Nation takes gold, silver in aerobics

Aerobic: Vu Ba Dong and Tran Thi Thu Ha, originally uploaded by Kiva.Dang.

Viet Nam grabbed one gold and one silver in the aerobics event at the Asian Indoor Games yesterday, November 3.

The Vietnamese partnership of Vu Ba Dong and Tran Thu Ha brought home gold in the mixed doubles in Hai Phong Gymnasium with a total of 20.875 points, leading the artistic and execution categories.

They defeated South Korea's Kyung Ho-lee and Yeonsun Park and Thailand's Nattawut Pimpa and Roypim Ngampeerapong, with 20.200 points and 20.125 points, respectively.

They triumphed at the 24th Southeast Asian Games' sport aerobics in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, two years ago.


Dong and Ha continued to co-ordinate with Nguyen Tien Phuong in the trio group to grab silver with total of 20.889 points behind China's trio who scored 21.250 points. The bronze medal went to South Korea's trio with 20 points.

In the men's singles, China's Xiaofeng Zhou beat eight contenders to take gold, with 20.500 points.

Runner-up was Jong Kun Song of South Korea with the same number of points overall, but less artistic points. Third was Nattawut Pimpa of Thailand with 20.100 points.

Vietnamese Tien Phuong gained second place in the qualifying round, but only managed fourth in the final.

Viet Nam also took another gold medal, this time in the men's 73kg kurash event thanks to the efforts of Nguyen Tuan Hoc.

In the other 66kg final of the men's kurash, Kazakhstan took a gold medal thanks to Meirzhan Kaltayev who defeated Peng-Yao Hsu of Chinese Taipei.

Orapa Senatham of Thailand was defeated by Olessya Kutsenko of Kazakhstan in the women's 57kg final.

Vietnamese athletes continued to shine yesterday when Pham Thi Van Anh beat Kim Eonkyung of South Korea to take another gold for Viet Nam in the women's single jujitsu&beltwrestling, 62kg final.

The northern port city's fans also had the chance to see the archery qualification round at Hai Phong Gymnasium yesterday.

In the men's compound, Reza Amaninejad of Iran led with 585 points, while Vietnamese Nguyen Tien Cuong came second with 580 points, and Reza's teammate Abdollah Kiaei was third with 575 points.

In the qualification round of the women's rucurve, South Korea's Jang Mi-yu led with 587 points, while Siyi Lu of China and Mi So-shim of South Korea were runners-up with 583 points and 582 points, respectively.

Vietnamese Nguyen Thi Kieu Trang was eliminated after ranking 12th out of 28 archers.

Viet Nam men's team beat Laos 2-0 while China beat Thailand 2-1 in the semi-finals of the shuttle cock event.

In the women's section, Viet Nam-defeated Chinese Macao 2-0 in the first semi-final, while China defeated Laos 2-0 in the second.

Viet Nam now has a total of 19 golds after four competition days in the medal tally.

Source: Viet Nam News

Mango Bay Phu Quoc

Mango Bay Phu Quoc, originally uploaded by Kiva.Dang.

Located 15 minutes north of the Phu Quoc airport, the Mango Bay Resort offers a uniquely relaxing atmosphere with two deserted white sand beaches facing Vietnam’s best ocean sunsets.

The resort covers twenty hectares, including one kilometer of coastline and two beaches - “Coconut Beach” and “Casuarina Beach”- and is surrounded by protected forest. Offshore there is a reef and smooth rocks, offering great snorkeling amongst coral and fish.

There is no air-conditioning, television sets or telephones in the rooms for a true fusion with nature at the island’s first eco-friendly resort. All rooms and bungalows have open sea views and offer mosquito nets, overhead fans, al fresco bathrooms, and solar powered hot water.

Location

Mango Bay is 15-20 minutes north of Phu Quoc airport. The island of Phu Quoc is located southwest of Vietnam off the coast of Cambodia and can be reached by a quick flight from Ho Chi Minh (50 minutes - 3 flights a day) and by ferry from Rach Gia (2.5 hours - 2 boats a day).

