The Mekong Delta is called Đồng bằng Sông Cửu Long in Vietnamese — the Nine Dragons River, for the way the mighty Mekong splits into multiple strands as it nears its final destination, the East Sea.

To the estimated 18 million inhabitants of the Mekong Delta, the river is more than just a geographical feature; it defines their whole lives. Annual floods make many roads impossible to use. Meanwhile, the fact that the region boasts around 15,000 km of navigable waterways to only 2,500 km of compacted road offers another hint as to how most people travel.

Market ladies on a motorized boat.

The Mekong Delta is a beautiful part of Vietnam and one I was immediately impressed with on my first visit, an exploratory boat trip from Ho Chi Minh City to Rạch Giá in August 2010.

I was fascinated by how the area's inhabitants lived and their daily interactions with the Mekong River. I was so impressed with how the people of the region traveled that I went back several times and focused on how they crossed the water. The ferries are a microcosm of life along the river. The crossings are generally short and you get to meet all kinds of people on the boat. It’s a pause in your journey, filled with snacks, bargaining sessions and sometimes entertainment.

School day.

This series is the result of these journeys, traveling mostly in the dry season. I crossed with school children, interviewed ferry captains and their crew, attempted to speak Vietnamese with delivery men on massively overloaded bikes and haggled with vendors carting everything from vividly colored fruit and vegetables to toilet paper and cigarettes. I also bought a lot of lottery tickets.

Bringing the goods.

I boarded ferries built for mass transit with trucks and buses, as well as humble vessels fit only for a couple of passengers and a bike. All the journeys were different, all were memorable.

With Vietnam developing so rapidly, it is hard to predict the future of this region. The construction of new roads and bridges has made the Mekong Delta a lot more accessible, thus putting many boats out of business.

However, while the ferries still run I highly recommend you travel there yourself. Crossing is inexpensive and there is so much to discover.

50 Shades of blue.

A pilot's life.

Boat lady.

Embarkation.

A quick review of school materials before class.

Ready to rumble.

Stormy weather.

Portrait of a captain.

Rush hour. 

Sunset on deck.

“Living with Heritage, (Re)Creating Heritage: Vietnam and the World” is the title of the 14^th Engaging with Vietnam conference, a series of activities including academic panel discussions, keynote talks, art installations, music and fashion performances, workshops, curated visits to heritage sites and more.

Every iteration of the Engaging with Vietnam annual conference is focused around a central theme with the broader goal to “promote the production of cutting-edge scholarship about, or in dialogue with, ‘Vietnam’ in all of its forms, from Vietnam as a place to Vietnam as an idea,” according to the conference website.

Regarding this year’s topic of Heritage, the conference notes: “Heritage is an essential part of our identity, history, and culture. It shapes our communities, influences our daily lives, and inspires our future. However, heritage is not static. It evolves, adapts, and responds to the changing social, economic, and political contexts.”

Following the first Engaging with Vietnam held in Melbourne in 2010, the conference has taken place in Hanoi, Saigon, Honolulu, Tokyo and elsewhere. This year, events and panels will take be held around the city of Huế including at the historic Quốc Học High School, An Định Palace (Cung An Định), and the University of Arts – Hue University. 

The conference program is staggering in its length and breadth. A few items that caught Saigoneer’s eyes include the keynote topic, “Heritage Tourism and Museum Diplomacy; presentation topics: “Thai Duong Ha Village’s Fish Praying Festival on the Path of Heritage,” “K-Pop Fans in Vietnam: Practices, Meanings, and Beyond,” “The Rise of Nostalgia: The Return of Nhạc Vàng (Golden Melodies) in the Food and Beverage Industry in Vietnam,” “Snake Worship as Cultural Sediments in Vietnam’s Multi-Ethnic Cultural Heritage,” and “The Role of Digital Technology from the Perspective of Gen Z Travel Experiences” and a performance of hầu đồng by spirit mediums and artists from the three regions of Vietnam. Saigoneer Content Director Paul Christiansen, will co-host a poetry night. 

The conference is open to everyone with registration running through July 31. The cost for participants is VND500,000, though Vietnamese and foreign undergraduate students at domestic and international universities and colleges can attend for free. Find more information and register here. 

Engaging with Vietnam was founded by Phan Lê Hà (Universiti Brunei Darussalam & University College London) and Liam C. Kelley (Universiti Brunei Darussalam). It is organized in collaboration with the Department of Culture and Sports under Thừa Thiên-Huế People’s Committee, the University of Arts – Hue University, the International School – Hue University, and with the assistance of The Lighthouse Hai Dang Studio & Events, ACCESS design lab, HITO Entertainment and other international and domestic organizations.

