'Flower street' in Saigon expat hub attracts huge crowds

Thousands flocked to a Tet “flower street” in HCMC’s Phu My Hung area, home to a large expat community, on Sunday, the day after it opened.

The 700-meter street along Ton Dat Tien Street will remain open until Feb. 13.

At its entrance is a three-meter-high replica of the Dragon God - Fairy Bird guarding 100 eggs.

According to legend, Lac Long Quan, a dragon king who ruled the seas, married Au Co, a mountain goddess. She laid a clutch of 100 eggs from which 100 children were born, the ancestors of the Vietnamese people.

Nearby is another dragon, 50 meters long, winding through colorful flowers.

The Year of the Dragon begins on Saturday, Feb. 10.

This year's flower street is decorated with simulations of dragon scales and landscapes.

Visitors wearing traditional ao dai (Vietnamese long dress) pose for photos.

There are re-creations of typical village scenes with rice fields, ponds and others.

Quynh Tuyet of District 6 and her twin daughters take a selfie in a rice field.

"My children are excited to see village scenes in the middle of a modern urban area," the 38-year-old said.

A group of women in ao dai dress pose by a field of yellow cabbage flowers.

Foreign visitors at a calligraphy stall on the street.

Calligraphy works, usually done using Chinese characters that wish people good health, happiness and wealth, are much sought after during the Tet season.