Travel

Covid forces 171 HCMC travel companies to temporarily close

June 14, 2021 by e.vnexpress.net

Some saw revenues plummet by 70 percent year-on-year, the city Department of Tourism said.

The first wave appeared in late January, just a few weeks before the Lunar New Year holidays.

It died down, and after over a month without new cases, the latest wave triggered by new virus strains began on April 27.

According to the department, around 5,000 travel firms remain in operation though some large ones have cut their payroll by 50-80 percent to reduce costs.

The hospitality industry has been devastated by the lack of tourists, with three- to five-star hotels reporting a 70 percent fall in revenues and some even temporarily closing down.

The city received 7.1 million domestic tourists in the first five months of this year, down 47 percent from 2019, and earned revenues of VND35.5 trillion ($1.54 billion), down 37 percent.

The southern metro has had 819 Covid infections in the latest wave, forcing authorities to close all tourist destinations and pedestrians-only streets since early June.

Beauty of solitude central to Vietnam photo series

June 13, 2021 by e.vnexpress.net

Nhan said that in early January 2021, the northern mountain region, including Lao Cai Province, home to popular resort town Sa Pa, were hit by a cold snap resulting from a strong cold front. When hearing information, he went to Lao Cai to hunt for snow and took the photo of a lonely house in the middle of the white snow in Nhiu Co San Mountain in Y Ty Commune.

Nhan said that in early January 2021, the northern mountain region, including Lao Cai Province, home to popular resort town Sa Pa, was hit by a cold snap resulting from a strong cold front. Responding to the news, he traveled to Lao Cai where he shot this photo of a lonely house inundated with white snow on Nhiu Co San Mountain of Y Ty Commune.

A small house lying alone on a tea hill in Moc Chau Town in the northern province of Son La. In the early morning, tea fields are covered in mist, creating an charming landscape. At an altitude of 1,050 meters above sea level, Moc Chau with a temperate climate is suitable for growing tea.

A small house stands alone on a tea hill in Moc Chau Town of northern Son La Province. At an altitude of 1,050 meters above sea level, Moc Chau with a temperate climate is suitable for growing tea.

This detached house lies on ripe golden terraced fields in Mu Cang Chai, a rural town lined with mesmerizing rice terraces in Yen Bai Province, around seven hours drive to the northwest of Hanoi. The town sits at 1,000 m above sea level at the foot of Hoang Lien Son Mountain Range and its rice terrace fields stretch across 2,200 ha of the mountainside.

This detached house is located amid the ripe golden rice terraces of Mu Cang Chai, Yen Bai Province, around seven hours’ drive to the northwest of Hanoi. The town sits at 1,000 meters above sea level at the foot of Hoang Lien Son Mountain Range, with its rice terraces stretching across 2,200 hectares of mountainside.

Nhan was fascinated by the image of a farmer sitting on a craft with his bundle of rice, floating on the jade waters along the Quay Son River in Cao Bang Province on the border with China.

Nhan was fascinated by the image of a farmer sitting on a craft with his bundle of rice, floating on the jade waters of Quay Son River in Cao Bang Province on the border with China.

A lonely house floats on a flooded mound, part of a resort near Dong Mo Lake the outskirt district of Son Tay in Hanoi. This lake at the foot of Ba Vi Mountain is about 40 km from Hanoi, famous for its charming scenery.

A ‘lonely’ house floats on a flooded mound, part of a resort near Dong Mo Lake on the outskirts of Son Tay in Hanoi. The lake at the foot of Ba Vi Mountain is about 40 kilometers from the capital, famous for its charming scenery.

A fisherman alone rows a coracle at dawn in the waters of Binh Minh in Thang Binh District in the central province of Quang Nam This seaside fish market begins to become bustling at dawn when fishing boats flock to the shore after a long night of fishing. Traders come to receive fish and shrimp and transport them to local markets for resell.

A lone fisherman rows a coracle at dawn in the waters of Thang Binh District, central Quang Nam Province. This seaside fish market grows bustling at dawn when fishing boats flock ashore after a long night at sea. Traders typically resell fish and shrimp at various local markets.

