Tycoon spends 1 billion to play with legendary orchids
A Hanoi tycoon working in the real estate sector spent over 1 billion VND to buy 5 pots of the legendary Tran Mong Cymbidium orchids to bring home for Tet and to give to friends. Satisfied with his passion for flowers, for him, Tet is enough.
In recent years, the Tran Mong Cymbidium has always created a fever in the ornamental flower market every Lunar New Year, and is sought after by everyone to buy. This type of flower has a rare beauty, with clusters of jade green or green flowers that look like falling stars, a meter long.
Regarding the Tran Mong orchid, folklore has passed down the story of King Tran Anh Tong, who one night dreamed of admiring a strange type of orchid with yellow-green flowers (like the color of young rice), which looked very beautiful and fragrant. When he woke up, King Tran Anh Tong was presented with a pot of orchid identical to the orchid that appeared in his dream. Since then, the precious Sapa orchid has been called King Tran's dream or Tran Mong orchid.
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| Tran Mong Cymbidium - the orchid that has been causing a stir during Tet in recent years |
To have a pot of the legendary Tran Mong orchid to play Tet, customers have to spend from several million to several tens of million VND, even more than hundreds of million VND for each orchid pot depending on how big they are. Especially, with beautiful orchid pots, customers have to order in advance, if they don't have money, it's hard to buy.
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hoa, a dealer with many years of experience in trading Tran Mong orchids in Ha Dong (Hanoi), said that this year, the weather is favorable so Tran Mong orchids are much more beautiful than last year. Currently, gardeners are focusing on taking care of the orchids so that they can bloom and spread their fragrance right in time for the Lunar New Year.
According to Mr. Hoa, this type of orchid has appeared on the market for several years now. Gardeners are also constantly expanding the area of orchid cultivation. However, the price of orchids has not cooled down, still fluctuating at 900,000-1,300,000 VND/ orchid branch about 1m long, with 30 buds. The price of each pot is calculated based on the number of branches in the pot.
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| Although this type of orchid is grown quite a lot in Sapa, the price to customers is still extremely expensive. |
“On the occasion of Lunar New Year, buying orchid pots from 5-40 million VND/pot is quite easy because of the abundant supply. However, large pots of 60-70 million VND or more than 100 million VND/pot usually have to be ordered in advance, some people even order them half a year in advance,” Mr. Hoa said, adding that at this time, customers are ordering many large pots of Tran Mong orchids. Some customers even drive hundreds of kilometers to orchid gardens in Sapa (Lao Cai) to choose orchids to play with during Tet.
“Half a month ago, after looking through the orchid pots, a Hanoi tycoon working in the real estate industry decided to buy 5 giant Tran Mong orchid pots for more than 1 billion VND. This person said that in addition to buying 2 pots to keep at home, he gave the remaining 3 pots to his friends,” Mr. Hoa revealed.
The reason why 5 Tran Mong orchid pots cost more than 1 billion is because each flower branch in the pot is up to 1.3m long with over 40 branches/branch. Meanwhile, orchid pots with long branches and many branches like that are considered rare. Therefore, their price is calculated to be 2.2 million/branch. In 5 pots, there is 1 pot with 78 flower branches, 1 pot with over 100 branches, and the remaining 3 pots all have nearly 100 branches.
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| To own giant Tran Mong orchid pots, many people spend hundreds of millions of dong. |
The above price includes the cost of the pot, the base, the transportation fee from Sapa to Hanoi and the transportation fee to the customer's house. The most difficult part is the transportation. With those giant orchid pots, when loading them onto the car or moving them into the house, it takes 10 people to lift them together.
“That is one of my regular customers,” Mr. Hoa revealed. For the past 4 years, every year this customer has bought 2 giant pots of Tran Mong orchids because he is fascinated by the beauty of thousands of flowers blooming and spreading their fragrance at the same time. Therefore, this year this tycoon decided to spend a lot of money, ordering 5 giant pots to both enjoy and give as gifts to his friends.
Mr. Hoa said that Tran Mong orchids are quite durable. Starting from December 13, when the orchids start to bloom, he will deliver them to customers who have ordered them to display in their homes. Near Tet, the flowers start to bloom and customers can enjoy them through Tet.
