Peaceful market atmosphere

(Baonghean) - Vinh has many markets. There are long-standing, well-known markets, even mentioned in folk songs, like Vinh Market, and later added markets like Cua Bac, Cua Dong, and Ben Thuy...; many new markets have been built, such as Phong Toan, Hung Dung, Ga, and Coi markets...; and countless makeshift markets can be found on every street corner and in every residential area. There's the small corner at the foot of building B1 Quang Trung, the market at the foot of Quyet Mountain, Nghi Phu Market, Quan Banh Market, Quan Bau Market... You can find a market everywhere. And each market has its own unique characteristics...

I once surprised you when you asked me: "Why do you always prefer living in an apartment?" I replied that I didn't want to live anywhere else partly because I missed the market, because I missed it. After a moment of surprised silence, you nodded, seemingly understanding: "Well, proximity to the market and the river are key." But for me, it's not simply about convenience. I miss the market, like I miss a familiar face. I miss it because it's so intimately connected to my daily life. I miss it because it's not just a place to shop, but it also gives me moments of peaceful hustle and bustle...

My market, about twenty years old, still retains its dilapidated appearance from the first day I saw it. The roofs are made of corrugated cement sheets. The tarpaulins are stretched taut, heavy with the sun and rain. A few stalls have been renovated, but only by laying a new floor, adding a glass display case, and installing more hanging racks.

The same faces of buyers and sellers remain. Each person carries their own destiny, setting out to the market, displaying their produce—the vegetables, fruits, fish, and meat—every morning or every evening. They sit there, watching their stalls, observing passersby, enthusiastically greeting and inviting them to buy. Then they turn to each other for a few casual conversations, sharing family stories, sometimes gossiping about outsiders or the latest news from the newspapers and online… In my phone's contact list, I still have these names saved: Ms. Dung (rice), Ms. Yen (fish), Ms. Mai (fruit), Ms. Phuong (grocery), Ms. Ha (garlic), Ms. Van (beef), Ms. Ngoc (clothing)… Oh, just reading them makes me feel so familiar, so down-to-earth, just like the market itself.

Clearly situated in the middle of the city, next to the most modern and central street in Vinh, Quang Trung Market always retains its old-fashioned appearance. Many say it's detracting from the street's aesthetics. And rightly so; from above, it looks dilapidated and out of place. Yet, for a moment, I wonder, if it were to change its appearance, how long would it take me to get used to it? Would the old ways remain? Yes, the market's old ways. I'll call them that for now, a way that people implicitly understand. A way that anyone who "eats at Quang Trung Market" will surely share.

These stalls may have formed due to convenient shopping habits of customers, by certain groups of vendors, or from someone setting up a spot and then others taking turns sitting there, thus creating rows of vegetable stalls, chicken stalls, and fish and shrimp stalls. A new market area emerged between the old C-class buildings. So, Quang Trung Market gained additional access points from Quang Trung Street, Hong Bang Street, Minh Khai Street... Some stalls only required a woven basket and a tiny tarp spread out. There was the guava seller from Nam Anh, Nam Dan, constantly "advertising" her homegrown guavas, the pumpkin seller from Hung Nguyen, or the corn seller from Nghi Loc...

Flower stalls are located right at the entrance to Quang Trung Market.

Quang Trung Market isn't very big, but it has everything from clothes, jewelry, and children's toys to fresh and dried foods, and snacks like sticky rice cakes, cassava, boiled peanuts, and more. Right at the entrance are fruit, vegetables, miscellaneous goods, woven items, and flowers, all mixed together with general merchandise. Further inside are rows of plastic goods, porcelain, shoes, clothes, safety pins, plastic bags, blankets, mats, rice, fabric, and cosmetics. And inside, there are food stalls open from morning till evening. Don't think the market is just a temporary place for locals; Ms. Nguyet's "Duck Noodle Salad" stall is very famous. Many people are so fond of this dish that they travel long distances and sit under a makeshift shelter in the middle of the market just to enjoy it.

The musician Trinh Cong Son once said that he liked markets because they displayed earthly foods. Perhaps, in a way, he loved food as much as he loved the way life is nourished. I also believe that when someone wants to go to the market, that person must be very much in love with life, not in the literal, mundane sense of the law of survival, but also because of an inexplicable excitement about living. When we go to the market, it means we are eager to exchange and interact, we like to immerse ourselves in the crowd, in its pleasant hustle and bustle, and we are eager to buy something for our small family, so that today everyone can gather together to enjoy delicious food in a clean room.

When we go to the market, it means we accept the rule that there is buying and selling, giving and receiving, and behind that fair game, the smiles and friendly greetings are what we gain, completely free, and they mean more than ordinary interaction; sometimes they can even make us feel incredibly warm inside… The Quang Trung market corner gave me that feeling. During the days I was far from Vinh, one of the things I missed was that market corner.

A corner of Quang Trung market.

And I heard those sounds, from the bustling market, echoing back into my heart. Strangely, that bustling market sound made me feel unusually peaceful, as if a burden had been lifted, as if a sense of belonging had been shared...

Thuy Vinh