Vietnam is the place to find two Globe Organic Heritage sites namely Halong Bay and Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in addition to scenic normal landscapes such as the Phu Quoc island and also the historic villages along the Mekong River. Vietnamese cuisine is fast gaining popularity and recognition for its elegant simplicity and healthful preparation characterized by utilizing hardly any oil and a mix of vegetables. The Vietnamese coastal regions abound with popular and world-class beaches and scenic boat rides. But nothing strikes on spot the essence of Vietnam as a striking view of large expanse of rice fields using the harvesters, clad in their native Ao’Dai and wearing their familiar conical hats to protect them from the heat.

Now that the Tiger has finally roused from his deep slumber, progress is seen all around, flowing, like the lots of motorbikes, massing and gushing forward in a sea of headlights and honkers around the streets of Hanoi. International acceptance of Vietnam’s fresh- discovered status is very much apparent in the booming tourism industry. And it would hurt a bit if you finally give it a try for Vietnam.

If you are one of those people who are always craving for adventure and fun, then Vietnam is the place for you to be during your vacations. Vietnam cycling tours offers the best of the thrills and an adventurous experience. A conductive cycling tour can be well availed by contacting the various cycling tour operators that are easily available based on your needs and requirements. The varied terrains and the topography of Vietnam are the basic reasons why cycling is so popular and full of thrills.

The cycling tour programs vary in levels of difficulty in Vietnam. They are designed in that way in order to make this activity popular and exciting for everyone. There are certain people who like cycling but are not confident with slopes, while some people prefer to indulge in hilly cycling. So, the difficulty levels are basically devised for the enjoyment of all the people as people can pick up their cycling tours according to their comfort and confidence level.

These cycling sessions can be held anytime of the day and span up to a couple of hours per day. The duration of the cycling session is largely dependent on the physical condition, interests and the difficulty level of the tourist cyclists. Even if one is a novice, these excursions take ample care and security of the visitors and thereby instill a new confidence in their cycling skills along with bringing them closer to nature. These tours are accompanied by expert guides who guide and instruct the cyclists throughout the excursion.

Low cost location

However, low cost labour is hardly a competitive advantage in the long term. Labour cost keeps changing and today’s low cost location is not necessarily tomorrow’s viable outsourcing location. If it is not China or Vietnam, it could be Bangladesh or Cambodia. Ig Hortsmann, a professor of business economics at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management notes that Nike originally off shored manufacturing to Japan. As labour costs increased, manufacturing was later moved to South Korea and Taiwan. When labour cost increased in South Korea and Taiwan, it was moved to China and later also to Vietnam. Justin Wood, a Director of the Economist Intelligence Unit Corporate Network in Singapore makes the point that in the last 15 years Vietnam has moved from a low to a middle income country. The move towards a middle income will likely put additional pressure on Vietnam’s low cost labour status.

Intellectual property threat

For many companies outsourcing to Vietnam, intellectual property (IP) remains a concern. Within the fashion industry, IP is not as enforced as it is within the film and music industries. Designers can “take inspiration” and it is seen as a major driver for setting trends in the industry. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has called for stricter intellectual property enforcement within the fashion industry to better protect companies and promote competitiveness within the textile and clothing industries. “It is a hard thing to take care of and you just have to be faster than everybody else”, says Rolskov. For smaller designers and labels it is much easier to switch manufacturing. However to prevent the copying of designs is a challenging undertaking.

Infrastructure development

For Vietnam to advance as an outsourcing location, the textile industry supply chain needs to be considered. Local logistics are influenced by direct and indirect cost. In Vietnam’s textile industry raw materials are often imported, which increases cost compared with those countries able to source locally. Managing reverse logistics can also be a challenging undertaking in Vietnam. Procedures, processes and infrastructure are sometimes not in place to manage repairs, returns and warranties.

According to a new market research report from Transport Intelligence (Ti) entitled Vietnam Logistics 2009, the high cost of logistics remains one of the biggest stumbling blocks in Vietnam. According to TI analyst John Manners Bell, logistics costs are estimated at 25 percent of Vietnam’s GDP. Even with cheap labour cost, poor infrastructure remains a major barrier for entry. This is largely due to Vietnam being in the early stages of infrastructure development.

