Foreigners experience Tet cultural immersion

My friend, an Australian businessman working in HCMC, asked me to explain the appropriate behaviour when visiting people during the Lunar New Year holiday, or Tet of Vietnamese.

A foreigner learns to pack Banh Tet (a kind of Vietnamese traditional cake make from glutinous rice filled with green beans and pork) on her tour during last year's Tet festival with a local family in the Mekong Delta City of My Tho.

This is the first time he will be celebrating the New Year in the city, so he wanted to learn about the customs of local people on this special holiday. “I am afraid that I will do the wrong thing when I visit my colleague’s home, since my knowledge of Vietnamese Tet culture is limited,” my friend said.

He has a keen interesting in every thing that the Vietnamese do during Tet. “Because many members of staff are on leave during the holiday. I want to know what they will do during the long break” he said.

I told him many things about our local customs during the Lunar New Year holidays, but he kept asking for more detail so he could fully understand. It is really difficult to explain every thing regarding local culture to foreigners. For that reason, I suggested he join a special tour to experience how local Vietnamese people celebrate Tet in their real life.

The tour departs every day from February 7 to 10, 2008 or the first to the fourth day of Lunar New Year. Foreign visitors will have two choices, the first is a daylong trip to enjoy Tet with a family in HCMC, and the second is the same trip to the Mekong Delta City of My Tho.

The daylong trip takes in the Tao Dan flower market in central HCMC, the temple of Thien Hau, and includes an hour riding a chauffeur-pedaled tricycle, known as a cyclo, around China Town in District 5.

The same trip in My Tho includes visiting Lac Hong flower market, Vinh Trang Pagoda, a fruit garden, and learning how to make Banh Tet cake (the Vietnamese traditional cake made from rice filled with green bean paste and fat pork). Both trips include dining in a Vietnamese home.

One advantage of these excursions is that, while many tours for Tet are already fully booked, this tour can be reserved right up to the day of departure.

“Visitors can book the tour in the morning to depart in the afternoon,” said Doan Thi Thanh Tra, deputy head of Saigontourist’s planning and marketing department and the tour organizer.

She also said that the tour operator has combined with four families in HCMC, and three in My Tho who celebrate Tet in a tradition way and will welcome foreigners to enjoy Tet with them. “The head of the family in HCMC is a culture expert, and his family has lived for three generations under the same roof. We think that foreigners will learn more about Vietnamese customs by spending time with an expert,” she said.

Saigontourist has been arranging this special tour for six years running, aiming to give foreigners a ‘Tet cultural immersion’ experience. By the end of last year’s Tet holiday, around 400 foreigners had enjoyed the tour.

The tour to My Tho City costs US$40 per guest, and the city tour costs US$30 per person. 
(Source: SGT)