The vegetarian food market is becoming more busy on the first full moon of the lunar year.
 
With a majority of population claiming to be Buddhists, vegetarian foods are largely consumed on the 1st and 15th day (full moon day) of the lunar month, especially on the first full moon day of the year when local people have had enough with Tet parties full of meat.

This year the first full-moon day falls on February 11 and so the vegetarian foods market has also been very busy over the last few days.

“Vegetarian dishes are becoming more popular,” Nguyen Phuong Nga, a customer in Hanoi's Phuong Liet Street, said, adding that her family usually have the non-meat dishes twice a month, one on the first and the full-moon or 15th day on the lunar calendar.

"I know that many people have turned to vegetarian foods for religious or health reasons," Nga said. "And it is becoming easier to find these kinds of food at local stores."

BigC and Vinmart all have vegetarian stalls which sell common fresh, frozen or dried food like vegetables, fruit and mushrooms, or fake pork-pie, instant meat porridge, chicken porridge and processed meat.

There are also many shops selling vegetarian foods in Hanoi where customers can find fake beef, chicken, pork, eggs, fish and shrimps both locally made or imported.

At a shop in Tay Son Street, fake chicken is priced at VND 70,000 a kilo, while prices of fake fish and shrimp range from VND 100,000 - 300,000/kg.

A trader at Sang Market in Nam Tu Liem District, Pham Thi Ly, said that her sales had increased by three or four times compared to normal days.

"Spring rolls, fake pork-pie, mushrooms and tofu are the most popular vegetarian foods sold at this time," Ly said.

There are many vegetarian restaurants catering for demand.

The Co Noi Restaurant at the Bong Sen Saigon Hotel on Hai Ba Trung Street in HCM City's District 1 has introduced its vegetarian buffet with 50 different dishes.

Also in District 1, the newly-opened Khanhcasa Vegetarian & Tea Garden is offering a wide range of 100 vegetarian dishes on its menu.

Marketing manager of Bo De Tam vegetarian restaurant chains in Hanoi, Dang Huan, said the number of customers visiting his restaurants has increased rapidly.

"Modern life is trending towards vegetarian food. I’m sure that more families will consider vegetarian food because of people’s health and environmental protection,” Huan recently told Vietnam News Newspaper.

Oriental medicine week to open in HCM City

The third Oriental Medicine Week will be held in District 5 of Ho Chi Minh City from February 23 to 26.

Speaking at a press conference on February 9, Nguyen Vo Xuan Ky, Chief of the District 5 People’s Committee Secretariat, said that oriental medicine and herbal materials will be on display and sold at about 100 booths of the event. 

Numerous activities will also be organised within the week, such as seminars on traditional medicine, free medical check-ups and an exhibition on the health sector, along with art performances.

The event is expected to draw about 80,000 domestic and foreign visitors.

HCM City aims to accommodate about six million international visitors in 2017. Local authorities have promoted new tourism products and upgraded some tourist attractions, including the oriental medicine market in District 5. The market, located on Luong Nhu Hoc, Trieu Quang Phuc and Hai Thuong Lan Ong streets in Ward 10, is home to 133 stores. Some are oriental medical clinics, while others are selling, distributing and producing medicines.

Binh Dinh welcomes first sea tourists of new lunar year

An Australian ship Coral Expeditions carrying 50 American passengers arrived at Quy Nhon port in the south central province of Binh Dinh on February 9.

The ship is en route from northern Hai Phong city to Ho Chi Minh City in the south.

During their one-day stay in Binh Dinh, the tourists went sightseeing to the province’s attractions such as museums and towers of the Cham ethnic group.

Later the day, the ship left for Nha Trang city in the neighbouring province of Khanh Hoa.

Binh Dinh province received 265,000 visitors in January, a year-on-year increase of 3 percent. Of the arrivals, 19,700 are foreigners, up 5 percent.

Total earnings from tourism services hit 119 billion VND (5.2 million USD), up 32 percent.

Bac Giang: over 9.7 mln USD for new-style rural building

The northern province of Bac Giang plans to invest 220 billion VND (around 9.7 million USD) in implementing the national target programme on new-style rural area building in 2017. 

The money will be allocated for 15 communes registered to finish the programme and 80 others registered to join the scheme. 

This year, the province will pay attention to developing infrastructure facilities for transport, irrigation and waste treatment, and promoting application of advanced technology in production in order to increase locals’ incomes. 

It aims to increase the number and quality of criteria completed by communes and strives to fulfill more criteria in the coming time. All the communes of Bac Giang city are expected to be recognised as new-style rural areas this year. 

