Tieng Viet lovers club - Page 44

jackbl · #**646** 14-09-2008, 06:53 PM

‘Little Ha Long Bay’
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Long An Lake in Buu Long Park resembles a smaller version of northern Ha Long Bay. With a cluster of rocks and mountains in its midst, the lake – located in a cultural park 30 km outside of Ho Chi Minh City – brings to mind a smaller version of northern Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay.

Long An Lake looks particularly charming on a quiet afternoon.

In the late 18th century, the Nguyen clan was defeated by the Tay Son troops and Nguyen Anh, a prominent member of the clan was forced to flee, stopping at what is now the Buu Long Cultural Park in Bien Hoa Town in the province of Dong Nai.

In 1802, Anh unified the country, became the Gia Long Emperor and established the Nguyen Dynasty, the last monarchy of Vietnam.

The name of the lake, Long An, or the Dragon – a popular Asian symbol for the King – is thus derived from this historical period.

The rocks in the middle of the lake, the park’s key attraction, tell an even more interesting story.

These rocks were once part of a bigger cluster of mountains but after years of intensive mining by locals, the mountains became what they are now – small rocky outcrops scattered throughout the lake.

The cultural ministry has designated the park a nationally protected site.

Visitors can tour the lake by boat and for families with kids, Buu Long Park offers a mini-amusement park with merry-go-rounds, ball houses and roller coasters.

Additional interesting features include a set of exactly 100 steps that lead up a nearby hill to a 17th-century pagoda which exhibits items from the ancient Nguyen Dynasty.

Tourists can enjoy being outside amongst the trees and carefully pruned tropical plants.

And for those looking for a more peaceful, quiet escape, a simple restaurant offers a full view of the lake where one can sit and sip Vietnamese coffee while gazing out at the water.

Entrance fee: VND10,000 (US$0.61.) per person

Reported by Phuong Anh

jackbl · #**647** 15-09-2008, 12:59 AM

Vietname also got smart IT talents...........

Vietnamese IT students make country proud
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When security flaws in both Google and Microsoft software were discovered, Vietnam was proud to say it was two of their young computer experts who found the glitches.

Le Duc Anh, 21, at Bach Khoa Internet Security Center (BKIS) in Hanoi Polytechniques University was the one who first discovered the Chrome error.

“When Google released Chrome on September 1, we started examining the system only two days later,” Duc Anh said in an interview with Thanh Nien.

“Google had advertised a lot about this browsing system, in terms of its security function.

The consequences of Google products containing errors could be huge considering how widely its products are used.”

The students found that Chrome release 0.2.149.27 is susceptible to a critical buffer-overflow flaw, which could enable a remote attacker to take control of the computer, specifically in its “SaveAs” function.

According to U.S-based PC World magazine, the hacker can trick users into saving web pages that contain overly long “title” tags and subsequently execute malicious codes on the machine.

BKIS had formed several groups examining Chrome’s vulnerability.

Duc Anh discovered the buffer-overflow flaw on September 4 and the error was sent to Google the next day.

Google confirmed the error on September 9 and replied with a patch.

About the same time, Microsoft also confirmed another BKIS report indicating that its Windows Media Encoder contained a similar flaw.

Le Manh Tung, a college senior at Hanoi Polytechniques University, is only 22, but has had three years working in Internet security.

He was assigned to study Windows Microsoft Encoder and found the error in March 2008.

Both said they were simply “lucky” to discover the flaws in the two systems.

According to Nguyen Tu Quang, director of BKIS, the company had reported the system error to Microsoft in March but it was not until September 10 that Microsoft issued the patch for its Windows Media Encoder.

In a statement on the BKIS website, Nguyen Minh Duc, a department head at the center, said that Vietnam has made “a significant contribution” to global Internet security.

Reported by Truong Son

jackbl · #**648** 15-09-2008, 09:53 AM

Mekong secrets revealed
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In fact, we had left the fevered metropolis only 10 hours before.

In that time, we had strolled, cycled and cruised around the shady lanes and waterways of Thoi Son Island, near My Tho.

Locals stopped their motorbikes to encourage us to eat “the fruit with no name” and longans, warm from the sun.

We were soon as relaxed as the dogs sleeping in the middle of the road.

We spent that night at a “secret” village.

Hanh, the gracious hostess of our homestay met our barge and led us through the village to her orchard, where we sampled oranges and pomelos from a local orchard.

The hostess and her daughter cooked a feast on their small wood-fired stove.

When I mentioned to the guide I’d only just discovered che, the Vietnamese dessert, within minutes Hanh was cooking up a big batch for us.

What we couldn’t eat, she turned into kem (ice-cream).

Before we were properly awake the next day, we were aboard a boat, deep in the heart of a floating market.

Here, in typical Mekong Delta style, vendors display their wares at the end of long poles on top of their boats.

Pineapples and pumpkins swayed above us as we ate sticky rice for breakfast.

The meal was completed in the local village, with strong Vietnamese coffee.

We were then put to work, helping to shop for lunch.

We poked at slimy eels as the stallholder cleaned and gutted a fish for us.

We marveled at snakes, frogs and cow heads as we hunted for the items on our shopping list.

Back “home,” we chopped and mixed and rolled and, with the assistance of Hanh and her daughter, created another feast.

We felt immensely proud of our efforts as we tucked in, fortifying ourselves for our return to HCMC.

Innoviet Tours, including the two-day “Touch the Untouched Land,” can be booked through their office at 158 Bui Vien Street, District 1, HCMC.

More information is available at Saigon tours Saigon activities BOOKING.

Reported by Barbara Adam

jackbl · #**649** 15-09-2008, 10:06 AM

Vietnam achieves in first showing at int’l math contest
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The Vietnamese team was ranked 16th out of 90 teams at the 15th International Mathematics Competition for University Students held in Bulgaria last month. (July)

Students from the University of Natural Sciences in Hanoi took a first prize, a second prize and two third prizes in various events, said the school’s dean, Professor Bui Duy Cam.

He said it was encouraging that Vietnam had done so well in its first appearance at the contest, which wrapped up July 31.

Eotvos University Budapest took first place overall while Moscow State University took second, according to results announced by the contest organizing board.

University teams from 40 nations and territories attended the event July 25-31.

Source: VNA

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