Hundreds of holidayers in Phan Thiet cheered on their favorite team at a banh chung wrapping contest at a festival at Sea Horse Resort in the night of January 18.

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.â€
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.