To realised the goals, the local authorities will intensify campaigns to raise awareness of the work as well as expand creative methods and successful models in the field. 

Bac Giang has so far had 49 communes getting the new-style rural area status, with the average number of completed criteria being 13.2.

Since 2016, the locality has spent hundreds of billion VND on the programme, focusing on implementing 186 agricultural production models such as cultivating fruit trees, high-quality rice and flower, and breeding. 

The set of criteria for a new-style rural commune in the 2016-2020 period covers 19 different fields with specific targets in planning, socio-economic infrastructure, economy and production, as well as culture, society and environment. 

General and specific targets in each criterion are designed to suit particular regions: northern midland and mountainous, Red River delta, northern central, south central coastal, Central Highlands, south eastern and Mekong Delta regions. 

The socio-economic infrastructure group comprises eight specific criteria for transportation, irrigation, electricity, school, cultural infrastructure, rural trade infrastructure, information and communications, and residential housing. 

The economic and production organisation group includes four criteria on income, poor households, employed labourers, and production organisation, while the socio-cultural and environment group aims at objectives in education and training, health care, culture, environment and food safety, political system and law access, and defence and security.

A new-style rural commune must have asphalt or concrete roads to the district downtown allowing cars to travel in all seasons. Per-capita income of locals is at between 36-50 million VND depending on each region while the poor household rate is at 6 percent under the multidimensional poverty line.

Lao Cai issues stamp collection

A stamp collection was launched on February 9 by the Lao Cai Journalists Association and the Ministry of Information and Communications to celebrate the national tourism year in northern Lao Cai province and the north western region.

The stamp collection includes two for domestic and international use. The stamps feature images of terraced fields in Lao Cai as well as in other north western provinces and Mount Fansipan, dubbed the “Roof of Indochina”.

Addressing the ceremony, Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Minh Hong said the stamp collection is expected to be a highlight of the national tourism year 2017, contributing to the development of tourism in Lao Cai province and the north western region.

Tan Vien Son Thanh festival opens in Ba Vi

The Tan Vien Son Thanh (Tan Vien Mountain Saint) festival is underway in Minh Quang commune, Hanoi’s outlying district of Ba Vi from February 8-10. 

The annual festival, including incense-offering ceremonies, folk games, music and sport exchanges, commemorates Tan Vien Son Thanh – one of the four immortals in traditional Vietnamese mythology. 

Ba Vi district is home to more than 100 relic sites worshipping Tan Vien Son Thanh, including three temples of Thuong, Trung, Ha –sacred destinations that attract tens of thousands of tourists per year. 

In recent years, the district has upgraded the three temples at a total cost of 136 billion VND sourced from local budget and philanthropists. 

On the occasion, Ba Vi tourism was launched with a view to developing spiritual, ecological and community-based tourism. 

This year, the district hopes to welcome 2.6-2.7 million visitors and earn 270-280 billion VND (11.7 – 12.1 million USD). 

It will also work with the Hanoi municipal Tourism Department to devise a master plan on developing Ba Vi – Suoi Hai into a national tourism area and start a community-based tourism plan in Van Hoa, Ba Trai and Ba Vi communes. 

It also plans to call for investment in major tourism projects in the western side of Ba Vi mountain, Suoi Hai river and Thuan My hot spring.

Thai Binh: 2017 Tran Temple Festival opens

The Tran Temple Festival, one of the biggest annual spring festivals in Vietnam, opened at the national special historical complex of the Tran Kings’ shrines and tombs in Tien Duc commune, Hung Ha district, in the northern province of Thai Binh, on February 9 (the 13th day of the first lunar month).

The six-day festival aims to honour the Tran Dynasty (1225-1440), thus educating people on the nation’s cultural tradition and patriotism.

In his opening speech, Chairman of the Hung Ha district People’s Committee Nguyen Thanh Tuyen highlighted the significance of the event and recalled the development of the Tran Dynasty – one of the most prosperous of Vietnam’s feudal dynasties. 

On the opening night, art programmes were on show, inlcuding drum performances, dragon and lion dancing, and the Cheo drama “ Doi luan anh hung” on Thai Su Tran Thu Do (Great Tutor Tran Thu Do).

Earlier the same day, a water procession to recognise the Tran dynasty was joined by thousands of people at the complex, featuring the daily life of locals in river areas. 

The Tran Temple Festival was recognised as national intangible heritage in 2014. The historical complex of the Tran Kings’ shrines and tombs received special national relic status in 2015. 

The Tran Dynasty repelled the Yuan-Mongols on three occasions, making it one of the greatest periods in Vietnamese history. 

