Cafes having quiet spaces in Saigon

South Vietnam Tourism- The weekend is the time you spend on leisure and tourism after a stressful work week. However, there are times when you want to spend this holiday on very simple hobbies like reading and enjoying coffee or simply watching the life in the quiet space. Please consider three cafe shops including ID Cafe, Creperie & Cafe and Caffe Bene if you are living or just having a visit to Saigon to see how satisfied you are.

I.D Cafe

I.D Cafe is located at 61B Tu Xuong, Ward 7, District 3 or 34D Thu Khoa Huan, Ben Thanh Ward, District 1. This is one of the top choices for those who want to feel the Western atmosphere in the heart of Saigon. ID Cafe space is quite nice, full of luxurious decoration and covered with the warm yellow light giving a very special feeling. Besides, the green tree pots, colorful cushions for chairs and abstract paintings are carefully tended to make the most discerning guest satisfied.

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New tourist destinations in Da Lat on 1/5

Da Lat Tourism- 1/5 is the time you want to spend time traveling with your family and friends. Dalat is a favorite choice today because of its cool fresh climate and its beautiful scenery. If you go to Da Lat on this occasion, there are locations that are not as well-known as Xuan Huong Lake, Truc Lam and Lang Biang Hill. However, they are extremely interesting and not too crowded. Below are our suggestions for you. 

Tran Le Xuan Palace

Tran Le Xuan Palace is one of the new tourist destinations in Dalat attracting numerous visitors. This is a complex of three villas located in No.2 Yet Kieu street, Da Lat city. They were designed and built in the most modern French style at the time. Currently, almost all construction materials and decorative objects as well as means of living in palaces are imported from abroad.

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Tourism tips - Cost saving tips for those who love traveling

Tourism Tips - It is a common thought that traveling costs lots of money, however, we prefer to say that traveling cost is adjustable, it's all depend on your schedule and choices. Nowadays, with the development of technology, the competition between traveling agents and the variety of tourism services, you're able to have incredible trips without spending too much money.

You should be a smart traveler by having a detailed planned schedule and choosing economical services.

Planning early

Everyone knows that whether it's in life or at work, anything that is well planned is always the likelihood of success with higher efficiency; traveling is not an exception. You will not be able to save your money if you're going to travel on peak occasions such as holidays, New Year holiday, etc. If you plan your trip earlier, you will absolutely be able to choose a good service with a reasonable price, and you can also take advantage of attractive promotional services. You will, in addition, have time to prepare your luggage attentively.

Avoid peak occasions

In general psychology, anyone likes to travel to famous tourist destinations for holidays, which is the reason why holidays are often peak occasions which also lead to the increase in price but decrease in quality of services. Therefore, you should avoid these occasions to balance your budget for traveling. 

Study the place you want to visit

Knowledge of the place you're going to visit will help you a lot in order to have an impressive and economical trip. Traveling means discovering and exploring, but to study information prior to go will give you a bunch of choices and opportunities in finding the most appropriate places for the trip. You should want to know the price of settlement, any fee that may arise, etc. 

Consider presents to give away

Do not think that you should give presents to others after your travel. Instead, you should consider buying what you find to be meaningful and really needed, especially when you transport by airplane because your luggage size and weight is limited. So, again, consider and find information about which is proper to give away after your trip, and where to buy with the most reasonable price. 

Hope you find this article useful and have a nice trip!

Author: Ngat Huong

Please indicate "Vietnam Tourism Today" as the source when copying this article.

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Hoa Binh Tourism - Interesting destinations in Hoa Binh

Hoa Binh Tourism - For those who travel frequently, Hoa Binh is not an unfamiliar destination. Just crossing about 100km from Hanoi, you will come up to the spectacular poetic mountain areas. Moreover, this area is also the home of interesting things to discover.

Mai Chau 

The way coming to Mai Chau from Hanoi would provide you many challenges and interesting experiences. After 70km from Hanoi to Hoa Binh town, it will take you another 60km to reach Mai Chau. In the latter path, you should come over can steep road which is about 12km in length. This journey requires a experienced driver who is psychological calm because it will make you feel like moving among clouds. Despite surrounding by clouds, you will still be able to feel the grandeur of the mountains here.

