Interior design of a coffee shop

Your coffee shop interior design will be a key element to bringing customers into your shop and keeping them there. The theme you choose will greatly affect the feel your shop has and the type of customers who will be drawn in. Subtle design decisions could play a vital role in how a customer perceives your shop, so consider every visual aspect of what will be going into your shop.

                                

                                

                                

                                

                                

                                 

                                

                                

                                

Visiting Tra Su Mountain in An Giang

Tra Su Mountain is a must-see destination in An Giang Province and it was a day we won’t forget.

                                 

To reach there you have to head from Nha Bang Township on the road to Tinh Bien Township for about 150 meters, then make a right turn along a rocky sloping path to a pharmacy named ‘Sau Xung va Nam My’, tourists will spot Tra Su Mountain.

Located in Nha Bang Township, Tinh Bien District, Tra Su Mountain belongs to Thuy Dai Son Mountain Range. The mountain is not impressive due to its height but it is an attractive peak for tourists to admire the splendid scenery and to find tranquility for their soul.

The mountain is famous due to a small temple which is dedicated to worship two huge rocks. Locals say that the stones, which are about one ton and 300 kilograms, rolled to the Cua Thien Huyen Nu from the mountain peak on July 25 1991.

People call the stones ‘Chu vi Son Than’ (Goddess of mountain) and worship them as they pray for good luck and health.

Trekking up about 100 steps, tourists will see Ong Ho Cave which has two stone grottoes, one is Ngu Ho temple and one is Cuu Pham temple lying deep in the cave. After another 25 meters, pilgrims will see Ba Chua Temple where many locals often come to pray for a happy life.

Progressing towards the peak, tourists will see a fairy yard where they can stand and appreciate a panoramic view of Nha Bang Township with its greenness of rice fields, plantation, winding roads, streams and nearby houses. The fresh air, the spacious atmosphere and tranquility of nature will help tourists to rejuvenate after stressful working days.

There will be some other stone caves for tourists to discover and old altars for pilgrims to burn incense to connect with the supernatural world.

Vietnamese traditional costumes

For formal ceremonies men would have two additional items, a long gown with slits on either side, and a turban, usually in black or brown made of cotton or silk. In feudal times, there were strict dress codes. Ordinary people were not allowed to wear clothes with dyes other than black, brown or white. Costumes in yellow were reserved for the King. Those in purple and red were reserved for high ranking court officials, while dresses in blue were exclusively worn by petty court officials. Men's dress has gradually changed along with social development.

The traditional set of a long gown and turban gave way to more modern looking suits, while business shirts and trousers have replaced traditional long sleeved shirts and wide trousers. Traditional costumes still exist and efforts are increasingly being made to restore traditional festivals and entertainment which incorporate traditional costumes.

Young women wear light brown-colored short shirts with long black skirts. Their headgear consists of a black turban with a peak at the front. To make their waist look smaller, they tightly fasten a long piece of pink or violet cloth.On formal occasions, they wear a special three layered dress called an "ao dai", a long gown with slits on either side.

The outer garment is a special silk gown called an "ao tu than" which is brown or light brown in colour with four slits divided equally on its lower section. The second layer is a gown in a light yellow colour and the third layer is a pink gown. When a woman wears her three gowns, she fastens the buttons on the side, and leave those on the chest unfastened so that it forms a shaped collar. This allows her to show the different colors on the upper part of the three gowns. Beneath the three gowns is a bright red brassiere which is left exposed to cover the woman's neck.

                                                       

Over time, the traditional "ao dai" has gone through certain changes. Long gowns are now carefully tailored to fit the body of a Vietnamese woman. The two long slits along the side allow the gown to have two free floating panels in the front and at the back of the dress. The floating panels expose a long pair of white silk trousers.

An elegant looking conical palm hat, which is traditionally known as a "non bai tho" (a hat with poetry written on it), is worn as part of a woman's formal dress. This traditional conical hat is particularly suitable for a tropical country such as Vietnam, where fierce sunshine and hard rain are commonplace.

                                                       

To make a conical hat, a hat maker chooses young palm leaves that have been been dried under continued sunshine. Attached beneath the almost transparent layers of dried palm leaves is a drawing of a small river wharf. Below the drawing, there is a piece of poetry to be recited by the hat wearer.

In recent years some foreign fashions have been introduced to Vietnam; however, the traditional "ao dai" remains preferable to women in both urban and rural settings.

                                                

In general, Vietnamese clothing is very diverse. Every ethnic group in Vietnam has its own style of clothing. Festivals are the occasion for all to wear their favorite clothes. Over thousands of years, the traditional clothing of all ethnic groups in Vietnam has changed, but each ethnic group has separately maintained their own characteristics.

In the mountain areas, people live in houses built on stilts, wear trousers or skirts and indigo vests with design motifs imitating wild flowers and beasts. In the northern uplands and the Central Highlands, the young women have made skirts and vests with beautiful and coulourful decoration in a style convenient for farm work in terraced fields and to travel on hilly slopes and mountain gorges.

Competitive market for power generators

                                    


The competitive power generating market was officially launched on July 1, coinciding with a five percent increase in electricity prices.


This new market is the first step in developing Vietnam ’s electricity market and will ensure the transparency of operations and pricing, as well as attract more investment to develop new sources of power.


According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, 29 power generating companies, with the total capacity to produce 9,000MW, have joined the competitive market by directly submitting their proposed prices to the Electric Power Trading Company (EPTC).


Of the power suppliers, 13 are hydro-electric, 11 are coal fired and five are powered by gas turbines.


There are currently 26 other power stations that take an indirect part in the market. Supplies from these plants are either controlled by the country’s Electricity Regulating Centre or their prices are set by the EPTC. Eighteen other plants will indirectly join the market for a set period of time.


In addition, 20 power plants (19 hydro-electric and one thermal) with a designed capacity of 4,567MW are scheduled to join the market as soon as they are on a commercial footing.


Currently, the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) supplies 55 percent of the country’s electricity, the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PVN) contributes 11 percent and the Vietnam Coal and Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin) provides 5 percent.


Vietnam's electricity market is expected to develop in three stages – a competitive power generating market by 2014, a competitive wholesale market between 2015-22 and a competitive retail market after 2022.-VNA