Maritime festival to be held in Hai Phong

The Haiphong Tourism Festival 2011 will be held at Do Son Tourist Site from April 30 to May 2 with diverse activities to promote the city’s tourism and to move toward National Tourism Year 2013 in the northern port city.  Activities will include an open golf championship, a tennis championship, dragon boat racing, marching, bicycle racing and visiting tourist sites around Do Son Beach. The festival will be highlighted by the inauguration of a seven-hectare artificial wave pool which was designed with modern technology from Spain and China.

Sea Festival in tribute to Truong Sa (Spratly) Islands

Many activities will be targeted towards Truong Sa Islands, including a photograph exhibition, a seminar on Truong Sa, art performances and using coffee beans to make a map of Truong Sa. These activities aim to promote sovereignty of Truong Sa Island and beauty of Khanh Hoa sea and island to domestic and international friends. Le Xuan Han, Vice Chairman of the Khanh Hoa provincial People’s Committee, has announced that the 2011 Sea Festival will be held from June 11 to 15. A lot of cultural, sports, and tourism activities will also take place during the festival.

US ballroom dance group tours

The highly acclaimed Ballroom Dance Company from the US's Brigham Young University will make their first appearance in Viet Nam on Friday, May 13th 2011.  Founded in 1971, the Utah-based ensemble is the US National Formation Dance Champion, a title the team has won 27 consecutive times since 1982. The ensemble also won first place at the prestigious British Ballroom Dance Championships in Blackpool, England, in both modern and Latin dances last year. They have also performed as special guest artists at ballroom dance competitions inChina, the Ukraine and Hungary. The company has toured throughout the US and more than 30 different countries astounding audiences with their precision, beauty and skill.

Giong Festival at Phu Dong Temple

The Giong Festival of Phu Dong and Soc temples which has officially been recognized as an intangible cultural heritage of humanity by the UNESCO since November 2010, is held annually from the seventh to the ninth days of the fourth lunar month in order to commemorate the mythical hero Saint Giong at Phu Dong temple in Gia Lam District (his birth place) and from the sixth to the eighth days of the first lunar month at Soc Temple in Soc Son District (his ascending place to heaven). 

Phu Dong Temple

This year, the Giong Festival at Phu Dong Temple was held solemnly with a large-scale from 9 to 11 May 2011 in Phu Dong Commune, Gia Lam District, Hanoi with many traditional rituals and special symbolic performances. Besides the water procession and the ritual dedicated to the Saint at the temple, the flag processions and re-enactments of the Saint’s feats against foreign invaders were the highlight of the festival.

Quang Nam hosts first Global Choir Festival

Nearly 40 choirs, including over 1,000 domestic and international singers, will perform at the first International Choir Festival & Competition in Hoi An city in the central province of Quang Nam, from March 16-20 in 2011.  The event, jointly organised by Quang Nam province and the German-based Association InterKultur, is part of the 2011 National Tourism Year programme in the central southern coastal region and Phu Yen province . Tran Minh Ca, Deputy Chairman of Quang Nam provincial People’s Committee said on September 17 that the festival will include amateur singers from Vietnam and other countries from across the world. It is also a chance for the singers to popularise choral performances, helping administrators to seek out new ways of entertaining people during the integration process

Week-long Indian food festival

ndian food lovers should head to Cafe Rivoli of the Sofitel Saigon Plaza to join in the Indian Culinary Festival organized by the hotel from August 30 until September 6. The opening ceremony of the festival, which is supported by the Consulate General of India in HCMC, kicked off on August 30 with Indian traditional music and yoga performance while guest chef Montu Saini from the Ashok Hotel in New Delhi and his assistant chef Jagan Nath presented his delicious dinner buffet. During the festival, the chefs will showcase to diners a flavor-filled selection of curry, the spirit of Indian culinary dishes, and many authentic recipes containing typical Indian ingredients such as coconut milk, cumin, cardamom, clove, green and red chilies and other special foods like tandoori chicken, dosa, garam masala and chicken tikka.

Da Lat Flower Festival to take place

The Lam Dong provincial People’s Committee held a press conference in Ho Chi Minh City on September 9 to introduce the 4th Da Lat Flower Festival to be held in Da Lat from December 5-30. The festival is a national cultural and tourism festival which is held biannually. The event will showcase nine programmes of Da Lat flowers, along with 12 other programmes designed to make the festival more vivid and diverse. A wide range of other activities will be held during the festival, such as a street flower parade, a gala night of street dances, a flower forest showroom, flower exhibition and a red wine festival.

Cham Kate Festival in Phan Thiet

Authorities in the central coast province of Phan Thiet have approved a Kate Festival celebration of the Cham people at Po Sah Inu Tower in Phan Thiet City from September 24 to 26.  The festival, which aims to preserve traditional culture of Cham people and to promote the image of the local tourism sector, will feature a procession of palanquins and costumes of Po Sah Inu Goddess, a ceremony to open the tower’s gate, washing the altar for linga and yoni ceremony, traditional music performances, goods fair, contests of weaving brocade, pottery and cake making and folk games.