Mai Chau is the home of Thai ethnic people with the fresh and cool air resulted from the altitude of 200-1500m above sea level. 

Lac village will be a place not to be missed because this village is characterized with the lifestyle and culture of Thai people. Mai Chau is not only attractive to young travelers, but also families and foreign tourists. Sticky rice and honey are well known specialties of Mai Chau along with other wildlife specialties. You should try those once if having a chance.

Thung Nai

Thung Nai is a town of Cao Phong - Hoa Binh which is located on the reservoir of Da River. To come to Thung Nai, you should take 2 separate paths, firstly, from Hanoi to Hoa Binh town, then from Hoa Binh town to Thung Nai, the total distance is about 95km. In Thung Nai, you will be able to discover and explore places like BA Chua Thac Bo temple, the magic of the Thac Bo cave, the stilt houses and beautiful scenery along the road. Thung Nai is the home of various ethnic communities, especially Muong people. The most common vehicle here is a boat or canoe.

However, this destination is not for those who need noisy activities or modern entertainments. Hoa Binh is for those who travel with their family and those who want to discover and explore nature.

Author: Ngat Huong

Please indicate "Vietnam Tourism Today" as the source when copying this article.

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Can Tho Tourism - 3 famous temples in Tay Do

Can Tho Tourism – Tay Do is another name to call Tho. It is considered a capital of the southwest region and a famous tourist destination. There is one thing everyone can easily see when you come here is that this place a lot of big and famous temples.

To learn more about the land and local people, you should visit the temples in this country. Of which there are Ong Pagoda, Nha Nam Pagoda, and Phuoc Hau Pagoda.

Ong Temple 

Ong Temple is a place where the majority of people living in Can Tho States spend their time for their belief and cultural activities. It was recognized as a national architectural relic by the Ministry of Culture and Information in 1993. 

This temple located on Hai Ba Trung Street, Tan An ward, Ninh Kieu District, Can Tho City was built in 1894 and completed in 1896, with positive and negative roofs. On the top of these roofs, there are colorful porcelain statues with different designs 

This temple has not changed compared to the original architecture. It worships Quan Van Truong – a Chinese general in Three Kingdoms period who is famous for his loyalty and hospitality. Today, apart from Chinese people, a lot of tourists come here to practice religious activities, go sightseeing and visit the unique architecture of this temple.

Nam Nha Temple

Nam Nha Temple also known as Minh Su temple was built in 1985by Nguyen Giac Nguyen - a follower of Minh Su religion. Previously, this temple was Nam Nha Duong pharmacy which was home to scholars in the movement against France. 

The scenery is very beautiful. The temple courtyard is wide. In particular, it worships Giac Nguyen and its altar has three copper statues of Sakyamuni Buddha, Confucius and Lao Tzu. The two horizontal rows of houses are used for guests. In particular, the area behind the temple has tombs of heroes who sacrificed when joining Dong Du movement and those who made great contribution on constructing the temple.

Phuoc Hau Temple

Phuoc Hau Temple is a temple to be classified as one of the most important monuments for the history of Vietnam Buddhism in twentieth century, but also the heroic history of Vinh Long province and Southwest Vietnam against the American. It was built in the 19th century. It was originally just a small pagoda made by the monks coming from Central Vietnam. After many much construction and restoration done by monks and local residents, Phuoc Hau became a majestic meditation place. 

During the Vietnam war, this is also the basis of South West Vietnam revolutionary organizations. Thus, coming to this temple, tourists can visit, go sightseeing and have an opportunity to review the glorious history, be proud the nation as well as learn more about the great contribution of this temple for Vietnam Buddhist background.

Author: Ngat Huong 

Please indicate "Vietnam Tourism Today" as the source when copying this article.

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Saigon Tourism - 5 interesting tourist spots around Saigon

Saigon Tourism- Saigon is known for a lot of pubs and entertainment centers attracting a large number of tourists at home and abroad. In addition, Saigon is also known by many very interestingly historical and ecotourism attractions around.