[Top image designed by HITO Entertainment via Engaging with Vietnam]

As more institutions and enterprises in Vietnam adopt IELTS results as an official assessment of students' and employees’ grasp of the English language, high IELTS scores have gradually become a sought-after mark of prestige.

Dân Trí quotes an announcement from IELTS test organizer IDP confirming that a candidate from Vietnam recently attained a perfect overall score of 9.0 from getting 9.0 for all four skills: listening, reading, writing, and speaking.

Luyện Quang Kiên, a 31-year-old English-language tutor living in Hanoi, became the first test-taker in Vietnam to achieve the rare feat after sitting for an online test on June 3 at the National Economics University. It’s unclear if there are other Vietnamese who have achieved this at testing centers overseas.

Kiên told the online news source that he took his first IELTS test in 2014 while still in college, achieving an overall score of 7.5. Following his graduation, he developed an interest in teaching and has been undertaking IELTS exams 5–7 times a year since 2018 to assess if his teaching methods work. The latest date in June was the sixth test he’s been through this year.

Kiên shared that his mental state was very relaxed on the date and he was particularly happy with the Speaking component. Having sat for many exams, he knew by heart the marking rubrics and could gauge the scores right after finishing the test.

“That day I spoke quite fluently and used good vocabulary. Seeing the reaction of the examiner, I felt assured,” he recounts. Kiên plans to write a book detailing his tips for achieving the 9.0 band score.

[Photo via Dân Trí]

While the past weeks have felt like living in a sauna for Saigoneers, north-central Vietnam provinces experienced even hotter temperatures this summer.

According to the Vietnam Meteorological and Hydrological Administration, a measuring station in Tương Dương, Nghệ An Province read 44.2°C on May 7, marginally edging out the previous record set in Thanh Hóa just a day before. On Saturday, May 6, the Hồi Xuân Weather Station in Thanh Hóa Province recorded 43.8°C at 4pm and a daily peak of 44.1°C. This extreme temperature reading broke the previous record of 43.4°C set in April 2019 in Hà Tĩnh.

Across northern and central Vietnam, 17 other provinces experienced temperatures of over 40°C. Two areas in Hanoi also saw similar heat patterns.

In the south, temperature records didn’t cross 40°C, but widespread sunny weather also wreaked havoc on the livelihood of workers and students. On the same day, a measuring station in Tân Sơn Nhất recorded 38°C, the hottest reading in the city. Among southeastern provinces, Biên Hòa in Đồng Nai Province went through the most punishing heat at 39.4°C.

Temperatures in Mekong Delta provinces mostly fluctuated in the 35–37°C range, though Châu Đốc in An Giang Province recorded 37.4°C

Lê Thị Xuân Lan, the former deputy head of the Weather Forecast Department at the Southern Regional Hydro-Meteorological Center, told VnExpress that May temperatures this year will be 0.5–1°C higher than previous years due to the impact of El Niño.

El Niño is characterized by dryer, hotter weather and fewer storms owing to the warm phase of the cycle of warm and cold sea surfaces. Countries that depend on weather patterns in the Pacific Ocean for agriculture and fishing, like Vietnam, will be majorly impacted.

The United Nations warned that the change in sea temperature this year will “most likely lead to a new spike in global heating and increase the chance of breaking temperature records.” From 2015 to 2022, the world continued to witness hottest days on record, even though three of those years were already cushioned by cooling effects thanks to La Niña.

Vietnam’s bountiful abundance of street eats and hip cafes might satisfy even the pickiest visitors looking to ingest delicious things at any price range, but even its biggest metropolises would struggle to provide for the most low-maintenance tourists when it comes to public bathrooms.

In a recent ranking reported on by Nikkei Asia, both Saigon and Hanoi are down in the dumps when judged based on their public toilet availability. QS Supplies, a toilet retailer, compiled this report by looking at the number of public toilets per square kilometer across 69 cities in the world in order to help travelers plan their trips.

With just 0.01 public bathrooms per square kilometers on average, both cities in Vietnam nearly bottomed out the list and are only better than Cairo. Johannesburg’s toilet figure is also 0.01. The Nikkei report does not elaborate on the methodology behind the contentious ranking, but these figures mean that there are almost 21 communal toilets in Saigon for 9 million inhabitants, a statistic that might shock even native Saigoneers, because… there are that many?

On the other end, the world’s top 10 toilet performers are mostly in Europe with Paris clinching the No. 1 spot impressively at 6.72 toilets per km², nearly doubling that of the runner-up, Sydney (3.64). Tel Aviv and Taipei are the only Asian representatives on the list.

