. Thanks

[jackbl]

TRAVEL IN BRIEF 2/1
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Big City hotels slash rates to entice guests

Thirty leading hotels in HCM City agreed early this week to cut by 30 per cent their room rates in a move to lure visitors to the city. Truong Vinh Tho, head of the HCM City Tourism Department’s travel division, said the lower room rates launched by three-to five-star hotels would help make it possible for tour operators to launch attractive packages for visitors. Tho said the rates would eventually be even lower because hotels would offer discounts on other special rates for their preferred tour operators.

To promote the country’s tourism, the Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism also announced that Vietnam Airlines would discount fares by 30 per cent for guests from key markets to create a strong promotion programme from next January to September.

HCM City radio to launch foreign-language shows

The Voice of HCM City Radio station will start broadcasting foreign-language channels, including English, French and Chinese next week. The station’s director Nguyen Chau Ky said the addition of the new languages on the air was made following suggestions from diplomats. He added the station also has plans to broadcast programmes in Korean, Japanese and Khmer languages.

Golden Sand Resort wins best hotel award

Swiss-Belhotel Golden Sand Resort&Spa in Hoi An has been selected as the best hotel in the Swiss-Belhotel and resort network for 2008 at the group general managers’ conference this year. The resort managed by Swiss-Belhotel International is recognised as having made the best achievement in service quality and professional management. The annual conference was attended by the group’s executives from around the world.

Lam Dong seeks Gov’t OK for int’l air routes

The provincial authority of Lam Dong has asked the Government’s permission to open international air routes from Lien Khuong Airport in Da Lat to Singapore, South Korea, Laos and Cambodia, to attract foreign tourists and boost its export of vegetables and flowers. They have also negotiated with airlines on the opening of air routes to Lien Khuong. Lien Khuong Airport currently has been providing services to two daily flights between from HCM City and one flight between Ha Noi.

(Source: Viet Nam News)

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Can Tho air terminal inaugurated
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VietNamNet Bridge - A plane carrying Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and other Government leaders touched down a runway of the newly-built Can Tho air terminal at 10.30am on January 4, kick-starting a new air route between Hanoi and Can Tho city in the Mekong Delta region.

After three years of construction, the first phase of the terminal has been completed, with a 2,400m-long and 45m-wide runway capable of receiving big aircraft such as Airbus 320 & 321 and Boeing 737. With a total floor area of 2,400sq.m., the terminal can serve 400 passengers per hour and 400,000 passengers per year. Its ground control facilities meet international standards.

At the inauguration ceremony, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung praised the Southern Airports Corporation, Can Tho City and the construction workers for their great efforts to put the terminal into operation. He encouraged investors and contractors to continue with the second phase of the project to ensure that Can Tho International Airport will be completed and operational in 2010 as scheduled.

He asked Can Tho city to fully exploit the airport to develop its economy and serve as a gateway to other regions in the country as well as the world.

Once completed in 2010, the terminal will launch flights to Singapore, Thailand and Cambodia in Southeast Asia and Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan in Northeast Asia.

(Source: VOV)

[jackbl]

抗议遭虐待 越南台商鞋厂4000员工罢工
==========================

　　（联合早报网讯）据越南官方媒体今天报道，清化省（Thanh Hoa）境内一家台商鞋厂的将近4000名员工已展开罢工，抗议雇主涉嫌虐待劳工。

　　台湾中国时报引述「越南青年报」 (Thanh Nien daily)的报道称，位于清化省的Sun Jade鞋厂，员工大多数是女性。工厂员工指控来自大陆的经理羞辱并毒打他们。

　　越南青年报及其他报纸指出，员工也表示，鞋厂拒绝给予病假及丧假，如果没上班，经常被会扣一整个月的薪 水。

　　目前尚未联络到该公司和当地工会干部发表评论。这是该工厂自去年6月以来第3度罢工。

[jackbl]

远朋国际在胡志明市 设首家荣寿司连锁店
===========================

　　远朋国际(Apex-Pal International)表示，它的旗舰品牌荣寿司（Sakae Sushi）已经于两周前在越南胡志明市的Nowzone Fashion Mall开设在当地的第一家连锁店。

　　这家店位于时尚地区，主要吸引年轻、新潮和喜爱食物的顾客。该店是由远朋授权予Healt hy Food Jonit而开设的。

　　该公司表示，将在未来的三年里增设两家分店。虽然现在有大量的外资涌进越南，但饮食业仍受投资者的青睐 。因为越南的饮食业尚处于萌芽状态，这对远朋来说是一个机遇。由于更多女性走向工作岗位，因此，便宜、方便 又有营养的食物的需求会上升。此外，还有很多年轻富有的顾客，渴望尝试新的口味。借助日本料理在当地的受欢 迎程度，荣寿司应该可以在当地餐饮市场分一杯羹。

　　集团总裁符标雄说：“我们很高兴能找到好的合作伙伴打开越南这个市场，这样使我们离目标更近了。结合越 南饮食业的丰富知识，相信我们的产品肯定能被当地人接受。”

　　包括这个新店在内，荣寿司已在中国、新加坡、马来西亚、美国、印尼、菲律宾、泰国等8个国家的13个城 市开设了60多家连锁店。

[jackbl]

Tet travellers in store for crowded buses, few taxis
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VietNamNet Bridge - Buses and taxis will be crowded or in short supply during the Tet (lunar New Year) holiday, complicating plans for many people who traditionally return to their homes for the largest festival in the country.

