Open arms and flowers welcome peace boat
DA NANG — The Japanese Peace Boat, which docked in Da Nang last Saturday, became the first international tourist ship to visit Viet Nam since the World Health Organisation declared the country SARS-free on April 28.
Eight hundred tourists, mostly students, poured off the boat, surrounded by hundreds of locals decked out with flowers and flags to welcome the arrivals.
Mostly from western Europe, Singapore, Finland, Japan, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden and the Republic of Korea the visitors spent the weekend touring the city and outlying Quang Nam and Thua-Thien Hue provinces.
Organised by Trans-Asian Tourism and the Da Nang Youth Union, the tourists visited poor households and took part in games including a running rice cooking competition, horse carriage races and a masquerade party.
On arrival Sugana Yukari, a member of the Peace Boat’s board of directors, said his country had kept a close eye on developments in Viet Nam during the SARS epidemic.
"It’s a pity our plans to return to Viet Nam were delayed by SARS. We were so glad to hear Viet Nam was the first country in the world to successfully control it," he said.
On a world tour, it is the twelth time the Peace Boat has docked in Viet Nam over the past 10 years. The ship leaves for Singapore on Monday. — VNS
