Nguyen Hue Flower Street to open on February 13

To celebrate the Year of the Dog, the entrance of the Nguyen Hue Flower Street will be decorated with 2-metre statues of dogs modeled after the Phu Quoc dog. Photo courtesy of Saigon Tourist

This year’s 720-metre flower street, with the theme Khat Vong Vuon Cao (Aspiration for a Bright Future), extends from the statue of President Ho Chi Minh in front of the People’s Committee building down Nguyen Hue pedestrian street to Ton Duc Thang Street.

The Flower Street will have three sections: Mua Xuan Thanh Pho (Spring in the HCM City), Hoi Nhap va Phat Trien (Integration and Development), and Vuon Toi Tuong Lai (Reaching to a Bright Future).

As usual, to celebrate the Year of the Dog, the entrance of the street will be decorated with 2-metre dog statues modeled after the Phu Quoc dog. Statues of puppies with bobbing heads will also be featured.

Traditional Vietnamese Tet will be seen through calligraphy, banh chung (square glutinous cake), banh tet (cylindrical glutinous cake) and Tet pole (traditionally a decorated bamboo was erected in front of a house to chase demons).

A three-floor flower tower will be built and decorated with butterflies and lanterns.

The images of fishing boats filled with fish will be set up to pray for a fruitful harvest.

At the end of the street will be a waterfall of different kinds of flowers, carrying wishes for a peaceful and wealthy 2018.

More than 100 kinds of flowers, including chrysanthemums, roses, orchids, azalea, lotus and cactus, will be used in arrangements on the streets.

Tran Hung Viet, general director of Saigon Tourist and head of Nguyen Hue Flower Street’s organisation board, said: “This year’s flower street will portray HCM City as a modern, dynamic and fast-growing city with a 300-year history and tradition.”

The Nguyen Hue Flower Street will open to the public from December 28 on the lunar calendar to the fourth day of Lunar New Year, which fall on February 13 and 19 this year.