LivingSPOTLIGHT

Clean Tet vegetables in place of Tet flowers

Though Tet, the Lunar New Year, is approaching, many gardeners in HCMC have not yet received orders for pots of flowers to be displayed at Tet from customers. As a result, about 40% of these gardeners have suspended their cultivation; the remainder continues growing flowers but reducing the volume by half compared with that in previous years for fear of unpredictable impacts of the pandemic. Some have even spared part of their flower cultivation area to grow clean vegetables in pots. Le Van Tuan, 50, has rented 14,000 square meters of land in District 12 to grow vegetables for sale all year round. Some months before Tet, he used to grow around 150,000 pots of flowers upon traders’ orders. This year, however, due to complicated developments of Covid-19 and an increase in prices of seedlings and fertilizers, he decided to reduce the number of flowers to 80,000 pots. He still sets aside part of the cultivation area to grow clean vegetables in pots to meet the demand of quite a few customers. Mr. Tuan told dantri.com.vn he wholesales such clean vegetables to shops for VND8,000 a pot, adding that he supplies up to 100 pots a day but still has yet to meet the demand.

Hundreds of wild animals freed

On January 3, the HCMC Forest Protection Department released more than 200 wild animals— such as pig-tailed macaques, bald uakaris, king cobras, wildcats, great hornbills, otters and elongated tortoises—into the forests of Cat Tien National Park in Dong Nai Province and Bu Gia Map National Park in Binh Phuoc Province. Most of these rare, endangered faunas were handed over to the department by local people, and they were then transferred to the Wildlife Rescue Station in Cu Chi District to be taken care of before being released to their habitats. It is noteworthy that of the freed wild animals, there were six long-tailed macaques that had come to seek food in a residential area in District 12’s Thanh Xuan Ward late last year. These monkeys were anesthetized and sent to Cu Chi Wildlife Rescue Station before being freed. Another monkey that had bitten a person in this area was also caught, looked after and released, vnexpress.net reported.

The rainiest locations in Vietnam

Thua Thien-Hue Province is among Vietnam’s localities having the highest rainfall, averaging 2,700-3,800mm per year, and the province’s Bach Ma National Park records an average rainfall of up to 7,000-8,000mm per annum. Nguyen Van Hung, director of the Hydrometeorology Station of Thua Thien-Hue Province, told vnexpress.net that the average annual rainfall is reported at 3,010mm in the plain and Hue City, and 3,720mm in A Luoi and 3,780mm in Nam Dong, two mountainous areas of the province. He added that the rainfall is often low from January to August, and is much higher from September to December every year. On average, it rains 166.8 days in the plain and Hue City, 232.7 days in A Luoi and 206.1 days in Nam Dong, said Mr. Hung. Mr. Hung attributed the high rainfall in Thua Thien-Hue to its geographical location, topography and climate. He said the province is affected by the convergence of the cold air from the northern region and the hot air from the southern region. In addition, constant happening of storms, tropical depressions and cold spells in the province and its Intertropical Convergence Zone give rise to heavy rains, especially when two of these climatic conditions occur at the same time, he said.

Rush hour of shippers in town

Many office workers in HCMC’s central business districts have chosen to order lunch meals delivered to their offices by shippers since they have a short noon break (around an hour from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.) and most of them want to avoid having lunch at crowded restaurants or eateries adjacent to their workplaces. As a result, this is the peak time for shippers to receive as many orders and deliver lunch meals as fast as they can to meet high demand of guests and thus earn hefty income. Thang, a 28-year-old shipper, told zingnews.vn

that he had delivered six lunch meals ordered by those working at the Saigon Trade Center building in District 1. Hai Ha, an office worker at Saigon Trade Center, said she had received eight lunch portions from a shipper, adding that she and her colleagues often order lunch together to save the shipping fee. Le Van Lua has worked as a shipper in the city for four years. He told zingnews.vn that he works from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. every day. At noontime, he often delivers meals to guests working at office buildings or living in apartment buildings. He said despite fairly high earning, it is hard for shippers to meet the high demand of guests as well as the timeframe set by their firms at midday.

Expats hold free English class to jazz up kids

Alice Nguyen, 29, and her partners have hosted a free English class for kids in HCMC’s District 2. She told zingnews.vn that the idea flashed through her mind when she saw many kids unhappy as they had to stay home for quite a while because of Covid-19. The one-hour class takes place every Saturday at a bakeshop. Samantha, an Australian teacher, is in charge of teaching new vocabulary, telling them stories in English and playing games with them. My Lien, 33, said she urged her five-year-old son to attend the class on the weekend instead of going to other entertainment venues.

A “sleepless” soya milk shop in Dalat

Vendors offering hot soya milk and snacks on the banks of Xuan Huong Lake are a common scene in Dalat City. Their customers are mostly tourists who start to arrive in late afternoon until midnight. Dalat residents have dubbed the area a “sleepless soya milk place,” reproted zingnews.vn. Ms. Truc has been a street vendor on the banks of Xuan Huong Lake for decades. On the first days of New Year, she earned better than the previous months as travelers had returned to Dalat since Covid-19 social distancing was lifted. Although she is not a Dalat native, Ms. Truc loves the city especially at night. Everything in the city is charming and peaceful, she told zingnews.vn. Next to Ms. Truc’s stall are Mr. Hoa and Mr. Phuong who are also street vendors. Born in Dong Nai Province, they have offered soya milk and snacks at this place for 10 years. Before the latest outbreak of Covid-19, Mr. Hoa was a taxi driver in the daytime and a street vendor in the nighttime. Now he sells soya milk and snacks. The soya milk place is favored by young travelers. Among them were Hai Trieu and his girlfriend who preferred to enjoy hot cups of soya milk by the Xuan Huong Lake. Their love blossomed as they shared cups of soya milk during a trip to Dalat several years ago. Meanwhile, Mr. Quy and his friends visited the place every night during their recent threeday trip to Dalat. The visit to Dalat would not complete if they couldn’t have some hot cups of soya milk, Mr. Quy said.

An 83-year-old woman makes free clothes for children

Nguyen Thi Nga, an 83-year-old woman in HCMC’s Go Vap District, has made free clothes for poor kids over the past four decades. On a charity trip to Gia Lai Province 40 years ago, Mrs. Nga felt sorry for local kids who were in shabby clothes. Back then, she thought she would do something to help them by sewing garments for them. The first thing she did was asking for cabbage from tailor shops. In fact, it took her a quite long time to learn how to make pieces of clothes because she was not a seamstress. A long time has elapsed and she is now a skillful tailor. “I’m very happy to see the beaming faces of the kids in the new clothes made by myself,” Mrs. Nga told vietnamnet.vn. She was given a sewing machine which she used to sew the clothes. She later taught herself how to operate the machine efficiently. Although Mrs. Nga had been diagnosed with uterine cancer in 1986 and breast cancer in 2000, it was perhaps her tremendous optimism that helped her survive. “Death from illness is a foretold death,” she said. “We have time to prepare and the right to choose how to live for the rest of our life.” Recently, she also recovered from Covid-19 and has continued to make clothes.