500,000 visitors open Hung Kings Temple festival

      More than half of million people participated in the opening ceremony of the Hung Kings Temple festival (March 31 to April 9) in Viet Tri city, Phu Tho province.
The Director of the Phu Tho Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Nguyen Ngoc An, said that this is the first year the festival is organised with funds from many localities and enterprises.
Initially, the five provinces and cities of Phu Tho, Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Vinh Phuc and Hanoi contributed funds for this event, which is called Gio To Hung Vuong (Hung Kings’ death anniversary).
Vinh Phuc contributed VND200 million, Phu Tho VND1 billion and Mai Linh Taxi 6,000 banh chung (square glutinous rice cakes).
President Nguyen Minh Triet will attend the major ceremony on the 10th day of the third lunar month, which will fall on this coming Saturday, April 4.
The festival is expected to attract 3.5 million visitors from throughout the country.