Elephant Race Festival, Dak Lak

If you have a chance to Dak Lak Province in springtime, you should not miss the Elephant Race Festival, normally celebrated in the third lunar month. Attending the festival, you will be lived in the boisterous atmosphere of the echo of gongs and the spectacular performances of the elephants from the Central Highlands forest. Vietnam travel

The Elephant Race Festival is usually held in Don Village or in forests near the Sevepoi River. In preparation for the festive day, people take their elephants to places where they can eat their fill. Apart from grass their food also includes bananas, papayas, sugar canes, corns, sweet potatoes. The elephants are free from hard work to preserve their strength. On the big day, elephants from different villages gather at Don Village. The race track is on even ground, preferably wide enough for ten elephants to stand simultaneously in a line with a length of one to two kilometres. People from near and far in their best and colourful costumes flock to the festival. 3 interesting activities in a Mekong Delta river cruise

Elephant Race Festival, Dak Lak

With the signal of of tu va (horns made into musical instruments), the mahouts command their elephants to go to the race track, standing in a row at the starting point. The leading elephant stands in front, whirling his trunk and nodding his head in greeting the spectators. Atop each elephant there are two handlers in traditional costumes for generals. The tu va signals the start of the race and the elephants rush ahead, excited by the sound of the drums, gongs, and cheering from the spectators. Upon seeing the first elephant dashing to the destination, the spectators shout boisterously amidst the echoing sound of drums and gongs. At the end of the race, the winning elephants lift their trunks above their heads to wave to the viewers, walk deliberately flapping their ears gently, gazing through half-closed eyes to receive sugarcane from their viewers. 3 outstanding features of Paradise Cruise Halong Bay
The winning elephant is given a laurel wreath. Like its owner, the elephant expresses its happiness and enjoy the sugar canes and bananas from the festival-goers. After this race, the elephants participate in the competition of swimming across the Serepok River, of tug-of-wars, or throwing balls and playing football. When the race comes to an end, the competing elephants bring back the atmosphere of the festival to their villages. Upon returning to their village, they receive warm welcome from the villagers. Very often, the elephants from Don Village win the prizes as the village has a tradition of training and tending elephants.

The elephant race is the biggest festival in the Central Highlands. Coming here, you will not only feel the martial spirit of the M'nong ethnic people, who are very famous for their bravery and skill in hunting wild elephants, but also the magnificent landscape of the Central Highlands which further stresses the grandiose characters of this traditional festival.

Dong Xuan Night Market

Dong Xuan is a street market spreading over a surface of 600 square meters covering Dong Xuan and Khoai streets. Approximately fifty businesses are operating the forty stands selling food, artifacts, souvenirs and tour packages among others.  Tours Hanoi to Sapa

Unlike other Hanoi night markets selling agricultural products in Long Bien and Quang Ba, Dong Xuan Night Market has been mainly created for tourists. With its eleven stalls, the brightly lit food zone is the most animated, serving late night guests until early morning. Tours North Vietnam

Here you can find real Hanoi food, as favored by true-blue Hanoians. The dishes might cost a little more than elsewhere but, you have to taste it to believe it, they are truly delicious. A steamy hot dish of Pho cuon  (beef wrapped in long wispy strips of rice vermicelli, served with aromatic herbs and spicy sweet-sour fish sauce) costs a mere VND10.000. Hanoi & Halong Bay 4 days

Dong Xuan Night Market

You might have your curiosity and appetite titillated as you try to choose from a wide selection of exotic Hanoi dishes: fried frog or fish meat pastes, rice and duck meat soup, fried rice, tiet canh (duck blood uncooked, only if you have a brave heart and strong stomach!), rice vermicelli and beef cooked in the south Vietnamese style and even just beefsteak and bread.

In artifact shops on Dong Xuan Street you will find traditional Dong Ho drawings, Bat Trang ceramics, Binh Da embroideries and laces, and sand paintings, the new craze of Hanoi’s young people. For a modest sum of VND2.000 - 9.000 you can choose one of those ‘raw’ pictures with different designs and patterns.

You peel off the sheet of paper and using the multi-colored sand you are provided with, you paint and create your own masterpiece following a model or ‘ad lib’ following your own inspiration or fantasy.

Like other markets (cho) such as Sapa’s Cho Tinh, Nam Dinh’s Cho Vieng, Lang Son’s Cho Ky Lua and Can Tho’s Cho Tay Do, Dong Xuan Night Market has been set up to meet the needs of locals and tourists. Dong Xuan Night Market is only one of Hanoi’s many efforts to develop tourism and attract international visitors.

A CD-ROM and two books on Hanoi, and two annual Tourism festivals are planned to open new paths and boost tourism in Hanoi. The Hanoi Service of Communications and Public Works plans to expand and turn Dong Xuan Night Market into a no-vehicle zone to lure more visitors to the place. Two more no-vehicle zones are being delimited round Sword Lake, along Khay, Trong and Le Thai To streets and along Ngang and Dao streets.

Hue Festival

Hue Festival is a big cultural event of Hue City that is held every two years. There is a week (usually in April, May or June) for each festival season which is the occasion to honor cultural and historical values of that Vietnam's former capital city. The first Hue Festival took place in 2000. Centre Vietnam tours

At the beginning of Hue Festival, visitors can enjoy a colorful and grand opening ceremony with unique performances of several art groups from Vietnam and other countries. Hue Festival has become a space of cultural exchange between peoples all over the world. During the festival, there are variety of cultural events taking place such as Hue Poetry Festival, Massive Street Arts Performances, the Dialogue of drums and percussion instruments, Art Exhibitions, the Week of Vietnam’s historical films.

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Hue Festival

Otherwise, visitors can come and explore some traditional values of Vietnam at Gastronomy Quarters, Traditional Kite Flying Festival or watch “Ao dai” Grand Show, “Oriental night” Show, and sporting activities like boat race, human chess, etc. Especially, many ancient scenery of Nguyen Dynasty are also reproduced and provide tourists an insight into Vietnam’s feudal era. Some typical events include Nam Giao Offering Ritual, Xa Tac Offering Ritual, the Royal Refined Music of Hue which was recognized as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2003. Hue Festival is well-known as an international festival where cultures of many countries converge together as well as where Vietnamese traditional and cultural values are widely presented to the world.