Vietnam Travel Guide

Stay with the Tay
Immerse yourself in the culture of an out-of-theway ethnic village that offers simple, but clean accommodation and guided treks in the surrounding hills and valleys.
The experience: Asian Encounters provides poor Asian communities with information and communication
technologies to help them promote local tourism to global travellers. In Vietnam, the organisation is establishing “e-Community Based
Tourism” in the northern rural village of Ta Van. Ta Van is being developed as a sustainable pro-poor tourism destination in the mountains of northeast Vietnam’s Sapa district in Lao Cai province. At 1,816 metres and only 30 km from the Red River and the Chinese border, Ta Van is home to the Tay, a rice-growing people who live in wooden or bamboo houses on stilts.A homestay in Ta Van provides a close-up insight into the colourfully dressed Tay and their lifestyle. Visitors spend most of their time socialising with the locals and chatting in English with youngsters.

The distant village also provides a good base for guided treks, led by locals, among tiered rice fields in the surrounding mountains and valleys. Ta Van operates a website linked to Asian Encounters’ home page that helps the village pinpoint visitors seeking a genuine cultural and environmental encounter. It presents travellers with an honest, informative picture of the community, its people, food and accommodation. Around 10 farming households offer basic but clean and comfortable lodging that can only be booked over the website.
How it helps: Asian Encounters’ IT efforts in Ta Van place the villagers in control of their tourism.
The community manages the website’s content, which they use to directly reach travellers worldwide and cut out the middleman. This cost effective marketing approach aims to place more of tourism income into Ta Van residents’ hands. Ta Van operates all its tourist enterprises – lodging, tours, dining and craft sales – and the website assists the community in connecting to tourists, who are seeking a truly authentic experience. At
the same time, Ta Van’s website avoids attracting crowds of mainstream tourists, which could damage the local environment and negatively impact their culture. Tech-savvy travellers searching for a responsible tourism destination will be drawn to Ta Van, while agents steer the others elsewhere.Asian Encounters’ website initiative in Ta Van is serving as a prototype for further local internet development in areas such as health, education, agriculture and enterprise development.

Contact and booking information
Asian Encounters
Roger Harris
5B Angel Court, Ville de Cascade, 2 Lai Wo Lane, Fo Tan,
Shatin, Hong Kong
Tel: (+852) 2698 6134
E-mail: harris38@netvigator.com
Web: www.asianencounters.org/community/tavan
(booking is done over the website only and not through
Dr Harris)


Dine for the Kids
While in Hoi An, enjoy a hearty Vietnamese meal in a restaurant staffed by ex-street kids. Part of the profits go to education, health and food for street kids and orphans.
The experience: Far from the run-of-the-mill eatery and a place to relax with a drink, the Blue Dragon restaurant’s friendly service and delicious meals are delivered by staff from disadvantaged backgrounds. Owner Mr Nam, who works with street kids, opened the restaurant in 2003 with funding from the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation. In return, Mr Nam donates 5% of his profits to the small local NGO.
Located near the market with a view of the river, the Blue Dragon restaurant features a range of tasty dishes, including its signature, fried wonton. Steaming deep-fried spring rolls, spicy crab and spinach with shrimp are among other big hits. No trip to the Blue Dragon is complete without a sip of its popular coconut rum.

The restaurant displays products created by beneficiaries of the Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation. Their line up includes honey, sports  shirts, art work, greeting cards photos and jewellery. The young people involved in producing the merchandise earn money from their sales.
Private cooking classes can be arranged in which participants select menu items to learn to prepare.
Everyone has a youngster as an assistant, while going step by step through the recipes, from raw ingredients to a meal to enjoy after the class. How it helps: Aside from enjoying a great meal and service, the Blue Dragon restaurant’s patrons dine knowing they are contributing to charity without having it added to the bill. Part of the restaurant’s profits go into local projects, such as paying for teachers at a local pagoda and providing fruit to children in orphanages. Other funds are directed to the Blue Orphan’s Children’s
Foundation’s three official projects. The Hoi An Street Children’s Centre receives donations for school fees, food and health insurance for 60 students. The Step Ahead programme, based in Hanoi, supports 150 street
children or those with disabilities, and Stay in School helps rural youngsters continue their education in Bac Ninh province.
Kids who Mr Nam guided through training at the Blue Dragon have gone on to work as waiters and trainee chefs at The Vine, one of Hanoi’s finest dining establishments.
Dine for the Kids
Interior View

