(Baonghean.vn) - The Vinh City vegetable market starts around 2 AM. But from 10 PM the night before, the market is already bustling with the sounds of vendors calling out their wares.
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| The alley in neighborhood 2 (Hong Son) is bustling with vehicles and buyers and sellers, operating until 2 AM. Every day, dozens of tons of onions, garlic, pumpkins, and tomatoes are traded here. |
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| Retailers on Hong Son Street displayed and traded fruits and vegetables with other retailers. |
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| Here, each kilogram of sour starfruit costs only 1,500 dong. |
The sounds of buying and selling are the most noticeable here. Because, for every ounce of fresh vegetables or kilogram of cucumbers, the price seems to be already agreed upon between the farmers and the traders. Mrs. Hoang Thi Vuon (Block 2 - Hong Son Ward), gesturing with her busy hand, pointed us towards the Ong Temple at 4:15 AM on June 30th, saying, "The fresh vegetables are all sold over there, sir."
As the city begins to transition into a new day, in the quiet stillness of the fading night, the vegetable markets remain silently bustling. Gathered here are the hardworking and diligent farmers from the outskirts of the city. In the early morning, after the market closes, some return to their fields, while others wander the streets selling their wares. There is a hardworking Vinh City at night, yet it produces the fresh, vibrant green vegetables that shine brightly each morning.
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| As night fell and dawn broke, only the flashlight beams illuminated the goods, counted the money, and created a unique atmosphere found only in the green market. |
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| Nguyen Hoai Nhu, a "small" trader (11th grade), wakes up early to receive green tea from Anh Son in place of her mother. |
At two in the morning, the market began to bustle with the sounds of vendors calling out their wares. Sellers and buyers didn't know each other's faces, but hardly anyone haggled or bargained. Customers knew each other by their voices. Whispers and murmurs filled the dim light of the streetlights fading in the late night. The night market had a distinctly rustic, genuine feel, devoid of the hustle and bustle or the haggling over prices. People who came to the night market weren't alone; they usually came in groups from the same village or commune. The night was long, the journey was long, and their conversations revolved around plants, the weather, their children's schooling, village and commune affairs... Each person had their own circumstances, often poor, who had made their way to the market hoping to earn a little extra money from their hard work, sweat, and sleep.
Under the dim yellow lights of the market, I saw several vegetable vendors surrounding Mr. Trung's onion cart in Hung Dong (Vinh City), haggling over prices. From 9 PM onwards, he used his old, noisy motorbike to transport nearly 100 kilograms of fresh spring onions to Vinh to sell. His family cultivates three plots of land, each yielding about 600 kilograms of onions, carefully saving up to support his two children's education.
Mr. Minh from Nam Anh (Nam Dan district) carries over 100 kilograms of tomatoes he bought at home to sell here, saying he earns about 100,000 dong a night. Once, he encountered a traffic accident victim and eagerly took them to the hospital, skipping the market, only to later have to carry his entire cart of tomatoes to sell door-to-door. He is enthusiastic and helpful, assisting others with heavy work. Vegetable farming is inherently precarious; a good harvest brings both joy and worry, and selling the harvested produce is very difficult.
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| Dawn was breaking over the streets near Hong Son Temple. |
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| Along the road in neighborhood 2, small business owners like Ms. Tran Thi Ly's family had been awake for a long time, preparing to pack sour bamboo shoots from Nghe An for customers traveling to distant provinces. |
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| Ms. Mai Thi Luong, a small vendor at the makeshift market on the northern canal, bought some Quy Hop pineapples to resell. |
At the night vegetable market, the buyers are mostly people who frequent the city's streets and alleys every day. Their mode of transportation is a rickety old bicycle with peeling paint. Meeting at the night market, the women greet each other warmly, chatting and laughing, a stark contrast to their usual sullen demeanor when city dwellers are picky and critical. Flashlights flicker and the air is filled with the sounds of laughter and chatter. If farmers have to work hard selling their produce, then small-scale traders in the city's markets and alleys also have to make a living from midnight until dawn.
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| Ripe pineapples from Nghia Dan have piled up in the stall of Mr. Nguyen Quang Nam (Ward 2 - Hong Son), Mr. Nam said, and by the middle of the sunny day (around 9 am), all the pineapples are bought up by other vendors. |
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| Fresh fruits from the night market were brought out by vendors and offered for sale early in the morning at the entrance to Vinh Market. |
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| A few of the many fruits that the night market patiently sells have made their way onto the fruit platters of Vinh city residents this morning. |
The Vinh City night market has remained the same for many years. Early in the morning, as the market closes, some return to their fields, while others wander the streets, beginning their day of earning a living. Sellers and buyers seem more connected, carrying with them the genuine, heartfelt spirit of the countryside.
Tran Hai
