A: Welcome to the first Letter Box of December, the Christmas month. The festive season is coming. We are rolling up the final days of 2016 to welcome Christmas and New Year 2017.

B: Over the past few days, we have received seasonal greetings from our listeners throughout the world. Richard Lemke of Canada sent us several emails this week together with his greetings for Christmas and the New Year.

A: Thank you Richard. We also wish you and other listeners Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We’d like to thank you for your reception reports on November 9, 11, 12, 17, 18, and 21 from 00:00 to 00:26 and 01:00 to 01:26 on the frequency of 7315Kz. We’ll confirm them with QSL cards.

B: Ashik Eqbal Tokon of Bangladesh this week wrote: “Good evening from Bangladesh, another bird paradise of South-Asia. Last Thursday, while tuning in to your broadcast on 9730 khz at 16:00 UTC, I found an interesting article about Xuan Thuy National Park, a bird paradise. I found it an useful and informative article for all. Today, I visit wiki to know more and come to know that Vietnam has total 848 species of birds. Great. Is it possible for VOV to arrange a serial coverage on those beautiful ones?"

A: Thank you, Ashik Eqbal Tokon, for your comment on our stories. It’s hard to talk about all species of birds in Vietnam. We’ll try our best to take you on tours of some of the large bird sanctuaries in Vietnam through our stories.

B: Today, let’s join a tour of Bang Lang stork garden, the best stork sanctuary in the Mekong Delta.

A: Bang Lang Stork Garden lies within the area of Binh Thoi hamlet, Thoi Thuan commune, Thot Not district, Can Tho city. It is surrounded by immense rice paddies as well as interlacing canals.

B: There are various species of storks living in Bang Lang Stork Garden including Cattle Egret, ibis, striated heron, painted stork, etc. There are also other species making their home at Bang Lang Garden such as the black-crowned night heron, little cormorant, and greater heron.

A: The most populous of all the stork species is the white cattle egret which makes up 80% of the total number of storks in the garden. This species of storks often builds their nests at the garden from March to August of lunar year.

B: The best time to admire the garden is at 5 p.m. when flocks of storks fly back to their nests. They hover in the sky then perch on tree peaks, twitter together and pose in the wind. Tourists must not forget to take photos of those moments. There is a three-meter watch tower for tourists to view the birds.

A: The main foods of storks are fish, shellfish, tiny shrimps, locusts, and insects. They often fly away to find food in the early morning and return in the late afternoon. Storks often go in couples to find foods; sometimes, they go in flock. Seeing storks flying in the evening, visitors will drift back to their childhoods and mother’s lullabies and images of storks.

B: The Mekong Delta always attracts tourists with its peaceful beauty and rustic natural scenes that you can hardly find anywhere else in the world. If you are planning to travel to the Mekong Delta, make sure to book a tour.

A: That’s a short take on Bang Lang stork sanctuary in Can Tho province in the Mekong Delta. In his first email to VOV on November 25, Jose Maranhao of Brazil reported listening to our broadcasts on November 14 on from 20:50 to 21:00 on the frequency of 7220 khz.

B: Thank you, Jose Maranhao. We’ll confirm your report with a QSL card. Dewan Refiqul of Bangladesh wrote: “For me, your station is a good friend and the best teacher. I always find it a lot of fun to learn. With your station, my life has become a lot more interesting. I have one question about your cinema hall in Vietnam.”

A: Dewan, it was so great to read your comment. It encouraged us a lot.  In Vietnam, we have a number of cinema chains. Cinema has mushroomed in the big cities. 450 theaters out of 510 are equipped with digital projectors.

B: One chain is the CGV cinema owned by the CJ Group, one of South Korea’s largest economic groups which has holdings in 21 countries around the world.

B: Based in Seoul, CGV has been in Vietnam for more than 10 years. It has the largest number of theaters in Vietnam, 176 theaters in 10 cities with more than 25,000 seats.

A: The Lotte Cinema chain owned by of the Lotte Co. Ltd. Group now has 18 clusters of theaters in HCM City, Hanoi, Can Tho, Quang Ninh and a few other localities, all with modern projection equipment.

B: Lotte Cinema in Vietnam has a website that’s full of useful information about cinema. Platinum Cineplex, owned by Multivision Group of Indonesia, a famous producer and distributor of Hollywood and Bollywood films in Southeast Asia and Asia came to Vietnam in January, 2011. Platinum Cineplex now has 5 clusters of theaters in Vietnam. It has the most theaters in Hanoi.

A: Galaxy Cinema of Vietnam is another popular theater chain in HCM City and Can Tho. Joining the cinema market in Vietnam in May, 2005, Galaxy Cinema has 5 clusters of state-of-the art cinemas. Designed and installed by Hollywood’s Warner Bros Group, Galaxy Cinema boasts 2D and 3D theaters with the most advanced system and surround sound in Vietnam. For more information on this topic, check out other stories on VOV.

B: Before we go, we’d like to acknowledge letters and emails from Richard Nowak of the US, Sutomo Huang and Eddy Prabowo of Indonesia, Sana Ali of Pakistan, and Jorhan Heyburn of Northern Ireland. We’ll verify your reports with QSL cards.

A: We welcome your feedback at: English section, VOV World, the Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu street, Hanoi, Vietnam. You can email us at englishsection@vov.org.vn. You’re invited to visit us online at www.vovworld.vn, where you can hear both live and recorded programs. Good bye until next time.