Local Markets in Hanoi

Dusty, crowded yet beyond the joy that a place can be, Hanoi’s markets are surely where the breath of life comes from.

Markets are something indispensable in the capital’s daily life but their stories behind are frequently omitted. As I swept through some websites, what I found was far more than what I had expected. There are some sources referred to the first existence of markets in Thăng Long (former name of Hanoi) in the 15th century. However, according to other researchers, those markets first appeared in the 11th century under the permission of Lý Thái Tổ Emperor. In the late 19th century when French colonialists invaded Hà Nội, these markets were one by one professionally commercialized with a wide range of products including some imported from Europe, India and Hong Kong with products like soap and perfume.  Nowadays, if you take a look around the city, you can definitely see numerous markets including the biggest such as Hôm, Đồng Xuân, Bưởi to smaller ones such as Bách Khoa, Thành Công, Trại Cá and other retailers along the railways, rivers or apartments.

What I find interesting about these retailers is that as long as they have goods, a wooden folding table, a conical hat and a few of other sellers, then they can turn the whole place into a spontaneous market. For the bigger ones, what you can find is uncountable, from accessories, garments, shoes to vegetables, fruits, poultry, cattle or even food stalls serving phở, crab soup noodles (bún riêu cua), beef soup noodles (bún riêu bò), fermented rice sheets (bánh cuốn), sticky rice cakes and so on. Trust me, that kind of food you can find in those local markets is the best.

To sum up, markets in Hà Nội have seemed to be a traditional beauty of the capital, and I just cannot even imagine when local markets are totally replaced by shopping malls only. That makes me ponder!

Here are some photos taken by our contributor Duc Vu in a typical local market in Hanoi.

To see more photos, check the open album below or go to Flickr: Photo Album Flickr (Please use the left/right arrows to navigate in the files of the open album)

All Photos taken by Duc Vu
Words by Trang Nguyen