A woman picks up seafood near a bridge across Lai Giang River in Hoai Nhon District in the central province of Binh Dinh. Lai Giang is the second largest river in Binh Dinh. During low tide, people wade from knee to hip, catching local products such as snails and goby to earn their daily living.

A woman forages near a bridge across the Lai Giang River in Hoai Nhon District of central Binh Dinh Province.

A lonely boat waiting at a wharf, taken at Phu Ngan River in Tuy An District in the central province of Phu Yen.

‘A lonely boat’ waits at a wharf, taken at Phu Ngan River in Tuy An District of central Phu Yen Province.

Nhan sits next to a lonely tree in the middle of the night, looking at the starry sky near Da Dia Reef, a popular tourist attraction in the central province of Phu Yen.

Nhan sits next to a “lonely tree” in the middle of the night, looking at the starry sky near Da Dia Reef, a popular tourist attraction in central Phu Yen Province, his hometown.

A woman in the middle of a green field when the sky turns dark, taken in the remote district of Krong Bong in the Central Highlands of Dak Lak.

A woman in the middle of a green field against a darkening sky, taken in the remote district of Krong Bong in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak.

A lonely boatman on Tuyen Lam Lake in an early morning, surrounded by a forest of hollong trees during the leave changing season.

A street vendor crosses the hill leaving footprints in the sand dune in Mui Ne, a popular coastal town in the south central province of Binh Thuan.

A street vendor crosses the hill leaving footprints in the sand in Mui Ne, a popular coastal town in south central Binh Thuan Province.

Photos by Cao Ky Nhan

Beijing’s Daxing International Airport now officially open

September 27, 2019 by vietnamnet.vn

Beijing’s massive new Daxing International Airport is officially open for business – just in time for celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China on October 1.

Beijing's Daxing International Airport now officially open

Beijing Daxing International Airport: An aerial view of the striking new Beijing Daxing International Airport, dubbed “starfish” by Chinese media.

On Wednesday morning, press, dignitaries and airline representatives waited in place for more than four hours for the arrival of President Xi Jinping, who entered the main concourse of the glistening gold and glass mega terminal just before noon, where he was greeted by airport officials.

Xi sat through a brief highlight reel of the airport’s design and construction followed by speeches filled with praise for the president. The Chinese leader was the last to speak, offering a brief, formal baptism.

“I declare Beijing Daxing International Airport open,” he said.

Later that day, the crowd watched as the airport’s maiden flight took off from one of the airport’s four runways — an honor that fell to Daxing’s main tenant, China Southern, which deployed an Airbus A380, the world’s biggest airliner.

Flights from other airlines due to move to the airport, with a three-letter code PKX, were also scheduled for later in the day. Initially, the only flights making use of the airport are domestic. Customs and immigration are not yet operational, their booths currently empty and free of computer screens.

Flights from Daxing will cover 112 destinations around the globe by next spring.

An airport built for the future

Designed by the late architect Zaha Hadid and her Chinese partners, the airport is built for the future, boasting a terminal the size of 97 soccer pitches — as well as customer-service robots that provide travelers with flight updates and airport information.

Nicknamed “starfish” by Chinese media for its shape of five concourses connected to a main hall, Daxing aims to reduce walking for passengers, long a complaint about many new mega-hubs. CNN

Saigonese of Chinese descent make a ‘cleansing’ sticky rice cake

June 13, 2021 by e.vnexpress.net

Ha Cam Toan and his family in District 11 have been making ba trang , a savory glutinous rice cake, for the summer cleansing festival for the past 25 years. In Chinese, “ba” is meat and “trang” is rice cake. It is made especially for Tet Doan Ngo, a summer festival that cleanses the body and spirit. The festival is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, which falls on June 14 this year. ba trang cake hanging in their houses. There are many ways to make this cake. Every family gives their own twist to the recipe,” Toan said as he hung the cakes on two bamboo poles.

Inside Toan’s house on Tue Tinh Street, relatives gather to help make the cake. Every year, the family makes about 6,000 cakes to sell. For the entire week, nearly a dozen of his relatives have helped soak rice, wash leaves, wrap and boil the cakes. Tet Doan Ngo , we make a lot more to sell, mostly to traders from the Chinatown area,” said Toan.