Thai Binh is considered the birthplace of the Tran Kings, while northern Nam Dinh province was their first residential area. A spring festival is also held at the Tran temple complex in the neighbouring province of Nam Dinh in the first lunar month every year.

Log thieves story in Gia Lai false: local police

The claim that lumberjacks attacked officials of the management board of the northeast Chư Păh preventive forest to rob logs was untrue.

This was stated by Colonel Phan Lang, deputy director of Gia Lai Province’s police, while talking to the media on Thursday.

Earlier, local media reported that before the Tết (Lunar New Year) holidays at the end of January, the Chư Păh forest management board caught two people red-handed transporting timber out of the forest using two oxen.

There were at least 73 logs, each one 3.5 to 4m long, lying in forest zone No 174. However, according to a media report, on the morning of February 1, 20 armed people stole 45 of the 73 logs. The remaining 28 logs are still in zone 174.

Local police said the loggers did not use guns to threaten officials to steal the logs.

According to the investigation, the security force of the forest lost some logs, which were evidence of the deforestation. Scared of being disciplined, Lê Đức Nhàn, head of the security force of the forest’s management board, and other security guards agreed to make up a story about thieves and reported it to the media.

The local Department of Information and Communications was requested to ask media agencies to issue the correction while the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development was asked to impose penalties on the forest’s management board. 

Đắk Lăk forest rangers use bicycles for patrolling

Forest rangers in Yok Đôn National Park in the Central Highlands province of Đắk Lắk have this month started using bicycles for patrolling instead of going on foot.
Đỗ Quang Tùng, director of the national park, said 60 bicycles have been bought for 16 forest protection stations.
Tùng said each station was usually in charge of an area of up to 20-30km, making it difficult for the rangers to complete their patrolling on foot.
Meanwhile, if the forest rangers rode motorbikes, intruders such as illegal timber loggers could easily hear them because of the engine noise. Moreover, motorbikes were costlier because of fuel and maintenance fee, particularly since their patrolling routes were in forest and mountainous areas, Tùng said.
The director also said the bicycles were slow enough for riders to observe the surroundings and possibly detect traces of new plants or animals living in the national park.
Yok Đôn National Park is located in Krông Na Commune, Buôn Đôn District, Đắk Lắk Province, 40km west of Buôn Ma Thuột City. The park was established in 1991 to protect 582sq.km of a biological area of the khộp lowland forest. Total area is more than 1,155sq.km (not including a buffer zone of 1,138sq.km). It borders Mondulkiri Protected Forest (Cambodia) to the west and is part of perhaps the largest protected area complex in Southeast Asia.
Yok Đôn National Park is one of the most biodiverse forests in Việt Nam. This park is an important site for the conservation of globally endangered species, such as Indochinese tiger, Indochinese leopard, Indian elephant and gaur. 

Create individual medical records system for Hanoians: Deputy PM Đam

Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam on Thursday asked Hà Nội to put in place an individual medical records system for local residents as soon as possible.

This will help provide better healthcare to people as well as improve the efficiency of clinics at ward and commune levels, Đam said during a visit to Tây Mỗ Ward Health Centre in Nam Từ Liêm District.

Studies show that many ward- and commune-level clinics have good facilities, but medical practitioners there don’t have much work, which affects their incomes and the quality of medical expertise available at the clinics.

“Currently, only four out of 10 people with health insurance come for health checks at grassroots-level clinics. In rural areas, many people never do check-ups when they are fine and only come to hospitals when they are seriously ill,” Đam said.

Maintaining an individual medical records system, which has each person’s detailed healthcare information, will encourage people to go for periodic check-ups, help them understand the benefits of buying health insurance, while generating more work for doctors at the grassroots level, which will improve both their income and expertise, Đam said.

Nguyễn Đức Chung, chairman of Hà Nội People’s Committee, told the deputy PM that by June 30, the city will develop and install a software to connect its 42 health centres at grassroots level.

The capital already has a resident database that is updated regularly, so they will only need to add a field on health information into the system, Chung said. “In the future, wherever people go in the city for a check-up, the information will be updated in the system.”

Explaining how it will work, Chung said “Each person will have his/her own code number. The health records will be confidential and only doctors will have access to it and that too with the patient’s permission.”

Nguyễn Khắc Hiền, director of the city’s health department, said their aim is to provide medical check-ups for every person once a year at local health centres.

The department is putting together demographic statistics and building software to establish and manage the individual medical record system, which is scheduled to be implemented on a large scale in June and completed in September, Hiền said.

