B: Well, it’s not the hottest time of the summer. The National Centre of Hydro-Meteorology Forecasting forecasts that the peak of this year’s hot season will fall in June and July, with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius. After late July, rains due to storms and low pressures will ease the heat in northern and central regions.

A: The Forecasting Centre said the current hot spell will affect central coastal provinces from Thanh Hoa to Phu Yen with temperature reaching 38 degrees Celsius, hopefully ending next week. This is the first major hot spell in the region this year, coming a month later than in previous years.

B: I remember last summer the temperature in Hanoi was 42 degrees Celsius. Last year Vietnam was hit by 15 hot spells on a large scale. In early June, all northern and all central provinces from Thanh Hoa to Phu Yen were hit by strong heat waves and prolonged droughts. In several localities, temperatures reached 41 or 42 degrees Celsius.

People cover themselves while traveling in scorching sunshine.

A: I have good news. The Weather Forecast Centre says some very high temperatures have already been recorded in certain localities, but they don’t predict that this summer will be as hot as last summer.

B: I hope not. Here I have a reception report from Atish Bhattacharya of India for a program on May 8 on the frequency of 7220 KHz. He rated SINPO at 55444 and commented that the signal strength was excellent with slight noise.

A: Atish wrote: “Your broadcast is always my favorite for learning more and more about Vietnam and its relations with other countries. I follow your daily news to get in touch with the current affairs in Vietnam. The features provide me information about social, cultural, political, and economic aspects of Vietnam.”

Fruit Festival in the Delta region.

B: Thank you, Atish, for your regular feedback. We’ve checked your report with our station log and will issue a QSL card to confirm it soon. Atish told us: “This summer season in India comes with an extremely popular fruit, the Mango.  I would like to know about mango production and the various types of mangoes available in Vietnam.”

A: Vietnam is a tropical country with many kinds of fruits. Summer is the season for a lot of tropical fruits: mango, plum, guava, pineapple, jackfruit, durian, mangosteen, longan, lychee, and many more.

B: The peak mango season in Vietnam is May, although the fruit is available throughout the year through botanic manipulation techniques involving chemicals, pruning, and water control. There are several kinds of mangoes in Vietnam: the yellow ones with sweet, soft flesh including “xoai cat”, “xoai tuong”, “xoai ngua”; and the green sour ones. Mangoes in the southern Mekong Delta provinces of Dong Thap, Tien Giang, Khanh Hoa, Dong Nai, Vinh Long, and An Giang are famous nationwide for their sweetness, aroma, and dense flesh. Mangoes grown in northern provinces like Son La, Ha Giang, and Lai Chau are less popular.

Hoa Loc mango farm in Tien Giang province.

A: The mangoes of Cao Lanh District in Dong Thap province are considered the best, though each region has its own distinctive flavour. For example, the Moc Chau mango is smaller, often green outside but orange inside and unbeatable when it comes to natural light sweet taste that no other varieties can compare. The Nha Trang mango is bright yellow, both inside and outside, with an almost overly sweet and juicy flavour. 

B: The Hoa Loc variety is the preferred variety, followed by the Cat Chu mango. Mangoes are mainly produced for the domestic market, but are also exported to some countries. With improvements in fruit processing techniques, consumers in Australia, New Zealand, and the US now enjoy Cat Chu, Cat Buoi, and Keo mangoes from Vietnam.

" Egg mango" of Son La province.

A: Green mangoes grown in the northern province of Son La are shipped to Australia weekly by the Agricare Vietnam Company. Son La has more than 4,000ha of mangoes, hundreds of which follow the Vietnam Good Agricultural Practice (VietGAP) standard. The Agricare Vietnam Company mainly exports mangoes of the southern provinces.  Last year it began exporting mangoes grown in the north.

B: Mangoes are a common dessert fruits in Vietnamese homes and restaurant. Ripe mangoes are blended with sweet condensed milk to make Lassi. Green mangoes, especially the crunchy ones, are used to make green mango salad, and very common in the south of Vietnam are green mango salad with barbecued chicken, grilled beef, and peanuts, and green mango dipped in fish sauce.

A: Here are some letters and reception reports from other listeners. Richard Novak of the US emailed us to say that the show on 7315 kHz from 0:00 to 0:27 UTC came in perfectly with SINPO at all 5s. The Sunday Show on antiquities was outstanding, he wrote. He congratulated the success of 8 Vietnamese students who brought home gold medals from the International Physics Olympiad.

B: Richard wrote: “The Sunday Show on antiquities collecting was awesome. 2 collectors with a passion for antiquities were interviewed. A collector of old money for over 20 years, one gentleman collects coins and old money found in scrap shops. His collection of old money is diverse. He has about 2,000 notes and 40 kilos of coins. He has notes made from straw. The straw notes were produced after the August Revolution in 1945. The straw notes are his favorite.”

A: The other collector also left a deep impression. “A collector of 1,700 clocks was interviewed. He has clocks under the table and in showcases, clocks everywhere! His clocks come from many countries around the world. He has a clock with a winding mechanism that keeps time for 1,000 days. Another clock could run for 6 years. This collector has the largest collection of windup clocks in Vietnam according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Amazing!”

B: Thank you, Richard, for reviewing the Sunday show for other listeners who may want to listen to it again. You can go to our website to listen to the Sunday Show again at any convenient time. This week we welcome a new listener in India, Mrs. Nitu Kumari. She wrote: “I am a new listener to VOV English section. I always enjoy all programs especially the Letter Box on Wednesday. The Letter Box is my favorite program.  I collect used postage stamps and all types of postal stationary which carry stamps. I kindly request that you please send me some used postage stamps and post cards for my collection.”

A: Welcome to VOV’s Dx'ing community. We’ll send you some items as a welcoming gift for being a new listener. We hope to receive more feedback from you soon.

B: We acknowledge emails from from  Shyamal Kumar Banerjee,  and Muhammad Shamim of India, Dmitriy Kutuzov of Russia, and Pravotorov Kostiantyn of Ukraine.

A: Thank you all for listening to VOV and sending us your feedback. We welcome your letters at English Section, VOVWorld, Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu Street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Our email address is englishsection@vov.org.vn. Thank you for listening. Please join us again next Wednesday for another edition of the Letter Box. Goodbye.