Published:  12:49 Saturday - February 09, 2013

A foreign tourist happens to come to Vietnam on the occasion of Lunar New Year festival ( Tet Nguyen Dan in Vietnamese) and makes a decision to stay in HCMC to experience traditional New Year.

Lunar New Year usually takes place in February in Vietnam and this New Year will fall on February 10 - the first day of Lunar New Year of the Snake according to lunar calendar here. When the New Year is coming, lively and bustling atmosphere covers all regions in Vietnam.

Taking advantage of the last day of the year, people put the worries aside and flock to streets to go shopping for the New Year. They buy a lot of food to "hoard" for the upcoming long holiday. An addition, they buy new clothes and gifts to give each other because the New Year is an opportunity to express gratitude for the superior and those who helped them.

Before the New Year, Vietnamese people have to buy many things to prepare for Tet because stores or small traders will cease from business operations for at least 5 days of the New Year. Therefore, in these days, visitors will easily see the scene of local people who flock to streets and take many goods such as clothes, food, peach tree, kumquat tree…

Unlike the days before Tet, streets become quiet and sparse people in days of the New Year because people from other places have come back their home to greet the New Year with family. They also are factors contributing to make streets crowded and bustling in usual days.

Tet is also an only occasion that big cities in Vietnam will not take place traffic jams. I have arrived in Vietnam on the occasion of Vietnamese Lunar New Year festival and decided to stay in HCMC to enjoy Vietnamese New Year.

Nguyen Hue Flower Street becomes city for pedestrians to enjoy flowers. The atmosphere is like a big fair in which has the works of art shaped flowers and beautiful style by the hands of artisans. People all around the country flock to here to enjoy beautiful flower works and pose for photographs to keep memory.

Although millions of people from other provinces came back their home, I felt surprised by crowds of people flocking to here.

Tourists to Vietnam in the New Year festival will have the opportunity to witness a special cultural event. Dong Khoi, Le Loi and Nguyen Hue Street and others are brightly decorated with colorful lights.

Local people here on motorbike wave “ Hello!Hello!” friendly with tourists visiting the city. Tet is also a festive season around the country. In this occasion, people become happy and smile everywhere. It seems Tet is the time for them to give their enthusiasm with open heart.

The only difficult thing for foreign tourists in these days is almost businesses that are closed but visitors will have chances to enjoy special atmosphere of Vietnamese Lunar New Year festival.

It’s worth making a trip to Vietnam in the early days of February!

Translated by Nguyen Hao

Source: Dantri