Chung has requested the Government to support Hà Nội in conducting periodic check-ups for its people by clearing obstacles that health centres face in terms of operations and finances.

He also wants the State to allow Hà Nội to use the social insurance fund to cover the cost of digestive cancer screenings for around 2.35 million people above 40 years, a programme that was proposed by the city’s authority late last year. Under the current regulations, the social insurance fund does not cover the expense of early screening.

Đam said he welcomed the programme and would report the issue to the Government.

Untreated wastewater pollutes Lô river in Hà Giang

Three factories in Nam Quang industrial zone in the northern province of Hà Giang have been found releasing untreated wastewater into Lô River.

The Công an Nhân dân (People’s Public Security) newspaper has reported that two of the five wastewater discharge pipes installed are discharging opaque yellow and foamy wastewater that has an unpleasant odour into the river, which borders both Hà Giang and Tuyên Quang provinces.

In January, inspectors from Tuyên Quang province’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources examined the river and made a report on the pollution.

The three factories include a cassava starch factory and two paper factories, which were previously inspected and fined hundreds of millions of đồng for untreated wastewater discharge.

Water is discharged from 9pm to 4am daily, said Trần Văn An, a ferryman in northern Tuyên Quang Province. “It smells so bad that I feel suffocated,” he told the newspaper.

The pollution can affect the livelihoods of people in both provinces.

Nguyễn Hoàng Hải, deputy director of Tuyên Quang province’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources, told the newspaper on Wednesday that the department had examined the river and asked the environment department of Hà Giang province to inspect the production activities of factories in the industrial zone and ask them to abide by environmental protection regulations as well as strictly punish those found to release untreated wastewater in Lô River. 

Hải Phòng to run electric bus on trial

An electric bus using renewable solar energy will be run on trial basis this year on two main roads of Cát Bà Island in the northern Hải Phòng City.

The free bus service will do four trips a day to serve the needs of tourists.

In 2018, an additional 10 buses will be run on trial. The number will rise to 30 by 2020. During the trial period, the service will be free.

The electric bus project (EV bus project) on Cát Bà Island is one of the 15 green development projects that Hải Phòng City is executing with Kitakyshu City of Japan.

The advantage of running electric buses is that they don’t burn petrol and they don’t have toxic emissions, Kengo Ishida, executive director, Kitakyushu Asian Centre for Low Carbon Society, Environment Bureau of Kitakyshu City, said.

The buses use renewable solar energy to generate power so they don’t discharge carbon dioxide either. The bus battery can be charged even with domestic energy as a standby in case of cloudy skies, he said.

Once it is fully charged, a bus carrying 50 passengers can run non-stop on a 160-km-long journey. Its battery can be replaced in the middle of the trip.

Lê Thanh Sơn, deputy chairman of Hải Phòng City’s People’s Committee, said the city authorities will create favourable conditions so that relevant units can implement the projects quickly. If the electric bus model is effective and relevant, more buses will be added and they will run all through the city.

The city has proposed to the transport ministry to waive the road maintenance fees for buses during the trial run.

The EV bus is the first solar energy-operated public transport project to be implemented in the country. Hải Phòng City is one of the first localities that is trying to conserve resources and using renewable energy to boost economic growth. It aims to become a green port city by 2020.

Vietnam to celebrate World Radio Day 2017

The Voice of Vietnam Radio (VOV) and UNESCO’s Hanoi Office will jointly host a ceremony to mark World Radio Day 2017 on February 13 in Hanoi, highlighting the role of the audience.

The UNESCO-initiated theme for this year is “Radio is YOU!”. It's all about audience participation and engagement – providing your listeners with a voice, not simply on-air, but in the policy and planning of the media station. By listening to its audiences and responding to their needs, radio provides the diversity of views and voices needed to address the challenges we all face.

World Radio Day 2017 Celebration and the two workshops, whose topics are “Radio is YOU" and “Media promotes gender equality" will be attended by 250 guests, including speakers, leaders from provincial radio and television stations, lecturers, journalists, reporters and students from various academies of journalism as well as domestic and international organizations.

The events promise to create a useful platform for reporters, editors and staffs to exchange and share with radio experiences, raising the awareness of gender equality in the VOV’s programs.

VOV President Nguyen The Ky said, “The World Radio Day‘s theme of “Radio is YOU" is the idea of a diverse, healthy and humane radio sector, emphasizing audiences` participation and interactivity. Audience is the main contributing factor to the strategies and policies of radio stations.

The United Nations designates February 13th as World Radio Day to honor the role of radio in our modern life.

VNA/VNS/VOV/SGT/SGGP/TT/TN/Dantri/VNE