B: Roger wrote: “I listened to your program on Wednesday, March 27, on the internet. It was especially interesting to hear the letters you mentioned from two British listeners in your 'Letterbox Program”. Your news and comment, on Vietnam's independent and self-reliant foreign policy in connection with the changes to your constitution, was also interesting.  It is always a pleasure to hear broadcasts from other countries, as this is an excellent way of learning about other countries and their societies and cultures.”

A: Thank you very much Roger for writing to us to let us know what you think of our programs. Listeners’ comments are always the best motive for us to improve our production. Roger went on to say: “I saw on your website that tomorrow's temperature in Hanoi is forecast to be 21 degrees. What a contrast to the atrocious weather that we have been experiencing in Britain for the past three weeks, with temperatures close to zero and large accumulations of snow over much of the country.  And March is supposed to be the first month of spring!”

B: I read in the media that Britain just endured its coldest March in more 50 years. Snow swirled through London last week, failing to stick, but giving residents the sense that winter temperatures would never end. I think, Roger, you are not the only one in Europe who is wishing for warmth. Christer Brunstrom of Sweden told us that spring is unusually late in his country. The days are general sunny but the nights are still very cold. He has finally spotted the first spring flowers in the city’s gardens and parks.

A: Meanwhile, here in Hanoi, we are enjoying the last pleasant days of the spring with the temperature fluctuating between 17 and 27 DC. Summer is coming in a couple of weeks. This is our rainy, stormy season. The temperature will gradually rise to about 40 DC. Oh, I wish this beautiful weather would last the whole year.

B: You know that’s impossible because we clearly have 4 seasons. Now let’s check out some listeners’ comments on the new frequencies for our summer broadcasts. Last week, we sent hundreds of summer frequency lists by post and email to our listeners. And we got some immediate feedback.

A postcard from Reiner Peuthert of Germany

A: Gilles Letourneau of Quebec, Canada wrote: “It’s a great pleasure to listen to Voice of Vietnam on the new frequency for summer for North America. In the winter your frequency was not very good in Canada. But the new frequency of 12005 khz seems much better. I listened to your broadcast on April 4 with the news about tensions in North Korea. I also listened to the Letter Box with answers to listeners’ questions. The reception was great and the program was very interesting. I enjoy the fact that you talk about Vietnam, a very little known country in North America.”

B: We’re very happy to hear that the new frequency of 12005 khz for North America is good. We’ll verify your reception report soon. We hope VOV will be with you through the warm summer nights in Montreal. From England, our regular listener Gerry Neumann wrote: “After 8 days of excessive noise on the frequency 9625 KHz beamed to Europe at 17 UTC, which has made listening impossible since the change was made on 31st March, I am pleased to report that on April 8, for the first time reception was 54444. Maybe a different transmitter is being used, but I hope that the better reception will now continue.”

A: Thanks, Gerry for your continuous observation and feedback on our broadcast. Your remarks really help our technicians monitor our transmission abroad. Gerry went on to comment on our content: “Apart from the usual features at the start of the broadcast: Domestic and world news, and the major events of the past week, Current Affairs was about efforts to boost Science and Technology in Vietnam, and then  the feature ‘Colourful Vietnam- Vietnam’s 54 ethnic groups’ continued with more information about the Viet people and their rice cultivation in the Red River Delta region, which resulted in Vietnam’s exports last year making it the second largest rice exporter in the world. I found this item very interesting, and I look forward to hearing more about the different ethnic groups that make up the population in coming weeks.”

B: The new feature “Colorful Vietnam – Vietnam’s 54 ethnic groups” which has replaced our Land segment every Monday has received a lot of positive feedback from listeners. Roger Tidy said he didn’t realize Vietnam was such a diverse country in terms of ethnic groups. He looks forward to hearing future programs in the series and other regular features on VOV.

A postcard from Victor Lu of China

A: Thank you all for listening to VOV and taking the time to write comments. Colorful Vietnam – Vietnam’s 54 ethnic groups will introduce the unique aspects of Vietnam’s ethnic groups, which make up Vietnam’s diverse and harmonious culture. From China, Victor Lu sent a letter to us after a rather long absence. Lu thanked us for sending him a wall calendar and wrote: “I listen to your broadcast about three to five times per month on shortwave. I bought a mobile phone with which I can visit your website to know what is happening in Vietnam. I’m a Zhuang, which is the biggest minority ethnic group in China. My ethnic group shares the same root as two Vietnamese ethnic groups – the Nung and the Tay.”

B: The Nung and Tay ethnic groups in Vietnam have populations of less than a million. They cluster mainly in Vietnam’s northern mountain region, adjacent to China’s Zhuang ethnic region along its border with Vietnam. We’ll talk more about them in the “Colorful Vietnam – Vietnam’s 54 ethnic groups” series. We have a question from Sanusi Isah Dankaba of Nigeria about Vietnam’s largest hydro or nuclear power plant.

A: The Son La Hydropower Plant is the largest in Southeast Asia. It’s the pride of the country symbolizing the outstanding growth of Vietnam’s electricity sector. The plant was put into operation in December, 2012, after seven years of construction, three years ahead of schedule. The Son La Hydropower Plant, dubbed “project of the century”, is situated in the northern mountainous province of Son La on the Da River.

B: With a total investment of approximately 2.9 billion USD, the Son La Hydropower Plant has six generators with a designed capacity of 2,400 MW. It will supply an average of 10.2billion kWh/year to the national grid.

A: Vietnam is preparing to build two nuclear power plants in the central province of Ninh Thuan. According to the national electricity development plan, groundbreaking will take place next December and work will be completed by 2020. The facilities are expected to start generating electricity by the end of 2020.

B: A Russian - Ukrainian contractor consortium has basically completed the survey for the first phase of the Ninh Thuan nuclear power plant No. 1. A Japanese contractor has readied the site for the Ninh Thuan nuclear power plant No. 2.  They are finalizing geological and environmental data for approval by the Vietnamese government. When the two nuclear power plants go into operation, they will produce 28 billion kWh a year.

A: That’s a brief overview of Vietnam’s largest hydro-power plant and plans to build two nuclear power plants. Before we sign off, we would like to acknowledge letters from Ms. Samina Gul Jinnah of Pakistan, Ismael Gomez of Spain, Jack Wachtershauser of Australia, Alexander Massa of the US, Shri Bhagwan of India, Yoshihiko Kusanigi, Takao Mizuike and Fumito Hokamura of Japan, and Reiner Peuthert of Germany. Thank you all for sending us reception reports. We’ll verify them soon.

B: We always welcome your feedback at: English section, Overseas Service, Radio Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu Street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Or you can email us at: englishsection@vov.org.vn. You’re invited to visit us at www.vovworld.vn, where you can hear both live and recorded programs. Good bye until next time.