Last week, the Viet Nam Road Department said the public’s transport demands during Tet could not be met. Transport demand is forecast to rise by 10 to 15 per cent, but many transport enterprises cannot afford to buy new vehicles to cater to the rise in demand.

The department asked the local transport offices for a plan on ways to meet Tet transport demands and urged organisations, agencies and companies to help their own staff get home for the lunar New Year.

However, Vo Tien Loi, deputy director of Quang Binh Transport Department, said it was difficult to get more buses, as the department did not have provincial approval to buy the vehicles.

Crammed buses

Nguyen Van Dong, deputy chief of Nghe An Province Traffic Police, said dealing with the current situation of crammed buses was already a difficult job.

Dong said that a shortage of buses had resulted in bus drivers cramming too many people onto their buses. In some cases a 15-seat bus will carry about 40 people, which is quite dangerous.

According to the head of traffic police Do Dinh Nghi, many people avoid going to bus stations to catch buses but prefer to hail them nearer to their homes.

Nghi said minimising this bad habit would ease the situation.

In HCM City, the Eastern Bus Station sold about 800 tickets for 20 routes from HCM City to other localities from the 24th to 28th of lunar December (mid January).

The station also confirmed that customers, who had booked tickets had nothing to worry about, according to Thuong Thanh Hai, deputy director of the station.

Under commitments between enterprises and the department of transport, ticket prices cannot increase by more than 60 per cent. Hai said those found to have violated the price rise rule would not be allowed to operate but punished.

Though HCM City and Binh Duong Province used more than 800 buses for New Year’s Day last Wednesday, the buses were still overcrowded with large numbers of people travelling to entertainment centres. There was an increase of between 2,000-3,000 bus travellers, said the HCM City’s transport department.

Taxis

Demand for taxis during the holidays was also too large to meet, according to Nguyen Van Doan, a driver at Thanh Nga Taxi Company in Ha Noi.

The driver said the shortage was not due to a lack of taxis or too many customers, but a shortage of taxi drivers.

"We work all through the year, and we should at least have some days off to visit friends and relatives," said Doan.

However, customers can at least enjoy falling taxi fares. Duong Tien Thu, chairman of the 27-7 taxi co-operative said a low fare of VND7,500 per km was applied on Wednesday for four-seater cars and VND8,000 for seven-seater taxis.

In Ha Noi, fares can be even lower. Some taxi agencies, such as Ba Sao, Thanh Nga or Hung Vuong, charge VND7,000 per km, and VND5,000 per km for the next 20km.

(Source: VNS)

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Singapore introduces spring festival in City
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VietNamNet Bridge - Many Vietnamese people have chosen Singapore as a favourite destination for their holiday during the upcoming traditional Lunar New Year festival (Tet).

In response, the Singaporean Tourism Board has launched a programme to introduce a special spring festival in Ho Chi Minh City to attract more Vietnamese people to the island nation.

The “Chunjie” spring festival will take place from January 3 to February 15, 2009 with three main events: a festival to welcome Tet in Chinatown, a Chingay parade and a Singapore River Hongbao festival.

The spring festival will begin with a firework display on January 3 and lion dances performed by 11 art troupes from Hong Kong, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, China, Thailand and Singapore.

Tourists can enjoy the jubilant atmosphere of festivities, shopping, cuisine and the special cultural features of people of Chinese origins. In addition, there will also be a wide range of Buddhist activities held in 169 year-old temple Thian Hock Keng.

(Source: VOV)

[jackbl]

Education in coastal areas: letters fell into water
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VietNamNet Bridge – Students in the coastal areas of Soc Trang, Bac Lieu, Ca Mau and Kien Giang generally give up on school early, or they study in accordance with the tide’s ins and outs.

Dropping out to go to sea

Tran Cham, a man in Bien Dong A hamlet in Vinh Trach Dong commune in Bac Lieu town, said that families here do not allow their children to go to school. The children have to go fishing in the sea to earn money and get food.

Tran Cham has nine children, but none of them can read or write. Cham related that he has an eldest son, 11, who once went to school, but he dropped out when he finished the first class.

Son Thi Val, 10, a student of the 2nd class of Thuan Hoa Primary School in Vinh Trach Dong commune in Bac Lieu town, related that earlier this school year, there were seven children in the hamlet going to school, who all received gifts. However, five of them began staying home. Only two of them still go to school, Val to the second class, and another girl to third class.

