Christmas atmosphere overwhelms HCM City, Ninh Binh

Trade centres, restaurants and hotels along Nguyen Hue pedestrian street, Hai Ba Trung street and Phu My Hung villa area as well as Major buildings like Diamond Plaza, Saigon Centre, Parkson, Aeon Mall Tan Phu, Rex and Caravel Hotels are decorated with colourful lights and ornaments and Christmas trees. Especially, the bustling Christmas atmosphere has drawn crowds of Vietnamese youngsters and foreign visitors to Bui Vien pedestrian street. Neang Savuthy from Cambodia said she is really excited at the Christmas atmosphere in Ho Chi Minh City. It is like a fairy tale and HCM City looks like a European city in the Christmas Day, she said. Besides major parishes like Pham The Hien in District 8, Thong Nhat and Thanh Cong in Tan Phu district, and Tam Ha in Thu Duc district, small ones in Tan Binh district and District 10 are also decorated with sparkling roads of stars. Meanwhile in the north, from the early morning of December 24, thousands of people in Ninh Binh province, which boasts a large population of Catholics, have flocked to churches and parishes to welcome the Christmas. Of note, the Phat Diem Cathedral, dubbed as the "Kingdom of Catholics", has attracted crowds of people, including both Catholics and non-Catholics. By 7pm, the 1km road from the major street to the church was full of pedestrians. The jubilant Christmas atmosphere is also overwhelming many other localities throughout the country like the capital city of Hanoi and Nam Dinh province.

(Source: VNA)