Luong Nhu Hoc Street in Chinatown is known as the ‘Lantern Street’ where Saigonese celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival, or Tet Trung Thu, by walking under the colorful lanterns that vendors put on display.

With the approach of Tet Trung Thu, which falls on the 15th day of the 8th Lunar month, hordes of Vietnamese head toward Lantern Street on foot or by motorbike. Most visitors are teenagers, plus a few families and very few children. Many young women wear colorful Rio or Venetian style masks, or “rabbit ears” to nab the crowds’ attention.