Fruit lovers flock to HCM City festival

(30-05-2005)

Sweet and juicy: A view of the South Fruit Festival 2005 in HCM City. — VNS Photo Thanh Vu

Visitors have begun flocking to HCM City for an exhibition of fruits from Viet Nam and neighbouring contries which began last Saturday.

The annual South Fruit Festival 2005 opened unofficially in the city’s Suoi Tien Park with a display of 45 kinds of fruits including thanh long (dragon fruit), mang cut (mangosteen), buoi (grapefruit), sau rieng (durian), nhan (longan) and vai (litchi), all Vietnamese specialities.

The official opening is slated for June 1.

Offering a meeting place for orchard farmers, traders and visitors, the festival will see trucks festooned with fruits representing different areas.

Visitors can see people garbed in ‘fruit’ and a fruit-eating contest.

The festival will host seminars and introduce varieties of traditional foods and drinks made from fruits – like coffee, tea, cakes and cocktails.

Over 40 kinds of fruits are expected to be sold here at cheap rates.

The festival is organised every year by the HCM City Tourist Department and Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta provinces to promote Vietnamese fruits and tourism, and attracts participation from neighbouring countries.

This year, the festival expects to shatter the records for the number of visitors and fruit consumption.

Fruit Festival 2005 will run until June 11. — VNS