I happened to come across a Facebook post of a friend currently living in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. It read, “seeing seven blooming pink lotus flowers celebrating Vesak on Nhan Co Lake reminds me so much of my hometown - Hue, where Ngu Mountain and the Perfume River reside.”

On the evening of June 10th, the Song Huong (Perfume River) Magazine launched a poetry and painting performance program titled “Perfume River - A River of Poetry” to commemorate its 40th anniversary since its establishment and first issue (June 1983 - June 2023).

Born and raised in a poor working family, Le Minh Vu, a young man born in 2000, fell in love with Hue Singing (Ca Hue) from a very early age. That love was ingrained in his subconscious from his childhood days, when he heard the songs and lullabies of the grandmothers and mothers in the neighborhood.

The Executive Committee of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha in the province solemnly organized a Commemoration Ceremony on the morning of June 7th to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Bodhisattva Thich Quang Duc's self-immolation (1963-2023) to protect the Dharma and the nation at Tu Dam Monastery, Su Lieu Quan Street, Hue City.

Chicken-mangosteen salad and soursop tea have been the two dishes popular among youngsters and become key words of top search on social media recently.

As a regular blood donor, I was also startled when I heard that Truong Thi Huyen Trang had 40 blood donations in just 6 years of studying at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Hue University. The 24-year-old female student is always happy when someone mentions blood donation by answering: “As long as I am healthy, I will still donate blood".

Responding to the World Environment Day (June 5) with the theme “Solution for Plastic Waste”, the International Day of Biodiversity and the Month of Action for the Environment 2023, on the morning of June 4, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment coordinated with the People’s Committee of Phu Loc district, Thach Son Fisheries Association (Loc Dien, Phu Loc), etc., to release 80.000 fingerlings of tiger prawns and over 14.000 rabbitfishes into the Da Dam and Da Mieu fisheries conservation areas belonging to Tam Giang – Cau Hai Lagoon.

Tam Giang brackish water lagoon system is the Southeast Asia's largest, located 30 km from Hue City. The lush mangrove forest not only creates conservation areas for aquatic resources, helping the Tam Giang lagoon to put on a new color, but also protects the habitat from the impact of climate change, creating more livelihoods for local people, from fishing to community tourism.

The images exhibited are emotive works that are expected to arouse the public’s recollections, especially the Buddhist followers, of the past lessons, so that they would strive to reinforce and further enhance Buddhism's teachings and values. The exhibition is open to the public until June 7th.

For the first time at the kite festival within the framework of Hue Festival, the typical and traditional kites of Southeast Asian countries will converge and accompany in the sky of the Ancient Capital.