Ha Long Bay boat owners slam harsher regulations

QUANG NINH — Tourist boat owners in the northern province of Quang Ninh face huge financial losses under the provincial People's Committee's decision to put stricter controls on tourist boats.

Decision 716 was issued in March this year after a boat sank, drowning 12 passengers in Ha Long Bay in February.

The decision, which became effective last month, aims to strengthen management and safety of tourist boats on the Bay.

It stipulates regulations on working conditions and technical standards of the boats.

Ha Long Tourist Boats Union chairman Dao Manh Luong said most boat owners hailed the province's leaders for their prompt and necessary decision in the interests of tourism development in Ha Long and the demands from international tourists.

However, Luong said the regulations as they stood could be applied to ships being built but they were too strict for boats that had been in use for a while.

Under the decision, wooden tourist boats were allowed to operate for six to eight years and up to a further two years if they were upgraded.

If boat owners spent VND10 billion (US$476,000) to buy their boats they could not recover their capital in seven years, Luong said.

For instance, he said, the Phuong Tin 10 Ship of the Ha Long Tourism Development Company was upgraded at the beginning of this year at a cost of VND6 billion ($285,000) after nearly six years of use.

But Bui Ba Tien, the ship owner, had told him the boat could operate for only another year and a half under the new regulations, not long enough to recoup the outlay.

"It'll be a big loss," Luong said.

At present about 500 boats operate on Ha Long Bay, 150 of which are permitted to stay on the bay over night. If the decision was applied, more than 70 boats would have to cease operating by the end of the year because they had been in use for seven years," Luong said.

Provincial People's Committee deputy chairwoman Nhu Thi Hong Lien said the committee would meet later this month with ship owners and representatives of tourism companies to discuss the decision with a view to setting reasonable deadlines for tourist boats. — VNS

Buenos Aires: city of passion

Buenos Aires is often billed as the Paris of the South, and it certainly has the appropriate sophistication, the fin-de-siècle grace, and the couture.

But the real magic of the city lies in something essentially Latin. Trying to discover just what that something is can be the most fascinating part of a visit. Marlene Dietrich came close when she said: "Latinos are tenderly enthusiastic. In Brazil they throw flowers at you. In Argentina they throw themselves."

"We don't have a middle road," agrees one young porteño (a person from Buenos Aires). "We love or we hate."

The rooms at Legado Mitíco, my hotel in the Palermo Viejo district, were named after revered Argentines – the mystical writer Jorge Luis Borges, tango star Carlos Gardel, Evita Perón, of course, as well as a couple of military heroes, and even the comic-strip character Mafalda (an acerbic six year-old). Curiously, though, no Maradona. Perhaps the footballer didn't quite fit the hotel's stylish image, or maybe the omission was out of sensitivity to English guests' feelings.

Providence, Rhode Island: New England's coolest city

Providence, Rhode Island, is the coolest city in New England. I would even put it on the shortlist of coolest small cities in the United States. (It has about 170,000 people, with another million in the surrounding area.)

Like Rome, Providence congregates around seven hills. The two to keep in mind are Federal and College. Like many cities, it’s traversed by a river; unlike most, its river had been paved over by the world’s widest concrete bridge until the Nineties, when it was uncovered and brilliantly lit afire. More on that later.

Like few other cities, Providence gives tax incentives to artists not institutions. And unlike any other, it was founded by Roger Williams, one of the great iconoclasts of the 17th century. Williams was kicked out of Massachusetts Bay for daring to believe in religious freedom and the separation of church and state. He founded Providence as a haven of tolerance.

Williams said, “When you do what you do best, you are not only helping yourself but the world.” What Providence does best today is create: art, food, architecture and faculties for critical thought, to name a few of its strengths. It is home to Brown University — the hippest Ivy League school, founded by an 18th-century slave trader, once home to Emma Watson (of Harry Potter fame) – as well as six other colleges and universities including Rhode Island School of Design, perennially the number one art school in the US.

Royal wedding!!

Prince William and Kate Middleton are to marry at Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011, which has been declared a bank holiday in celebration. 

 

April 29 falls on a Friday and the Government has designated it as a bank holiday. David Cameron welcomed the announcement of the royal wedding date, which he said would be a "happy and momentous occasion".

The Prime Minister added: "We want to mark the day as one of national celebration - a public holiday will ensure the most people possible will have a chance to celebrate on the day."

The timing of the wedding will mean there will be two four-day public holidays, two weekends in succession. The Monday after the wedding, May 2, is already a designated bank holiday; and the previous weekend is Easter, which also has two bank holidays on the Friday and Monday.

The couple, who revealed their engagement to the world last week, were described as "over the moon" about their forthcoming wedding.

Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, the prince's private secretary, said: "They’re on cloud nine like any other newly engaged couple and they’re now getting stuck into organising their wedding.