Street vendors – a very familiar image to Hanoians
The night cries have entered the memories of people far from home…
Or every morning when we wake up and open the door to go out into the street, we see flower stalls selling seasonal flowers. Amidst the busy, hurried traffic, we still see mothers and sisters diligently carrying baskets on their shoulders.
…with all kinds of fruits from all over the countryside
Slowly walking through each street...
Regardless of sunny or rainy days, regardless of the bitterly cold winter or the scorching summer, street vendors still struggle to make ends meet.
In those stalls, there are delicious foods, there are bad foods....
Like tofu pudding, some vendors sell very delicious tofu with grapefruit flower aroma and a very light sweetness, but some vendors sell it with a sharp sweetness and jasmine aroma.
This is also a profession, a way to make a living like the other three. People sell goods on the street because of low capital, mobility… Street selling does not make much profit, it depends on the weather, on lucky days it sells out quickly, but there are also days when you bring in whatever you bring out and you bring back the same amount.
There are too many people like that in Hanoi. They really work hard, don’t know how much they earn but have to work outside every day regardless of rain or shine.
Most of the vendors are from the provinces or the surrounding areas of Hanoi. Every day, early in the morning, before dawn, the vendors wake up and carry their goods to all directions.
Behind those street vendors are different lives and fates. Every day they still persevere with their sales calls and their steady steps with worn-out sandals.
With the little money earned from street vendors, those fathers and mothers shoulder the burden of their children's lives and futures.
Hanoi may get older or more modern, but street vendors never get old. No one knows when street vendors started.
Just knowing that in the old Hanoi and the new Hanoi, street vendors have become something very familiar, everyday, a beautiful cultural feature that anyone far from Hanoi can never forget.
While restaurants, luxury eateries, coffee shops and all kinds of lights spring up like mushrooms in this bustling city, street vendors are like chains of time preserving the cultural traditions imbued with the love and soul of the Vietnamese people in the capital.
