Spring trips at the beginning of the year have long been an annual tradition for the extended family of Thanh Phan, born in 1996, from Quoi Dien Commune in Vinh Long Province.

For the past 20 years, every Lunar New Year season the paternal side of her family has traveled more than 200km from home to visit the Ba Chua Xu Temple in Chau Doc, An Giang Province, to give thanks and enjoy the surrounding scenery.

During most of these trips, the family prepares its own food for the entire journey.

This year was no exception.

The family’s spring outing took place on the 19th and 20th days of the first lunar month, corresponding to March 7 and 8.

A total of 45 family members joined the trip, with all expenses covered by Phan’s aunt and uncle.

“My aunt and uncle are financially comfortable, so they wanted to sponsor the trip for the entire family, including transportation, food and hotel accommodation,” Phan said.

For the journey, the family prepared an impressive amount of food and drinks.

Their supplies included 100 baguettes, 20 palm-sugar sponge cakes, 30kg of homemade lap xuong sausage, 50 liters of herbal tea, 10 chickens and 10 ducks prepared as dishes such as fish sauce fried chicken and ginger-braised duck, along with rice, fruit and various snacks.

“For breakfast we ate banh mi sandwiches on the bus,” Phan said.

“At lunchtime we rented a small open area next to a drink stall, spread out mats and ate together. In the evening we stayed at a hotel and borrowed their kitchen to cook dinner.”

The family used disposable bowls and chopsticks, making cleanup simple and convenient.

At every meal, the extended family gathered around to enjoy dishes they had prepared themselves.

During the rest of the trip, they visited the temple to offer thanks, explored nearby pagodas and stopped at other tourist attractions.

“On the final evening we ate buffet at a restaurant, which cost about VND15 million (US$615),” Phan said.

“All the food we brought was finished, so nothing went to waste. Everyone calculated the portions very carefully.”

For Phan, bringing homemade food on a family trip has many advantages.

In addition to saving money and ensuring hygiene, it allows family members to spend meaningful time together, sharing meals they prepared themselves. Those moments, she said, are cherished by everyone in the family.

“Preparing the food is not inconvenient because everyone contributes,” she explained.

“In the past we used to eat at roadside restaurants and several family members had stomach problems. Since then we prefer to prepare our own food whenever we travel together.”

A video showing the extended family enjoying banh mi sandwiches together on the bus attracted more than 300,000 views and 13,000 likes on TikTok.

Many viewers left warm comments beneath the clip.

“Food prepared by family always tastes better than restaurant meals - it’s delicious and full of joy,” one user wrote.

“Such a large and harmonious family is rare,” another commented.

“Traveling like this may be a little more work, but it looks so fun. That uncle seems very kind - everyone in the family must love him.”

Thanh Minh