Restaurant & bar

Mango Bay’s restaurant sits overlooking the ocean, atop smooth rocks against which the waves gently lap. The restaurant is casual, open air, and built on a large tree frame, with leaf-thatched roof, rammed earth walls and hand-finished aggregate floor. The restaurant can sit up to 40 with a 270-degree view of the sea.

Rooms

Plantation Bungalow: The newest addition to Mango Bay, these stand-alone bungalows each have a spacious room and deck, overlooking the beach and garden. All have outside bathrooms and natural wooden decks.

Rammed-earth Bungalows: These are the first Rammed earth buildings in Vietnam, an efficient environmentally friendly building technique using locally available soil to form walls with an attractive natural finish, complete with leaf thatched roofs and spacious decks. Outdoor bathrooms with solar powered hot water look straight out into jungle.

Fisherman’s bungalows: These are traditional Phu Quoc fishermen’s houses, transported and reassembled individually. With spacious rooms, they are suitable for families. All have outside bathrooms and natural wooden decks.

Verandah Rooms: The Verandah is a large wooden and shaded area, built from 60 year-old seasoned timber. The Verandah rooms are more communal in nature and look out under the shadow of coconut palms onto the sea. All have private bathrooms, one of which is outdoors.

All rooms and bungalows have open sea views and offer mosquito nets, overhead fans, al fresco bathrooms, and solar powered hot water.

For your booking, please contact:

Add: Ong lang Beach, Phu Quoc, Vietnam
Tel: International +84 903 382 207 - Vietnam: 0903 382 207

Gamers team eye Indoor gold

Asia Indoor Game 3 - Vietnam 2009, originally uploaded by Kiva.Dang.

Viet Nam's e-sports team will take part in the third Asian Indoor Games (AIG) with the aim of bringing home a gold medal.

Duong Vi Khoa, the team's head coach, said, "Although the team is only aiming for a gold, we've got some skilful players who have been training hard. Viet Nam's e-sport team will do its best and hopefully spur the development of the sport in the country."

Khoa, who has devoted himself to e-sports since it appeared in Viet Nam, said, "I paid attention to the e-sports event seven years ago. In 2003, Viet Nam had ADSL, and I had a strong attachment to the event. Those who had an interest, got together and we organised tournaments ourselves."

The team includes four coaches and 16 gamers convened in Ha Noi at the weekend and took part a training course to prepare for the Games organised by the Viet Nam Multimedia Corporation.

This event will take place at Ha Noi's Bach Khoa Gymnasium on November 1-4 with the participation of 200 gamers from 15 teams to compete for six sets of medals in the individual and team events.

Viet Nam's gamers will play including FIFA 09, Starcraft: Broodwar, Counter Strike, Dota All-stars.

According to e-sports experts, To Trung Hieu is expected to lead the team to a medal in this event after he showed his great talent in the World Cyber Games Asian Champions in July.

Viet Nam emerged at the World Cyber Games Asian Champions with two gold wins in Dota All-stars and FIFA 2009 after beating 13 countries from around Asia, including South Korea, China, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Australia and New Zealand.

Source: Viet Nam News

Asian Indoor Games 3 press and media consultant conference

Asia Indoor Game 3 - Vietnam 2009, originally uploaded by Kiva.Dang.

The consultant conference and AIG 3 media check took place in Hanoi, with the presencet of Mr. Dan Hubp – Media Specialist of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).

At the conference, Mr. Hoang Vinh Giang, the AIG 3 Organizing Committee Deputy-General and General Secretary of Olympic Committee of Vietnam reported on the preparations and management process of the Vietnam AIG Organizing Committee (VAIGOC) to the representative of the OCA. VAIGOC has an important and influential role which links directly to the media, press, IT and protocol departments. Additionally, during the session, representatives of two Protocol and Hospitality Sub-Committees; Communication, four stations of Vietnam Television (VTV), Ho Chi Minh Television (HTV), Vietnam Sports newspapers, the Physical and Sports Culture Information Center – the General Department of Physical Culture and Sports Culture were also informed by the OCA about the volunteer training, protocols, the projects of building the International Business Communication centres (IBC – in Hanoi and HCM City), the Main Press Center (MPC) and IT solutions at the Games.

