A: We’d like to begin this week’s Letter Box with a letter from Japanese listener Fumito Hokamura, who, in his letter to us on March 4th, said he’s very interested in the weather and spring time in Hanoi. Dear Fumito, we are having wonderful weather in Hanoi at the moment with intervals of sunshine and clouds, cool breezes, and temperatures around 24 DC.
B: It’s now still spring in Vietnam which usually begins in February with our traditional lunar New Year Festival, and lasts until the end of April. This is a very pleasant time for foreigners to visit Vietnam, and Hanoi in particular, with the comfortable weather and the many spring festivals taking place across the country.
A: In an email on April 4th, Christer Brunstrom of Sweden said he tuned in to our broadcast at 17:00 UTC on 9625kHZ and enjoyed our Letter Box segment about the spring festival in the Central Highlands with a SINPO of 45444. He wrote: “We are having cold but sunny morning here in Sweden as we gear up for the Easter Holiday. Our typical Easter Food includes boiled (and sometimes decorated) eggs, lamb, pickled herrings, and salmon). What about Easter in Vietnam?”
B: Well, dear Christer, we’ve learned that Easter is one of the biggest holidays of the year for Christians around the world. It’s interesting to hear about your special dishes for this occasion. Christians in Vietnam joined their peers around the globe this past weekend with grand ceremonies in churches and intimate gatherings with the family at home. But, this is not the biggest festival of the year for Vietnamese people. Our most important festival is the Lunar New Year festival. Easter is only celebrated among Christians here and we do not have special or typical food for the Easter holiday in Vietnam as you do in western countries.
A: Earlier, regular listener Gerry Neumann of England reported tuning in to our broadcast at 17:00 UTC on 9625 kHz in late March. It was difficult for him to hear some things clearly due to interference and fluctuations in the signal. He also reported in his latest email that, on Saturday and Sunday, April 7th and 8th, there was no broadcast of VOV English at 17 UTC on the frequency 9635 kHz but rather non-stop music from the transmitting station.
B: Thank you very much for your detailed reports. We’ll inform our technical department about this issue. We’re glad to know that despite the variable quality signal at 19:00 UTC on 9730 kHz with SINPO of 45534, you still enjoyed our April 2nd “Land and People feature” about Bach Ma National Park, which is not very far from the city of Hue, where you spend a month every year. You said your next visit to Vietnam is in June, and we’re really looking forward to seeing you then.
A: Also logged onto the frequency 9730 kHz at 16:15-16:30 UTC on April 8th with SINPO 45544, Stanilav Kyselov of the Czech Republic wrote in his email: “I am one of the regular Voice of Vietnam English Service listeners. I listen to your programmes both on internet and on the short waves – depends on where I am at the moment! Your programmes provide me with plenty of ideas to plan my trips to Vietnam and Asia.”
B: Dear Stanilav, thank you for your interest in our programs both on internet and the short waves, which rewards our efforts to serve our listeners worldwide. We welcome you to visit Vietnam at any time it’s convenient. We’ll send you a QSL card to verify your report. Right now, let’s take a short break with a folk tune of Vietnam before we continue with more listeners’ letters and emails received during the week.
A quan ho folk song: Going to the spring festivals
A: That was a piece of quan ho entitled “Going to the spring festivals”. We hope our dear listeners, including Fumito Hokamura of Japan and Anna Tositti of Italy, enjoyed the folk song we played today. Anna Tositti reported tuning in to our broadcast on March 3rd on 7370 kHz from 22:06 to 22:30 UTC with a great SINPO of all 5s. Anna, who belongs to a radio association in Italy, said she enjoys the music on this show very much. Dear Anna, thank you very much for your compliments and your nice postcard of the Palazzo Ducale in Venice.
B: This week we also received a nice book about the city of Sydney from Australian listener Mark Scott, and many nice postcards and greeting cards from other listeners, including Robert Krolikowski of the United States and regular listener William Pattalon who sent us a card from Jamaica where he stayed during a working vacation. Thank you all so much. It’s very touching to know our good friends don’t forget us even during a vacation to beautiful Jamaica.
A: This week we also got detailed reception reports in lovely hand-writing sent to us from Alan Anderson and Edward Insinger of the United States, and Muralidhar of India. In his letter, Alan Anderson of Massachusetts, who listened to our broadcast on March 16th at 02:00 UTC on 6175 kHz, wrote: “…My letter dated Jan. 4th to you appeared among your Feb. 29th letters on the web. It was a great feeling to see it there along with your comments…..Hope this address I used is correct, 58 Quan Su Street. Keep up the great work in your broadcasts…..”
B: Dear Alan, your letter still found us, but, we encourage you to send your reports to 45 Ba Trieu Street, Hanoi, Vietnam, which improves their chance of delivery. And thank you very much for your kind words and compliments.
A: And to Edward Insinger, Muralidhar, Tyler Conerly, Frank E Fogg of the US, Peter Ng of Malaysia, and Anil Tamrakar of India, QSL cards along with our latest frequency and program guides are on their way to you.
B: Thank you all, dear listeners, for your interest in our programs. We look forward to receiving more comments and suggestions from you. Our contact address is:
The English program
Overseas Service
Radio Voice of Vietnam
45 Ba Trieu street, Hanoi, Vietnam
A: Or you can email us at: englishsection@vov.org.vn.
Our program is also available on our website at: www.vovworld.vn
Time’s up. Join us again next Wednesday for another edition of the Letter Box on Radio the Voice of Vietnam. We’re Kim Chi and Truong Giang, saying good bye to you all.