The 2023 World Travel Awards Asia & Oceania gala ceremony took place in HCMC on September 6, unveiling a variety of awards for great destinations across Asia and Oceania. Vietnam continued to win the vote for “Asia’s Leading Destination” and “Asia’s Leading Nature Destination.”
HCMC earned two awards of “Asia’s Leading Business Travel Destination” and “Asia’s Leading Festival and Event Destination.” Meanwhile, Hanoi was honored in three categories: “Asia’s Leading City Break Destination 2023,” “Asia’s Leading City Destination,” and “Asia’s Leading City Tourist Board.”
Other provinces, cities, and tourist attractions also received notable awards, such as Ha Nam being recognized as “Asia’s Leading Cultural Destination” and “Vietnam’s Leading Cultural Destination”, and Phu Quoc gaining the title of “Asia’s Leading Luxury Island Destination.”
This is the third time Vietnam has been chosen as the host for the World Travel Awards ceremony, according to the Tuoi Tre news site.
Another cave discovered in Quang Binh
One more cave has just been discovered in the mountainous village of Diu Do in Truong Son Commune, Quang Ninh District, Quang Binh Province.
According to Hoang Trong Duc, chairman of the People’s Committee of Truong Son Commune, the newly discovered cave is over 1.5 kilometers long, with a long stream flowing throughout the whole length of the cave. In summer when the water level in the stream is not high, it takes about one hour for local people to row an inflatable boat along the stream from one end to the other end of the cave.
Duc said it takes about two hours to trek to the cave, which is named Son Nu (Mountain Girl). The cave has two entrances at both ends, and numerous beautiful stalactites and stalagmites in various shapes. The highest ceiling of the cave is up to 30 meters. The stream flows throughout the cave from the front entrance to the rear one and then pours into Khe May Stream in the grandiose primeval forest of Quang Binh.
According to dantri.com.vn, Quang Binh Province is dubbed the “Kingdom of Caves,” including Son Doong (considered the largest cave in the world), Phong Nha, Thien Duong, Tu Lan, En, to name but a few.
A woman gives birth on train
Thanks to the train staff and passengers ‘ assistance, a baby girl was safely born on the SE22 train on HCMC-Danang route on September 6.
Cao Thi My Duyen, a passenger of the SE22 train departing from HCMC on the evening of September 5, showed signs of going into labor as the train passed through the central province of Quang Nam.
The train staff immediately asked for support from other passengers and contacted the Danang Station’s personnel to prepare an ambulance. When the train arrived at Le Trach Station in Danang, Duyen safely gave birth to a girl with the assistance of train staff and a doctor aboard.
Both the mother and the newborn were taken off the train at Danang station and transferred to the hospital for medical care, the VnExpress news site reported.
Back in June, another mother safely gave birth to a baby girl on the North-South SE4 train while it passed through Thanh Hoa Province.
The bird sanctuary of a farmer in Vinh Long
Le Van Chia, 77, a farmer in Tra On District, Vinh Long Province, has turned his 1.8-hectare garden into a refuge for thousands of wild birds for nearly two decades.
Twenty-five years ago, Chia planted coconut trees around his garden, and longan, mangosteen and langsat trees in the middle of the garden. The sale of fruits in his garden could help him support his wife and their three sons decently.
In 2005, a school of herons began to feed and build nests in Chia’s garden. Ever since, storks and many other bird species have come to live in the garden. In 2008, the number of birds in the garden amounted to several thousand. The couple and their sons decided to turn the garden into a bird sanctuary, though this severely affected their income. The farmer and his wife then built a metal mesh fence around the bird refuge to prevent poaching. In 2018, they built the second metal mesh fence inside the first one, thanks to a sponsor from Hanoi.
The bird population in the sanctuary has amounted to around 4,000 so far, including herons, storks and cormorants. The provincial authorities have approved the plan to expand Chia’s bird sanctuary to five hectares to better protect wild birds and local biodiversity, vnexpress.net reported.
