B: We’re very happy to welcome you back, Marzio. We’ll send you our newest frequency list, program guide, and a station pennant to honour our friendship. From Japan, Mikio Kohara sent us a reception report for a program on June 7 on 12020khz. He rated SINPO at 45444, adding that for some programs in June, there was noise and a little fading, but overall it sounded good.

A: Mikio told us that Osaka, where he lives, has entered its rainy season.

B: In Vietnam, floods and landslides triggered by torrential rains in the northern mountains over the past days had claimed at least 25 lives (update), seriously injured many people, and left 12 missing as of Monday morning. The Central Steering Committee on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control said dozens of houses were swept away, 250 were heavily damaged, and more than 500 are still flooded. The total damage has been estimated at 3.3 million USD.

Ha Giang township was inundated by heavy, long rains. (baohagiang.vn)

A: Extreme weather due to climate change has caused devastating disasters in many parts of Vietnam. Storm hit Vietnam hard last year. 14 tropical storms hit areas usually thought of as safe. We keep our fingers crossed for people in disaster prone areas.

Landslide blocked traffic on highway to Ha Giang province.

B: Karuna Kanta Pal of India wrote on our website: “The Letter box program every Wednesday is very good. Of course other programs are also nice. Your answers to listeners’ questions are very useful. After a long absence I’m listening to VOV’s English service again. I retired from my service one year ago. Now I am listening to VOV via internet streaming audio or to previously downloaded programs.”

A: Mr. Karuna and other listeners want to know whether we issue QSL cards to confirm reception reports for listening on the internet. So far we’ve only been verifying reception reports for shortwave listening. We’ll consider issuing QSL cards for internet listening. Meanwhile, we’ll continue to send our latest program schedule, postcards, and postage stamps to thank you for listening to VOV.

B: It’s interesting to receive a letter from Richard Nowak of the US, who usually often emails his reception reports to VOV. It took more than a month for the letter to arrive in our office. During that month, Richard sent us multiple emails. In his report on a May 26 program on 7315khz, he rated the overall quality a 5. Richard said it was perfect listening with a 72-year-old Crosley 56TC wooden tube radio hooked up to an outdoor active loop antenna.

A: Richard said: “I enjoyed tonight’s show. The news was thorough and detailed. Village life and the Culture segment gave great insight into customs, traditions, and cool things about Vietnam.”

B: “The Village life segment had an interesting discussion on a Mong village 1,200 meters above sea level with roads lit by torches. The village is attracting more tourists and the need to preserve Mong heritage was discussed. The Culture segment had an awesome feature on collecting rare and antique books. A book shop owner, who is known as “The King of antique books” in Hanoi, was interviewed. This segment was great. A lovely string instrument song was played.”

A: Richard always has specific and comprehensive reports, like this one. We’ll send him a QSL card to confirm it. A listener named Daniel left a comment on our website after reading a story about the marriage customs of ethnic people in Vietnam. Daniel wants to know about the “bride price” that the man is supposed to pay at the engagement party.

A typical engagement offering of Kinh people's wedding.

B: It’s customary for the man to give the bride’s family some engagement presents. The value and quantity depend on the financial situation of both families. The gifts include betel leaves, areca nuts, wine, tea, cakes, sticky rice cakes, and confectionary. After the engagement ceremony, the bride’s family divides the gifts into portions and sends them to relatives and friends to inform them of the wedding.

A: The gifts can also include some money, agreed by both families. There is no standard amount. It depends on the financial status of the families. In Vietnam, as in many other countries, an engagement ceremony occurs from a week to half a year or so before the wedding.

The groom's delegation travels on cyclos to the bride's family.

B: On the engagement day, the fiancé family brings the gifts to the fiancée family with a warmly welcome. During the engagement talks, they introduced members of both families and preparations for the wedding ceremony. It is also expected that some of gifts are returned to the fiancé family for luck before the fiancé family leaves.

A: The days after the engagement ceremony to the wedding ceremony, the parents of fiancée family bring the wedding cards with gifts that they got from the fiancé to their friends, family members, and neighbors to invite them to the wedding party of the young couple.

or they will send a motorcade to the bride's family.

B: This week we received a letter from Sandro Blatter, a Swiss radio and TV technician. We are happy to welcome him back after a long absence. Blatter works for a telecommunications company. Radio listening has been his favourite hobby for 45 years.

A: Jonas Sanabria of Brazil reported listening to our June 23 program on 7315Khz. He rated SINPO at 24443.

B: Eric Higbie of the US told us “I listen to Voice of Vietnam every day.  On the frequency of 7315 khz on June 24, the opening music was very clear for the first minute and then gradually became scratchy.”

A: Hannu Kiiski of Finland reported listening to VOV May 27^th on 7280 khz. The signal strength was good with slight interference and moderate noise. The overall quality was good, with a SINPO rating of 44344.

B: We hope our QSL cards will be delivered to your home soon. We always welcome your feedback 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.