Besides the general difficulties (such as a lack of finance for projects), another obstacle which impacts on VAIGOC’s media and press projects is the lack of information about the number of athletes, 45 team delegation members, journalists and media agencies that will attend and work at AIG 3. For example, the project of the IBC has to plan for the maximum of booths for television journalists but if AIG 3 does not use all the booths, this will lead to a waste of money. The AIG 3 Communication Sub-Committee Deputy-Chief stated that, VAIGOC has experience in executing projects for the media and press at the 22nd SEA Games. However, the AIG 3 is a continental event. Therefore, VAIGOC needs a lot of help from the OCA in order to achieve the highest target. Moreover, the Communication Sub-Committee also wants help from the OCA regarding press guidelines, media reporting techniques (especially for new sports), AIG 3 information management (main system), the AIG 1 and AIG 2 information consultants, media specialists and press agencies to help VAIGOC.

At the moment, based on the information for VAIGOC, Mr., Dan Hubp said, right at this time, to increase the execution of media and press plans, VAIGOC needs to complete the detailed competition schedule. This will facilitate the international and domestic media to plan programs and cooperate with the event. Presently, with this responsibility, Mmr. Dan Hubp will help Vietnam through the OCA.

According to the schedule, after this meeting, Mr. Dan Hubp will investigate some AIG 3 competition venues.

Source: The Thao Vietnam

The Ana Mandara Villas

ANA MANDARA RESORTS & SPA DALAT CITY VIETNAM, originally uploaded by V&V HOSPITALITY & MEDIA GROUP.

The Ana Mandara Villas, Dalat just openned on late 2006. The villas consists of charmingly, restored, French colonial villas, which are nestled in 35 acres of parkland, in the rural highlands of Dalat. The villas retain the unique personalities of their original owners while being lovingly restored to their former glory, with all care taken to preserve original design, d�cor and charm.

Ana Mandara Villas are in well converted buildings, and have original antique items and fittings. On request, guests can enjoy breakfast served on their villa terrace. Leisure facilities available include a Six Senses Spa which offers a range of treatments. This is an ideally perfect place for spend your vacation time in Dalat, Vietnam.

The 57 room resort, restaurant and spa set in the rural highlands of Dalat, Vietnam comprises seventeen fully restored French colonial villas each originally constructed between the 1920's and 1930's. The villas retain the unique personalities of their original owners while being lovingly restored to their former glory, with all care taken to preserve original design, d�cor and charm.

Set in the Central Vietnam highland city of Dalat, the region was popularised by French occupation at the turn of the 20th century. Alexandre Yersin, a contemporary of the famed Louis Pasteur discovered and pioneered the location that is now known as Dalat in approximately 1897. With the cool European climate (the area sits at an altitude of 1500 metres above sea level) and the rolling mountainous, pine treed terrain, Dalat became the summer hill-station retreat for royalty and high society.

Sited on approximately 35 acres of suburban parkland that forms its own unique compound, the area Evason Ana Mandara Villas Dalat occupies was originally known as the 'Bellevue Quarter', a nod to the rich French influence. Striking views of the surrounding town, countryside and flourishing vegetable fields abound from all areas of the gently sloping hillside property.

Of the seventeen villas on site, fifteen have been converted into fully serviced hotel accommodations with the remaining two villas being converted into our Restaurant and Six Senses Spa, respectively.

Slideshow

Furama Resort - Fantastic Underwater

Dive Vietnam - FuramaResortDanang - Dive Center - Fantastic Underwater, originally uploaded by dive.vietnam.

Dive in central Vietnam with Furama Resort Danang - Dive Center offers a new and exciting destination for divers in Asia. With its crystal clear waters, coral formations and white sandy beaches, this region of Vietnam has just being discovered by dive enthusiasts from around the world.

All photos were taken at on Tra Peninsula (Monkey Mountain) where crystal blue waters reveal magnificent corals and an amazing variety of sub-tropical sea-life.

For more information, visit Furama Resort Danang - Dive Center

Slideshow

Blue Ocean resort

Blue Ocean resort, originally uploaded by Khoa Trần.