Many experts believe that China’s advanced infrastructure gives it a major competitive advantage. Electricity and transportation costs will likely come down even further and and this will have a significant impact on the total cost, even if their labour is more costly. The Vietnamese government is aware of this dynamic and has invested billions of dollars in the country’s infrastructure. The government is actively encouraging foreign direct investment in the country’s infrastructure. This is visible with projects such as the Cai Mep Container Port in the Mekong River Delta and the new Long Thanh airport that’s projected to be completed by 2015.

Through assessing the overall supply chain, rather than a singular focus on labour costs, it is easier to identify where Vietnam’s opportunities and challenges lie in the textile industry. While small scale designers and manufacturers take advantage of a flexible environment, infrastructure and logistics processes will need further investment to make Vietnam an outsourcing destination and source for tomorrow’s fashionista wardrobes.

During the period from the 1st-2nd and 9th – 10th centuries Vietnam was ruled by the Chinese; proto-Vietic was influenced and borrowed much vocabulary from Han, Tai-Kadai and Nam-Dao languages and then became ancient Vietic, a monosyllabic language.

From the 10th to 14th century, with the end of Chinese domination Vietnam established an independent feudal regime. As the result of Vietic being used as a mother-tongue by common people and Han being used as an official language, Sino-Vietnamese (Han-Viet) words were formed by borrowing from Han. This particular means of borrowing was different across the regions, which split Vietic into two parts. These parts are said to be the Vietnamese and Muong languages as known today. Although almost 50% of words were borrowed from Han but most of them were changed so Vietnamese did not lose its own characteristic. For example, Chinese has 4 different tones but Vietnamese has 6 – mid level, low falling, high rising, mid dipping-rising, high breaking-rising, low falling constricted.

A character called “Chu Nom” was said to be created by some Vietnamese Confucian scholars to record Vietnamese spoken sentences based on Han (Chinese) characters. It is known as the first obsolete script for recording the Vietnamese language. Research suggests it was created as a complete writing system around the 11th century. It was then used more during the 13th – 18th centuries and nourished Nom literature and Nguyen Du’s Tale of Kieu.

From 16th century, missionaries from the West entered Vietnam and used Latin characters to record Vietnamese words and invented the modern Vietnamese script. Alexandre de Rhodes was the first person who printed the books in Quoc Ngu, which marked its first appearance.

Under French colonisation (19th century), French was taught at school instead of chu Nom. The French authorities also banned the use of classical Chinese (Han), leading to the decline of chu Nom since it is similar to Han. During the early half of the 20th century, it gradually died out whereas Quoc ngu grew more and more standardized and popular because it was simpler and easier to remember. At the same time, Vietnamese adopted many French terms into its lexicon, e.g. ga from gare [French] – train station, pho mat from fromage [French] – cheese or bup be from poupee [French] – doll.

However, the current Vietnamese scripts have been changed compared to the scripts at Alexandre de Rhodes’s time. For instance, the words beginning with tr nowadays are tl or bl. The person who received credit for creating the current Vietnamese scriptswas Pierre-Joseph Pigneaux de Behaine with his Annam-Latin dictionary.

The alphabet of chu Quoc Ngu has 27 Latin letters, with 6 tones. It replaced French, Han and Nom because it records Vietnamese phonetics in a simple and scientific way. After The Geneva Accords (1954), the North-South division caused the development of Vietnamese to differ regionally. While the North imported some spoken Chinese words, the South imported some English/American words into everyday language. Since re-unification (1975) Vietnamese has been more standardised.

There are various mutually intelligible spoken dialects of Vietnamese, with three main dialects being: Northern (including Hanoi), Central (including Hue) and Southern (including Saigon). The Hanoi dialect is accepted as the standard. The central dialect is markedly different from the others due to its local vocabulary. Although all dialects use the same spelling and written language, they have the different tones and consonant in a given word.

Vietnam has over 86 million people and is one of the most popular travel destinations in the world. The two main concerns of travelers – heat and monsoon rains have been addressed in recent years. Modern accommodations and transportation with air conditioning are prevalent and many Vietnam travelers have decided to brave the inclement weather of the monsoons to enjoy some of the benefits the rains – mainly better “beach” weather when the rains of the day have passed.

