Vietnamese cultural features in Hungary’s tourism

Phan Bich Thien, a Vietnamese national in Hungary, is known for her success in tourism and wine in the country. She now owns Fried Castle Hotel and Fried Wine that previously won second place at a Hungarian wine contestant.
Phan Bich Thien is an economist. She did her doctoral degree in economics in Russia, and during her studies there, she first met and fell in love with a Hungarian classmate and then they got married. After that, they moved to live in Hungary. Besides economics as her specialty, she often writes poems.
Turning an old castle into a hotel for tourists
Fried, one of many existing old castles in Hungary, is located in Simontornya City. It belongs to Thien and her husband. With her business knowledge and abilities, Thien and her husband decided to turn it into a hotel and the project has now reaped some success.
Some time ago, it was rated as one of the 20 leading hotels in Hungary. Last year, Thien drew up a project to upgrade Fried as a hotel and sent it to a EU tourist promotion programme. Luckily, Fried hotel was one of the 3 hotels in Hungary that received the funding. With 40 per cent of the project’s total investment from the programme, Thien was very happy and decided to expand her business. Accordingly, she will upgrade the castle-hotel, the surrounding scenes and build another tower on the top of a nearby hill.
According to her, the project, which will be finished in 2010, will contribute to Hungarian tourism on one hand, and will provide a good chance for her to promote Vietnamese culture.
Vietnamese culture in her soul spreading over her business
Although she has left Vietnam at a young age, Thien still conserves her Vietnamese culture, nature and thinking. The landlady of Fried hotel will never miss a chance to promote Vietnamese culture to her European guests.
Visiting Fried hotel, tourists will be very surprised as the exterior of the castle is kept with European old architectural features, but the interior is arranged in the Vietnamese cultural styles. Furniture and household goods in the hotel were all made of Vietnamese materials and by Vietnamese craftsmen who she invited there.
Visitors not only live in the Vietnamese cultural space, but they are also served with Vietnamese food. In fact, Vietnamese spring rolls are loved by many European visitors and become a unique specialty of Fried hotel. Recently, Fried’s spring rolls were introduced on a local T.V. cuisine programme.
Thien has 2 daughters. Although they were born and grew up in Hungary, she keeps passing her Vietnamese soul and culture to them. She also spares her time to teach Vietnamese to her daughters. Returning to Vietnam this time, she is planning to invite a teacher to teach Vietnamese to her children. According to her, language is part of her culture, so learning Vietnamese is one way to absorb the it more fully.
Even though she is engrossed in her business, she actively takes part in the Vietnamese community in Hungary. She is now the Chairwoman of the Vietnamese Women’s Society in Hungary with programes to help Vietnamese nationals’ children to learn Vietnamese and many activities to support compatriots back home.