A relative helps soak rice and mung beans, main ingredients of the ba trang cake. Glutinous rice will be added with little salt and soaked for three hours. The mung beans are soaked for six hours.

Tran Cam Thao, Toan’s mother, arranges bundles of washed and pre-boiled banana leaves and bamboo leaves in baskets for wrapping. “Many Chinese families just use bamboo leaves. But my family adds an extra layer of banana leaves on the outside to give the cake its own flavor and make it easier to wrap,” she said.

The filling of the rice cake typically includes meat, salted egg yolk, dried shrimp, peanuts and shiitake mushrooms. The filling is seasoned with spices, giving the cake its distinct aroma.

Depending on the size or customer’s request, each cake will have one to four salted egg yolks. Ba trang cakes are wrapped in a pyramid or square shape.

The Hong (R), a neighbor of Toan who has been coming over to help make the rice cake for Tet Doan Ngo for the past five yeas, said: “It’s very hard to make this cake, because it doesn’t use a mold, so the banana and bamboo leaves have to be cut in a certain way to get the desired shape. It’s fun to see children and youngsters gathering together for this and talk about all kinds of things,” she said.

About four km away, nearly a dozen households on Gia Phu Street in District 6 are also busy making and wrapping the cakes. Chu Que Lan (orange shirt) said nearly 10,000 cakes were made this year, using only bamboo leaves as wrapping.

In the kitchen, Luong Dung Quang watches over six pots at the same time. The cake is cooked on a fire with firewood and charcoal for eight hours.

Nearly a week before the festival, ba trang cakes would be sold on Gia Phu Street in District 6. Each cake weighs about half a kilogram and costs about VND60,000-70,000 ($2.61-3.04).

Russia treasures relations with Vietnam: Ambassador

June 14, 2021 by en.qdnd.vn

Russia looks towards boosting friendly relations with all countries on the basis of mutual respect and consideration of each other’s interests. One of Russia’s traditional and preferred partners in the Asia-Pacific region is Vietnam, according to the ambassador.

He recalled the traditional friendship between the two sides since the Soviet Union’s establishment of its diplomatic ties with Vietnam in 1950. The Soviet Union helped Vietnamese people during their years of struggle for independence and freedom as well as in the peace-building period.

A tradition of friendship and cooperation for mutual benefit has been built by previous generations through difficult years and is currently being promoted on the basis of bilateral relations. Twenty years ago, Russia and Vietnam signed a Joint Statement on a strategic partnership, and since 2012 the bilateral relationship has been upgraded to the comprehensive strategic partnership.

The diplomat stressed that the bilateral cooperative relationship is currently developing dynamically in a wide range of fields. Political dialogue is maintained regularly at all levels. Telephone talks have also taken place between Russian President Vladimir Putin, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Medvedev Dmitry and General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong, and between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Vietnamese counterpart Bui Thanh Son.

Trade-economic cooperation has expanded continuously. Thanks to the active efforts of the parties in implementing the Free Trade Agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union and Vietnam, signed on May 29, 2015, trade revenue between the two countries has increased, with two-way trade in 2020 rising by 15 percent year-on-year to 5.7 billion USD.

The ambassador also said that Vietnam and Russia have also made efforts to promote cooperation against the COVID-19 pandemic. The two countries’ relevant ministries, sectors and agencies have exchanged experience in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of this pandemic. Negotiations are also underway on the supply and construction of a Russian Sputnik V vaccine production facility in Vietnam.

Russia is very grateful to its Vietnamese friends for donating several batches of medical masks to Russia. For its part, Russia has transferred to Vietnam a batch of Sputnik V vaccine, medicines, testing systems and reagents for research, he added.

Russia highly appreciates the activities of the Joint Russian-Vietnamese Tropical Research and Technological Center which is one of the most important scientific and technical cooperation projects of the two countries. On this basis, over the past 30 years, many unique studies have been conducted in the areas of environmental safety, biology and chemistry, as well as in epidemiology and medicine in tropical conditions.

