Hello and welcome to VOV’s Letter Box, a weekly feature dedicated to our listeners throughout the world. We are Mai Phuong and Phuong Khanh.
A: First on our show today, we’d like to remind you that VOV’s writing contest “What do you know Vietnam?” is going to close in two weeks’ time. The deadline for the contest is June 30th, 2015. Please send your entries as soon as possible by email, post or to Vietnamese embassies in your countries.
B: VOV’s contest, “What do you know about Vietnam?” has received a great number of entries from listeners around the world. Listener Ogasawara from Japan’s Tochigi province has special feelings while joining in the contest. He said: “I searched for information on your website to answer the questions in the writing contest. You can fill in all the questions if you listen to the programs carefully. I am not very sure about my answers but do feel happy to take part. I am looking forward to the contest’s result”.
A: Jahangir Alam Manto of Bangladesh wrote: “Many thanks to VOV for organizing such a wonderful and interesting contest. This is a great opportunity for us to share what we have learned through VOV’s programs and reading the posts on your web pages. Those who will be really lucky enough will win the chance to visit Vietnam free of charge. I’m sure your listeners and web visitors will appreciate it very much”.
B: This week, we received an entry from Sanusi Isah Dankaba in Nigeria. After answering the quiz, he wrote: “VOV has always entertained and educated audiences while being an extremely reputable broadcaster. I have been an ardent listener to VOV’s programming for a long time. Whenever I write to VOV, it’s like writing to a friend because I know I will get a reply which is something I really appreciate. Thanks to VOV and their 70 years of hard work, the globe is better connected.”
Vietnamese fruit decoration in Mid-Autumn festival |
A: Ngozi Ekezue, we greatly appreciate your entry and thank you for your comments on our programs, and for sharing with us your knowledge about Vietnam and your interests in VOV.
A: Next is a Letter from John Cooper from the USA. Sending a reception report on VOV broadcast on March 21 from 2:30 to 3:00 UIT on a frequency of 6175 khz, he rated the SINPO at all 4s.
B: John wrote: “I really enjoyed listening to Voice of Vietnam. I thought the news was very food and balanced. The entire program presents Vietnam in the best light with a good mix of national news along with world news”.
A: Thank you, John, for your report. We’ll send you a QSL card to confirm your report. Also from the US, Micheal Neuman, a Dxer sent us a letter saying he monitored the Voice of Vietnam program on August 15, 2009 on 6175 Mhz at 2341 UTC. He reported the signal strength varied from 579 to 599 with news programming regarding events and bombings in Afghanistan.
B: Well, this program was broadcast nearly 6 years ago. We expect to hear more from you and receive your reports on our recent broadcasts so that we can confirm them. Please, keep tuning in to our broadcasts and send in your feedback.
A: This week, Ulmar Qvick of Sweden expressed his delight at hearing his name in our Letter Box segment. He wrote: “I was listening to 7289 khz at 1900-1927 UTC on June 3rd and the SINPO was 55544-fine signals”.
B: Thank you Ulmar for listening to our broadcasts. Ian Cattermole from New Zealand listened to our program on June 7th on the frequency of 12005 khz. Using ICOM IC 746 PRO with EWE antenna, he rated SINPO at 45353.
A: Ian, we’ll confirm your report with a QSL card soon. From India Kanchan Kr Chatterjee this week had a question about mango fruit and whether it’s available in Vietnam.
B: Being geographically located in the tropical zone, Vietnam is truly a heaven when it comes to fruits. Anyone who first comes to the country will be amazed at the countless number of colorful fruits sold at a very reasonable price in every street and market all year round.
A: Southern Vietnam is the largest fruit granary of the whole country, since the region’s weather is warm with long hours of sunshine, high average temperature and humidity all year round. There are even tours arranged exclusively for tourists who love visiting orchards where they can witness how the fruits are grown and try fresh fruits right there in the garden. As summer comes, the annual Fruit Festival is held in Ho Chi Minh City, attracting millions of visitors, locals and foreigners alike.
B: Tropical fruits are often found to be very nutritious, providing a rich source of carbohydrates, vitamins (especially A and C), minerals and fibres. Its flavor is often the extreme of either sweet or sour, and many come with a particular fragrance that is unmistakeable. Due to the typical weather conditions, the fruit’s colors are vibrantly eye-catching, with red, yellow and orange among the most popular ones. The abundance of fruits in the region also means that people use them in many different ways: eating raw, making juices, mixing salads, preserving jams and many other delicious desserts.
A: In the northern and central highland areas of Vietnam, where the temperature is cooler with four separate seasons, farmers also grow temperate fruits such as apples, strawberries, cherries, grapes, peaches, or pears, making the collection of fruits in Vietnam an extremely diverse one.
B: Mangoes are a nutrition-packed fruit and the Vietnamese version may be very different from what you find in your local grocery stores. Mangoes are grown mostly in Vietnam’s southern provinces such as Tien Giang, Dong Thap, Can Tho, and some northern regions like Son La, Ha Giang, Lai Chau. There are several kinds of mangoes in Vietnam depending on their appearance and especially their taste: the yellow ones with their sweet taste and the green sour ones.
A: Mangoes have a round shape and may weigh between 50 and 500 gram per fruit. Mangoes of Cao Lanh District in Dong Thap are considered the best of the country though each region has its own distinctive flavour. For example, Mộc Châu mangoes are smaller in size, often green outside but orange inside and unbeatable when it comes to the natural light sweet taste that no other varieties can compare with. The Nha Trang mango, on the other hand, is bright yellow, both inside and outside, with an almost overly sweet and juicy flavour.
B: Xoai is commonly found as an after-meal fruit treats in many families from North to South. The ripened ones are blended with sweet condensed milk that can match that of Lassi in India. Green mangoes, especially the crunchy ones, are used in the famous green mango salad and very common in the South of Vietnam.
A: 2015 is a good year for Vietnamese fruit exports- notably lychees, star apple, dragon fruit and longans to the USA, Australia, Cananda, France, Russia, Japan, Malaysia, the Republic of Korea and New Zealand. Over this first trimester fruit and vegetable exports reached $370 million, increasing by 33% in a year
B: Amongst the 20 export markets, China is the largest with $131 million dollars and represents one third of national exports and a 44.7% increase in terms of annual variation. The main export fruits are currently dragon fruits, longans, rambutans, mangoes, grapefruits, star apples, bananas and durians.
A: That’s a short take on Vietnamese fruits and especially Vietnamese mango. Today, we’d like to acknowledge letters and emails from Fumito Hokamura from Japan, Enzo Piston from Italy, Richard Nowak and William Brennan from the US, Tim Breyel from Malaysia, Anatoly Klepov from Russia, and Vladislav Lavshanov from New Zealand. Thank you for listening and writing to us. We’ll send you QSL cards to confirm your reports soon.
B: We 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 online at www.vovworld.vn, where you can hear both live and recorded programs. Good bye until next time.