Nguyen-era items show in Hue

Forty-eight relics from the Nguyen Dynasty era donated by private collectors to the Hue Royal Fine Arts Museum are on display at the former royal capital’s An Dinh Palace. The Hue Royal Fine Arts Museum, run by the Hue Historical Relic Preservation Centre, houses a large collection of relics from the time of Vietnam’s last imperial dynasty, which ruled from 1820 to 1945.

The objects on show at the exhibition, organised by the museum, are mostly made of silver, brass, precious stones, porcelain, silk, wood and paper.

Among them are a pair of ivory tusks donated by a Vietnamese expatriate living in France, a tea set gifted by Doan Phuoc Thuan, a collector in the central coastal province of Phu Yen, and a collection of King Minh Mang’s poems written on paper donated by Frenchman Andre de Crozet.

A set of three life-size brass statues of Jesus’s mother Mary, donated by a Hue-based company, is among the most valuable relics on show.

At the time of the exhibition’s opening, Nguyen Huu Hoang donated a porcelain basin and plate, Le Gia donated a land register, and a group of collectors presented a pair of vermilion-lacquered gilded wood panels.

The exhibition will go on until the end of the year.

(Source: VNA)

SEE OLD SAIGON WITH VIETNAM TRAVEL DEPOT

Hochiminh City, 20th Nov 2009 – Vietnam Travel Depot has released excursions to bring nostagia travellers back in time to see Saigon of the old time.

Contrast to the current bustling, noisy and crowded city, the Old Saigon was charm and full flairs of Paris blended with Far East atmosphere as they once appeared in many movies such The Lovers or Indochine.

Inspired by the postcards of Old Saigon, the excursion will cover some major places such as Cathedral (1918), Post and Telegraph, Saigon Town Hall (1924), Ville Rex Hotel (1924), Municipal Theatre (1898 – 1900), Catinat Street, Ben Thanh Market (1925), Saigon Zoo, etc.

The excursions of Old Saigon can be traveled on a half day or full day basis. Passengers can also choose to experience Saigon on modern air-conditioned vehicles or the vintage Citroen Traction Avant of 1935 (limited seats). The company also presents a set of Old Saigon postcard when the tour concludes.

About Vietnam Travel Depot
Online travel portal specialized in travel to Vietnam focusing on individuals and small groups travel. More information the company, its offers and rates please visit www.vietnamtraveldepot.com or tel: ( 848 ) 5404 3116.

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Transported by Citroen

Old Saigon on half day, price from US$90/pax (group of 2 persons)

Old Saigon on full day, price from US$145/pax (group of 2 persons)

Trekking through Nam Cat Tien Jungle with VIetnam Travel Depot

This is one of our interesting trip: ( if you like this trip and wanna join with us, please visit www.vietnamtraveldepot.com or email us at sales@vietnamtraveldepot.com)

In the first day, at 07:30 AM we left Ho Chi Minh City ( Saigon) for jeeping to Cat Tien National Park ( Nam Cat Tien Jungle). The terrain rises up gradually via volcanic area. The traffic became heavy after 9.00 AM,any way, we cross Dong Nai River and reach the park center at 11.20 AM.

Check in two rooms for two singles ( me and my co-worker) at the park center. We had lunch break ( the lunch with rice, sour-sweet fried pork was yummy!)

In the afternoon, We must wear the anti-leach socks and we started walking 3km along the ecologic route: sites of Lagerstroemia Ovalfolia (BangLang), Tetrameles nudiflora (Tung), Cycas rumphii (Thien Tue), Ancistrolandus tectorius (Trung quan), Afzelia cyclocarpa (Go). The climate inside the forest was cool and humid, we had to drink 02 water bottles on the way. We saw many “Java” rocks on the way ( java rooks are volcanic rocks) and also many leeches ( we hate them because they suck our blood) but fortunately we were not bitten . Then we trekked 3km back to the center for leisure and dinner time. Totally we trekked 6 km for the first day.

At 8.00 PM, we had an interesting night activity: spotting Animal at night. We jumped on the jeep to transfer to TaLai buffer zone to look for nocturnal animals. (sorry for us because we were so excited that we forgot the camera and video recorder in rooms). However, the night trip was so funny and exciting! .

The second day came. We woke up early at 7.00 AM to be ready to have a jeep transfer inside the park to junction where we turn off the main route and trek 5km to Crocodile lake station. We did have a short break at the lake and did some activities: rowing on the lake, watching biodiversity. We were lucky because we could see crocodiles in daily light and we watched various birds living in the lake.

Then It’s time for us to trek 5km back to the main route. The Jeep picked us up and transfer back to the center. We finished trekking 10km through Nam Cat Tien Jungle today. Check out and we had lunch in the park before leaving Cat Tien Park, crossing the river by boat and heading to Saigon by Jeep.

( if you like this trip and wanna join with us, please visit www.vietnamtraveldepot.com or email us at sales@vietnamtraveldepot.com)

Cu Chi Tunnels Adventure with Jeeps by Vietnam Travel Depot ( Vietnam Jeep Tours)

This is one of our interesting trip: ( if you like this trip and wanna join with us, please visit www.vietnamtraveldepot.com or email us at sales@vietnamtraveldepot.com)

In this tour, our group included our drivers and tour operators with 16 French tourist.

In this morning, at 7:30 AM our jeeps arrived early to stick the numbers on each jeeps then we pick up the tourist at their hotel and let jeep to the extraordinary Cu Chi tunnels, just outside Ho Chi Minh City.



On the way to Cu Chi, we stopped for a while to take photos of Notre Dame Cathedral and Post Office ( which were built during the French Colony). Then we jeep straight to Cu Chi Tunnels to start our adventure in Underground World.










During the war for independence, Viet Cong guerrillas built the labyrinth of narrow tunnels virtually underneath U.S. bases, using them to hide during bombing raids and to stage surprise attacks. On the way to Cu Chi, we saw many cottages and beautiful fields which still only exist in Vietnam countryside.



At the end of this tour,at 1:30 PM, on the way to Saigon from Cu Chi, we had lunch at Ben Nay Restaurant. The food is delicious and the sights are very nice.

We arrived Saigon at 4:00 PM, a little bit late with the time we had planned before because there was traffic jam after the rain. Any way, this is really interesting trip. Hope you will enjoy this tour with us someday soon! :)

( if you like this trip and wanna join with us, please visit www.vietnamtraveldepot.com or email us at sales@vietnamtraveldepot.com)

Bonus: Our "soldiers" Jeep on the way and parking at Cu Chi.