Blue Ocean Resort under management by Life Resorts Management Company boasts of avant-garde designs, vibrant play of colors and offers modern features, facilities and amenities.

Located in Mui Ne, a destination that promotes fun and activities for the whole family, the Blue Ocean Resort is a perfect get-away for couples and families with a wide variety of day time and night time activities that the whole family can engage in.

Known for its beautiful beaches, Mui Ne is also the country’s capital for kite-surfing and kite-boarding. These are but some of the many water sports to choose from.

Ocean Star Resort

Ocean Star Resort, originally uploaded by Andrew Birch.

Phan Thiet is a tourist site indispensable for travelers who desire to get a true relaxing Vietnamese experience. It is fairly close to Ho Chi Minh City (approximately 200kms) where the temperature remains enjoyable all year. It is well-know as a stunning coastline stretching for more than 20 kilometers beneath thousands of great coconut palms.

Modeled in the style of an authentic fishing village, Ocean Star Resort resides within three hectares of swaying palms and tropical flora, framed to the East by the pristine sand and crystal waters of Mui Ne beach.

Ocean Star Resort gives you a variety of seven different types of accommodation. Therefore, it will be adapted to the customers’ purposes of stay.

With a well-trained professional team used to experience at highly standardized international hotel, Ocean Star Resort, a four star lodging property has come out in gestation of doing something to modify the perfection of the hospitality service and the pleasure of experience in Phan Thiet , which only a come face to face with reality speaks up the meaning . A new concept, a new look, a new though, a new experience : being all of what the management and the staff ring a bell to the customers.

Ocean Star resort aim to create a real sensation of relaxation where time and stress should be forgotten during your stay. All you may experience here will go beyond your expectations, from the breath-taking white sand beach to the smiley faces from our friendly staff.

Our goal is to bring the professional attention to the detail of all requirements to ensure that all stay with us become a memory of satisfaction.

Pho Hoi Riverside Resort

Pho Hoi Riverside Resort, originally uploaded by Hoang Viet.

Pho Hoi Riverside Resort in Hoi An offers world class accommodation near the center of the city. As soon as you step inside the Pho Hoi Riverside Resort in Hoi An, you would remain spell bound with the mesmerizing interior.
The hotel offers the latest of amenities and services. With excellence in every aspect - from rooms to hotel amenities, the hotel makes an earnest effort to give the guests more than their money's worth. Let's glance through the various features of this hotel:

Location of Pho Hoi Riverside Resort in Hoi An

The location of the hotel is excellent, being situated a few minutes' driving distance from the center of the city. The Location of at Pho Hoi Riverside Resort in Hoi An is 800 meters from the city center.

The place where the hotel is situated has good connectivity with the rest of the city. There are quite a few tourist attractions close to the hotel.

Room facilities at Pho Hoi Riverside Resort in Hoi An

Bask in ultimate luxury in the cozy rooms of Pho Hoi Riverside Resort in Hoi An. The rooms of this hotel are spacious and are elegantly furnished. Every one of them is designed exquisitely and is adorned by impressive decor. Each of the rooms is appointed with meticulous care to ensure that you have the most comfortable stay.

Also, every one of the rooms dons bright wall paints that exude a lot of warmth and cheer. Room facilities at Pho Hoi Riverside Resort in Hoi An feature a wide range of modern and beautiful lightings.

Hotel Amenities and Services at Pho Hoi Riverside Resort in Hoi An

The mind blowing span of hotel amenities and services at Pho Hoi Riverside Resort in Hoi An encompasses every aspect of comfort and pleasure. The hotel gives equal attention in the matters of fitness and recreation. There are several sports activities offered. Some of them are Billiards, Boating, Fishing, Badminton and many more.

The hotel houses a great restaurant. Authentic cuisines are brought to table by the chefs. There are 200 seats in this restaurant. The awesome ambience of this beautiful restaurant is really enchanting.

The hotel also offers upscale business facility. So, come to Pho Hoi Riverside Resort in Hoi An and you would be treated to a fine time indeed.

