Danang Zion Hotel.

The South Central coast of Vietnam lies the 4th largest city of Vietnam.

Danang city is located at the mouth of the Han River.

The first Europeans to visit Danang were the Portuguese explorers who regularly stopped at the port city of Hoi An which was about 30km south of Danang.

 Later the French,Spanish traders and missionaries follow suit. During the early 19th century,the emperor at that time prohibited European vessels from conducting trade in Hoi An port except the Han port in Danang which till today is the largest commercial port in the central region.

 Due to the persecution of Roman Catholic missionaries, French troops with the help of Spanish troops from the Philippines overpowered the Vietnamese stationed in Danang and soon a conflict of closed to two decades gradually strengthened the French occupation of the whole of southern Vietnam and forming Cochinchina with Saigon as the principal city.

In 1887,it became the Union of French Indochina and the Spratly Islands were annexed to French Cochinchina. Cochinchina was renamed to Republic of South Vietnam in 1947.

 During the Vietnam War,Danang was a major United States airforce base and the world's busiest airports during the war.Close to 3,500 marines were deployed to secure the US Air base,freeing South Vietnamese troops for combat against the communist North Vietnam.

 Danang city is a half way point between Hanoi(759km) in the north and Ho Chi Minh city(960km) in the south.

Nha Nghi Si-on (Zion Hotel)

Hoang Van Thu Road(off the main road,first lane)
Tel:05113 828 333/334 Fax:05113 828 233 email:sionhotel@gmail.com
Rates:USD10 per night.(a large room,queen size bed,aircond) (Route Map)


 Danang International Airport was just 5km south west of the city centre and 8km to the beach area.
Travelers on arrival at the airport will have to rely on the taxis easily available on the left exit and the fares can range from USD5-USD10.

For those solo travelers who prefer a cheaper mode,walk from left exit passing by the old terminal building and a very short distance will be some of the xe om (motorcycle rider) offering a trip downtown for 20,000 VND.

 In the event that one feel like walking to town,it's just a 15minutes leisurely walk.From the place where the xe om riders,walk for less than a kilometre will be a small traffic circle and head on straight down along Nguyen Van Linh,You can find some cheap hotels along the way with prices around 250,000 VND.

HAGL Plaza Hotel Danang building is at a bigger traffic circle along Nguyen Van Linh and upon reaching here while keeping to your left will be three road junctions.

Ong Ich Kiem Road will lead to the BIG C Hypermarket and is near to a very busy local market at Pham Ngu Lao Road.

 The middle road is Trieu Nu Vuong having shops and businesses.

 The most ideal path to the riverside area where most of the guesthouses hotels were located is via Hoang Dieu Road.

HAGL Plaza Danang

01 Nguyen Van Linh street Danang, Vietnam

Room rates from USD95-USD400/night
Phone Numbers: 84 511 2 22 33 44/ 54
Fax Number: 84 511 2 22 33 55

 Distances to the following places:
Cham Museum – 1 km
 Danang Beach – 2 km
Marble Mountain – 2 km
Hoi An ancient town – 20 km

Hidden Ha Tinh billionaire

Vietnam's low profile richest man,Pham Nhat Vuong was born in the central province of Ha Tinh in 1968. Vuong studied geological economic engineering at Moscow Geology University in Russia.

After school in 1993, he moved to Kharkov, Ukraine, where he created LLC Technocom, a producer of more than 100 dehydrated food products, including instant noodles and mashed potatoes.

The business was later sold to Nestle SA at an undisclosed price. In 2001,he returned to Vietnam to set up Vincom and Vinpearl. Today at the age of 44,he's the President and chairman of Vingroup Joint-Stock Company(stock quote:VIC.vn)as well as Vinpearl Joint Stock Company(stock quote:VPL.vn)with total asset value in the domestic stock market over VND21.044trillion(over USD1 billion). In September, 2009, the main headquarters of Technocom Group were moved to Hanoi and the name changed into Vingroup.

