Family of 13, 3 generations bring banh chung on the train to celebrate Tet

Sharing with Lao Dong, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Ha, 43 years old, living in Bac Giang city, said that every year his family celebrates Tet at home. This year, the whole family of 13 people, 3 generations, the oldest is 70 years old, the youngest is 9 years old, chose to celebrate Tet very specially. That is, taking a train to Quy Nhon to both travel and celebrate Tet.

“My family brought banh chung, gio lua… In general, whatever was available for Tet, my family chose it to welcome New Year's Eve and celebrate Tet on the train,” Mr. Ha shared.

One of Ha's family members, Nguyen Ngoc Thuy Linh, a 4th year university student, shared: "The first time I took a train was when I was in 2nd grade. Therefore, this time I was extremely excited to take the train on New Year's Eve. Moreover, I was very happy to go with my family members."

Nguyen Ngoc Thuy Linh hopes not to miss the fireworks display even when traveling by train. Her whole family chose to travel during Tet by train with the hope that grandparents can enjoy their old age, and the younger generation can fully enjoy their childhood before growing up. Parents will also feel the connection when traveling with generations.

On the last train of the year, there were also many special families. They were the families of the artists who participated in creating the spring train.

Artist Phan Thi Minh Bach happily said that in March 2024, for the first time, a group of more than 20 Vietnamese artists participated in painting on the hull of the train the image of the "Hue - Da Nang heritage journey". In just 3 days, many vivid scenes of the heritage of these two provinces were shown. This is the idea for the group of artists to continue painting on the hull of the train with 2 community compartments with the theme of the train entering spring for nearly a month. To continue the inspiration of paintings on the train, on the last train on New Year's Eve, 12 artists will board the train across Vietnam, through Tet to create.

Among the 12 artists, many had to bring their children along, such as artist Dao Tuan, who had to give one child to his wife to take care of, and he himself brought his son along. A female artist with few children had to bring both of her children on board.

"I am both busy composing and taking care of my children, but being able to share with the community of artists makes me very happy. This will be the motivation for us to strive to create at least 100 paintings to display at Hanoi Station on the 6th day of Tet after completing the trip," said artist Phan Thi Minh Bach.

Mr. Dang Sy Manh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietnam Railways Corporation, said that grasping the travel trend of many families every time Tet comes, especially the need for travel experiences during this time, this year the Corporation organizes a train trip through the night of New Year's Eve with community stations to bring unique cultural features and entertainment activities to serve passengers on the train during Tet.

Answering the question, does organizing more activities increase the price of the ship?

Mr. Dang Sy Manh said, usually for the annual New Year's Eve trains, we never put profit targets first. Because this is to serve the people traveling.

“Mainly serving and this year is the same. We want to bring passengers Tet experiences, especially to show passengers a flexible railway industry serving the community by bringing cultural features, folk games, traditional Tet activities on the train, to bring new experiences to passengers on the train. Not only on the train but also at the station, the railway industry is moving in the direction of trains being the experiential tourism segment, stations being destinations. During peak times like Tet, the railway industry always organizes practical activities both at the station and on the train. Along the way, we also decorate beautiful routes for tourists to see, admire, and check-in," Mr. Manh shared.