A large variety of Vietnam hotels has emerged in the past few years – small family run “mini-hotels” to 5-star luxury resorts – make comfortable accommodations available to every travel budget. The “Backpacker Telegraph” provides access to bargain hotels by way of the internet and word-of-mouth. Spend a little time “surfing the web” and you’ll find a wide range of places to spend a night or two to fit any budget.

Transportation “to and through” Vietnam can be financially managed by conducting a bit of research on the web. The large international carriers often offer great fares to various hubs in Asia. And the recent emergence of Asia’s regional bargain carriers will provide that last “hop” into Vietnam if you can’t manage to land in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) or Hanoi. Danang is now an arrival point for regional carriers from Thailand and other nearby countries.

In-country transportation can be arranged for a reasonable price by utilizing the “open tour” private tour bus industry, and if you’re really adventurous you can try Vietnam’s public bus system. Vietnam’s railroads provide excellent transportation from one end of the country to the other. Both the private tour bus companies and the railroad provide a number of choices in the area of comfort. “Hard” and “soft” are the adjectives used to describe the levels of service available on the train. You might even chance a local trip on motorcycle or enjoy a trip around town on a cyclo.

If you’re wondering what you do when you get to Vietnam, take a look at any Vietnam travel guide. There are “adventures” to meet the requirements of any traveler’s abilities and desires. Providers of local tour services can be found “online”, in travel guides, or “on the street” when you arrive in town. Waiting to arrange your tour until you’re “on-site” will allow you to make last minute changes to your plans, stay a few extra days at someplace that catches your fancy or spend your money on something else. If you’re on an organized tour you may end spending most of your time sitting near someone who’s a pain.

The government of Vietnam recognizes and promotes the importance of education and training. According to Vietnam Economic Times, there were more than 200 institutions of higher learning in the country in 2004, and that number had increased by 60% in the preceding six-year period. Today the country has a 96% literacy rate and 80% of the country’s college graduates hold degrees in the sciences (Vietnam Economic Times). This makes Vietnam an exceptional country for outsourcing technological projects, because the highly educated population has a high level of scientific and technical literacy. The labor force also have much lower turnover and much higher stability than do those of most other countries that are active in outsourcing. Overall, companies in Vietnam has an IT-related turnover rate of less than 5%, whereas in many other countries, such as India, this turnover rate can be 10% or even higher.

Common outsourcing destinations in Asia-Pacific are often plagued by instability. Consider, for example, the 2006 coup in Thailand, the Kashmir conflicts between Pakistan and India, and the Sri Lankan military’s struggles against the Liberation tigers of Tamil Elam. There are many U.S. travel advisories that warn Americans against traveling to these areas, but fortunately Vietnam doesn’t share these countries’ woes. In fact, Vietnam is a very stable country, which creates a hospitable business environment for outsourcing.

Economic Stability: Vietnam’s economy is healthy and growing rapidly, with a GDP that, according to CEIC, grew an average of 7.4% in the six years leading up to 2005. This is the second fastest GDP growth in all of Asia, as published in the New York Times article, Vietnam’s Roaring Economy Is Set for World Stage, on October 25, 2006. FDI (foreign direct investment) was almost US$5 billion in 2005, which makes a favorable comparison with that of other countries that are popular destinations for outsourcing work.

Ethnic/Religious Stability: Because 95% of Vietnam’s population is ethnically Vietnamese and more than 80% of the citizens do not identify themselves with any particular religion, Vietnam is largely free of ethnic/religious conflict. A 2003 UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) study concluded that Vietnam had one of the most secure environments for investment, given the conflicts in Iraq and the surrounding region. Likewise, Vietnam was ranked as the safest among the 14 countries in the Asia-Pacific Region by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy in Hong Kong (Berth of a Nation in Time, autumn 2002).

Political Stability: The current government has held power since Vietnam’s 1975 reunification, meaning that there have been more than 30 years of political stability in the country. The last major conflict with a neighboring country was almost 30 years ago, in 1978. Two American presidents (Bill Clinton during his presidency and in 2006, and George W. Bush during the APEC summit) have visited the country, and Bush met with several top officials including the president, prime minister, and Communist Party chief, thereby underscoring the country’s political stability.