“My friends have dropped out to go out to sea,” Val said.

The home of Nguyen Minh Toan, 14, in Kinh Dao Dong Hamlet in Dat Mui commune in Ca Mau province, was red with merit certificates given by Dat Mui primary school to Toan and his brothers. However, none of the nine brothers finished primary school. Toan related that he and his brothers just learnt to read and calculate, and then dropped out to go to sea.

Ho Ba Loc, in Dat Mui commune, related that he really wants his daughter to go to school, but he is afraid something bad may happen to his daughter, his only child, as the schools are too far from home.

Ho Thi Thao Nguyen, his daugther, is still wearing the uniform of Nguyen Viet Khai High School. However, in fact, she dropped out when she finished the 10th class. Now she is running a small café to earn money.

Students decide learning hours

The Phu Hung High School gathers students from communes in Cai Nuoc district in Ca Mau province. The school’s Principal Nguyen Van Phu said that five students have dropped out so far this year as they cannot follow other students.

The Khanh Hung secondary school has only 200 students. According to Principal Nguyen Van Nghi, the average drop-out ratio is 6%. More students drop-out in dry season as they can easily get jobs during that time.

The Dat Mui High School reported the drop-out ratio of 4-5%.

Teacher Tang So Da related that the learning hours here depend on students’ working schedule. When water levels go down, students go out to the sea, when water goes up, they go to school.

Dao Minh Nam, a border guard, said that the soldiers here have been trying to set up a classroom for the children of the coastal villages, which has several students burning with a desire to learn. However, Nam said, sadly, that as the students learn in accordance with the water levels, they have not received much progress in learning.

The statistics released by the Ministry of Education and Training showed that Cuu Long River Delta has the highest drop-out ratio nationwide, 3.1%. Ca Mau province has seen 2.7% of primary school, 7.5% of secondary and 9.05% of high school students drop out. In Bac Lieu province, the ratio is 6.1%.

(Source: Tien phong)

[jackbl]

Six trends of Vietnamese youth in 2008
========================================
VietNamNet Bridge – There were no big “scandals” related to youth this year, but some trends emerged. VietNamNet reviews some prominent trends of young Vietnamese people in 2008.



1. Blogs rise, forums fall

The information that Yahoo 360 might close in early 2008 shocked Vietnamese netizens. But luckily, Yahoo continues to maintain this blog service, which is the top information sharing channel of Vietnamese youth at present.

The golden age of the online forum, meanwhile, has passed, as netizens now prefer blogs. Blogs have become not only online personal diaries but also the common houses of youth.

It is predicted that in 2009, Vietnamese netizens will continue working on Yahoo 360 and other hot social networks like Facebook and MySpace.


2. Hi-tech students

Young people used online forums, blogs and Yahoo Messenger as tools of entertainment and they also used Internet resources to serve their studies.

Sharing documents, online classes, accessing e-libraries, etc. were online study methods of many students. Some universities are covered with wireless Internet, allowing students to search for documents on their campuses.

However, because of limitations in foreign language, Vietnamese youth haven’t taken full advantage of available sources of data on the Internet.


3. School “Misses” bloom

Student beauty contests were held everywhere, from general schools to universities. The goal of these contests was to honour the “beauty and knowledge” of female students, but some scandals related to such contests marred this intention.


4. Salsa and belly dancing enchant youth

Burning and sexy salsa and belly dancing enchanted Vietnamese young people. Salsa and belly dancing classes appeared everywhere, attracting a lot of students.


5. Online body show

Uploading sexy photos or clips of themselves on the Internet was a trend of Vietnamese teenagers in 2009. Not only girls but also boy students posted sexy photos and clips of themselves on blogs or forums to “become famous”. One of the most shocking clips in 2008 was the one in which two boy students are kissing to the cheering of their friends.


6. Early marriage

Many students got married before or immediately after graduation. Some of them were parents at just over 20. Many teen stars got married in 2008, such as MC Thanh Van, Van Buri, singer Dang Nguyen and Miss Audition Ngoc Anh.


Lan Huong

[KangTuo]

Contirbuting some tieng viet sms from a viet gal...

Me: Sao e kg an com? (Why you don't eat?)
Gal: E chi muon an cung a thoi

Me: E lai geylang, e lam o dau? (You come geylang, where you work?)
Gal: E van o 155 van lam o do. Luc nay e k duoc thay a nen e thay buon moi lai kl

Me: E dung buon neh. Cuoi cho a thay.( Don't be sad, smile for me to see)
Gal: Cho du e co cuoi di nua. Thi do chi de tu an ui minh chu dau co het buon dau. 21 nay e ve en roi e chuc a o day that vui va hanh phuc ben gia dinh nha a yeu.

Gal: Vay thi e va a cung cuoi nha, E k hieu tai sao toi bay gio e van k the nao quen duoc a nua

Any bro wish to interprete her sms?

[naemlo]

Delete posting.