Mixed waters symbolise national unity

Water taken from the country’s northern and southern parts was poured into the Ben Hai River at a ceremony in central Quang Tri Province on April 30 as a symbol of the desire and resolve to maintain territorial integrity and national unification of all Vietnamese people.
The river was selected as a temporary boudary line separating the country into the North and the South under the Geneva Agreement on Viet Nam signed in 1954.
The ceremony was part of the National Reunification Festival held by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Quang Tri provincial People’s Committee to mark the 35th anniversary of the liberation of southern Viet Nam and national reunification, the 38th anniversary of Quang Tri’s liberation and the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Ha Noi.
Addressing the festival, To Huy Rua, Politburo member and Secretary of the Party Central Committee and head of its Commission for Popularisation and Education, said the festival was an opportunity for all of the Party, army and people to pay tribute to fallen comrades, who had devoted their lives to national defence and construction, as well as a chance to uphold the nation’s traditions.
"Viet Nam is one country, one nation. Rivers may run dry, mountains may crumble, but this truth will never change," Rua quoted the late President Ho Chi Minh as saying in his speech.
Carnival time
Ha Long Tourism Festival Week and Ha Long Carnival 2010 opened at the city’s central theatre on Saturday.
The event, themed "Ha Long Festival towards the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Ha Noi", features local traditional cultural programmes.
Nhu Thi Hong Lien, deputy chairman of the Quang Ninh Provincial People’s Committee and head of the organising board, said that the whole city was doing its best for a successful festival to promote tourism in the city.
The highlight of the festival is the carnival, involving many artists from across the country.
The festival had provided an excellent chance for Ha Long to receive more tourists and become regarded as a new natural wonder of the world, she said.
During the four-day festival, visitors can also take part in a number of activities including the sixth annual conference of the World’s Most Beautiful Bays Club and exhibitions on the history of the ancient capital of Thang Long and Ha Long Bay.
‘Walking in a Cloud’
A tourism festival dubbed "Walking in a Cloud" was held in Sa Pa, one of Viet Nam’s top holiday destinations, on Friday.
The festival, jointly held by the Sa Pa District People’s Committee and the Ham Rong Tourism Joint Stock Company, is part of the Sa Pa Tourism and Culture Week.
The week is designed to lead visitors from one delight to another with a series of activities highlighting the rich and distinctive aspects of Sa Pa’s diverse ethnic cultures.
Visitors can join local ethnic minority people to discover how they dye, weave and decorate their garments, or make their sandals.
They will have the chance to take part in forest tours to pick medicinal herbs and learn how to use the plants as well as prepare the traditional meals eaten by the various ethnic minority groups and explore the customs of the Dao ethnic minority people.
The festival’s organizers also plan to make the famous ‘lovers’ market’ as authentic as possible. Other events including a photo exhibition and fairs of northwestern cuisine and orchids, according to organizers.