Thousands of residents were present at downtown Ho Chi Minh City to welcome the Year of the Monkey on February 7 with the most crowded places being Nguyen Hue Flower Street and spring Book Street.
The city People’s Committee hosted a special music program themed ‘Love Spring’ at September 23 Park on the New Year’s Eve.
This year HCMC let off fireworks at five places including one high range at Saigon River Tunnel, District 2 and three low range at Dam Sen Cultural Park in District 11, Sai Gon- Cho Lon- Gia Dinh Revolutionary Tradition Monument in Cu Chi and Can Gio football ground in Can Gio. These locations drew a lot of people.
In Hanoi, people streaming into center areas such as Hoan Kiem (Sword) Lake, Hanoi Opera House Square, Thong Nhat Park, Ngoc Khanh Lake and My Dinh National Stadium to enjoy the New Year’s Eve atmosphere with splendid firework displays and music programs.
Spring walkers also crowded other amusement spots in the city during the Tet holidays.
The first spring book street was opened at Le Thach Street in Hoan Kiem District on February 10--the third day of the lunar year, attracting 20 stalls displaying thousands of book titles. The event will wrap up on February 15 and become annual activity in the beginning of every New Year.
On the same day, holidaymakers from HCMC and other southern provinces such as Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan, Binh Thuan and Dong Nai started travelling to the Central Highlands city of Da Lat.
The city’s hotel system with daily capacity of 40,000 visitors was fully booked from the third to the fifth day of the lunar year with price rocketing up over normal.
Roon border post in the north central province of Quang Binh reported that over 30,000 people visited the grave of the late General Vo Nguyen Giap during three main days of the Tet festival.
Other spiritual places such as Lieu Hanh Princess Temple and Martyr Temple at Road 20-Quyet Thang in the province also received over 10,000 visitors everyday.
Ancient pagodas lured tens of thousands of Buddhist followers such as Non Pagoda in Than Dinh Mountain, Quang Ninh district and Hoang Phuc Pagoda, Le Thuy district.
Dong Loc Crossroad National Historical Relic Site in Ha Tinh province saw an average of 5,000-6,000 visitors a day since the first day of the Monkey year, reported the site’s deputy head Dao Anh Tuan.
They also received many delegations of international visitors from England, France and Laos, he added.
