A: After a 2-year global vote initiated by the Swiss-based New Seven Wonder Foundation, Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay has been honored as one of the 7 new natural wonders of the world. The list also includes the Amazon jungle in South America, Iguazu falls in Argentina, Jeju Island in South Korea, Komodo National Park in Indonesia, Puerto Princesa Underground River in the Philippines, and Table Mountain in South Africa.
B: Ha Long Bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes. It was recognised twice by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage for its landscape and geographical value. Its new distinction is partly due to strong support by people worldwide including our audience. Regular American listener Otto Schwartz noted: “I’ve enjoyed the features on Ha Long Bay, a contender for the new 7 wonders of the world. I hope its bid is successful”. Indian listener Shri Koppisetti of West Bengal wrote: “Congratulations on Ha Long Bay. It well deserves the title and I’m sure that the site will become more popular around the world”. John Henry of Manchester, England, was excited to say: “I voted twice for Ha Long Bay via the Internet and SMS. I’m upbeat to know that my efforts have paid dividends.”
A: There were so many more kind words and congratulations from our audience all over the world that we’re unable to mention them all today because of time constraints. Thank you all very much for your love and devotion. Ha Long Bay couldn’t have earned the title without your support. We hope to meet you some day in Vietnam, where you’ll see with your own eyes how spectacular and magnificent the bay is.
B: In his letter dated October 19, listener Otto Schwartz wrote these lines: “Although I haven’t been writing much, I listen to you several times a week. My favorite programs are those dealing with the Vietnamese land, culture and people, especially the features on the customs and traditions of the people in rural areas-their celebrations, festivals, songs and dances. At the end of October, we celebrate Halloween. Do people in Vietnam celebrate this event, or have a tradition similar to it? On October 25th, the northern lights were seen in some US states. This is very rare, happening only about once every 10 years. Have the northern lights ever appeared in Vietnam?”.
A: We greatly appreciate your encouraging remarks on our programming and will now be more than happy to answer your questions. Although Halloween is a western tradition, many Vietnamese do celebrate and enjoy it. Vietnamese people believe that when a person dies, his or her soul goes to hell where it’s judged based on its behavior on earth and either sent to heaven or kept in hell. So Halloween is the closest Western ritual to the Vietnamese people.
B: Halloween has become more popular in Vietnam in recent years, particularly in its major cities. Halloween parties are most often held in backpacker areas, at coffee shops, restaurants and bars. There are many activities at Halloween parties but the most popular is wearing Halloween costumes. The main purpose is to have fun.
A: Regarding the northern lights or aurora borealis, since Vietnam is situated in the tropics, we never have the opportunity to witness this miraculous natural phenomenon, which happens only in northern latitudes. But, we’d like to take this opportunity to explain the aurora to our listeners, who may not be familiar with it.
B: The aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude Arctic region, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the upper atmosphere. Auroras are described as illuminating the northern horizon with a greenish glow or sometimes a faint red glow, as if the sun were rising from an unusual direction. Discrete auroras often display magnetic field lines or curtain-like structures, and can change within seconds or glow unchanging for hours, most often in fluorescent green. So one must be very lucky to see it.
A: By the way, we’d also like to thank Mr. Schwartz for his feedback to our questionnaires. We deem your suggestions very helpful, and look forward to hearing more from you.
B: Upon hearing our show 2 weeks ago on the snub-nosed monkey, American listener Ronald Berwager emailed us on November 4: “A question was answered concerning animal inhabitants in Vietnam. There was a mountain at the entrance to Da Nang habor. I believe the name was Monkey Mountain. Are these snub-nosed monkeys inhabited there. I wish that I had had more time to explore when I was there with the US navy in 1966”.
A: Well, Monkey Mountain as it was called by the Americans during the war is actually part of the Son Tra peninsula in our central city of Da Nang. It is home to a nature reserve which provides the habitat for many endangered species. However, the snub-nosed monkeys live only Vietnam’s northern mountains and the langurs you mention are red-shanked doucs. Currently, about 170-200 red-shanked douc langurs are living in the Son Tra nature reserve. The animal is a species indigenous to Vietnam and Laos, and is found in five central provinces of Vietnam. It is listed in the Vietnam Red Book and is considered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature an endangered species that needs urgent protection.
B: We hope you’re satisfied with our reply, Mr. Berwager. We’re sorry that you haven’t received our QSL card for your August 4 reception report. We’ve checked our archive and found that the verification card did go out. We believe it has gone astray somewhere. We’ll resend it along with another for our November 3 broadcast.
A: From Copenhagen, Demark, loyal listener Erik Koie reported listening to our November 9 transmission and noted that the signal quality on 5955 kHz via an Austrian transmitter was very good, close to SINPO 55545. However, he seemed disappointed with the internet audio at vovnews.vn which he described as very distorted.
B: We apologize for the inconvenience you encountered. We will forward your feedback to the technical department and they will fix it. Thanks a lot for your correspondence which is significant to help us imporve our service.
B: That’s all our show for today. Your mails are always welcome at:
English program
Overseas Service
Radio Voice of Vietnam
45 Ba Trieu street-Hanoi-Vietnam
Or you can email us at: englishsection@vov.org.vn
We’ll see you next Wednesday at the same time and on the same frequency.