23rd Charming Vietnam Gala to take place in Phu Yen

The 23rd Charming Vietnam Gala will take place in the south central province of Phu Yen on January 8-9 to raise money for the Nguyen Thai Binh Fund for poor students and the Vietnamese Talent Fund.

The information was given at a press briefing held in Hanoi by Thanh Nien newspaper on December 24.

This year’s annual event will attract the participation of famous singers, beauties, and models from across the country and the two newly emerging singer stars, Lan Nha and Uyen Linh.

The 23rd gala will see the return of Bolero music which is expected to be a special cultural and art event in the South Central Coastal  National Tourism Year 2011.

Since it was launched 22 years ago, the programme has helped more than 8,000 poor students all over the country.

Ha Long Bay ranks sixth on National Geographic list

National Geographic magazine has ranked Viet Nam's Ha Long Bay sixth in a list of the world's 10 best sailing cruises.

The magazine describes Ha Long Bay as consisting of "strangely sculpted limestone islands and outcrops, dotted with small floating villages and deserted sandy beaches. In spring and early summer the water is particularly calm and clear. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is best explored by a cruise on a junk."

The list also included the Nova Scotia and Labrador Tall Ships cruise in Canada; US Washington state's San Juan Islands; a Pirate Cruise of the Grand Cayman Island; the Star Clipper to French Polynesia; a Junk Cruise in Andaman Sea, Thailand; the Seychelles Islands; a Dhow Cruise through the Strait of Hormuz, Oman; Lamu Island, Kenya and the Evia Island Cruise, Greece.

Last month, the Lonely Planet magazine also introduced Ha Long Bay as one of the world's top ten best boat journeys.

HCM City university kicks off fashion design contest

The HCM City University of Technology's annual design contest for young fashion hopefuls opens tomorrow.

HUTECH Designer 2011 will be themed Hanh Tinh Xanh (Green Earth) to send the message of environmental protection to students around the country.

Contestants can send up to 10 designs.

The jury, including designer Sy Hoang, supermodel Ha Anh, and fashion lecturers from HUTECH and the HCM City University of Architecture, will select 15 best collections that will qualify for the final.

The finalists have to make clothes from their designs for the final to be held next April at the Phan Dinh Phung Gymnasium in District 3.

The winner will get a prize of VND30 million (US$1,540).

The contest was first held in 2009 for the HUTECH student and expanded to students and young people across the country in 2010.

Last year's contest was themed We Make Change, attracting contestants from 31 universities and colleges around the country and 100 others who submitted in all 332 designs.

Vo Thi Quynh Nhu of the HCM City-based Hoa Sen University won first prize with her collection titled Vu Dieu Mau Sac (Dance of Colours).

Ethnic man wins prize in traditional architecture contest

An amateur design for a stilt house of the Chu Ru ethnic group has won second prize in the Viet Nam Institute of Architecture, Urban and Rural Planning's Traditional Vietnamese Architecture Contest.

The designer, Jahieng from Pre' village in the Central Highlands province accepted the award in Ha Noi on Thursday.

The contest, organised by the institute's Architectural History Research Department, was part of a project to collect and gather information on traditional Vietnamese architecture.

Da Lat to host tea festival

A three-day tea festival is taking place in Lam Dong, a central highlands province famous for quality tea products, aimed at showcasing Vietnamese tea and exchanging cultivation techniques.

Held in four places, the 28/3 Square in Bao Loc City, Da Lat City, Di Linh and Bao Lam suburban areas, the festival will feature tea fermentation, a tea-picking contest, a knowledge quiz about tea, exhibitions and seminars about tea, and other cultural programs such as traditional art performances and even fashion shows.

Attracting 50 enterprises - an increase from 36 in 2008, the festival themed “Treasuring B’Lao Tea Aroma” is a great chance for tea producers to market their products and exchange experience on tea production.

The B’Lao tea in Bao Loc has just been registered as a trademark, entitling it to protection by the National Office of the Intellectual Property of Vietnam.

Lam Dong province is home to the largest tea growing area in Vietnam and the fifth largest in the world, with 24 thousands hectares, according to Bui Thang, chairman of the Lam Dong Province People’s Committee.

Last year, Lam Dong exported 10 thousand tons of tea, raking in US$13.5 million, mostly to Japan, EU, Taiwan, China, Canada, India and Malaysia. Its main products were green tea, black tea and Oolong tea.

This biannual festival which started in 2006 is organized by the Vietnam Tea Association in collaboration with the Lam Dong Province People’s Committee.

PV