Adventure tour organizer Hong Bang Tourist has received booking for a tour by a group of tourists from HCM City who want to conquer Fansipan Mountain. The highest mountain in Vietnam, it lies in Lao Cai Province. Hong Bang director Nguyen Duc Hieu says the tour, to be organized by the end of December, is not the usual "walking" tour conducted by local guides. "Members of the tour will be equipped with mountain climbing tools to get the real feeling of adventure," Hieu says. He was once a member of a group of adventure tour instructors in Dalat established by Didier, an adventure tour promoter in Vietnam.

In order to plan for adventure tours, Hong Bang has explored cliffs at popular tourist sites such as Datanla (Da Lat City), Hang Doi (Phan Thiet City), Vinh Hao Spring (Binh Thuan Province) and Con Dao Island. The company has helped tourists climb the cliff of the famous Phu Tu (Father and Son) Islet in Ha Tien Township and other impressive cliffs in Kien Giang Province. It has a site for mountain climbing training in Buu Long near HCM City.

Hieu plans to organize a tour to cross rivers by bamboo raft in Madagui, Lam Dong Province this month. "We have gradually introduced adventure tours into ordinary tours to familiarize tourists," Hieu says. Last year, the company offered the Raid Truong Son

Mountain tour, featuring games like those of the Raid Gauloise organized in the North by France. However, it received no response.

French instructor Didier introduced adventure tours into Vietnam in the late 1990s with games such as mountaineering, waterfall crossing and paragliding in Dalat. Unfortunately the business has not developed well. However, it is still main trained by two groups of instructors trained by Didier, the Dalat Holiday and Hardy Dalat. The groups gradually began to receive orders over the past two years.

Tran Xuan Duc, an instructor from Dalat Holiday says, �Previously, an instructor guided four or five tours a month. The number has now increased to between 15 and 20 tours. Most customers are western tourists, but recently we have received Vietnamese company employees and workers. Some individual tourists have also joined thrilling games.�

Two adventure games favored by tourists at present are abseiling and canoeing. Hong Bang has also introduced rock climbing. Meanwhile, western backpackers prefer trekking through the jungle. Outdoor tour operators like Lua Viet often cooperate with adventure tour organizers to hold physical exercise and team spirit training programs for businesses.

According to adventure tour organizers, Vietnam has many places ideal for adventure tours such as Ngu Hanh Son, Bach Ma and Ba Vi Mountains, and Phong Nha Cave. Dalat Holiday and Hong Bang have plans to explore cliffs in Halong Bay to organize adventure tours. Action Asian magazine highly favors the cliffs there. Lynn Hill and Beth Wald, two exworld champions in cliff climbing, have spent much time exploring and climbing the cliffs in the Bay, lavishing much praise on them. Another adventure game practiced in Halong is kayaking.