The gaiety and color of Tet in Ho Chi Minh City has infected foreign students.
Lee So Young, a student of Business Administration at the city’s Vietnam National University who is enjoying the traditional atmosphere, said spring is a season of festivals and an occasion to travel.
Lee admired traditions like ritual offerings to ancestors on New Year’s Eve, visiting pagodas to pray for a peaceful and prosperous year, and giving “lucky money” as gifts.
Visiting pagodas is a unique Vietnamese tradition that no other Southeast Asian country has.
He too plans to go to a religious place to pray for his family and friends.
Some Laotian students said this is their second New Year in Vietnam after spending it last year in Hanoi.
Chonghuatho Songxamay of the private Hung Vuong University said he enjoyed the cool weather and red cherry flowers in Hanoi last year and now and warm weather and bright yellow apricot flowers in HCMC.
His friend Sanlada Khamla said he felt warm to be greeted by teachers and friends.
More than 70 foreign students at the Vietnam National University dormitory, most of whom are pursuing Oriental and Vietnam studies, have stayed back to enjoy the New Year in the city.
Zhang Bi Ming of the HCM City University of Social Sciences and Humanities likes the streets because of the colorful flowers everywhere and the sight of people hurrying to shop. Turkish student Michle Randy is impressed by the solemn atmosphere which reminds him of his country, parents, and family.
Kuak No Jin, who won first prize in the “Who is good at Vietnamese?” competition in 2007, said the most interesting Tet tradition for him is the custom of inviting someone “lucky” to set foot first in the house on New Year’s day.
Last year he was invited to do so by a friend and was welcomed by his family who treated him like one of them.