Education and training remains a traditional area in bilateral cooperation. In the 2020-2021 school year, the Russian Government granted a quota of 965 for Vietnamese students who wish to study at leading Russian universities. In the next academic year, 1,000 Vietnamese students will be allowed to study in Russia. Despite the decrease in cultural exchange activities due to the pandemic, the two countries still organised a Russian film week in Hanoi and a Vietnamese film week in Moscow in 2020.

Within the framework of the recent visit to Vietnam by Secretary of the Security Council of Russian Federation Nikolai Patrushev, an inauguration ceremony of the monument of poet Alexander Pushkin was held in the capital city of Hanoi.

When life returns to normal after the pandemic, Russia and Vietnam could quickly restore the number of tourists moving between the two countries. Before the pandemic, Vietnam was one of the most popular destinations for Russian tourists. As many as 680,000 Russian citizens traveled to Vietnam for tourism in 2019. In addition, Vietnamese people’s interest in tourist attractions in Russia is also increasing.

One of the most important cooperation directions between the two countries is coordination in the international arena. The two countries have similar stances on many international and regional issues, advocating the formation of a just and multi-polar world order based on the standards of international law, respect for sovereignty and the interests of all parties. Russia and Vietnam have cooperated effectively at the United Nations Security Council. Vietnam was elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2020-2021 term. The Russian Federation attaches great importance to the development of the ASEAN-Russia Dialogue Partnership.

The multifaceted cooperation between Russia and Vietnam benefits both countries and is continuously growing in accordance with the agreements at the highest and high levels in a spirit of comprehensive strategic partnership. The foundation of this relationship is the solid tradition of friendship, solidarity and mutual understanding without dependence on temporary political situations. This allows the two countries to be optimistic and look to the future, the ambassador affirmed.

The two countries and peoples are facing important tasks to promote bilateral relations in both established fields as well as new areas, for the stable development and prosperity of Russia and Vietnam, and for peace and stability in the region and the world, he said.

Source: VNA

Airlines carry freight, charter flights to survive Covid hit

June 14, 2021 by e.vnexpress.net

Vietnam Airlines recently converted one of its Boeing 787-9 aircraft to transport 40 tonnes of lychee from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City.

Before the pandemic its Dreamliners had a busy schedule, flying to Europe, Australia and the ultra busy Hanoi-HCMC sector, and few thought lychees will replace passengers on the modern airplane with a capacity up to 270.

The carrier has also deployed other planes to transport lychee.

Budget airline Vietjet has also been offering freight services to compete with leading logistic providers as demand balloons by the day. It has set up an online freight service , Swift247, in which it owns a 67 percent stake.

In the first three months of 2021, Vietjet transported over 18,000 tonnes of cargo, with its cargo subsidiary contributing nearly 50 percent of total revenues.

Since May, Bamboo Airways has been offer charter flights.

To compete in the summer, the high season for air travel, carriers have offered big discounts on fares and promotions like free check-in baggage to attract customers back.

Bamboo Airways reduced fares by 35 percent when booking five seats or more.

Vietjet offered free insurance to all domestic passengers, including VND1 million compensation per day for loss of income in case of forced quarantine or Covid-19 infection as a result of traveling with it.

Newcomer Vietravel Airlines, which has a fleet of three airplanes, is pricing tickets at below breakeven level, according to Nguyen Quoc Ky, its chairman.

Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet have joined the effort to trial a vaccine passport.

Next month, Vietnam Airlines will implement the International Air Transport Association’s Travel Pass initiative that allows people to store verified Covid-19 test and vaccination certificates on a smartphone app.

This is seen as one of the keys to convincing countries to reopen borders to international travelers.

According to Planespotters, an online database on commercial aviation based in Berlin, Germany, over half of all aircraft in Vietnam are idling in near-empty airports.

Vietnam Airlines is currently operating only 47 of its over 100 planes, including 15 of its 29 wide-body airplanes (A350 and B787).

In the case of Vietjet Air, over 50 out of its 74 airplanes are not flying.

In the first quarter, Vietnam Airlines suffered losses of nearly VND5 trillion ($218,4 million). To generate sufficient cash flows, it is now selling 11 of its A321 CEO planes.

Bamboo Airways has the least number of idle aircraft, nine out of 27.