Location and contact information
Blue Dragon Restaurant
46 Bach Dang, Hoi An, Quang Nam, Viet Nam
(The restaurant is near the market facing the river)
Tel: (+845) [10] 910742
E-mail: bluedragon@bdcf.org
Web: www.bdcf.org/restaurant.html
Open 0900-1000 daily

Nature
Vietnam is dedicated to preserving its vast natural resources, boasting well over 80 national parks and protected areas throughout the country. The most famous is Halong Bay in the north with thousands of oddly-shaped limestone island outcrops filled with caves.
Just south of Hanoi is Cuc Phuong National Park, home to over 97 mammal species, including the endangered langur, and 300 species of birds.

Vietnam’s largest national park, Yokdon, covers 1,155 sq km of relatively flat land, and was founded in 1991 to protect a rare patch of lowland dipterocarp forest with 464 species of flora and scores of mammal, reptile, bird, and fish species including 17 listed as endangered. Among Vietnam’s critically endangered
mammals are the Cat Ba Island goldenheaded langur, Javan rhinoceros, Sumatran rhinoceros and the white-rumped black lemur. Endangered Asian elephants, tigers, otter civets and parti-coloured flying squirrels have
also been spotted.
Vietnam possesses a diversity of wetland habitats including large estuarine and delta systems with extensive mangrove swamps and tidal mudflats. This habitat and others in Vietnam are home to approximately 870 bird species, which make up 10% of the world’s species. The Dalat Plateau is one of the five endemic bird areas (EBAs) in Vietnam identified by BirdLife International. This mixture of coniferous, mountain evergreen
and secondary forest is the exclusive habitat of collared laughing thrushes, grey-crowned crocias and Vietnamese green finches. Visitors to Cat Tien National Park can spot wide-spread birds such as red breasted parakeets, vernal hanging parrots, spotted and red-collared doves, drongo cuckoos and Oriental pied hornbills.

Government Tourism Policy
The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism is the government agency responsible for the country’s tourism development, planning, public relations, personnel training, research and the implementation of policies and other regulations. Assisting VNAT are provincial tourism bureaus.
The country is currently embarking on a sustainable tourism growth path to protect its environment, help alleviate poverty and maintain the cultures and traditions of its 53 ethnic minorities. Much of the current focus is on ensuring safety and security for tourists developing the nation’s tourism infrastructure especially at the provincial level, increasing the capabilities of its human resources, creating convenient travel conditions within the country and the region and providing tourism information. Vietnam encourages investment in the tourism
sector, especially hotels and aviation. It recently liberalized its skies to attract more airlines, and
continues to upgrade its airports as well as rail, road and marine transport. The country also cooperates with its neighbors to promote tourism in the region.

People
Of Vietnam’s 85 million inhabitants, nearly 90% are Kinh Viet. The remainder is made up of 53 ethnic minorities. Most of the Viet originated from the Mongoloid race in Northeast Asia. Many of the minorities only have a few thousand members, but maintain their distinct identities and languages.
Vietnam’s 54 ethnicities can be grouped into eight linguistic categories. The Viet consist of four sub-cultures, the Tay have eight with less than 4% of the population, and the Mon-Khmer have 21 with less than 2%. The five remaining categories fall under the Pa Then: Mong (3), Kadai (4), Nam Dao (5), Han (3) and Tang (6).
The Viet mostly live in the coastal plains and delta areas. The Tay inhabit the northern mountains, while the Khmer reside around the Mekong Delta near Cambodia. The Han Hoa are also lowlanders.

