Ca Tru

Ca Tru music sounds strange to the uninitiated. Clicks and clacks accompany the centuries old ballads. It is not the kind of music that inspires toe tapping or humming.

Originally, Ca Tru was also called hat A Dao or hat Noi (literally song of the women singers). Attractive young singers entertained men in a relaxed environment, sometimes serving drinks and snacks. Men might have visited a hat A Dao inn with friends to celebrate a successful business deal or the birth of a son.

Vietnam traditional music Ca Tru flourished in the 15th century in northern Vietnam when it was popular with the royal palace and a favorite hobby of aristocrats and scholars. Later it was performed in communal houses, inns and private homes. These performances were mostly for men. When men entered a Ca Tru inn they purchased bamboo tally cards. In Chinese, Tru means card. Ca means song in Vietnamese, hence the name Ca Tru: tally card songs. The tallies were given to the singers in appreciation for the performance. After the performance each singer received payment in proportion to the number of cards received.

Ca tru requires at least three performers. The singer is always a woman and plays the Phach, an instrument made of wood or bamboo that is beaten with two wooden sticks. A musician accompanies the singer on the Dan Day, a long-necked lute with three silk strings and 10 frets. There is also a drummer or Trong Chau.

The drummer shows his approval of the singer or the songs depending on how he hits the drum. If he likes a song he might hit the side of the drum several times. If he is disappointed with the singer, he hits the drum twice. The guitar player must follow the rhythm of the Phach. His instrument, the dan day, is only used in Ca tru.

Source: vietsights

Lang Co beach

Briefings
Lang Co is a famous beach of Thua Thien-Hue Province, best known for its ever most beautiful natural landscapes and pure sea wildness. Strategically situated inside the zone of 3 World Heritage Conservation Centers (Hue ancient citadel, Hoi An old town, and My Son holy land), Lang Co is only 30 kilometers from Da Nang, and 70 kilometers from Hue. Accordingly, this helps develop diversified types of tourism, and keeps tourists to stay there longer. Lang Co is attached to a number of beautiful names by admiring tourists, some of which are “Beautiful lady of fishing village”, “Greater beauty than picture”, and so forth. You will soon discover the names’ derivation once you have come here.

Geographical features
At Hai Van Mount foot there appears the beautiful Lang Co beach, whose sand banks are 1.5m – 10.5m from sea level. The sand banks gradually change their height to 5.0m-23m from sea level, with total stretching line of 8 – 9 kilometers.  

Climate
Typically Vietnamese, Lang Co has a monsoon tropical climate, with two main wind directions, northwest one in winter and southeast one in summer. The annual average temperature is 25.2oC. Tourists should be known that it is hottest in June and July (aprx. 41oC), and coldest in December (aprx. 8.8oC). Annually, the beach has an average rainfall of 3,368 mm.

Seaside features: All the best in one

 Seen from above, Lang Co beach looks like a picture of beautiful cristine nature. As you may know, Lang Co is famous for its magnificent natural landscapes surrounded by mountains, tropical jungles, and the boundless blue sea with waves coming to the 8 or 9 - kilometer immaculate and fine sand, absorbing thousands of tourists. The picturesque sea view brought great inspiration for King Khai Dinh to write the epitaph “Royal step-over temple” and issued the decree to order the Ministry of Public Works to build a summer palace for recreation here. Lang Co beach is stretching along 1A Highway, easily found and favorable for tourists’ dropping off. For those fond of sea entertainment, this is actually a good choice thanks to the sloping sea, fine and clean sand, great moderate waves. Suggested activities are swimming, diving, sailing or more simply, relaxation by lying down on beaches. 

What is more, Lang Co is also popular for diversified beauty spots and delicacies. Right next to Lang co seaside is Hai Van Mount and Hai Van Quan, a famous Vietnam’s sightseeing. Along the mount foot, Lang Co sea is filled with coral, king shrimps, and numerous seafood of values. Inside the area, there lives a majestically captivating “Pearl Island” – Son Tra, where exists a series of wild species and flora. What lives behind the seaside? That is Bach Ma (White Horse) Mount and Lap An damp. The latter, with a quiet rounding road, is an ideal bicycle-riding place for those enjoying a mediative space. A number of other magnificient beauty spots, such as Bat Cave, Elephant Stream, Nhi Ho Fall, Dream Fall, etc. are extra activities for tourists to try after a busy day of joyful seaside entertainment.

Resorts
Lang Co beach resort is classified as the best by the Economic times. The resort was designed with Hue traditional garden house architecture and well-equipped with modern facilities meeting the international standard. It has 88 guest rooms, in which there are 57 deluxe villas & Suites designed in Hue traditional structure & 31 Budget rooms, 200 persons restaurants with European & Asian food & lagoon’s fresh seafood, Billiards bar, Pool bar, Health Club with Gym, Outdoor Swimming Pool, Tennis, Massage-Sauna, Karaoke, Beauty salon, Beach Volley Ball, 02 Bars: Lobby & Tropical Terrace, Banquet, Meeting & Conference venues seating up to 40-300 persons with 02 private rooms, Business center with full secretarial services, Souvenir shop - Sea & Lagoon Excursion. 