Vinpearl Land Resort

Vinpearl Land Resort, originally uploaded by Hoang Viet.

Vietnam is widely known as a country with a hidden tropical charm. With the beautiful S-shaped strip of land closely surrounding the mysterious Indochina, Vietnam can easily fascinate visitors. Coming to Vietnam, visitors will have a chance to not only enjoy numberless beauty spots that the nature has generously endowed this country with but also find out about about plenty of traditional and modern Vietnamese cultural backgrounds. And, one of the most outstanding features of Vietnamese tourism is Nha Trang (Khanh Hoa).

Coming to Vinpearl, you will feel as if you were lost in a wonderland. With the typical tropical climate, Nha Trang is brilliant with blue sea, white sand, beautiful sunlight. The beautiful and poetic sea tourism city is named “Brilliant flower basket on the bank of the East Sea, “Sunny deck”. It is not accidental that 100 years ago, the talented scientist Alexandere Yersin left splendid Paris for Nha Trang, where he stayed and worked until his death. Nha Trang Bay is ranked as one of the most 29 beautiful bays in the world. As flowing across here, some sea currents suddenly blend with each other to create “a common home” for all beings to reside and grow. Nha Trang Bay is not only rich in natural resources, beauty spots but also closely linked to sea culture and unique cultural-tourist attractions… And the story of Nha Trang is now continued with the fame of Vinpearl Land, Vinpearl Resort & Spa, a sparkling pearl glued on the crown of the Sea Queen.

Vinpearl Land has become a great pride of the locals as well as of Vietnamese people in general. It’s hard for tourists to imagine how much energy and money has been spent on creating such a wonderful island as this.

After just 5 – 7 minutes traveling by motor-boat or 13 minutes enjoying Nha Trang’s panorama from Vinpearl Cable-car system, the longest sea-crossing cableway in the world, visitors then set their foot on Vinpearl Land – The Vietnamese Pearl. Located in the North of Hon Tre Island, leaning on Dam Mong Mountain and towards Nha Trang Bay, Vinpearl Land is an international-class 5-star entertainment-tourism complex with all modern comforts; however, it is still an attractive and wild Pearl Island located in the middle of one of the most beautiful bays in the world. Vinpearl Land blends a modern style with the enriched national character. The modern Western style is mainly used in the interior composition, service, operation…, meanwhile the traditional Eastern style here is found in curved roofs up to the sky, the tiles or the thatched huts in the peaceful home-village space of Vietnam; it is an open space for natural environment to pour in every moment. Just open the window to welcome the wind and lean on the balcony to enjoy the sunrise, you will feel the serenity all around and find the peace in your mind.

Visitors in Vinpearl Land will enjoy their stay in a 5-star hotel resort and spa. With 485 marvellously designed rooms, including 17 luxurious rooms and 2 Presidential Suites, the resort can satisfy the most fastidious visitors by bringing them comfort, privacy, convenience, and perfect service. Vinpearl Resort and Spa also has the most beautiful 700m long natural beach in Nha Trang and modern outdoor swimming pools covering an area of 5,700m2 (the largest one in the Southeast Asia) beautified with lots of coconut trees, green grass, nice plants and trees…… Besides, there are beauty and health care services in Viet Spa and other relaxing activities, tours in combination with sports for all ages. A diversified system of restaurants will meet all your eating and drinking demands from typical Vietnamese flavor to other Asian and European one… You will also freely do shopping in Shopping Mall, play games in the Amusement Park, the Water Park, and enjoy wonderful musical fountain shows at the Amphitheatre or discover the beauty of the ocean in the splendid Vinpearl Underwater World. To meet the MICE tourist demands as well as to organize big events, Vinpearl Land also has an adequate system of meeting rooms, an Event Hall with 1500-seats and a 5000-seat lean-to outdoor stage. .

A great number of cultural-entertainment events has been held here in Vinpearl Land, especially major Vietnam and World beauty contests such as Miss Vietnam, Miss World Vietnamese, Miss Earth, and Miss Universe… Therefore, apart from the lovely name “Vietnamese Pearl,” this place is also named “Beauty Island,” “Paradise Island”…