Cu Chi Tunnels

This is where most Vietnamese people should come to understand and be proud of history. This place has a memorial temple for heroes sacrificing in Saigon - Gia Dinh in two wars.

You also have an opportunity to have meaningful experiences while exploring the 200 km long tunnel system generated from the hands and minds of heroic Vietnamese people during the war.

Isaac Forest Zone

Isaac Forest is a place associated with heroic battles of warriors. This is an important base for the revolution in South Vietnam. Currently, this forest has restored and planted. It has become the largest mangrove forest in Vietnam and has had an ecosystem including rich plant and animal populations attracting tourists who love learning about the ecology of Vietnam.

"A Glimpse of Vietnam" Tourist Zone

This resort has a romantic name considered a ethnological museum in South Vietnam, where visitors learn and save these memories about Vietnamese lives and activities. It includes handicraft villages in diverse industries, and items characterized in all three regions of the country, gardens, houses, markets, and food areas. Here, visitors can contact and learn about artisans and farmers producing different products.

Betel Garden Village

If you are interested in getting acquainted and learn about southern culture and farmers, you visit betel gardens in Hoc Mon district about 20 kilometers of the city center to the west. Here, guests will be in contact with South farmers and feel their enthusiasm, honesty and sacrifice. 18 betel villages plant a lot of green betel gardens. What is more, visitors have a chance to ride horse cars, leisurely go sightseeing, or walk around the village to enjoy the cool air. Surely, you'll have memorable moments in this place.

Stork Garden

This is a quiet, fresh garden in the heart of the noisy, crowded town. In the "stork season" from September to April, there are thousands of storks settling. Ater visits, you can indulge in the hammock and enjoy sweet, cool chilled coconuts if you are tired and thirsty guests. If you are hungry you can enjoy the rustic dishes such as grilled hamsters, fried frogs with sweet coconut, and roasted chicken.

Author: Ngat Huong 

Please indicate "Vietnam Tourism Today" as the source when copying this article.

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Can Tho Tourism – Places should be visited in Can Tho

Can Tho Tourism - " "Can Tho, white rice, clear waters. All who come wish never to leave." If you have an opportunity to visit Can Tho gardens, you will understand these sentences and love this land and its people.

Can Tho located one the bank of Hau River is considered the heart of the Mekong Delta region. This article will give you information about places to go when you visit this city.

Cai Rang Floating Market

As the most popular destination in this land, this market has boats goods, mostly local specialties. Surely visitors will be enjoyable when they come here for the first time. Taking part in this market and watching extremely vivid "signs" creating specialties are unforgettable memories. These sighs can be bananas, rambutan or any agricultural products that those boats have.  To buy, customers sit on small boats and take boats access to boats of sellers.

Gardens

Gardens are attractive and unique. Wherever visitors go, they see rivers gardens with fragrant fruits. There are gardens serving tourists. Visitors can just admire, eat fruit specialties at the gardens, and are served a full range of exotic specialties such as grilled fish, boiled snails, grilled chicken, etc. 

Binh Thuy ancient house

The house is located on Bui Huu Nghia road, Binh Thuy Ward, Binh Thuy district, Can Tho city. It was built in the style of French architecture by Duong family in 1870. Here is a sample of the remaining ancient houses. It is preserved in intact.

Here, visitors can find out about daily lives and cultural characteristics of a residential unit living between two centuries. 

Can Tho ancient market and Tay Do night Market

Can Tho ancient Market Can Tho is located on Hai Ba Trung Street, also known by other names such as Hang Duong Market or Luc Tinh. It was built simultaneously with two large and well-known markets (BenThanh Market and Binh Tay Market). Can Tho Market is different from normal markets because it takes place at night. It is the center of agricultural products from the remote areas.

Tay Do Night Market is about 1 kilometer of the city center to the west of Hau River, the hub of goods to trade with other local places. 

There are also services in term of food and entertainment. Currently, Tay Do Night Market and Can Tho ancient Market are planned in to resorts to sell souvenirs and introduce local specialties to serve visitors.

Ninh Kieu Wharf

Ninh Kieu Wharf is attractive thanks to its charming river landscape. You have a panoramic view of Hau Giang River from pavilion- a ship floating on the river and connecting to the shore by a dreaming bridge segment - a two-storey restaurant with hundreds of seats for visitors.