All the best services are welcoming you, ensuring that you will soon come back at least once.Sea FestivalsThe beach annually holds a sea festival with hundreds of seaside activities, introducing its beauty to tourists elsewhere. Year by year, Lang Co festival promises to improve in terms of both contents and scale. Normally, it is an opportunity for tourists to witness an overwhelmingly magnificient and eventful atmosphere with impressive and joyful sea games. No travellers could say no to this very chance of enjoying life!

“Coming up mountain to see White Horse Hero, going down to sea to meet Lang Co – lady of beauty” is a popular saying of seasiders since Lang Co beauty is compared to a young graceful lady. With excellent sea potential, Lang Co completely deserves the brand of “Lang Co – a sea legendary”. Sooner or later, Lang Co will be well-known not only for a wildly poetic beauty but attractive sea services as well.ld be put in your visiting list.

Source: vivutravel.com

Thien Cam beach

Considered as a “Heaven’s Lute”, Thien Cam is a rhythmically beautiful beach in central Vietnam, attracting thousands of tourist turns annually. If you are wondering about a summer vacation place, Thien Cam beach (Cam Xuyen, Ha Tinh Province) should be on top of your choices. The reason is that not only does it have a wild and pristine beauty with pure environment being good for your health, but an interesting magical legendary as well.

BriefingsLocated approximately 20 kilometers from  the town of Ha Tinh province, Thien Cam has been well known and praised as a romantic and pristine beach recently. The beach is bound by Thien Cam Mountain, which makes a beautiful landscape of the harmony of sea and mountain. Thien Cam beach’s beauty is also added by Yen Lac Pagoda where tourists can explore the architecture style of the 13th century and contemplate the famous old picture of “The Kings of Hell’s Ten Palaces”. It has been told from generation to generation that here used to be a favour destination of the first King of Vietnam - Hung King where he could relax on the mountain and listen to the rhythmical sound of ocean.
Thien Cam beach lies in a region of monsoon tropical climate with two distinctive seasons, the hot and cold seasons. The average temperature is 22oC-25oC, and the annual average rainfall is above 2,200mm or 3,500mm in some places and 1,719 sunny hours a year.

Seen from above
When being seen from above, Thien Cam beach looks like a huge bow, stretching around 3 kilometers from Thien Cam Mount foot to Đầu Voi Mount (Elephant Head Mount). These together with Cum Nay (Great Mount) and Cum Con (Small Mount) make up huge musical instrument keys scattered along the pure Ky La stream, which curves round the hillside to flow into the sea.

Thien Cam Beach derived its interesting name from a very special legendary, which tells that when passing by the zone, King Hung took a rest at Ky La mountain (the former name of Thien Cam) where he heard the waves of the sea whispering soft and low and the pine singing in the wind. That made him imagine it like a melody created by a Heaven’s Lute.  With such a great feeling, he renamed Ky La into a magic name of “Heaven’s Lute” or Thien Cam, which remains till today.

Let’s take a round trip
Thien Cam beach brings you a great opportunity of a healthy and romantic vacation. Coming here, you will surely be attracted by the pristine beauty attaching to low mountains. You can enjoy cool and purely blue sea. You can play with its small waves sweeping into and out of the  silk-like fine sand banks. Even you can relax yourself by lying or walking on the fine and clean sand. Or you can go boat sailing or shipping. Only in Thien Cam could tourists hear admirable sounds of sea winds, waves, howling tree leaves striking mountain cliffs, which create sweet melodies . All these make you  feel you were in a fantastic land with refreshing moments.

After satisfying with such comfortable entertainment,  you can take a ship to Boc Island, which has a marvelous rock banks turning to the sea. Waves strike the rock banks all day long, making an ideal bathing site with rippling waves.

Leaving Boc Island, the ship now brings you to Tien seaside resort (Bãi  tắm  Tiên) at Tuong Mount foot. Among several small beaches, Tien seaside resort is the prettiest one. It is loaded with rock caves and sand banks, cross-valley full of fresh and salty water creating the tide line. Scattered along the rock side, it is bird trapper, lobster, and sea-chesnut catcher.

Back to the beach, you can go up to Thien Cam mountain and enjoy the melody of the Heaven’s Lute that Hung King used to feel. Then sliding down to the mountain foot and walking for couples of minutes, you can integrate into the religious world of Yen Lac Pagoda with the beauty of the 13th century architecture style.

Last but not least, it seems to be a good news for those who adore foods of sea. Thien Cam is the place of numerous delicious sea foods that are appreciated as the gifts of the Nature. Staying here, you can taste  lobster, squid, Cu Ky bird, Nhuong fish source, and so forth, which are of uniqueness in Ha Tinh.

In central Vietnam in general and Ha Tinh province in particular, Thien Cam beach is one amongst the finest seaside. As both preserved and improved, the number of tourists to Thien Cam is on a gradual rise every year.

Source: vivutravel.com