(VOVWORLD) - It’s good to know that some of our listeners have received New Year’s greeting cards and wall calendars from VOV. Ivan Lebedev of Russia sent us his best wishes on the New Year 2019. He thanked us for the beautiful calendar 2019 which he said is a very impressive view of Vietnamese agricultural settlement. “Thank you once again. Be healthy and joyful, but let the life will surround you by many friends around the world,” Ivan said.
B: Muhammad Aqeel Bashir of Pakistan told us that he received a precious gift, QSL cards and Happy New Year Greeting cards from VOV. “I am so pleased to have them. It was my keen desire to have QSL cards from VOV and thanks God now this wish has fulfilled. I will continue listening to VOV and sending my reception reports to you and I hope your love will never end for me.”
A: Richard Lemke of Canada said: “I received many nice goodies and gifts from the English language service in my mailbox on January 9: wooden women figurines, a calendar 2019, and ball cap with your logo VOV5 on it. A New Year’s greetings card and beautiful Vietnam stamps were dropped in mailbox on January 14.” Larry Ramora, another American listener, said he always appreciates receiving the colorful and impressive New Year’s cards from VOV.
B: This week we received many letters from Japanese listeners. Takashi Sugie told us that he has sent reception reports to VOV’s Japanese section several times, but this is the first report sent to the English service. He said: “Like the Japanese broadcasting, I can receive the English broadcast of VOV very steadily. Even more your English broadcast is very useful for listening exercise, because your pronunciation is easy to hear and the speed is just right for me.”
A: Mr. Takeshi said the English broadcast comes after the Japanese broadcast in the evening, and he’d like to compare listening comprehension. Thank you so much for your listening, Mr. Takeshi. We’ll send you a program guide of the English service to follow. VOVworld broadcasts in 13 languages and each section has a different program schedule. We have many stories in common besides stories produced by each section especially catered to listeners of that language.
B: For example the English service has a Business report on Tuesday, Q&A on Friday, and the Sunday Show. We’ve checked your reception report on December 30th on the frequency of 45445khz. It’s great to know that Mr. Takeshi was able to listen to the program loud and clear as the propagation was good and the intensity change of radio wave was small.
A: He told us: “The English broadcast is received as well as Japanese broadcast. From November each station changed to the winter schedule, the condition was getting worse considerably both in the morning and the night upon receiving interference from other stations. However as the winter deepens, night broadcasts are stabilizing. It seems that the 9840khz frequency is stronger than the radio field intensity. But compared to 9840khz, 12020khz seems to have slightly less noise.”
B: I’m reading a letter from Fumito Hokamura of Japan. He listens to us every day and sends us postal mails on the weekly basis. He told us that he loves Vietnam and wants to visit the country one day. Stories of Vietnam’s Mekong Delta are attractive and he wants to visit the region.
B: The Mekong Delta in southwestern Vietnam is where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of distributaries. The delta encompasses a large portion of southeastern Vietnam of 39.000 km2.
A: The Mekong Delta is divided into 9 provinces and the main towns are My Tho, Vinh Long, Can Tho and Chau Doc. It is the biggest rice-growing region in the country which produces three harvests a year and provides 60% of the nation’s rice. Besides the delta is home to different species of tropical fruits such as durian, coconut, banana, pineapple, dragon fruit… The majority of Vietnam's fruits come from the region’s many orchards. People Visitors can enjoy the seasonal fruits all year round.
 Cai Rang floating market in Can Tho City.
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B: Located quite near Ho Chi Minh City, the Mekong Delta is easy to reach. Tourists can fly to Tan Son Nhat Airport in Ho Chi Minh City and take a bus to the Mekong Delta at two main bus hubs: Mien Dong Bus Station and Mien Tay Bus Station.
A: It is also easy and convenient to travel from Cambodia to the Mekong Delta by waterway. It is absolutely a perfect way to enjoy the beauty of the Mekong river.
B: Bus connection between Phnom Penh and Can Tho City are now available, making it easy for tourists to travel from Kampot in southern Cambodia to Ha Tien town in Kien Giang province.
A: I’m reading an email from Richard Nowak of the US. He told us that he enjoyed a program on January 14 on 7315khz. After the news, the Sunday Show was enjoyable with a segment on cultural singing, Richard said, adding that the news was informative and the Sunday Show was educational.
 Boat tour to orchards in the Mekong Delta.
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B: Jayanta Chakrabarty of India sent us feedback on the Sunday Show, which he listened online where reception quality was clear without any interference or noise.
A: He said the Sunday Show gave a comprehensive report on the various agricultural rituals and wedding ceremony of the Bo Y ethnic people of Vietnam's northern Ha Giang province. Jayanta wrote: “I learned many things about the traditional rituals of showing thankfulness to ancestors and deities for the bumper crops and prosperity.”
B: The show also mentioned the Bo Y’s worship of the Agriculture Genie on the 6th lunar month to pray for a bumper crop. Jayanta told us in the Bo Y’s wedding rituals he finds a close resemblance to Indian customs. “A marriage is made by the girl's family with the help of match-makers. The bridegroom's family has to offer a prescribed wedding presents of wine, rice, pork and money to the girl's family. It's a good custom as it also sees whether the girl's age is suitable for marriage.”
B: This week we acknowledged letters from Eddy Prabowo of Indonesia, who listened to VOV’s English program on January 12 on the frequency of 7315 kHz. He rated SINPO at 24332 and said the audio heard not clear enough, too noisy, and wavy.
A: Siddhartha Bhattacharjee of India monitored our program on January 10 on the frequency of 7220khz. He rated SIO at 433 with weak signal. The audio he sent showed us the quality of the broadcast at his place.
B: Thank you all for listening to VOV and sending us your reports. We have verified them and will send you QSL cards soon. Please join us again next Wednesday for another edition of the Letter Box. Goodbye till then.