Visitors can call drinks or enjoy a famous eel pot. Ninh Kieu Wharf also has a park with green trees where people can live and play.

Author: Ngat Huong 

Please indicate "Vietnam Tourism Today" as the source when copying this article.

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Vung Tau Tourism- 8 interesting destinations in Vung Tau

Vung Tau Tourism - Vung Tau is a favorite place for many people Saigon who want to relax every weekend. It is attractive because of not only its many beautiful beaches with clean air and fresh seafood but also many extremely interesting destinations.

Bach Dinh (White Palace)

White Palace was built in 1898. Currently, Bach palace is used as a showcase of artifacts found at Hon Cau - Con Dao.

Statue of Christ

The statue was built in 1972 on Little Mountain, but stopped. It was not until in 1994 it was completed due to the aspirations of fellow parishioners. It is 136 meters in height from the foot to the top and 176 meters in height compared to the sea level. 

Inside the statue there are 133 stone stairs which can accommodate hundreds of people. Interestingly, when standing from the hands of the statue, you can cover the entire city of Vung Tau.

Lighthouse

Lighthouse in Vung Tau is equipped with a telescope to monitor and guide the ships at sea. It was built in 1907. However, at first it was small and low. Then it was built a round tower with 3 meters in diameter and 18 meters in height, located on the highest point of Little Mountain with a height of 170 meters.

Big Mountain, Little Mountain

Big Mountain has an area of 400 hectares with the tops of Vung May, Big Mountain and Hon Sup. Little Mountain has an area of about 120 hectares. They are two interesting points of the city. From Big Mountain and Little Mountain, you can go to beautiful beaches such as Bai Dau, Bai Truoc, Bai Sau, and Bai Dua as well as sights such as Bach Dich and Niet Ban Tinh Xa Pagoda.

Lang Ca Ong (The whale temple)

With spacious campus, it is a place not simply to visit but also to be considered to worship the whale species rescuing fishermen and at sea. 

That is why people have rules that when the remains of a whale washed up, the first person to see it will have a responsibility to bury the whale. The whale temple has been repaired many times to get the current status. 

Stone Bridge Harbor 

The harbor was built in 1896 to serve military purposes. However, now it becomes a beautiful place and the most romantic place in Vung Tau with a 500 meter long dike running parallel to Bai Tuoc.

Hon Ba

This is a small island off the coast. It is 200 meter away from the foot of Little Mountain. There is a special shrine called Ba Temple worshiping the gods of the sea. On the fifteenth and the first day (lunar calendar), many local people as well as visitors go to the island to burn incense in the temple. It also served as a secret meeting place of the patriotic scholars, so it was a historical place. When the tide is low, you can go along a small path to the island.

Vo Thi Sau Memorial

The simple but warm house is located in Phuoc Long commune, Long Dat district, about 12 kilometers of Ba Ria to the west. The house was built in the rustic style with many characteristics of villages in southern Vietnam. 

There is a Vo Thi Sau monument park located 50 meter of the house to the east. This place has a hero monument adorned in the center of the park, always filled with plumeria, Michelia and lekima flowers.

Author: Ngat Huong 

Please indicate "Vietnam Tourism Today" as the source when copying this article.

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Hanoi Tourism - Young rice: the delicious and valuable snack of Hanoian

Hanoi Tourism - Young rice is a present from the rice field, but it's not available everywhere. The special, delicious and sweet young rice can only be found in Hanoi. Hanoian treats this kind of snack with a special pamper love which makes young rice becoming the most special gift among a wide variety of gifts in Hanoi.

Young rice, as its name, is the young sticky yellow flowered rice, which makes the light sweetness just like mother's milk with the tip of the tongue. After harvested, it must be processed within 24 hours in order to obtain a good tasty young rice.

