(TBM) Going around for life (300 word story)

Sarah at the Griffith University. Photo: Minh Nguyen

For many journalists, travelling helps them enrich their experience, which is good for their writing. For the young, most travel for the joy of it. But for Sarah Cooke, a 23 year old girl on the Gold Coast, travelling can be for both: joy and writing.

Going around the world at the age of 19, Sarah is studying journalism at Griffith University. “I love reading stories in magazines,” said the slender girl with curly blonde hair.

However, travelling is her real hobby. Being born and growing up on the famous Australian tourism site, she loves travelling abroad alone. She does not know exactly the reasons why she likes touring around the world. May be she wants to be foreign like tourists she meets everyday in her hometown.

Indonesia was the first foreign country she visited. “I chose the country because the travelling price was very cheap,” she smiled. Sarah saved 2000 AUD for her first trip. “I saved the money myself during the time in school,” she said. She stayed with many exciting activities.

At this time, her parents were so worried about their 19 year old daughter, the only girl in the family of five children. “My mother called me everyday and I said it was ok”, she said.

After the first journey, she returned home and worked to afford the next trips. Some months later, she went to News Zealand. She stayed in the north of the country and visited some friends there. Then, she visited the Republic of Korea, England and Holland.

Each trip in each country gave her a good chance to experience new cultural identities and customs.

Now, Sarah has to delay her travelling hobbies for study. She likes stories on the media and hopes that once day she will herself produce them.

Do you think travelling is good for journalism? Click the poll below.

Click clip to see the famous Gold Coast where Sarah is living.

By Minh Nguyen

US provides additional $3m for dioxin clean-up

US President Barack Obama has signed a bill to provide an additional US$3 million for environmental remediation of dioxin contamination and related healthcare activities in Vietnam, the US Embassy said in Hanoi on May 29.

This funding follows a US$ 3-million grant in 2007, which assisted projects on health care and mitigation of dioxin effects in Vietnam.

One-third of the US$ 6 million is reserved for healthcare activities, which are already underway, said the Embassy. The remaining is intended for environmental recovery activities, including assessment of environmental impact in coordination with the Vietnamese Government. The US will work with authorized Vietnamese agencies to hammer out environmentally sound

designs and plans to remove dioxin from soil and sediment in areas around the Danang Airport in central Vietnam, a hot spot during the Vietnam War.

Also under these grants, disabled people in Danang city will receive job training and placement, orthopedic surgeries and prosthetic facilities.  In addition, scholarships will be provided to disabled children.

Source: VOV

Compiled by Minh Nguyen

Photo show praises Vietnamese ao dai grace

The grace of ao dai (traditional long dress of Vietnamese women) shines at a show held by a Vietnamese photographer in Berlin, Germany.

The Sang, member of the Vietnamese Photographers’ Association in Germany, brings to his photo exhibition opening on May 13 more than 50 photos out of a collection he made during his tours of Hanoi, central Hue city, Ho Chi Minh City, and cities in the Netherlands, Italy and Germany.

The photos feature middle-aged Vietnamese women wearing traditional ao dai during their visits to pagodas, and young Vietnamese and foreign girls in innovated ao dai during festive days and beauty feasts.

The photo show will last until July 31.

Source: VOV

Australian wine, food whet city’s appetite

The Australian Wine and Food Show will come to Ho Chi Minh City this month, with a variety of wines and speciality foods being showcased, it was announced May 22.

One-hundred and fifty types of wines and various Australian specialties like beef, lamb, cheeses, oyster and other sea food will be served up between May 25 and 29.

Pre-shows will be held at various restaurants and hotels before the big event on May 29, including New World, Qing, Jaspa’s, ZanZBar, Hoa Tuc, Cepage, Xu, The Boat House and Sandals.

A set-lunch, including wine, will be available for VND250,000 (US$14) per person.

On May 26 and 27, the Parkview restaurant, New World Hotel, will serve four-course dinners at US$65 per person.

The highlight of the food show will take place from noon to 4pm on May 29 for businesspeople and noon to 4pm on May 30 for the public.

Tickets cost VND180,000 (US$10).

The show also features a gala dinner on May 29 at the New World hotel, prepared by guest chef Paul McMahon from Catalina Rose Bay restaurant in Sydney. He will prepare a menu with Tasmania salmon, moonfish caught from south of Australia, Blackmores Wagyu beef from Victoria state, and Chlamys Nobilis from Queensland.

During the gala dinner, the guests will be served with the winning wine from the Australian Wine Contest, which will be held on May 28 at the hotel also.

Tickets for the gala dinner are US$120 per person, or US$1,100 for a table of 10.

The second annual Australian Wine and Food Show is sponsored by the Australian Consulate, the Australian financial institution ANZ Bank, budget air carrier Jetstar, The Word magazine and the Australian marketing agency Red.

Source: VietnamNet

Phu Quoc Island: A “waning heaven”

A beach on Phu Quoc island

Phu Quoc is Vietnam’s largest island. Situated in the Gulf of Thailand, the island is part of Kien Giang province. The district of Phu Quoc includes the island proper and 21 smaller islets. Phu Quoc is called a “Tourist Heaven”.

Under the government’s scheme, by 2020 Phu Quoc will be a sea ecological tourism centre, attracting 2-3 million visitors a year.

However, this “heaven” is losing its value through the exploitation and disfigurement of its natural assets.

In the name of tourism projects, many businesses have been destroying the natural landscapes of Phu Quoc. They are exploiting sand on the coast, causing coastal erosion, and menacing the scenery with concrete works.

In the Dinh Cau area, to expand its beach to serve tourists, the Phu Quoc Tourism JS Company exploited Con village in Duong Dong Town, which was famous for its beautiful, natural beach.

The firm sucked sand from the coast near Con village, causing a landslide, threatening Con villagers. Chairman of Duong Dong town Duong Minh Hung said that around 140m of coast has collapsed, endangering 17 houses.

However, of greater concern, the beautiful beach of Con village has been ruined. After two months of sucking sand from the beach, a “gulf” was created at the site which had been a nice beach in the past.

In Hang Yen, An Thoi town, a company named Gold Star destroyed the protective forest, sucked sand and built a dike to enlarge its beach.

Phu Quoc’s beach is being cut into small pieces by tourism projects.

Tourism companies are also trying to build high-rise buildings and hotels on the coast with weird designs, obscuring the view of the Phu Quoc sea.

Around 4km of coast from Duong Dong town to Cua Lap has been the “victim” of concrete. The Huong Bien Hotel built a stone dike of over 1m in height and nearly 500m length along the coast, breaking up the wonderful beach in front of the Dinh Cau area.

The Sai Gon-Phu Quoc Hotel also built some concrete works on the most beautiful beach in Phu Quoc. Many concrete architectural works cover a large area of land on the island.

Many construction works on Phu Quoc are copied from foreign ones, and look very strange, such as the Ngan Sao tourism site. On 300sq.m of beach, the investor built imitations of famous works in the world, like the sea lion of Singapore, the Opera House in Sydney, Australia as well as a Dutch windmill.

Source: VietnamNet