Today, Vietnams’ policies create a warm and welcoming business environment for foreign investment. The country became the World Trade Organization’s 150th member in November of 2006, thanks to a vote of the organization’s General Council. Vietnam is also taking great strides in protecting intellectual property rights and since 2002 has largely been complying with the guidelines established in the WTO Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIP). When Vietnam became a WTO member, it agreed to comply with TRIP immediately, without a transitional period. The country is expected to achieve full TRIP compliance soon, thanks to legislation that was passed in 2006. This legislation prompted the U.S. to laud the country for its “extensive revisions and updating of its intellectual property laws.”

Unlike many Asian languages, Vietnamese uses the Latin alphabet, just as English does, which makes it relatively easy for Vietnamese speakers to learn English. English is the second most popular language in the country, and the majority of Vietnams’ college graduates have high proficiency in English. Consequently, most IT workers in Vietnam are able to communicate easily with U.S. companies in English when completing outsourcing projects.

However, things to see and explore in Vietnam are far beyond its scenic attractions. For history buffs and curious travelers, Vietnam offers a wealth of attractions related to rich culture and history of the place. Geographically, Vietnam consists of three sections: central, north, and south. Central Vietnam is home to some of the best beaches and lagoons in the nation. The ancient imperial city of Hue is also situated in this region. The northern region of the country is much famed for its alpine peaks and the fertile deltas and plains.

Most prominent among the attractions found in this region are the historic city of Hanoi, the plains of Vinh Yen and Cao Bang, and the charming Halong Bay. When comes to the southern region, it is home to such attractions as the modern city of Ho Ci Minh and the fertile alluvial delta of the Mekong River. Apart from these, Vietnam consists of a large number of archipelagic islands and a huge continental shelf. In fact, Vietnam has such a great number of attractions that it takes a month or two to explore them all.

Other prominent attractions in the country are Dalat, which is considered the jewel of the southern highlands region; Muine, an enchanting beach destination; Mekong Delta, renowned for its floating market; Vung Tau, much famed for its temples and pagodas; and Phu Quoc Island, which is regarded as a paradise on earth, Thus, goes on the attractions of the country. Additionally, the country’s landmarks cover an array of lakes, interesting museum and art galleries, and nature parks and gardens. Likewise, while your stay in Vietnam, you can enjoy a number of activities from fun filled and leisurely activities to adventure as well as educational activities.

Vietnam has its fair shares of people in rural areas as to educated urban/city areas. This gives the best of both worlds; business labouring and industrial establishment will be beneficial aswell as quality service outsourcing and other tertiary sector businesses. They have greater population, economic growth, and more competitive GDP per capita than rival neighbours, this is the imitating competitive edge China had that made them one of the most powerful country on earth.

Vietnam jumps to first place in the 2008 annual Global Retail Development Index (GRDI), kicking India out of its 3 year top spot as the number one destination for retail investment. The progress was driven by strong GDP growth, changes to the country’s regulatory structure favouring foreign investors and increasing consumer demand for modern retail concepts. Vietnamese consumers are among the youngest in Asia, with 79 million below the age of 65 and consumer spending has increased by more than 75% between 2000 – 2007.

Regardless of the global economic crisis, Vietnam still manages to pull themselves together and implement major development plans. Vietnam is currently building their biggest highway project (US$1.5 – $2bn), the 105 km Haiphong – Hanoi Highway is of international standards and the first ever highway in Vietnam designed without residential houses on both sides. The highway is an important route to link all the cities and provinces in the Northern Key Economic Region that helps facilitate implementation of the strategic project named as “Two corridors, one economic belt” in Vietnam – China economic cooperation

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung appointed the state-owned Vietnam Infrastructure Development and Financial Investment Joint Stock Company (VIDIFI) to construct the nation’s highway and raise financing for it aswell as other coordinative projects along the highway. The coordinative projects consists of many major development plans such as science parks, industrial zones, new town/urban area and the Cat Hai Island industrial service trade complex located in Cat Hai island with an incredible area of 2,800ha. The estimated value of all coordinative projects is over US$4 billion. All projects lies within Vietnam’s prime locations.