Flower fanatics prepare for Da Lat festival

Thirty flower businesses will showcase their blossoms in the streets of Da Lat in early January.
Bui Van Sang, the owner of one of Da Lat’s most well-known tourist sites, the Valley of Peaches, and the son of late Da Lat flower artisan Muoi Loi who devoted his whole life to flowers, said his farm is preparing 100 peach trees to be displayed around Da Lat’s Xuan Huong Lake during the 2010 Flower Festival to be held in the city on January 1-4.
Sang is among hundreds of flower-growers that will join 30 flower business firms in showing off their flowers at the festival which is the first of a series held to welcome the millennial anniversary of capital Ha Noi, said Truong Van Thu, deputy chairman of the Lam Dong People’s Committee, at a recent press briefing in Ha Noi.
"The festival will be different this year. Instead of the flowers being displayed solely inside the city as previously, the displays will be expanded along the 25km from Lien Khuong Airport to the city centre and there will be flower roads, flower scenes and a flower park in the town centre," said Thu, who is also head of the festival Organising Board.
Flowers will occupy 4,000sq.m around Xuan Huong Lake. On the other side of the lake, the 9,500sq.m Bich Cau Islet will display 10,000 vases full of flowers, 150 ornamental trees and 100 hanging flower trellises created by Da Lat artisans, Thu said. He added that the flowers will predominantly be European species and include 200 cherry and apricot trees and 10 flower beds with mimosa, roses, carnations, hortesia and forget-me-nots along Tran Hung Dao Road.
"Flowers will be naturally displayed on all the city streets, pavements, government offices and homes," Thu said.
Vu Hoang, general director of the programme told Viet Nam News that visitors will be met by flowers where-ever they are.
He said although the flower festival will be taking place later in the season than previously, it will remain otherwise unchanged, bar a few improvements.
Surrounding Xuan Huong Lake will be scenes that highlight the uniqueness of Da Lat, the city of flowers. During the four-day festival there will also be flower markets and flower and ornamental tree exhibits.
This will be Da Lat’s third flower festival. The first was in 2005 and the second in 2007.
At earlier events, there were ‘flower parades’ of vehicles decked in flowers passing down the streets. Xuan Huong Lake Park will remain an open space but Ho Tung Mau and Tran Quoc Toan roads will become roads of flowers. The Da Lat flower market, the second of its kind, will take place from January 2-4, with more than 70 flower sellers along Nguyen Thai Hoc Road, and the flowers will be sold at reasonable prices, said Hoang.
On December 31, there will be a flower arranging contest along Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Road, an activity to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of Ha Noi. One thousand people will join hands to create a record-breaking flower vase with a simulated bronze drum face.
Newly-wed couple Hoang Giang and Thuy Vinh said they’ve made plans to join other couples in visiting Da Lat to enjoy Da Lat – A Lover’s Rendezvous which promises to be a night of candles and roses on New Year’s Eve.
Couples can also ride tandem bicycle on January 2 when a group of 100 tandem bicycles is set to ride along Da Lat’s streets. The couples will have the chance to join in a number of community-oriented games. Prizes will be given to couples who win the tandem bike race around Xuan Huong Lake.
Tours to Da Lat
The Lam Dong Department of Industry and Trade was assigned to co-operate with the provincial department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to offer a promotional programme for tourists from December 15 to January 15, 2010.
Under the programme, all hotels, restaurants and tourism sites will reduce prices by 10 to 20 per cent.
"The promotion is a response to a Government call to lure more travellers and tourists to the country, while popularising the image of Da Lat, said organisers.
They said if hotels are full, schools and offices will be ready as rooms for guests and local authorities have also encouraged residents to register to offer home stay for visitors during the festival time.
"The residents will not have to pay any taxes for providing the service," they said.
Ben Thanh Tourist Company is offering four day/three night tours to Da Lat including sightseeing at Damb’ri Waterfall in Bao Loc and a New Year’s Eve party, a tour of the town and surrounding countryside, and an obligatory visit to the Flower Festival.
Flowers on display
A large number of flower growers and businesses in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong have registered to take part in the festival.
The Flower Forest Co will show off its 2,000 Lilium flowers to the festival at Xuan Huong Lake, said company director Le Dinh Son.
"Our workers have to work very hard to take care of the Lilium in order for them to blossom during the festival. It’s very difficult but we have to try," said Son.
He added that his company has also signed contracts with farmers to produce roses using Japanese technology to prolong their freshness for up to three years.
"Our roses are widely sold throughout Viet Nam and also exported to Japan, Belgium, the Netherlands, Russia, New Zealand and Indonesia," he said.
The Sunflower Co which specialises in orchids will display some ten varieties of different orchids at the festival, said company director Nguyen Thi Nga.