Language
Today’s distinct Vietnamese language reflects its mixed racial and cultural history, and is mostly a fusion of Mon Khmer (monotonic), Tai (tonality and grammar) and Chinese (literary and technical vocabulary). The “Chunbom” writing system using modified Chinese characters was developed for writing Vietnamese in the 8th century. Around 1650, a French missionary devised the “Quoc-ngu” system using the Roman alphabet with additional signs and accent marks to indicate tones. The French made this the official written language
in 1910.

Ethnic minorities retain their native languages, and many foreign languages are spoken, with Chinese, Russian, French and English among the most popular.

Religion
Buddhism is the largest established religion in Vietnam, with about 10 million followers. Confucianism and Taoism were widespread during earlier Chinese domination, but Catholicism, introduced by European missionaries, is now the second most popular religion with some six million believers. Tho Mau originated in the north and was integrated into indigenous beliefs such as the Thien Yana in Hue and Linh Son in Tay Ninh. Cao Dai was introduced in 1926 with its central church in Tay Ninh and it has an estimated two million
followers. The Hoa Hoa sect was introduced in 1939 in southern and western Vietnam, and today has some one million followers.

Economy
Vietnam’s economy has been expanding 7-9% a year since 1986, though this growth was hampered by the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Over the past two decades, the country’s output has started shifting from agriculture to industry, while the poverty rate has substantially decreased. The main agricultural products include paddy rice, coffee, rubber, cotton and tea. Vietnam’s industry focuses on food processing, garments and shoes, machinery, coal mining and construction materials.
The country’s top exports are crude oil, marine products and its major agricultural and industrial products. Vietnam is working to create jobs to meet the challenge of its rapidly growing labour force.

Festivals and Events
Most Vietnamese festivals follow the lunar calendar, so the dates vary from year to year.
Some of the most important festivals include:

Late-January or early-February
Tet – Vietnamese and Chinese New Year – The Tet festival started thousands of years ago when Vietnamese farmers held celebrations to thank the gods for the arrival of spring.
Today’s three-day festival can last a week, with the first day noted for indulging in food and drink.
This is also a time to show respect to elders by bringing them food.

March
Hai Ba Trung Day – This holiday, held on sixth day of second lunar month, celebrates the revolt of the Trung sisters against the Chinese in
40 AD.
Thanh Minh – On the “Holiday of the Dead” people pay homage to deceased ancestors by visiting their graves with offerings of food, flowers and incense.

April
Liberation Day for South Vietnam – General celebrations take place to commemorate the fall of Saigon and the final victory by the North Vietnam Army in 1975.

May
Doan Ngo – Summer Solstice Day is held on the fifth day of the fifth moon when offerings are made to the spirit world to ward of pestilence and disease.

August
Children’s Moon Festival – Tet-Trung-Thu is celebrated on the eighth month of the oriental calendar and is held to promote education, culture, music, art, poetry and sports. The festival begins at noon and ends at midnight, and features activities such as games, lantern processions, dance performances and martial arts demonstrations.
Day of Wandering Souls – The spirits of the dead are believed to visit their offspring’s homes. Celebrations are held at Buddhist temples and food is offered at family alters.

Location & Geography
Vietnam’s 3,260-km South China Sea coastline defines the Mekong Sub-region’s northeast perimeter. The country is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest and Cambodia to the southwest.
Vietnam covers 329,560 sq km, with mountains and hills in the north and east dominating three-quarters of the landscape. The fertile Mekong Delta in the south accounts for over 10% of the country’s area and close to 20% of its coastline. The delta is where the final 200 km of Mekong River breaks up into the Cuu
Long, or Nine Dragons.
The country is divided into five distinct geographic regions. The mountains of Viet Boc stretch from the Red River to the Gulf of Tonkin in the northeast, and the northwest mountains run from the Chinese border to Lao PDR. The Annamite Mountain Range forms Vietnam’s backbone in the central region, beaches trim the east and the Mekong Delta characterises the south.