Compared to many of the list’s contenders, Vietnam is plagued by a dearth of public parks, parking areas, toilets, and other civic spaces. Even when a few bathroom projects manage to get off the ground, they are often ill-maintained and unsustainable in the long run due to lack of funding, as evidenced by this distressing photo feature by Thanh Niên. Public amenities have long been relegated to the back end of policymakers’ priority list, so finding out that two cities in Vietnam have shat the bed regarding public restrooms is not that surprising.

The Nikkei Asia feature frames the toilet discourse around how it will hamper Vietnam’s tourism opportunities, which, while not untrue, leaves out one of the major demographics whose quality of life would vastly improve with better bathroom coverage: gig workers like shippers and app-based drivers.

Tourists have the financial means and motivation to pay for better bathrooms at restaurants, hotels and cafes — we, by the way, have a list of Saigon’s best bathrooms to poop at here — but it’s Saigon residents that are always on the road who are most shafted by shitty public restrooms. Where to go to the bathroom while out and about is one of the most frequently asked questions on forums for app drivers and veteran workers often exchange lists of locations for resting and free trips to the facilities.

Complaints about Vietnam’s chronic lack of public bathrooms have fallen on deaf ears for years, but perhaps by shifting the discourse to tourism-related missed opportunities — where the money lies — we might finally attract the right kind of attention to fix our toilets.

[Photo by Nhật Thịnh via Thanh Niên]

The second animal sign in the 12-year cycle of the Vietnamese zodiac, trâu, has symbolic and practical importance in Vietnam.

A farmer and his buffalos in Yên Bái Province.

Buffalos have become of powerful icons because of the important role they have in the nation's history and economy. For much of history, they have been a farmer’s most valued possession, allowing them to be seen as family members and symbols of wealth in the countryside.

A woman looking after the family’s buffalos.

They were also essential to the success of Vietnam's revolutions against foreign invaders thanks to their ability to clandestinely transport materials across difficult terrains during times of war. 

The fields are a place for working and resting.

Folk proverbs such as “Con trâu là đầu cơ nghiệp” (a buffalo is a prerequisite for starting a business) and “Tậu trâu, lấy vợ, làm nhà” (Buying a buffalo, finding a wife, and building a home) reveal their prominence today, even if agricultural industrialization has made them less of a physical asset. They remain important images in literature, media, art and communications.

Grazing on a terrace field.

Moving with ease across a variety of natural and manmade terrain.

Their stubbornness is a virtue.

The family's four-legged pride and joy being brought through Mèo Vạc market.

Time to go home after a long day in the fields.

Ownership is obvious.

Adrien Jean, a long-term resident of Vietnam, has traveled and photographed throughout the country, documenting ethnic festivals and life in less-visited regions, but capturing the streets of Saigon is what inspires him the most. Learn more at his website.

The most recent Tết holiday witnessed an outstanding performance by Vietnam’s domestic tourism sector, while international tourism had a year of underwhelming figures.

If you’ve ever wondered why Saigon streets are noticeably less jammed than before, it was probably because everyone and their mother were gallivanting elsewhere in the country on vacation. Statistics from Tuổi Trẻ show that about 9 million tourists visited sites in Vietnam during the extended holiday while hundreds of thousands of others spent their Tết abroad. This amounted to a 50% increase compared to 2022.

According to industry insiders, the longer-than-usual break allowed Vietnamese to spend more time on the road, while many Vietnamese overseas also picked this Tết to be their first visit home after years of pandemic separation.

These optimistic results for the domestic market are not surprising considering Vietnam’s impressive growth in 2022. We ended the year with 101.3 million domestic tourists, 168.3% more than the target and surpassing the previous peak of 85 million achieved in 2019, reports VnExpress.

Two years of COVID-19 made Vietnamese travelers and tour operators turn their attention inwards to develop and enjoy domestic travel products while public health regulations made it costly and inconvenient to venture abroad.

Elsewhere in the international market, 2022 saw some growth compared to the devastation of pandemic years, but the end results both failed to reach the target and to measure up to pre-pandemic achievements.

Vietnam News reports that 3.36 million foreign tourists visited Vietnam in 2022, which was over 20 times compared to 2021, but much fewer than the 18 million of 2019 before the pandemic. The lackluster performance also fell short of the set goal to attract 5 million international travelers. Asia made up the majority of overseas travelers with 2.6 million tourists, followed by over half a million from Europe and nearly 400,000 from the Americas.

There are a few external causes of the underperformance, such as the significant decrease in Russian and Chinese arrivals due to the Russia-Ukraine war and strict COVID-19 restrictions, respectively. Both account for a considerable segment of Vietnam’s international tourism market on an average year.

