Do Son beach

If you are staying in Hai Phong Province, a visit to Do Son Beach is worthwhile. It is a great privilege of Haiphong to be given by nature the beautiful beach of Do Son.

Being is one of the well-known beaches in  the north of Vietnam, Do Son is a small peninsular formed by the stretch of Rong Mountain to the sea. Ranges of mountains and hills with forests of pine trees cover this lovely beach. In addition to that natural beauty, the human-made infrastructure here is admirable with restaurants, hotels, houses, roads and water supply as well as a perfect electricity supplying system. The zigzag roads along the mountains, and pine forests make the beach a rare beauty in the tropical region. 

It is considered "a tourist resort", only 20 kilometres away from Hai Phong City and 123 kilometres from Hanoi capital. The sea resort town is composed of tree zones, each having bathing beaches, hills and forests. Around the hills are French-style constructions looking towards the sea. Since 1975, many large hotels and guest houses have been set up over the town and Do Son has become a weekend sea resort for Vietnamese and foreigners.

Immediately upon setting foot in Hai Phong, the French turned Do Son into a summer resort for their expatriate community and the Vietnamese upper class. On summer days, Do Son is alive with tourists from all over the world. They mainly come here to spend time on the beach, relax, and hike. From Do Son, tourists can conveniently sail to Cat Ba Island, to Ha Long Bay, to Dien Bien, Long Chau, and Hon Dat Island.

 

Source: vietsights

Cat Co Beach

Visiting the large beach of Cat Co, which is separated by a small range of mountain, you can swim in the blue and warm water, so clear that you can see the golden sand bneath.

The white-sand Cat Co beach make a great place to lounge around for the day. They are about 1 km southeast from Cat Ba town over a steep headland; and can be reached on foot or by motorbike.

Cat Ba is the biggest island (100 sq. km) out of the 366 islands on the Lan Ha Bay. It is a tourist spot, attractive for its natural beauty and wonders endowed by nature. Right from the moment you set foot on Cat Ba gangway, looking afar to contemplate the enchanting scenery of immense sky and magnificent mountains and breathing the fresh air from the sea, you will feel comfortable and your tiredness after a long trip will disappear. Surely, you want to go on with your journey at once. 

Cat Co Beach is separated by a small hillock that can be climbed over in about 20 minutes. However, you can take the easier route along a new wooden seaside walkway around the mountain. The beach offers simple accommodation and camping.

The mountain adjacent to Cat Co Beach has a tunnel and fascinating caves and grottoes, such as Hang Luon, Khe Sau, Trung Trang, Gia Luan and Kim Cuong. Visiting these caves and grottoes you will get the feeling of the explorers, discovering the wonders and mysteries endowed by nature. The fauna living on the Cat Ba National Park is diverse: 20 kinds of animals, 69 kinds of birds, 20 kinds of  reptiles, rare wild white - headed langurs. Coming out of the caves and grottoes you should spend a little time to contemplate the sunset over Lan Ha Bay. On the golden background of the horizon and the dark blue of the sea, the heaving islets become multiform, the white sea-gulls hover and sea-eagles make circles in the sky, all beautifying the immense and fascinating space, and enchanting the visitors.

Cat Co Beach is a tourist spot, attractive for its natural beauty and wonders endowed by nature.

Phu Quoc Island

Phu Quoc is the largest island of Vietnam. The island is part of Kien Giang province. The district of Phu Quoc includes the island proper and 21 smaller islets. The district seat, Duong Đong, which is located on the west coast, is also the largest town on this island, whose total area is 574 square kilometres.

Located in the Gulf of Siam, Phú Quốc island lies just off the Cambodian coast. Roughly triangular in shape the island is 50 kilometres long north to south and 25 kilometres east to west in the north at its widest.

Phu Quoc coastline

History

The island's history is as old as any Asian mainland. An 1856 record mentions the island: "... King Ang Duong (of Cambodia) apprise Mr. de Montigny, French envoy in visit to Bangkok, through the intermediary of Bishop Miche, his intention to yield Koh Tral to France (cf. “The Second [French] Empire of IndoChina”)". Such a proposition aimed to create a military alliance with France to avoid the threat of Vietnam on Cambodia. The proposal did not receive an answer from the French.

While the war between Annam, France, and Spain was about to begin, Ang Duong sent another letter to Napoleon III to warn him on Cambodian claims on the lower Cochinchina region: the Cambodian king listed provinces and islands, including Koh Tral, under Vietnamese occupation since several years or decades (in the case of Saigon, some 200 years according to this letter). Ang Duong asked the French emperor to not annex any part of these territories because, as he wrote, despite this relatively long Vietnamese occupation, they remain Cambodian lands. In 1867, Phu Quoc's Vietnamese authorities pledge allegiance to French troops just conquering HaTien.

After Cambodia gained independence from France, sovereignty disputes over the island were raised since there was no colonial decision on the island's fate. Dating back to 1939, the Governor-general of French Indochina, Jules Brévié had drawn a line to delimiting the administrative boundaries for islands in the Gulf of Thailand: those north of the line were placed under the Cambodian protectorate; those south of the line were managed by the colony of Cochinchina. Brévié made the point that the decision merely addressed police and administrative task, and that no sovereignty decision had been made. As a result, Phu Quoc remains under Cochinchina administration.

 Habour of Duong Dong.

Phu Quoc has been a sleepy historical backwater most of its life. The temple on Cau rock was built in 1937. During the Vietnam War the island housed South Vietnam's largest prisoner camp (40000 in 1973, cf. Ngo Cong Duc, deputy of the Vinh Binh province, quoted in "Le régime de Nguyen Van Thieu à travers l'épreuve", Etude Vietnamienne, 1974, pp. 99–131).

After Mainland China fell under the control of the Chinese Communist Party in 1949, General Huang Chieh led 30,000 Republic of China Army soldiers to Vietnam and they were stationed at Phu Quoc Island. Later, the army moved to Taiwan in June 1953. There is currently a small island in Kaohsiung, Taiwan's Chengcing Lake that was constructed in November 1955 and named Phu Quoc Island in memory of the fleeing Chinese soldiers in 1949.

In 1967, during the Sangkum Reastr Niyum, Norodom Sihanouk aimed to make the border internationally recognized; in particular, in 1967, the North Vietnamese government recognize theses borders. As written in an article from Kambudja magazine in 1968 (and quoted in the Sihanouk website), entitled "border questions", this border definition recognize that Phu Quoc island is in Vietnamese territory, even if Cambodian claims have been made later.

On May 1, 1975, a squad of Khmer Rouge soldiers raided and took Phu Quoc Island, but Vietnam soon recaptured it. This was to be the first of a series of incursions and counter-incursions that would escalate to the Cambodian - Vietnamese War in 1979.

Economy

Phu Quoc is famous for its two traditional products: fish sauce and black pepper. The rich fishing grounds offshore provides the anchovy catch from which the prized sauce is made. Pepper cultivation is located inland in the center of the island. More recently a pearl farm was established.

Tourism plays an important part of the economy with the beaches being the main attraction. Phu Quoc is served by Phu Quoc Airport with air links to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)'s Tan Son Nhat Airport and Rach Gia Airport. Plans are in progress for a new international airport for the island. Phu Quoc is also linked with Rach Gia and Ha Tien by fast ferry hydrofoils.

Source: vietsights