Nha Trang Sea Festival this year has been organized successfully with a lot of activities bearing the deep stamp of Spratly Archipelago. The festival really arouses love for the country’s sea and islands...
Nha Trang Sea Festival this year has been organized successfully with a lot of activities bearing the deep stamp of Spratly Archipelago. The festival really arouses love for the country’s sea and islands.
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| Singing about The Spratly Islands |
. Bringing people closer to sea and islands
Before the opening day, Nha Trang Sea Festival was warmed up by the event of Vietnam Sea and Island Week, which consisted of the national sea trademark forum, seminars on marine economy, outdoor photo exhibition themed “Beauty of Vietnamese sea and islands”, a record Vietnam human map formed by 1,500 Youth unionists and some others.
During the festival, Nha Trang residents as well as tourists felt the sea and islands closers as a series of activities towards them.
Firstly, a Spratly Islands map made of coffee beans asserted the country’s sovereignty in Spratly Islands and expressed gratitude of the people in the mainland to soldiers who are protecting the country’s island.
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| Naval soldiers make the Spratly Islands map from coffee beans. |
Then, Institute of Oceanography of Nha Trang opened Marine Resources of The Spratly and Paracel Archipelagos, which displays historical document, images, specimens, creatures and many others found on two archipelagos of the Spratly and Paracel. This event aims to raise the whole society’s awareness of the ocean and confirm the country’s sovereign in the two archipelagos. Additionally, visiting the gallery, the public can learn about the life of soldiers and people on the islands through photos. Those are images of military training, growing vegetable on islands, pupils studying on islands, soldiers’ happiness of receiving letters from home and many others.
We saw many tourists amorously contemplating such photos. One of them, named Thai Duy Anh, from Da Nang, said, “At this moment, I feel our Spratly very close to me. It’s a part of Vietnam. I really admire the people living there. They are deserving of our honor.”
Sand sculpture exhibition, a new activity in the sea festival, also has many works towards The Spratly Islands, namely Ra Bien (Going offshore), Buoc Chan Truong Sa (The Spratly Islands footstep) and Hoa thach bien Dong (Sea Fossil). With simple materials, including glue, wood frames, coloring, adhesive, shovels and buckets, artists spent hours working in the sun to create their works, bearing a message of protecting the country’s sea and islands.
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| "The Spratly Islands Footstep" sculptural work |
Especially, all music shows and the street carnival during the festival really have awoken the public’s love for the sea and islands. “Dance on Sea” program drew a space of sea and islands while the opening ceremony themed “Blue sea’s Aspiration” introduced people at home and abroad potentialities of Nha Trang – Khanh Hoa’s sea and islands. Then, the street carnival with sea creatures brought the ocean closer. And, “Color of the sea” program performed songs composed by coastal people descended from Nha Trang – Khanh Hoa. Such songs have made listeners give more love for sea and island.
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| A music item about the Spratly Islands |
. Stamp of salangane nest
Salangane nest exploiting, an industry on islands of Khanh Hoa Province, has been marked impressively at the festival this year.
During the festival, Khanh Hoa Salangane Nest Exhibition was always full of visitors who wanted to know about salangane nest industry. Many felt excited to see 15m long bird cage models with a scaffold system to climb up and take salangane nests. Some of them were so curious that they tried to climb up and pick the birds’ nests.
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| A dance item about salanganes. |
A tourist from Ho Chi Minh City named Tran Khac Dung said, “I’ve known Khanh Hoa’s salangane nest specialty for a long time but I didn’t know how it was taken. Visiting Khanh Hoa Salangane Nest Exhibition makes me know how hard this industry is.”
“I’ve never thought that bird nest is nutritious food until I tried salangane nest soup in Khanh Hoa Province and I felt it very delicious”, Jacque Thomson, a French tourist, said admiringly.
2011 Nha Trang Sea Festival has ended but its bold stamp of sea and islands still remains in the public’s hearts.
T.T