However, according to VnExpress, several of Vietnam’s Southeast Asian competitors in the tourism sector like Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand have all reached their tourism goals in 2022. Experts point to Vietnam’s inhospitable visa policies compared to regional peers as a major factor leading to unsatisfactory tourism results. A lack of new tourism products has also turned tourists into the arms of competitors.

[Photos: The Đà Lạt Market is filled with domestic tourists on a weekend evening.]

A seemingly innocuous notice by a coffee shop in Đà Nẵng has sparked polarizing responses from netizens across Vietnam.

Last Wednesday, Dream House Coffee in Cẩm Lệ District announced on their Facebook account that the cafe would stop accepting customers visiting with children under 12 years old, citing a range of reasons including a lack of dedicated space for children, concerns over loud tantrums affecting other patrons, and inability of staff to spend time babysitting.

The short post has clearly struck a nerve among Vietnamese cafe-goers, generating over 20,000 comments, 5,000 shares, and 40,000 likes on Facebook at the time of writing. Interestingly, the reactions have divided into two clear polar opposites: many frequent patrons applaud the cafe owner for taking a stringent stance against parents who do not take responsibility for their offspring in public places, while others chastise the notice for its blunt language and discrimination.

“Such an effective PR move to seek engagement, but the effect is the reverse. [I will] Unfollow and say bye bye to you [kissing emoji],” Trung Nguyễn, a commenter on the opposing camp, writes.

“Children making a mess in cafes is 100% something parents can control. Coffee shops are not responsible for and don’t have the capacity to show help parents babysit, so the best solution is to come up with rules like this,” Hạnh Đức Nguyễn writes in the comment section.

According to Dream House Coffee, the place was opened three years ago with a garden, cottagecore theme targeting Đà Nẵng resident seeking a relaxing environment to hang out, study or work.

“We already made a similar warning post back in April. The content was just to remind parents to look after their children, because we don’t have a kid-only zone. But that announcement was ignored,” a representative from the cafe told Zing. The warning was inspired by previous incidents where young patrons run around causing breakages, stomping on plants, and throwing rocks at one another and other customers.

“When such incidents happened, we tried to talk to their parents, but some were really nonchalant in disciplining their kids regarding how to behave in public. Many times we witnessed customers leaving because of the rowdiness of children.”

[Photo via Instagam user @dailangthangart]

To help citizens better distinguish between Vietnam dong bills for the living and the dead, the State Bank of Vietnam has put forth a draft law detailing specifications replicas must follow.

According to Tuổi Trẻ, the draft law compiled by the State Bank dictates that acts of copying or photographing Vietnamese money must for non-commercial use. Replicated versions must be 50% smaller or 200% larger than bills of the same denomination. While banknote patterns are rampant in Vietnam on everything from lucky envelopes to novelty wallets, only votive bills pose a real risk of confusing users.

State Bank Deputy Governor Đào Minh Tú told the newspaper that the size stipulations regarding toy money and joss banknotes are to deter counterfeiting and other offenses in replicating Vietnamese currencies. The state bank believes the size differences could help citizens detect fake bills more effectively.

This new draft law is not the first time votive money has been targeted by lawmakers. In 2011, Hanoi authorities also put forth a similar proposed law, which suggested votive banknotes be at least 3 centimeters larger or smaller than real versions. It’s unclear if this regulation was written into the municipal policies.

The traditional school of spiritualism in Vietnam believes that burning offerings is a way to provide for deceased relatives. From just votive banknotes at the beginning, the age of modern comforts and consumerism has ushered in new votive items that mirror whichever gadgets are trending in the living society, such as iMacs, villas, and even skimpy bikinis.

In an interview with Người Lao Động, Buddhist Thera Thích Duy Trấn from Liên Hoa Pagoda of Hồ Chí Minh City shared that his pagoda has been discouraging worshippers from burning joss papers for the last 22 years. He added that this practice is not part of any Buddhist scriptures or teachings, despite it frequently being considered Buddhist.

“In the community, people think of all sorts of gimmicks to get money from people so there are so many types of [votive] foreign money and, recently, Vietnamese bills,” he explained in Vietnamese. “Everyone should forget about burning joss papers, banknotes and do more realistic acts instead. Use your money to support victims of typhoons, saltwater intrusions, pandemics or buy stationeries for poor children in the mountains.”

Around 370,000 residents are being prepared for evacuation in advance of Storm Noru, which is expected to be one of the worst storms to hit Vietnam in the last 20 years.

The storm entered the East Sea on Monday and as of 4am, Noru was 810 kilometers east of the Hoàng Sa Archipelago with winds of 118–149 km/h. The storm will make landfall from Thừa Thiên Huế to Quảng Ngãi in the early hours of September 28 with winds of 89–102 km/hr.