 Vuong’s wife, Pham Thu Huong, has become the fourth richest investor, with VND3.227 trillion (USD154.4 million). She was ranked as 6th in the list of top-ten richest investors, with VND2.262 trillion (USD108.2 million), as of December 29, 2010.

Wedged between Quang Binh province to the south and Nghe An province to the north, Ha Tinh's best known feature is a road leading out of the province -- to Laos.

It's through this province that snaking Route 8 leads to the Nam Phao / Cau Treo border crossing between Vietnam and Laos.

On the Lao side, the road links up with Lak Xao, continuing on eventually to the Mekong River, while on the Vietnamese side, Route 8 strikes west till it intersects with Highway 1 near Hong Linh and not all that far from Vinh -- the capital of Nghe An province to the north.

Ha Tinh is off the beaten path, but here you can see the “real Vietnam”, whatever that is.

The main town is Hong Linh with sub-Districts: Huong Son, Duc Tho, Nghi Xuan, Can Loc, Huong Khe, Thach Ha, Cam Xuyen, Ky Anh, Vu Quang, Loc Ha.

 Ethnic groups here includes Viet (Kinh), Thai, Muong, Chut.

 Locating at the east of Truong Son Mountain Range, Ha Tinh's terrain is both narrow and sloping, tilting towards the east. To the west is a high mountain range (with average height of 1,500m), following with a range of hills, small and narrow elongated plain and coastal sandy banks.

Mountainous terrain accounts for 80% of the province's natural area that is sharply differentiated and divided, forming deferent ecological areas.

There are 14 rivers such as Ngan Pho, Ngan Sau, Cay. The coastline is 137km. Ha Tinh belongs to the tropical monsoon area. The annual average temperature is 23.7ºC.

There are two clear seasons:Raining season lasts from August to November. Annually average rainfall is from 2500mm to 2650mm, account to 54% of whole year.Dry season is from December to July next year. The weather is dry, hot and highly vaporizing West- Southern wind (blowing from Laos).

 The province has many special internal tourism places ecologically, historically, culturally, namely
National Park of Vu Quang, Ke Go reservoir, Hong Linh Mountain. Dong Loc Road Junction - a monument sticking with glorious victory of Vietnam against the US.

Then, tourists are able to relax in Xuan Thanh, Thien Cam, Thach Hai or Deo Con beaches, or in medical treatment area of Son Kim Hot Spring. Ha Tinh preserves many temples, pagodas such as Cua Dieu Tower, Huong Tich, Bich Chau, Yen Lac pagodas, Tam Lang, Chieu Trung temples. Coming there, visitor do not forget make tour to some of handicrafts villages such as Van Cham, Minh Long iron, Duc Lam cooper, Cam Trang pottery, Thai Yen wood, Ha silt, Ho cloth.

Ha Tinh City is 341km from Hanoi.


ACCOMODATIONS:

1) Thai Hotel a three star hotel located in the center of Hong Linh Town, near the Song Lam River. Add: Block 10, Bac Hong Precinct, Hong Linh Town, Ha Tinh province, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 570788 ; Fax: (84-39) 836716

2) Song La Hotel at Thien Cam beach. Add: Thien Cam Beach, Ha Tinh province, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 862666 ; Fax: (84-39) 862581

3) Binh Minh Hotel Add: 1 Tran Phu road, Ha Tinh town, Ha Tinh province, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 856825 ; Fax: (84-39) 857875

4) Huong Sen Hotel Add: 2 Nguyen Tat Thanh road, Ha Tinh town, Ha Tinh province, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 855589 ; Fax: (84-39) 857875

5) Lam Kieu Hotel Gia Lach- Nghi Xuan, Ha Tinh town, Ha Tinh province, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 821461 ; Fax: (84-39) 821225

6) Cong Doan Guesthouse Thien Cam Townlet, Cam Xuyen Dist., Ha Tinh, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 862 226

7) Hoanh Son Guesthouse Pho Chau Townlet, Huong Son Dist., Ha Tinh Tel: (84-39) 875 253

