VietNamNet Bridge – "There, now we are home." Tran Phuong Lan, in her mid-forties, had tears in her eyes as she held her daughter's hand tight at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport last Sunday, Jan 23.

It was an emotional homecoming for Lan, who was returning to her homeland after 25 years, fulfilling her long cherished wish to bring her 19 year old daughter, Alice Tran, to visit Viet Nam.

After a long trip from the US, both mother and daughter were a little tired, but excited about the upcoming trip to the central coastal city of Nha Trang from HCM City.

"Since Alice was born, her grandparents have been looking forward to meeting her," Lan said. She told the Tuoi Tre newspaper that "family circumstances" had prevented her from making the trip earlier.

Apart from introducing her daughter to all her relatives, Lan also wanted to take Alice Tran to several pagodas in the country so that she could learn more about Buddhist culture.

Emotions also ran high as eight members of Nguyen Viet Hung's family, settled in Canada for 20 years, returned to Viet Nam together to celebrate Tet, the Lunar New Year festival.

Hung's father, who is 83 and is confined largely to a wheelchair, wanted to return to Viet Nam and celebrate Tet in his homeland and live out the last years of his life here, Hung said.

Bich Hanh, a native of the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Kien Giang, had moved to Switzerland with her Swiss husband eight years ago. This was the sixth time she was taking her family to Viet Nam for Tet.

Her husband now is keen on Vietnamese Tet and every year, he persuades his friends to come to Viet Nam and celebrate the festival with his wife's family.

"We can buy banh chung (square glutinous rice cake), Vietnamese candy and jams there, overseas, but would still feel something missing," Hanh said.

Hanh and her husband love to visit local markets because "we feel that we are celebrating Tet just by looking at other people preparing for Tet".

Their oldest daughter is five years old and cannot speak any Vietnamese, and Hanh is hoping that these visits would help the little one learn her mother tongue soon.

Nguyen Quoc Viet from California was returning to Viet Nam with five dogs, and was not going back.

Viet, in his mid-forties like Lan, said he had bought a house in HCM City's District 7 and intended to live in Viet Nam though he has no relatives here.

"It is so comfortable to live in a place with a lot of Vietnamese around me, and be able to exchange greetings in Vietnamese every time I go out," Viet said.

Viet said he will let his parents bring up his children, but provided no further details about his family.

Canadian Vietnamese Tran Van Phuoc, born in Dong Nai Province's Bien Hoa City, said he had been investing in some projects in Viet Nam in recent years.

"This year I am bringing my family to Viet Nam for Tet. Then, when my children finish their studies, I will return and settle down here for running my business," Phuoc said, without elaborating further.

The Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCM City is overcrowded these days as thousands of overseas Vietnamese, known locally as Viet Kieu, return to their homeland to celebrate Tet, the most important of all festivals.

Dang Bui Viet, an official at the airport's customs department, said they had assigned 40 staff members to take turns at elevators, luggage conveyor belts and information desks to lend a helping hand to people returning to their homeland for the Lunar New Year festival.

Sometimes, they have to lend more than a helping hand at the airport.

Kathy Nguyen, another middle-aged American Vietnamese citizen, had forgotten the faces of her relatives after leaving the country 15 years ago.

An airport official helped make a call to the central city of Nha Trang and find out the cell phone number of her relative who'd gone to the airport to meet her.

Around half a million overseas Vietnamese will return to the land of their ancestors during the Tet holiday this year, according to the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese.

They said the number is higher than last year due to the economic recovery.

The state committee will organise a grand Xuan que huong (Spring in the Motherland) concert at the Thang Long Imperial Citadel for around 1,000 overseas Vietnamese on Friday welcoming the diaspora back home.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News