VietNamNet Bridge – Tour groups in central Viet Nam take tourists on journeys inspired by the best-selling movie I See Yellow Flowers Upon the Green Grass. Thien Huong reports.

Work of art: At Vung Ro Port, you will get a close look at the local fishing village with ships and fish-raising rafts, which weave a vivid, colourful painting on the sea. — VNA File Photos

Some travel agencies in Ho Chi Minh City and the central province of Phu Yen have launched a tour based on the title of a popular Vietnamese film.

The tour is based on the title of the best-selling film, Toi Thay Hoa Vang Tren Co Xanh (I See Yellow Flowers Upon the Green Grass), by director Victor Vu, which is adapted from the book of the same name by famed writer Nguyen Nhat Anh.

The movie has attracted a large audience nationwide in the past few weeks.

The film, with very simple content but stunning visuals and a great soundtrack, features simple-minded farmers who are willing to support each other during hard times, and innocent children. It also highlights some of the bad customs as well as memories of the difficult times during the period of state-subsidised economy, when a black-and-white TV set was a luxury.

Vu focussed on the beauty of the Vietnamese countryside for his film, with immense paddy fields, low houses and swaying bamboo trees, which can suddenly turn into barren fields with dead cattle littering the landscape in the wake of a natural disaster. All the scenes were shot in Phu Yen.

The province hosts ranges of mountains in the north, the south and the west while it faces the sea in the east.

Its typical beauty is an immense green grass field scattered with yellow wild flowers, which overlooks the deep blue sea. The scene has been much exploited in the movie together with zigzag railway line on Vung Ro Beach. In the distance, appears Nua Islet behind dozens of ships. At the site, when spring comes, the field is full of yellow wild flowers, which enriches the poetic feature of the landscape.

Ganh Xep in An Chan Commune of Tuy An District, with a clear and emerald sea endless with waves lapping against the black rocks on the shore is another highlight of the film.

Wandering around the beach, one can easily find wild flowers at Ganh Ong and Ganh Xep, a theme image in the movie.

HCM City-based Aussie Travel offers a tour to Phu Yen with a three-night-two- day schedule which costs around VND2 million (US$89) while tourists from Ha Noi can experience a tour of five days and four nights at around VND7-8 million.

From the deep: Ganh Da Dia has been called one of the most beautiful stone islets in the world created by a volcano.

In Phu Yen, Tuy Hoa Service and Tourism Company offers the same three-day tour.

Guides will welcome tourists at Tuy Hoa Railway Station, take them to Mang Lang Church - one of the oldest churches in the country before visiting sights appearing in the movie like Ganh Da Dia (the Cliff of Stone Plates -- interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption), Ganh Ong, the LightHouse, Mui Dien (Dien Cape), Hydro-electricity Plan on River Ba Ha and O Loan Lagoon.

Tourists will have the chance to visit a vegetable village to work in the fields as local farmers, the same as the characters in the film.

"Phu Yen is a peaceful land with a pristine forest and sea suitable for tourists, who prefer to discover nature," Pham Van Bay, deputy director of the provincial Culture, Sport and Tourism Department said, adding, "Every single season, the land offers a different experience."

He said that the most convenient time to visit the province is between December and August when the weather is mild and pleasant.

This year the province expects to receive 900,000 domestic and foreign visitors. It now has around 2,700 rooms to rent, two five-star hotels, two four-star hotels and many guest houses.

"Our accommodation is good and we ensure good service despite the sudden surge in the number of guests," Bay said.

VNS