Beginning Tuesday afternoon, central provinces and parts of the Central Highlands will receive 150–300 millimeters of rain along with strong gusts of wind and thunder. Tumultuous conditions along the central coast will include waves of 8–10 meters in height. As it moves westwards, it will weaken into a tropical depression with inclement weather in the region on its way out of the country on September 29.

On Monday morning, Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính ordered local and national agencies to prepare for the storm's arrival. Dams and reservoirs must be secured, boats sheltered, aquatic farm operations protected and individuals who live in areas prone to rockslides evacuated. About 868,000 people from 214,000 households are being instructed to move to safer locations while 57,800 vessels, including 739 out at sea, are told to relocate. More than one million students in the area have been instructed to stay home in response to the storm. Healthcare services are being prepped in advance.

Storm Noru made landfall in the Philippines on Sunday, September 25; five rescue workers passed away in its aftermath. More casualties are feared as major flooding persists along with the potential for landslides. Known locally as Typhoon Karding, it slammed into the nation with 240 km/h winds. It is the fourth storm to enter the East Sea this year.

[Top image via VietnamNet]

Authorities are planning to turn the long-abandoned Hồ Thủy Tiên Waterpark into a public space with the construction of a walking path, lighting, drainage system and water supply.

Huế People's Committee Chairman Võ Lê Nhật announced the city's intentions for the VND20 billion (US$844,100) public park project earlier this week. He did not offer any further details about the public park or provide a potential timeline for the renovations.

The abandoned park has been a must-visit spot for thrill-seekers both in and out of Vietnam.

Located several kilometers outside of the city, Hồ Thủy Tiên amusement park was in operation for only several months when it first opened in 2004 with a price tag of VND70 billion (US$3.1 million). After its inexplicable closing, it remained empty and began deteriorating until 2008 when ownership transferred from state-owned Hue Capital Tourism Company to Haco Hue, a private investment and trading company. They announced ambitious plans to revitalize it as an eco-tourism destination with spa, restaurants and a convention center. They held onto this dream until 2013 when they relinquished ownership without having undertaken a single shovel's worth of work. 

In 2020, the decaying site again received attention when Huế officials implored relevant agencies to come up with plans to transform it into something more useful such as a public park complete with a petting zoo and bike paths or a cultural center. Nothing, however, came of these pre-pandemic aspirations.  

A children's pool has become a mosquito larvae's pool.

During the past 14 years of dereliction, the waterpark has attracted adventure seekers despite it being officially closed to visitors. With relative ease, people have been able to enter the grounds to catch a glimpse of the jungle's reclamation of villas, pools and waterslides along with a graffiti-stained aquarium, mold-marred statues and rickety amusement rides ravaged by rust. It even caught the attention of popular Indonesian singer and songwriter Niki who used it as the setting of a sleek MV in 2018. International news outlets have also praised it as "creepy" location worth investigating over the years. 

Before all the waterpark development hubbub and dithering declarations for refurbishments, the 10-hectare area surrounding a natural lake was an undeveloped natural spot for casual picnics, recreational activities and student field trips.

With insufficient waste management facilities, many island localities in Vietnam face literal barrages of trash.

Earlier this month, the government of Quảng Ninh Province’s Cô Tô District, which oversees the tiny island, announced that single-use plastic bottles and bags won’t be welcomed on the island starting from September 1, reports VnExpress.

The new policy is targeting tourists as rapid tourism growth has been identified as the biggest cause of environmental degradation on Cô Tô. The campaign to curb plastic use will run on a trial basis for 3–6 months and then take effect officially; Cô Tô authorities task travel agencies and transportation services with informing their clients before entering the island.

Nguyễn Thanh Thái, head of the Office of Culture and Information of the Cô Tô Island District, told the newspaper: “First we want to educate tourists so they will cooperate. If they accidentally brought plastic bottles and bags to the dock, we will ask them to leave those on the boat to be collected when they leave later. On the island, we have ample food and drink with reasonable prices so they won’t need to bring anything. However, if tourists refuse, we can’t forbid them.”

Vietnam has struggled with trash management on a national level for decades with plastic-based rubbish as the most commonplace type, accounting for 94% of all waste in quantity and 71% in weight.

How to tackle household trash is a problem that affects islands more severely than mainland regions as most lack sufficient facilities to incinerate waste. On Côn Đảo Island, for example, an incinerator built in 2014 can only process 5 tons of trash a day, but the local landfill collects 15–20 tons daily, leading to a garbage “mountain” of over 70,000 tons that has grown for the last 20 years.

By saying no to plastic items, Cô Tô is taking the right step in alleviating local waste accumulation, but whether tourists will happily comply remains uncertain. Besides Cô Tô, Cù Lao Chàm in Hội An is also another island-based locality that has shunned single-use plastics, to some success.

