VIET NAM, A COUNTRY WITH GREAT TOURIST POTENTIALITIES Designed like an immense elongated S, Vietnam stretches the length of the Indochinese peninsula bordering the China Sea in the East. Its 2,317 mile (3,730 km) frontier shares a 714 mile (1,150 km) border with China in the North, a border of 1,250 miles (1,650 km) with Laos, and 577 miles (930 km) with Cambodia in the West. With a total surface area of 126,500 square miles (327,5000 square km), Vietnam’s territory also encompasses a vast sea area including a large continental shelf and a string of thousands of archipelagoes stretching from the Tonkin Gulf to the Gulf of Thailand. These include the disputed Spratley (Truong Sa) and Paracel (Hoang sa) archipelagoes which China also lays claim to. Its 1,600 mile (2,500 km) coastline is dotted with beautiful beaches and unspoilt resorts. As the crow flies, Vietnam stretches 1,030 miles (1,650 km) from Mong Cai in the North to Ha Tien in the South, exceeding not more than 373 miles (600 km) across at its widest point in the North and 31 miles (50 km) at its narrowest in the Center. Situated between 8033’ and 23020’ latitude North and 1020 and 109027’ longitude East of Greenwich, Vietnam is a land endowed with great physical beauty and diversity. The fertile imaginations of some geographers have likened the country with its three regions, Bac Bo (North), Trung Bo (Center) and Nam Bo (South) to a set of scales, the North and South constituting two balancing baskets of rice supplied by the rich alluvial deltas of the Red River Delta in the north and the Mekong in the south. Chain of mountains and profoundly carved valleys separate North Vietnam from China. The most important valley is that of the Red River and the highest summit, the Fan Si Pan rises to 9,550 feet (3,160 meters) in the region of Hoang Lien Son. The plains of Cao Bang, Lang Son, Vinh Yen and the valleys watered by the Lo, Chay, Cau, Luc, Nam and Cung rivers, occupy the Northern part of the region and extend over the immense Red River Delta, home to ninteenths of North Vietnam’s population. The Red River flows from its source in the Yunnan region of China across the north of Vietnam southeastwards to its coastal mouth. Central Vietnam forms a long convex curve within which are small plains, jammed between the China Sea and the high plateaus of the Truong Son mountain range, characterized dunes and lagoons in the east towards the coast and terraces of ancient alluvial deposits towards the mountains. The limestone peaks of Pu Sam Sao stretch along the border with Laos in the northwest. The Central Highlands are rich in volcanic basalt soil and constitute one of Vietnam’s most important forestry tea- and coffee-growing regions. The Mekong River, known in Sino-Vietnamese as Cuu Long Giang, the River of None Dragons, is one of the longest rivers in Asia. 2,597 miles (4,180 km) long, it flows from its sourse in the mountains of Tibet, across China, through Burma’s northern frontiers to Laos and northern Thailand and across Cambodia, before flowing across South Vietnam and finally into the South China Sea. Over the centuries the Mekong’s alluvial deposits built up on a shalow, undersea shelf, forming an immense low–lying alluvial plain 29,000 miles square (75,000 square km), the vast South Vietnamese delta. These alluvial deposits donot accumulate on the natural delta but at the mouth of the Mekong and around the Camau Peninsula, where they contribute to enlarging the territory of South Vietnam by around 247 feet (75 metres) annually. Mountains and forests make up more than three-quarters of Vietnam’s total area. The country’s tremendous topographical diversity is surpassed by the diverse species of flora and fauna found in its mountains and tropical forests, plains and plateaus.MANY RIVERS TO CROSS As Vietnam opens its doors to welcome the world at large, many people have no idea of the stunning visual beauty and traditional culture that lies beyond the threshold. To many, the name Vietnam brings to mind only haunting images of a war-torn land in some remote corner of Southeast Asia, an image which continues to be exploited on the big screen and in print, and which remains deeply etched in the minds of all who found themselves a part of that war and its aftermath. Beyond such images lies the real Vietnam, a unique and fascinating land of great physical and rich cultural diversity whose history spans over 4,000 years. Picture a land of idyllic tree-lined beaches, tranquil bays dotted with the sails of junks and sampans, offshore coral islands, mountains, valleys, primal forests, plains crossed by counted rivers and emerald rice fields enriched with the varied scenes of everyday life. The traditional rural life, embodied in the villagers tilling the land with rudimentary tools under their conical hats in the patchwork paddy fields, and children riding their water buffaloes home from the fields at the end of the day, contrasts dramatically with the sights, sound and pace of the cities whose busy streets overflow with humanity borne along on a rising tide of bicycles and motor scooters. Such are the images of present-day Vietnam. The country’s long history is an ever-present companion; the land is imbued with it—sites of ancient battles, ancient civilizations and kingdoms which flourished in this enigmatic land long before the French colonists and the tragic war of the more recent past. The changing tides of fortune that have swept over this country and its people have left their mark, greatly emphasizing the contrast between past and present. Much of Vietnam’s ancient past is shrouded in myths and legends of dragons and kings, heroes and heroines, gods and deities, brought to life in the present in the many colorful time-honored traditional festivals and rituals commemorating revered ancestors, who are worshipped alongside Buddhist, Taoist and Hindu deities in the thousands of temples and pagodas throughout the country. In a traditionally agricultural country, so new to the concept of tourism that you have to expect the unexpected, you won’t be disappointed.
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