Fun with banh chung at Sea Horse Resort

Hundreds of holidayers in Phan Thiet cheered on their favorite team at a banh chung wrapping contest at a festival at Sea Horse Resort on Tuesday night.
The contest to make the square glutinous rice cake filled with green bean paste and pork fat was part of a banh chung festival held by the resort. Twenty three teams, many of them tourists from Russia, Germany, Estonia and Rumania, competed.
In 15 minutes, the teams had to wrap all the ingredients of a banh chung in banana leaves and tie it with string under guidance of the resort staff.
All the teams finished the cake on time but the most beautiful banh chung belonged to three teams from Russia.
A Vietnamese overseas lady, Le Thu Nguyet, said, “I am Vietnamese but this is the first time I have made a banh chung. It is a joyful experience after 23 years away from my country.”
All the cakes were boiled to serve guests. “Touring Vietnam, I can
discover many landscapes and learn interesting things interesting about culture, food and history,” said Billy Karksson,a tourist from Sweden.
The festival is held at the resort every year so visitors can know about the traditional Vietnamese Tet festival.
*Binh Thuan Province will hold its Spring Fair at Nguyen Tat Thanh Square in Phan Thiet City from January 22 to 27 with about 150 booths.
Organizers hope the fair will add extra color to the province’s Tet celebrations and bring luck to
enterprises to promote their businesses and find partners.
The fair will feature food, cosmetics, household utensils, souvenirs, fine arts products and home decorations.
Nightly music shows, children’s games, promotions and discount programs promise to make it a fun event.