Cô Tô is an island district under Quảng Ninh Province in northeastern Vietnam, comprising a number of islands such as Cô Tô Island, Thanh Lân Island and Trần Island. According to the 2019 census, the district has over 6,000 inhabitants. As of July 2022, the islands have welcomed over 162,000 tourists; this is projected to reach 200,000 by the end of the year.

[Photo via Redsvn]

If you ever feel overwhelmed by mooncake gifts this Trung Thu, remember that there are underprivileged others who might have to resort to driving their car to steal bánh Trung Thu.

According to Dân Trí, the Thủ Dầu Một City Police Department (Bình Dương Province) is building a case against Nguyễn Minh Dũng, Mai Hoàng Phước, Nguyễn Thành Nhân, and Nguyễn Phước Trí Dũng, all 21-22 years old, for property theft.

Local news shared that early in the morning of August 12, the four had a nhậu session and decided to rob a local mooncake vendor. Phước drove his car home to retrieve a bunch of machetes and then drove Nhân, alongside Chí Dũng and Minh Dũng on their motorbike, to a mooncake stall on National Road No. 13 in Phú Hòa Ward.

Footage from the stall’s CCTV shows that around 3am, the gang violently pulled off the kiosk’s tarp, threatening two staff members, who were asleep inside, with their machetes. They demanded five boxes of bánh Trung Thu and two lanterns in proper packaging for “gifting.”

Thanh Niên reports that local police arrested Phước, Nhân, and Chí Dũng and confiscated a range of evidence including the machetes and the lanterns, but only one box of mooncakes — they have polished off the other four boxes. Minh Dũng managed to evade capture but surrendered himself after three days at large.

[Photo via VOV]

A temporary solution has been proposed for holders of Vietnam’s new passports, but it’s unclear at the moment when the state government will come up with a design update to include the missing “Place of Birth” field.

At a recent National Assembly session, Public Security Minister Tô Lâm answered a number of questions from delegates regarding the hiccup surrounding Vietnam’s new passport design, which has been rejected by some European nations for its lack of the “Place of Birth” information on the personal information page.

Lâm acknowledged that the ministry was at fault for the “technical” issue and announced that it would collaborate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to manually add the missing information to recently issued passports upon request. He added that the public security ministry will adjust the design to include place of birth, but did not provide more details on when this will take place.

According to Lâm, the new passport design does not include birthplaces because the detail is not required in both Vietnam’s Law on Entry and Exit of Vietnamese Citizens and regulations by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Starting from July 1 this year, the Vietnam Immigration Department under the Ministry of Public Security has been using an updated passport design for all new applicants. The new Vietnamese passport has 50 pages, illustrations of local landmarks and a change in color from green to navy blue. The new version also comes with various special printing techniques to better prevent counterfeiting.

Since the end of July, Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic have declared that they would suspend issuing visas for this new design as the page for personal particulars lacks the “Place of Birth” field. Germany said without this information, it won’t be able to effectively monitor entrants from Vietnam. The United Kingdom and France, however, have confirmed that they would still accept the new passport, while Spain has since reversed the ban, with the caveat that visa applicants will be required to provide valid personal ID cards.

As of the beginning of August, the public security ministry has issued around 272,000 passports with the new design.

[Photo via VTC]

A man living in Nha Trang has earned kudos from animal lovers across Vietnam for saving 31 local dogs. 

A Facebook post by Đỗ Minh Khôi, a 46-year-old Nha Trang resident, has attracted much attention from Vietnamese netizens, who were touched by Khôi’s good deed after he rescued dozens of canine victims, reports Người Lao Động.

According to Khôi, on July 24, his family lost three beloved pet dogs, so he embarked on a search for them at every slaughterhouse within the city of Nha Trang and Diên Khánh District. The quest took the family to an abattoir in Diên Khánh, where dozens of dogs were locked in cages, slated to be killed for meat.

Captured dogs in a cramped cage at the abattoir.

“Seeing the dogs with mourning eyes, I actually cried,” Khôi recalled. He decided to shell out VND24 million of his own money in exchange for all 31 dogs at the slaughterhouse, including one of his own. Since then, many Nha Trang denizens have sought out Khôi in hopes of finding their lost pet.

Khôi shared with Lao Động that he used to not like animals, especially dogs and cats, but one day, an encounter with a stray dog changed his mind. “Around a year before the pandemic, I moved to Nha Trang from Saigon,” he reminisced. “One night, a stray dog fainted in front of our house from lack of food. He looked so miserable I decided to adopt him.”

