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Da Lat tops list of most searched destinations for upcoming Lunar New Year Festival (Source: NDO)
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On January 31, the global online travel service platform Booking.com announced that based on searches and bookings from February 8 to 14 (the 29th day of the 12th lunar month to the fifth day of the first lunar month), Da Lat is the most searched destination in Vietnam for the upcoming Lunar New Year Festival.
The ‘mai anh dao’ (Prunus Cesacoides) cherry blossoms in Dat Lat City are forecast to bloom on the occasion of this year's Tet holiday, so the Central Highland City is more attractive for tourists.
According to a survey by Booking.com, this year travellers tend to seek locations with cooler weather to avoid the heat, with 82% of respondents saying they are interested in vacations focusing on sea-related activities. Therefore, sea tourism is still the top choice of Vietnamese tourists.
This demand is reflected in the top ten domestic destinations most sought after by Vietnamese tourists, with 6 out of 10 having seas such as Nha Trang, Da Nang, Vung Tau, Phu Quoc, Mui Ne and Hoi An.
In addition to the beaches, Vietnamese tourists also go to bustling cities such as Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi, which are famous for street eateries with traditional Tet dishes; Hoi An Ancient City, which is decorated with thousands of shimmering colourful lanterns; and Sa Pa with magnificent terraced fields.
Hanoi to optimise culinary culture for development
Hanoi should take specific steps to exploit and develop its culinary culture to serve as a motivation for the growth of the city’s cultural industries, NDO reported the saying of experts.
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| Hanoi's Thin beef noodle. |
The over-one-thousand-year-old city of Thang Long-Hanoi is famous for its rich culinary quintessence with various specialties such as Ly Quoc Su noodle, Thin noodle, West Lake snail noodle, Thanh Tri steamed rice rolls, La Vong grilled fish, and Uoc Le steamed pork paste.
Hanoi is also home to famous food streets such as Ta Hien, Ma May, Dong Xuan, Cau Go, Cam Chi, and Tong Duy Tan.
Director of the city Department of Culture and Sports Do Dinh Hoang said that although Hanoi has held many culinary contests, the city has yet to create considerable cultural benefits for development.
Initially, the capital city should design food streets and night streets in the Old Quarter and urban areas, as well as culinary spaces and a chain of restaurants around the West Lake, he said.
Meanwhile, Nguyen Xuan Quynh, General Secretary of the Vietnam Chefs’ Association, underlined the need for Hanoi to focus more on human resources development for the growth of the local culinary sector.
Associate Prof. Dr. Pham Quynh Phuong from the Vietnam National University-Hanoi asserted that with a rising trend of culinary tourism, culinary culture is likely to make greater contributions to the growth of other sectors as well as stronger interaction with other areas in the cultural industries.
Dr. Dang Phuong Anh from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities advised Hanoi to popularise the local cuisine in tourism by designing food tours and developing heritage culinary tourism to create a unique tourism product of the city.
International tourists learn to make lunar New Year cake
Visitors from Australia, Finland, and the Republic of Korea participated in a Chung cake (square glutinous rice cake) wrapping festival, which was held on February 3 at The Cliff Resort and Residences in Phan Thiet City in the southern province of Binh Thuan province, reported VOV.
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| Foreign tourists are interested in making Chung cake (Photo: baotintuc.vn) |
At the festival local cooks taught participants how to make a Chung cake, an indispensable item during the lunar New Year holiday (Tet) in Vietnam, and told them the legend of the cake.
The square glutinous rice cake is stuffed full of glutinous rice, fat meat, and green beans. All of the ingredients are wrapped using phrynium leaves and then tied up by bamboo strings.
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| International tourists learn to make lunar New Year cake (Source: VNA) |
Wearing a traditional Vietnamese costume, Ringsaker from Norway shared that he has taken part in the festival several times. He noted that he really likes the meaning of the local delicacy, as well as traditional Vietnamese culture during Tet.
Meanwhile, Kicki and Jorgen, a couple from Sweden, noted that they had heard a lot about Vietnamese Tet, although this was the first time they could wrap the cake.
“It is not an easy task but very interesting,” they excitedly said.
A number of interesting programmes, including a food festival, calligraphy writing, and folk games, also took place during the event.
A representative from The Cliff Resort & Residences’ Management Board said that the cake making event will help international tourists gain a better understanding of the traditional cuisine and culture of the Vietnamese people.
Longest ceramic-flower road sets national record
According to VOV, a road of ceramic products decorated with flowers in the Mekong Delta province of Vinh Long has been recognised as the longest of its kind in Vietnam by the Vietnam Records Organization (Vietkings).
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| The longest ceramic-flower road in Vinh Long sets national record. (Source: VOV) |
Local authorities held a ceremony on February 2 to receive the certificate of Vietkings and to inaugurate the road.
The 700m long and 200m wide road showcases more than 2,000 ceramic products created by dozens of businesses throughout the province.
Nguyen Thi Quyen Thanh, vice chairman of the Vinh Long provincial People’s Committee, said the ceremony is also to honour the centenary Vinh Long ceramic village which is home to nearly 1,500 kilns.
Vinh Long's products are famous throughout the region for their distinctive characteristics which are as solid as stone and boast a nice colour of red. The red ceramic products have been exported to European, American, Australian, and Asian markets, she noted.
The road will open to the public up to February 19, or the 10th day of the first lunar month./.