Miss Universe Vietnam 2008 Nguyen Thuy Lam will put in an appearance at the Giac mo cua bien (The ocean’s dream) show

What does the ocean dream, what does it feel? Find out by watching a combined music and fashion show later in the week.

Featuring top acts like Hong Nhung, My Linh, Ho Ngoc Ha and Duc Tuan, Giac mo cua bien (The ocean’s dream) will be held at the Vinpearl Land island resort and broadcast live on channel VTV1.

A special theme song bearing the same name as the show has been written for the occasion by Bao Chan and will be sung on the night by stars Ha Anh Tuan and Thu Trang.

The show’s director, Hiep Nguyen, compared the sea to a person who “likes to be loved and gives the best to its beloved.”

Nguyen believes the sea has a soul, one that knows how to love and hate, and his show will try to describe these various oceanic “emotions.”

“It will tell a story about the ocean’s dream. The sea is like a girl that loves to be loved and hates to be left uncared for. Its behavior depends on our attitude. It’s sad and cries when abandoned, and it has cried terribly many times indeed.”

Nguyen promised an impressive night and says the songs have been carefully selected to suit the theme, and the design of the stage given just as much thought and attention.

Three beauty queens will be there to flesh out the proceedings, including Miss Universe Vietnam 2008 Thuy Lam and runner-up Vo Hoang Yen, the latter being Vietnam’s entrant in the upcoming Miss Universe 2009 pageant.

They will be returning to familiar territory as the Vietnam leg of Miss Universe 2008 was held at Vinpearl Land last June.

The third beauty queen, Chung Thuc Quyen, represented Vietnam in the Miss Tourism Queen International 2008 pageant and will sing a number or two on stage.

Interspersed among the many vocal acts will be several fashion flaunts with catwalk parades by Miss Vietnam 2006 Mai Phuong Thuy and other top models.

The collections include Bien goi, or “The sea beckons,” by Luong Minh Son from the Son Collection, Sifa’s Hoa dang (Flower lanterns) collection, and swimwear from Viet Hung inspired by “colors of the sea and things that are close to the sea.”

Vinpearl Land, 10 minutes by speed boat or cable car from the center of Nha Trang, is no stranger to fabulous events, having hosted Miss World Vietnam 2007, Miss Earth 2007 and several editions of Thanh Nien’s Duyen Dang Viet Nam (Charming Vietnam) galas.

Nguyen Trong Hien, chairman of resort owner Vinpearl Tourism and Trading Joint Stock Company, said his firm wanted to popularize Nha Trang generally rather than just Vinpearl Land alone.

Talking about the show on Friday night, he said it will be “like a gift and an invitation to every tourist to visit the most wonderful beaches and islands ever witnessed by the human eye.”

Khanh Hoa Province is hoping to set many records at this year’s edition of its famous biennial Sea Festival in Nha Trang.

Some 60 different events will fill the nine-day program, among them a film week, a kite festival, boat races, a parade of bicycles and scooters, human chess games, and shows by members of the Cham people.

“The Sea Festival 2009 will have plenty of substance,” said Le Xuan Than, vice chairman of the Khanh Hoa Province People’s Committee and the event’s organizer-in-chief.

One of the highlights will be the rituals of Le hoi cau ngu (Fishing praying ceremony), when local people pray for peace and the safety of fisherman at sea.

Le hoi cau ngu are important religious occasions for all the fishing villages on the central coast from the third to the seventh lunar month.

Representatives of the 10 fishing villages in Khanh Hoa Province will take part in the rituals, which include boat-oar dancing and a palanquin march from the sea to their temple.

French sculptor Marc Morvan, whose work is exhibited in the Elysée Palace in Paris, will leave his mark on Nha Trang with a giant dragon fashioned out of two tons of bomb and mine fragments left over from the Vietnam War.

The metal dragon measuring four meters tall, six meters long and one meter in diameter will be unveiled and given a permanent home in the town’s main park.

Reported by Kim