Daisy s destruction

Tet is coming. Where is the best accommodation for shopping trips on the year’s biggest sales season in Saigon? An unprecedented year deserves an unprecedented shopping experience. Have you ever thought of a shopping staycation to contemplate over an authentic Saigon as local migrants are coming home for Tet? If so, where could be the ideal destination? On the occasion of the Lunar New Year, some hotels in Ho Chi Minh city have promotional prices for their room rates. Centrally located in the District 1, the Odys Boutique Hotel is offering a special price for its Superior room at only VND800,000 (US$34) per room per night with breakfast. Saigon Tourist offers an accommodation voucher program for Tet at a preferential price of only VND899,000 (US$35) per room for two people including breakfast. The voucher can be redeemed to one-night-stay at three 5-star hotels of Majestic, Rex and Grand or two night-night-stays at 4-star hotels of Kim Do and De Nhat (The First) hotels. Shopping Talking about shopping is talking about District 1 – where all the popular shopping malls gather. From the most high-end brands to outlet goods and limited local boutique brands, just one stroll across District 1’s biggest shopping malls - Sai Gon Centre – Takashimaya, Saigon Garden on Nguyen Hue Walking Street, Vincom Dong Khoi, Diamond Plaza and Saigon Square – is enough to update your Tet wardrobe with all the latest fashion trends of the year. Eats & treats A shopping spree can quickly empty both your wallet and stomach. Since it was founded, District 1 has always been Saigon’s  tourist magnet. If the current restrictions bother your inner wanderlust, try a trip around the world’s cuisine around Saigon, from authentic Chinese restaurants, Japanese ramen restaurants along Le Thanh Ton street, to Korean BBQ restaurants Q, Italian Pizza and Pasta restaurant and all the affordable Vietnamese street food at the underground Asiana …

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The market , located next to Tau Hu - Ben Nghe C anal in District 8 , only lasts from Feb . 6 to 11. It attracts about 500 gardeners from many provinces like Ben Tre, Tien Giang and Vinh Long, bringing ornamental flowers here to sell. The gardeners said all kinds of Tet flowers have been transported to Saigon since Feb . 1, culminating in the floating flower market. Tet , Lunar New Year, Vietnam's biggest holiday, peaks on Feb. 12. Binh Dong W harf is bustling with crowds shopping for Tet flowers. The flower market has been held here regularly since 1975. Tuan from Ben Tre Province transfers flower pots onto shore to sell . "For over eight years, I have been buying and selling Tet flowers at this wharf. This year is more difficult due to the Covid-19 pandemic but I still hope to sell some flowers to recover my investment," he said. Thuy Hanh (left) and her son from District 8 negotiat e over a pot of bougainvillea. "This year , I bought a bougainvillea tree for VND2 million ($87) for Tet display, and then replant next year," Hanh said. Boats carrying colorful flowers and ornamental plants from across the Mekong Delta flock to Binh Dong W harf to serve urban clientele. Yellow mai is one of the main ornamental flowers sold here. "This year, I brought about 200 yellow mai trees, priced from VND1 million to VND30 million ($1,300)," said Bao Trung (right) from Ben Tre Province. Ba Ha from Ben Tre said: "Ward 14, District 8 is considered a second home to me because for over 30 years , I have been carrying ornamental flowers here every Tet . I stay here from Feb . …

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Sitting on the edge of the modern world, the little country Bhutan made a name for itself as the world’s happiest country. Their way of achieving it, with all things considered, can be echoed in Vietnam, as seen from the ample potentialities of the upland province of Yen Bai. This anticipation is not exactly pulled out of nowhere, for it is grounded on the Yen Bai administration’s decision to include Gross National Happiness, or GNH Index, as one of the touchstones for the 2020-25 term of the municipal Party Committee. In contrast to the much more well-known Gross Domestic Product (GDP) tally, which promotes a focus on material gain, the GNH Index rewards approaches leaning toward holistic well-being, one that goes beyond economic development. This was also the secret to the bizarre policy success of Bhutan, which started as a radical initiative by the fourth king Jigme Singye Wangchuck in 1972 and is still upheld to this day. The question that remains, however, is whether Yen Bai can pick up the rope and improvise its own way toward another GNH success story. Happiness in the terraced fields Terraced fields in Yen Bai’s Mu Cang Chai District have enjoyed both authority recognition as a special national site and the ardor of tourists who flock to the area to catch sight of golden paddies during harvest seasons. During these year-end holidays, income from the crowds of tourists may even exceed the value of the harvest itself. Seeing the fledging potential in local tourism, several residents of Mu Cang Chai became first-movers of the sector, building unassuming homestay facilities filled with cultural heritage of the land. One of them is the guest house of Giang A De, a Hmong native in La Pan Tan Commune. His place proves a real challenge for visitors as it takes a long walk through up a steep slope from the car park to reach the house, but the magnificent view at the end is absolutely worth it – the scenario spreads to the horizon, presenting …

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