Climate
Vietnam’s climate ranges from temperate in the north to tropical in the south. The four seasons are evident in the far north where winter temperatures can dramatically drop during the night, though most of the region is split between a cool winter (November to April) and a hot summer (May to October). The southern climate is similar to that of other Southeast Asian countries: cool and dry from November to January, hot and dry from
February to May and hot and rainy from June to October with an occasional typhoon.
History Vietnam’s lush northern river valleys presented the perfect backdrop for civilisation to blossom.
Archaeological digs reveal the existence of Stone Age man 300,000 years ago, and cave dwellers and agriculture appeared by 10,000 BC. Patches of civilisation popped up prior to the 1st millennium BC around the Red River, central Vietnam and the Dong Nai River Delta. These were the ancient Viet people, who began paddy farming, irrigation projects and developing handicraft skills in the area that evolved into the
Van Lang state.
By 1,000 BC, the Hung Vuong Dynasty controlled a kingdom from China to 500 km south of Hanoi.
An Duong Vuong transformed this into the Au Lac Nation in the 3rd century BC, but in 207 BC, Chinese General Chao T'o invaded and annexed the territory to the Red River, establishing Nam Viet. In 111 BC, Chinese Han General Chiao Chih took control, thus starting 10 centuries of Chinese control.

Mandarins administered “Chiao Chih”, and it prospered. By the 3rd century, paper and glass items appeared, and Chiao Chih grew as a trading port. However, descendants of mandarins and Viet landowners decided to revolt in 931. They defeated the Han, and the first independent Vietnamese state was established
in 939.
The Chinese Sung attacked in 967, but General Le Hoan stepped in to repel them, secure the country and set up a monarchy. In 1010, Ly Thai To took the throne, moved the capital to present-day Hanoi and founded the 200-year Ly Dynasty, while renaming the country Dai Viet in 1054. The Tran Dynasty took charge in 1225, with a centralised bureaucracy and a solid defence, which was tested in 1253 when Kubilai Kahn arrived. The Tran battled the Mongols, finally driving them out in 1287.
The Chinese Ming then set their sights on the Tran, and by 1413 controlled Dai Viet. Le Loi, a Trinh landowner, formed a group to fight the Ming, and proclaimed himself king in 1418.
The Ming withdrew by 1428, and in 1460, 18- year-old King Le Thanh Tong, a Confucian scholar, ushered in the “The Flood of Virtue” era. He died in 1497, and chaos ensued until 1527 when Mac Dang Dung usurped the throne. The Trinh revolted, and battled the Mac over Hanoi for 60 years, finally defeating them
in 1592. War broke out between the southern

Nguyen and the Trinh in 1622, ending in a stalemate and peace in 1673, which divided Vietnam in two. The Nguyen began expanding south, pushing the Khmer out of Saigon in 1700 and driving deeper towards Phnom Penh, when in 1771, the Siamese came to help expel them. This triggered three brothers from Tay Son to revolt against their Nguyen lord. The Trinh then ended their truce and attacked Saigon in 1776.
The Tay Son drove the Trinh to China, and then the brothers clashed for control. Hearing of the chaos, an exiled Nguyen ruler returned with the French and retook the country in 1802. Nguyen Anh Gia Long ascended to the throne and founded Vietnam’s final dynasty. In 1858, the French invaded, the Nguyens eventually gave in, and the country became a French protectorate in 1884 with the French appointing all subsequent emperors through Bao Dai, who abdicated to Ho Chi Minh after World War II. Led by Ho Chi Minh, the Viet Minh defeated the French at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, and the subsequent Geneva Accord divided the country into north and south. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the north sided with China
and the Soviet Union during the Cold War, while the United States backed the Republic of South
Vietnam. War between the two broke out in 1965, and raged until the US pulled out in 1975.
Today’s unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam was established on 25 April 1976, with its capital in
Hanoi, not far from where the Viet people got their start over 10,000 years ago.