"Visitors, particularly foreign ones were very interested in our flowers during the last flower festival in 2007. We signed a dozen contracts with foreign companies in Japan and South Korea to supply orchids to them," said Nga.
The programme general director Vu Hoang said that four traditional Da Lat Flower villages including Ha Dong, Thai Phien, An Son and Da Thien will join the festival with a hundreds of lovely flowers.
More than 3,600 flower displays will be on show at the event.
Da Lat City has organised the flower festival into five sections made up of orchids, potted flowers, bonsai, flower breeding, and materials and flower growing technology. In addition, the city planned to grow more trees and flowers to serve the festival.
Farmer Bui Van Sang told Viet Nam News that his 100 peach trees consisting of five different varieties, brought from Ha Noi and grafted by his father ten years ago, will please visitors with their various tones.
"We’re still worried that the cold weather won’t help our flowers blossom in time for the festival," he said.
Unlike Sang, farmers in Da Lat’s traditional rose flower village of Van Thanh said they are afraid that several city plans for turning parts of the village land into an eco-tourism site, could restrict land available for flower growing.
But provincial deputy chairman Thu confirmed that "Van Thanh will remain Da Lat’s traditional flower village. It, together with Ha Dong traditional flower village, will present their products at a grand opening ceremony of the festival on January 1."
Nguyen Thi Huong, chaiwoman of Van Thanh Village recalled that during the 50s, farmer Nguyen Van Sau brought home and planted some rose varieties on a trial basis. They were very surprised when the roses grew so well and they have proved popular on the domestic market.
Years later Sau’s villagers have applied advanced technology from Japan and the Netherlands to graft and crossbred new varieties.
As a result, Van Thanh farmers can earn between VND300-500 million (US$16,260 - 27,100) or even VND700-800 million ($37,940 - 43,360) per hectare of roses compared with other flower village turnovers of VND50 million ($2,710) per hectare, said Nguyen Duc Hoc, chairman of the village’s Farmers Association of Ward 5.
Currently, Van Thanh boasts 150ha of flowers, two thirds of which are roses, which are grown in the greenhouses equipped with automatic lighting and watering systems. Flower growing has been handed down from generation to generation. Young farmers are now aware of the importance of maintaining and developing the practice, said Huong.
Fifty year-old Bui Van Khanh in Van Thanh Village said that all of eight of his family members have learned to grow roses over 20 years.
"Thanks to our efforts we’ve earned some VND200-VND250,000 million ($10,840 - 13,550) a year from our rose garden because of good returns and increased prices during big festivals like Tet (Lunar New Year holiday) and International and Vietnamese Women’s days," said Khanh.
According to provincial deputy chairman Thu, planting roses by applying high technology in Van Thanh is the most efficient business model in Da Lat. "Advanced technology can help flowers bloom on the right day, while preserving their longevity. Therefore, flower prices are higher than in other places," said Thu.
He said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which is in charge of inviting foreign guests to the festival, has announced that some 30 countries and territories have registered to attend the festival. They include Thailand, Indonesia, mainland China, Taiwan, Belgium, the Netherlands and others.
"We are very proud to welcome domestic and foreign guests and we promise to offer them the best services we can.
"Vietnam Airlines have pledged to increase direct flights from Ha Noi and HCM City to Da Lat during the festival," Thu told Viet Nam News.
The festival is entirely free and some 30,000 visitors are expected. HCM City Television and Lam Dong Television will broadcast the programme live.
More than flowers
Apart from flowers, an international trade fair, tandem bicycle day, Da Lat Open Golf Tournament, Langbian International Mountain Climbing Competition, a kite flying performance and musical gala of rising stars will also be taking place, said organisers.
The Da Lat Flower Festival will be wrapped up with a wine festival featuring Vietnamese wine brands including Da Lat, Vinh Tien, Langbian, Thang Long and Viet Nghi and seven globally recognised labels from France, Italy, Spain, Chile, Australia, the US and South Africa. With these distinctive programmes, the organisers hope visitors leave with a good impression of Da Lat – the kingdom of flowers, said Hoang.
Da Lat, is built on a plateau some 1,500m above sea level, and enjoys a mild climate and a pleasant terrain of waterfalls, lakes, springs, pine hills, and beautiful flowers.
Following the Da Lat Flower Festival will be the Pilgrimage to the Root event jointly held by Lao Cai, Yen Bai and Phu Tho provinces which will start on February 27 and the Festival Hue on June 5-13. Other events held next year include the Thang Long cuisine festival in the South by HCM City and a programme entitled an Itinerary through the ancient Viet kingdom touring Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Thua Thien-Hue. These to be held to celebrate 1,000 anniversary of capital Ha Noi on October, 2010.