An overview of Pumat National Park in Nghe An province (photo: visitnghean.com)

B: Vicentiu Daniel Gheorghe of Romania told us that his club’s Facebook page of Voice of Vietnam reached 45,000 likes, probably the most followed page of VOV clubs. “It is a great honor and pleasure to promote VOV and Vietnam in Romania and in the world. We want to be an Ambassador of your beautiful country that we love with all our hearts. We will continue to promote and love VOV and Vietnam. They are in our souls and hearts forever!”

A: Thank you very much for your inspiring work, which is a huge support and a great source of encouragement for us.

B: Martin Daix of Argentina told us that when he was little, his father used to listen to VOV. He himself has now maintained this habit. Martin said: ‘You would always remember that you have a listener and also a friend in Argentina.’

A: Spanish listener José Ignacio Cos Lezama praised Vietnam’s several advantages for tourism. “You can promote the values of beaches, mountains, terraced rice fields, and others for tourism development and benefit more people.”

B: Siddhartha Bhattacharjee of India said he knows that Vietnam’s geography boasts a range of landscapes, including mountainous terrains, coastal areas, and fertile deltas that span from the north to the south and asked about Vietnam’s largest natural reserve.

A: According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development,  by the end of 2021, Vietnam had 181 nature reserves, including both terrestrial and marine conservation areas. The natural reserve area on the mainland accounts for nearly 94% of the total protected area.

B: Vietnam’s national parks and nature reserves offer tremendous diversity. The north is rich in staggered rice terraces that shift with the seasons. The central region boasts the world’s largest caves and the country’s loudest waterfalls. And the south is home to mangrove forests and exotic wildlife.

A: We’d like to introduce some distinctive national parks and natural reserves from the north to the south.

B: Ba Be National Park in the northern mountain Bac Kan province is a subtropical national park with vast forests, gushing waterfalls, and bat caves. Being a National park, biosphere reserve, Ramsar site - flooded forest on limestone mountains, ASEAN heritage park, Ba Be lake is one of the 20 largest natural freshwater lakes in the world. It spans over 23,000 hectares of beautiful waterfalls, deep rivers, valleys, lakes and caves, all set amongst towering peaks. 

A: It’s called Ba Be Lake, which means three lakes, because it is formed by three lakes connected by wide channels, about 8 km in length. The surface of the lake is always calm and perfect for a relaxing boat trip downstream.

B: The area is partly inhabited by the Tay, one of Vietnam’s largest ethnic minority groups. They welcome travelers to stay in their stilt houses and experience their life and production. Ba Be Lake is 240 km to the north of Hanoi. The jungles in Ba Be are lush and beautiful all year round. Occasional storms may disrupt travel plans from July to October.

A: In Vietnam’s central region, Phong Nha-Ke Bang is an adventurer’s wonderland, chock-full of tenacious rivers, vivid jungles, and mammoth caves. This UNESCO-recognized national park is home to some of the world’s largest caves, with many other systems hiding beneath towering, jungle-topped karsts.

B: Phong Nha-Ke Bang in Quang Binh province is about 500km south of Hanoi. It’s easy to book tours from Hanoi or at the park to visit easily accessible caves. For larger caves, travelers need to book in advance with Oxalis or Jungle Boss. March and April are the best months to visit Phong Nha, while most of the caves are inaccessible in the rainy season, from October to November.

A: Since last year, Phong Nha-Ke Bang Tourism Center launched a tour to explore the park and caves by night. Guests can row boats or kayaks on the underground river, where sometimes they can’t use the paddles but their hands to move the boat through the world's longest underground river. Nguyen Phuong Thanh and her family had a 4-day tour to explore the park and caves at night.   

"I visited Phong Nha a few times before. This tour is totally different. We trek through forests and caves, and row a boat in the caves to explore Phong Nha from a different angle,” Thanh said.

B: The tour starts in the evening, visitors can kayak by themselves to explore caves, see shimmering stalactites and images carved by ancient Cham people on the cliffs of the caves, and sleep on camps in the forest. Nguyen Trung Thanh, a tourist from Thua Thien Hue province, shared his experience of kayaking at night.

 “I heard a lot about Phong Nha cave, Son Doong cave, En cave, and other places in the park. This time I took my family to Phong Nha cave. It was a wonderful experience to explore the park at night. The weather is pleasantly cool. The service is good with all service prices clearly listed," Thanh said.

A: Traveling southward, Cat Tien National Park is part of the wet tropical forest complex and one of the specious natural forests remaining in Vietnam. It’s approximately 150 km north of HCMC, spanning Dong Nai, Binh Phuoc, and Lam Dong provinces.

B: The diversity of the Park has been recognized by WWF when this international organization selected the Park as one of 200 global ecological zones, including the land and its water area with rich biological diversity. In 2001 Cat Tien National Park has been listed by UNESCO as the 411th biosphere Reserve Zone in the world.

A: Cat Tien National Park is especially significant to the socio-economy of the region as its ecosystem takes an important part in controlling flood and supplying water for Tri An hydro-electric power plant, Dong Nai province, Ho Chi Minh city, and Ba Ria - Vung Tau province.

B: Cat Tien National Park can be compared with the World Heritage Puerto-Princes Subterranean River National Park in the Philippine and Thungyai-Huai Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuaries in Thailand.

A: Natural reserves in Vietnam are fully or partially open for scientists to study or visitors to contemplate natural beauty.

B: Seeing is believing! We hope that you will visit Vietnam one day and explore all the beautiful places we have mentioned.

A: Next, I’m reading an email from Ashik Eqbal Tokon of Bangladesh, who writes to us daily. Ashik said: ‘I hope this email finds you well. I want to express my appreciation for the informative news on Vietnam and Bangladesh's bilateral trade efforts. It is heartening to hear about programs to strengthen the two countries economic ties.’

A: Mr. M.S. Sreenivasa Raju of India told us that he listened the English service via shortwave on Panda digital receiver model 6130 radio on August 12. He tuned in to the frequency of 12020 khz and rated SINPO at 34443.

B: He wrote: “The Saturday music show featuring Vietnamese songs was entertaining with explanation for the Vietnamese lyrics.”

A: Ding Lu of Jiangsu Province, China told us that he received the English program signal on the frequencies of 9840kHz, 12020kHz, 7220kHz, and 9730kHz. He used a Tecsun PL310ET radio with external antenna.  On 9840kHz and 7220kHz the signal was very good, so he could listen to VOV clearly. But the signals on 12020kHz and 9730kHz were badly interfering with other frequencies.

B: John Sarsfield of the US sent us a reception report for the program on July 8th, on the frequency of 9840khz. He received strong signal in the Central Valley of California, near Yosemite National Park.

A: Thank you all for your detailed reception reports. We will forward your reports to our technicians who will fix the problem and help us improve the quality of the transmission.

B: Once again, thank you all for tuning in to VOV and sharing your love of our country. We welcome your feedback at: English Service, VOVWorld, the Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Or you can email us at: englishsection@vov.vn. You’re invited to visit us online at vovworld.vn, where you can hear both live and recorded programs.

B: Check out our VOV Media App, available on both the IOS and Android platform, to hear our broadcasts. We look forward to your feedback on the mobile version of vovworld.vn. Once again, thank you all for listening. Goodbye!