As it turned out, the dog was pregnant and gave birth to four puppies weeks later. From then on, the family kept running into and taking in strays; today, the household has ballooned to 20 dogs, including the three that went missing recently. 

As of today, 10 of the rescued furry companions have returned to their owners or been adopted by local people. The family has also contacted pet shelters to help rehome the dogs.

Since the social media post went viral, many owners and dog lovers have either collected their lost pet or adopted the victims.

Residents of Nha Trang who lost their dogs can reach out to Đỗ Minh Khôi at 30D Đồng Nai, Phước Hải Ward, or via 0909473361 to look for their furry friends.

[Photos via Facebook user Minh Khoi Do]

A passenger's seemingly innocent in-air fruit snack has called into question the effectiveness of Tân Sơn Nhất's security screenings.

In a short clip that has gone viral online over the past week, a female passenger inside a plane can be seen casually cutting fruit slices, presumably from a mango, using a short knife. She shares her sour treat with a male companion before a flight attendant shows up to confiscate the fruit knife. The entire exchange was recorded by another in-flight traveler.

A short clip from the plane recorded by another passenger.

According to Tuổi Trẻ, the incident took place on July 18 on Vietnam Airlines flight VN208 flying the Saigon–Hanoi route. While the knife was not intended to harm others, it still prompted many to voice concerns over Tân Sơn Nhất Airport's security process. 

In an official announcement, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) demands that Tân Sơn Nhất Airport conduct a thorough investigation of not just this incident but also the whole security and screening system.

CAAV released images of the knife in question and the X-ray scan of the passenger's carry-on luggage. Image via Tiền Phong.

So far, the airport had identified the security officer who failed to spot the knife while the couple in question's luggage went through the scanner. Aviation authorities are mulling over potential punishments for both the knife-wielding passenger and the airport staff member, though the officer has been temporarily suspended while an investigation is carried out.

The CAAV has also called out the passengers’ lack of awareness of airport security rules even though airline announcements and airport posters have very clearly warned against aircraft forbidden carry-ons.

[Top image via Công Lý]

A “hot weather” fee is Grab’s latest surcharge on a shopping list of other additional fees the ride-hailing giant tacks on to each ride.

On July 11, in response to mounting public complaints regarding Grab Vietnam’s “hot weather" surcharge, the Vietnam Competition and Consumer Authority (VCCA) under the Ministry of Industry and Trade sent a request asking Grab to submit a report to clarify this new decision.

VCCA asked the ride-hailing company to provide a list of surcharges and fees that are currently added to the fares customers have to pay. Moreover, Grab must also include evidence, criteria, and justifications regarding how the fees are executed and distributed between drivers and the company. These documents must be submitted before July 18.

Last week, Grab Vietnam announced that starting from July 6, a range of service types will carry an additional “Hot Weather Fee” (Phụ phí Nắng nóng gay gắt). Specifically, the fee is VND5,000 per trip in Hanoi and Saigon for GrabBike, GrabFood and GrabMart, and VND3,000 per trip for GrabExpress.

Rides under GrabBike and GrabFood services in other provinces, including Nghệ An, Thanh Hóa, Hải Phòng, Đà Nẵng, Huế, Cần Thơ, Khánh Hòa, Đắk Lắk, Ba Ria-Vũng Tàu, Bình Dương and Đồng Nai, will carry an additional VND5,000 under the new fee.

In their announcement, the company does not specify how it decides when or where the fee is applied. It also doesn’t explain the definition of “hot weather” or elaborate on which meteorological metrics are used to determine if the weather is hot enough to add the fee.

A Grab Vietnam representative told Tuổi Trẻ that the surcharge will not apply to the whole business day, but will be “turned on and off” depending on the day’s weather conditions. Grab also confirmed that the fee is added directly to the rides cost displayed on the app.

While the announcements describe the hot weather fee as an initiative to assist drivers during extreme weather conditions, some Grab drivers are skeptical. As the fee is directly added to ride fares, Grab is entitled to a portion of the fee under the common commission rate.

Miscellaneous fees in addition to the typical fare are not new to Grab. Apart from holiday surcharges applied on festive occasions like Tết and April 30, riders are already subjected to a night fee, a long-wait fee, a small-order fee, and a rainy weather fee, among others.

After years of experimenting, Bắc Giang has finally succeeded in growing seedless lychees.

According to Báo Bắc Giang, at the end of 2019, the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) introduced 500 seedlings of seedless lychees to cultivate. Some of those trees have now finally borne fruit, which still holds the signature juicy sweetness but without the inconvenience of a pit.

Lê Bá Thành, the department's deputy director, told local media that, as this is the first year the lychee trees have fruited, the yield is quite low. The province plans to use most of them for quality assessment research and as gifts. Only in 2023 will the rare variety be available widely in the market as a commercial product. 

