02/19/10 -- Vietnam -- At 9 am this morning, the Huong pagoda festival, which will last 3 months, opened with 60,000 tourists and others in attendance.

In an interview with VnExpress.net, Mr. Nguyen Chi Thanh, head of the pagoda’s Relic Management Board, said that from just the 5th day of the Tet holiday [February 18] to the 6th [February 19], 16,000 pilgrims and tourists visited Huong pagoda.

The opening of Huong pagoda festival also opened Buddhist Culture Week, which is dedicated to 1000 years of Thang Long Ha Noi. According to the Organizing Committee, in this week there will be many cultural activities, including excellent art: the 500 flowers festival and a Buddhist art exhibition including two galleries of the biggest Buddhist artists ever. This year for the first time there will be a cultural music show for tourists conducted on boats along the Yen stream.

A new feature of this year's holiday season is that the Relic management board will use 200 new, high-quality, boats to serve tourist and pilgrims. The boats have automatic umbrellas for protection against rain and sun as well as seats for tourists (6-8 seats or 12-15 plastic seats for each boat). The price is 35,000 Dong [about 2 USD] per tourist. We are "using high quality boats to offer more choice to tourists to serve their traveling needs better" said the head of the Huong Son relic management board.

According to the plan, the Huong pagoda festival will last from the 6th lunar month until the end of the March lunar calendar. The number of visitors to Huong pagoda this year is estimated to increase by 10% over last year, to about 1.3 million.

[Full Article]

By Xuân Tùng, Vnexpress.net (Vietbao)

--Translated by Son

Go to original article: http://vietbao.vn/Xa-hoi/60-nghin-khach-du-khai-hoi-chua-Huong/11150420/157/