Flows of people coming to Huong pagoda festival 

Taking advantage of long holiday, thousands of people have flocked to major festivals. Serious overcrowding and other public safety issues were recorded at festivals at the Huong Pagoda of Hanoi’s My Duc District and Phu Giay in Nam Dinh Province’s Vu Ban District.

The Huong Pagoda festival opened on the sixth day of the lunar year. The three month long festival marked the start of series of events which comprise of the national tourism year in Red River Delta – Haiphong region.

Nguyen Chi Thanh, head of the Huong Son management board said over 50,000 visitors attended the opening ceremony this year. 250,000 people visited the site during the first few days of the event and a total of 1.5 million visitors is expected this year. 

Around 4,800 boats were put in use to serve visitors.

Many visitors however complained that they were overcharged for food, with even a basic bowl of noodles costing up to VND70,000 (USD3.30).

Drink prices were double or triple their normal prices.

Small money and salt were still sprayed uncontrollably at some points around the pagoda. However, the situation was allegedly better than compared to the previous years.

Late last year, the Ministry of Health requested food traders to intensify food hygiene standards and they expressed concern over the sale of porcupine, squirrel, deer and rabbit at VND400,000 (USD19) per plate.

Cheating

Nguyen Chi Thanh said the ‘wild animals’ on sale at the pagoda site were actually domesticated animals and that locals had tricked visitors.

The Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Huynh Vinh Ai recently requested the festival’s organisation board to take drastic measures to tackle the situation.

The board said it would strictly punish any violations.

Beggars in Phu Giay festival

Phu Giay festival opened early in the lunar new year and it’s opening caused serious traffic congestion.

Despite extra traffic police, the number of souvenir and snack sellers on the side of the road intensified the problem.

Beggars also continued to attend, with 50 beggars of different ages lying down along roads leading to the site.

Many people also visited Vieng Market driving up prices to VND300,000 (USD14.5) per kilo for its much sought after ‘lucky’ beef.