The Ninh Binh Department of Tourism organized the Trang An-Cuc Phuong Balloon Festival, titled “Beauty of the Ancient Capital,” from October 26 to 29, reported the VietnamPlus news site.
The festival featured 35 hot air balloons and paragliders, piloted by foreign aviators and members of the Hanoi Paragliding Club. Throughout the event, there were various activities, including hot air balloon light displays, artistic performances, and showcases of regional One Commune One Product (OCOP) specialties.
With a diverse range of activities, the organizers aimed to provide residents and visitors with unforgettable experiences, allowing them to enjoy breathtaking views of the stunning and majestic landscapes of the Trang An World Cultural and Natural Heritage site from above, as well as Hoa Lu.
The event aimed to promote Ninh Binh as a tourist destination, highlighting its culture, people, and potential, and positioning it as a prospective national and international tourism hub.
Giant centipede spotted in Vietnam
Scientists have identified the centipede species Scolopendra pinguis Pocock, 1891, measuring up to 6.5 centimeters, in the Phong Nha-Ke Bang forest, bringing the total number of recorded species in Vietnam to nine, according to the VnExpress news site.
The discovery, made by a research team from the Joint Vietnam-Russia Tropical Science and Technology Research Center and the Vietnam National Museum of Nature, was recently published in the journal Far Eastern Entomologist. This marks the first recorded sighting of this species in Vietnam, indicating an eastward expansion of its distribution in Southeast Asia.
Le Xuan Son, a representative of the research team, said that prior to this discovery in Vietnam, Scolopendra pinguis had been recorded in Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos. This finding suggests that Vietnam’s centipede fauna may still include many undiscovered species.
Teacher donates used bicycles to students
Le Khac Dung is a high school teacher in Vung Tau City, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province. In 2023, seeing several students having to go to school and back home on foot, though their houses were far from school, he began to think of asking for used bicycles from his colleagues, friends and relatives for those students in need.
For used bikes with minor breakdowns, Dung would manage to repair them at home before giving out to needy students. He would have some nearby shops fix severe breakdowns. Learning about the teacher’s deed, owners of these shops were willing to charge preferential prices. Some parents and local residents also contributed old and new bicycles, money and parts for Dung to be able to have more bikes for his students.
The kind teacher has so far donated nearly 200 bicycles to students in need. Together with a charitable team, Dung donated 47 bikes to students in typhoon Yagi-affected Lao Cai Province in September this year.
Aside from donating bicycles, Dung has also taken time to tutor poor students and those in need free of charge, tuoitre.vn reported.
Young woman travels across Vietnam alone
Dao Thi Khanh Ngoc, 25, who lives in the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre, has spent 16 days, from September 24 to October 10 this year, traveling nearly 3,000km from Hanoi to Ben Tre all alone by motorbike.
Ngoc, a slender woman standing 1.56m tall and weighing 42kg, told thanhnien.vn that after working and saving enough money, she decided to take a leave to make her first trans-Vietnam trip. She invited some of her friends to join the journey, but no one could go with her, and she had to travel all alone.
On September 24, Ngoc had her motorbike sent to Hanoi by train, and she took a flight to the capital city. From Hanoi, she rode her motorbike southward. A young woman traveling alone, she arranged to go during the day, and tried to arrive at a hotel or a guest house, which she had booked online, at around 5 p.m. to avoid traveling in the evening or at night.
With a total cost of some VND25 million (approximately US$1,000), Ngoc arrived in her hometown of Ben Tre on October 10, completing her trans-Vietnam trip from north to south in 16 days. She hopes to make more motorbike trips to Vietnam’s northeastern and northwestern regions, and the Central Highlands in the future.