After cropping from the field, the young rice maker should provide special care to avoid losing the "milk" of the rice. Then, the grain is put into hot pan to dry roast until the rice grains become soft. The flame to roast should made from firewood with a medium strength. After the rice grains are cooked, it will be grinding stage. Today, there is a lot of mechanization and automation processes to save time and human effort, but the grinding stage is still being done manually. The pestle should be handy for the user should pound the grain gradually with a constant speed, then remove the husk. The rice leaves are milled, mix with water and then coloring the grain with the obtained green solution.  After that process, the young rice will be turquoise in color with a very pleasant smell.

Then the young rice will be placed flattened on the surface of a lotus leaf, the leaves are placed layer by layer inside a bamboo-made basket. Today, it is less common to see young rice vendors with two baskets on the two sides of the yoke, but you can easily encounter fresh young rice are sold on every roadside. From the past until now, young rice has still been an elegant and special gift of Hanoi.

Vong young rice is made picky, hence, it should be tasted in a subtle way. You should try young rice by pieces, chew slowly to taste and enjoy the smell as well as the sweetness of young rice. Hanoian often tries young rice with persimmon or ripe banana; it is also cooked to make other delicious foods like young rice cake, pressed young rice, etc.

It might cost lots of papers and words to describe the deliciousity, the hidden beauty as well as the specialty of young rice. Hope who is reading this article to have a chance to try this themselves by visiting Hanoi on a windy, sunny August day.

Author: Ngat Huong

Please indicate "Vietnam Tourism Today" as the source when copying this article.

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Hanoi Tourism - Enjoy the ancient culture in Duong Lam village

Hanoi Tourism - Escape from the noisy street, the luxury and aesthetic modern beauty of Hanoi, moving along Thang Long highway or via Nhon-Son Tay direction on 32 Street, you will be immersed in space of an old Vietnamese village that seems to exist centuries ago - Duong Lam ancient village.

Duong Lam ancient village is located in Son Tay town, Hanoi (Ha Tay province in the past) and 40 km to the west of the central city. There is a tip for people who prefer travelling by motorbike is that to ask the way coming to Son Tay town, and then you'll be guided the way to Duong Lam ancient village that is only 5km from Son Tay town. At the village main gate, you should park your vehicles and rent a bicycle to enjoy the peaceful ancient space as well as discover interesting things related to the culture and history of the village.

Duong Lam is truly an impressive ancient village because it still holds a lot of culture, ancient architecture that originated centuries ago. Duong Lam ancient village is basically a combination of 9 smaller villages linked to each other to form a unified whole of customs, habits, routines, cultures and beliefs; these characteristics have been maintained through generation up to now. You will see that this place covers the most basic characteristics of an ancient village in Vietnam with the image of courtyard houses, wells, brick roads, temples, mossy shrines, etc.

Duong Lam ancient houses were mostly built in the previous centuries, some houses were even built 4 centuries ago. The common in architecture of those houses is that the walls and gates are made of bee-stone, the entrances are lined with traditional bricks, the windowsills are knee-high while the main room is the space for ancestors. Houses of wealthy families may be decorated with dragon, unicorn, phoenix sculpture, or there are places to place important furnitures of the family. Most of the houses here are designed with large lower deck pavement. This comes from the perspective of "the convergence aquatic resources" of the owner - which means the family could store water when it's rainy instead of draining the rain to the outside. That's also the reason why the window sill is always at knee height. 

Duong Lam ancient wells are also a unique architectural feature of Duong Lam ancient village. It's not easy to find a place in Vietnam where there are as many wells as it is in this village. These wells have a lifespan as of houses, temples or pagodas here. Another special thing is that, these wells not only are used  as water storage but also carry a spiritual meaning that not many people understand.

Historic and cultural spots could not be ignored in Duong Lam ancient village. This place is well known as 2-king region as it is the homeland of Ngo Quyen and Phung Hung. Because of that, coming to Duong Lam ancient village, we are able not only to enjoy the culture of an ancient village but also to discover the high valuable history shown in Ngo Quyen tomb, Mia pagoda, an ancient village gate in Dong Sang, etc.

Moreover, this place is considered as the homeland of Vietnamese soysouce - a traditional culture that has been preserved and promoted my people of Duong Lam ancient village.

Author: Ngat Huong

Please indicate "Vietnam Tourism Today" as the source when copying this article.

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