On Jan. 19 girls wearing colorful ao dai (traditional Vietnamese long dress) flock to Ta Hien Street in the old quarter to pose for photos as Vietnam heads for its biggest and most important festival, which peaks on Feb. 10 this year.
Ta Hien is around 200 meters long, and links up with Luong Ngoc Quyen, Ma May and Hang Bac streets to form a bustling busiest backpacker precinct that is home to bars, beer stalls and restaurants that attract tens of thousands of revelers during weekends.
During the daytime, most beer stalls and restaurants are closed, providing people the perfect location to take photos.
In recent years there has been an increasing trend of wearing traditional costumes during Lunar New Year.
Ta Hien is popular with foreign tourists and locals alike thanks to its old-fashioned green painted wooden doors and yellow walls, and colonial architecture from the early 20th century.
Bui Thi Linh (C), 22, and her friends came nearly 40 km from Bac Ninh Province to Ta Hien Street to take photos in their ao dai.
“I woke up at 6:30 a.m. to prepare clothes, put on makeup and do my hair,” she said.
“This place is more bustling before Tet than my hometown, and so our whole group decided to come here to capture some beautiful moments.”
Le Huyen Trang (2nd, R), who lives on Phung Khoan Street in Nam Tu Liem District, paid VND200,000 (US$8.15) to rent an ao dai and some accessories.
Her group hired a photographer for VND700,000 a day. To reduce costs, she and her friends did each other's makeup.