Vi Văn Hiệu, one of the few farmers in the province who successfully cultivate seedless lychees, told Tổ Quốc that he had to go three years with no harvests and that this season's bounty was a surprise. Hiệu has four seedless lychee trees which can yield about 100 kilograms of fruit. He could sell these at VND100,000 per kilo, which is more than triple the regular price, and still not have enough for the surge in demand.

Following this initial success, Bắc Giang’s DARD plan to spread this cultivar to the whole province. Bắc Giang is one of Vietnam's major lychee producers, with more than 28,000 hectares dedicated to the fruit. Currently, besides local consumption, the province's famous vải thiều Lục Ngạn cultivar is exported to many international markets including China, Japan, the European Union, South Korea, Australia, and more.

[Photo by Đinh Huy via Tổ Quốc]

This Monday, Huế launched the pilot phase of its public bike rental system.

According to Thanh Niên, this initial phase has 250 bikes and seven stations positioned along the Hương River and the Imperial City. The second phase will start at the end of this year with up to 20 stations, and the third phase is scheduled for mid-2023 with a city-wide network of public bikes.

Much like the project in Saigon, renters need an app to pay and unlock the bike. Vietsoftpro, the company running the rental system, told Thanh Niên that eventually the app will also be able to introduce tourist attractions and show calorie consumption. The smart locks on the bikes can also give GPS coordinates to help with tracking and managing. Based on photos of the bikes, it appears the rear saddle has been replaced with a solar panel.  

This public bike system is a collaboration between the Huế People’s Committee, Vietsoftpro, and the German Society for International Development (GIZ). The program takes Huế one step closer to the goal of being a "city of cycles."

Back in December last year, Saigon launched its first public bike scheme with 43 docking stations located across District 1. It was well-received by Saigoneers and tourists alike, so the company behind the project announced in March 2022 that it would expand the biking initiative to more districts and even start a trial run in Hanoi.

[Photo by Lê Hoài Nhân via Thanh Niên]

A tea product featuring the face of a South Korean celebrity has turned into a royal pain for its manufacturer.

Đức Phượng Imperial Tea, a tea company based in Huế, has drawn scrutiny from members of the public and local authorities for using an image of Song Joong-ki, a popular South Korean actor, on its packaging for a tea product named after a Vietnamese emperor.

The company specializes in making what is known as trà cung đình, or imperial tea, a beverage historically enjoyed by royalty in Vietnam’s former capital. One of its key product lines, all of which are monarchy-themed, is Minh Mạng tea. Its namesake is derived from the regnal title of Nguyễn Phúc Đảm, the second emperor of the Nguyễn dynasty who reigned the country in the 1800s.

Confusion and concern arose after a news outlet reported photos of Minh Mạng tea packages sold to consumers with Song Joong-ki as a visualizer. The actor is shown spotting a red dallyeong, a traditional costume reserved for court officials and upperclassmen in feudal Korea. The image is taken from a scene in the historical drama Sungkyunkwan Scandal where he plays a noble scholar from the Joseon dynasty. The show gave Song his breakout role and was massively popular in Vietnam when it came out in 2010.

Front and back of Minh Mạng tea packaging. Photo via Anh Bạn Trà.

Despite the actor’s appeal, many found the use of a foreign character to represent a historical figure problematic. Phan Văn Hải, Director of Huế’s Department of Culture and Sports, said upon finding out about the case: “The fact that the brand took advantage of a famous historical figure such as Emperor Minh Mạng, and misrepresented him by not using the appropriate honorific and attire, will certainly evoke reactions from people."

Nguyễn Văn Phượng, the company’s owner, has denied any malicious intentions to distort history by putting Joong-ki on his tea. He explained that the product was previously endowed with an illustration of Minh Mạng taken from the internet. However, the brand had to remove it due to complaints from the emperor’s living descendants and Vietnamese netizens. Song Joong-ki was later chosen to fill the vacancy since his wife was a big fan of Korean dramas.

The original packaging featured an unauthorized illustration of the emperor. Photo via Zing.

“I honestly just downloaded the picture and printed it on the pack without thinking about public opinion or copyrights," Phượng commented.

An investigation at the manufacturing site was also conducted by Huế’s Department of Health, which concluded that the tea is safe to consume, but the brand has failed to comply with a decree on food packaging and labeling.

It is unclear how Minh Mạng tea made it to the market and bypassed these regulations, as the product even appeared on a government official website. For the time being, misprinted packages have been recalled with a fine to be imposed, though they can still be purchased on some commerce sites.

[Top image via Trà Cung Đình Huế]