8) Hoanh Son Hotel Ky Nam Commune, Ky Anh Dist., Ha Tinh, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 869 009 ; Fax: (84-39) 857 875

9) Huong Thuy Hotel Ha Huy Tap St., Ha Tinh Town, Ha Tinh, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 885 412

10) Kieu Hoa Hotel Add: Tran Phu St., Ha Tinh Town, Ha Tinh, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 857 025

11) Lam Hong Hotel Bac Hong Ward, Hong Linh Town, Ha Tinh, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 835 357

12) Tan Giang Hotel 33 Nguyen Cong Tru St., Ha Tinh Town, Ha Tinh, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 855 583

13) Thanh Sen Hotel 1 Nguyen Cong Tru St., Ha Tinh Town, Ha Tinh Tel: (84-39) 856 002 ; Fax:(84-39) 855 484

14) Thien Y Hotel Thien Cam Townlet, Cam Xuyen Dist., Ha Tinh, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 862 345 ; Fax:(84-39) 862 397

15)Cao Phu Guesthouse Tran Phu St., Ha Tinh Town, Ha Tinh, Vietnam Tel: (84-39) 856 712

16) Sinh Thai Hotel No 2 - Xuan An - Nghi Xuan - Ha Tinh Tel: (84-39) 3822208 Fax: (84-39) 3822373 MAP:Thành phố Hà Tĩnh

Tons of carbon emitted as palm oil demand grows

Tons of carbon emitted as palm oil demand grows

Indonesia ranks right behind the United States and China in the lineup of the world’s top 10 greenhouse gas emitters.

 It’s not because of smokestacks or freeways, but massive deforestation starting in the 1990s — driven In large part by the expansion of plantations for palm oil, an edible vegetable oil used in cookies, crackers, soap and European diesel fuel.

  One of the most striking trends, in terms of emissions, was a shift toward the development of carbon-dense peatlands for palm oil production, the researchers found. Peatland soils store significant amounts of methane, a potent greenhouse.

Indonesia is the leading producer of palm and palm kernel oil, which together account for more than 30 percent of the world's vegetable oil use, and which can be used for biodiesel.

Most of Indonesia's oil palm plantation expansion is occurring on the island of Borneo, also known as Kalimantan, which occupies a land area nearly the size California and Florida combined. Plantation leases, covering 32 percent of Kalimantan's lowlands outside of protected areas, represent a major land bank that is slated for development over the next decade, according to the study.

Home to the world's third-largest tropical forest area, Indonesia is also one of the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gasses, due to rapid loss of carbon-rich forests and peatlands. Since 1990, development of oil palm plantations has cleared about 16,000 square kilometers of Kalimantan's primary and logged forested lands – an area about the size of Hawaii.

About palm oil fruit:

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) was first introduced to Malaysia as an ornamental plant in 1870. MALAYSIA is the world’s second largest crude palm oil (CPO) producer after Indonesia.

The palm fruit is about the size of a small plum and is borne in large bunches weighing between 10 kg - 50 kg. A bunch can have up to 2000 fruits, each consisting of a hard kernel (seed) within a shell (endocarp) which in turn is surrounded by a fleshy mesocarp.

The mesocarp is made up of about 49% oil and about 50% kernel. The two oils (palm oil and palm kernel oil) have very different compositions.

Palm oil (from the mesocarp) contains mainly palmitic acid (C16:0) and oleic acid (C18:1); the two most common fatty acids in natural oils and fats, and is about 50% saturated. Palm kernel oil is more than 80% saturated and contains mainly lauric acid (C12:0).

The Malaysian Crude Palm Oil Futures(CPO) traded both on the spot and futures market has been the global pricing benchmark for the commodity trading worldwide for more than two decades. The price of crude palm oil moves in tandem with US soya bean futures.

If the current soya bean price crash further,the crude palm oil price will even dive further thus wiping out all the good gains all these while. Market traders like Godrej Industries’Ltd director, Dorab Mistry,the industry gurus has predicted that the price will fall further to around USD749.