HAPPY NEW YEAR 2024
Binh Dong flower floating market along Tau Hu Canal (District 8, Ho Chi Minh City) is a place where gardeners from the western region of the country gather to sell their flowers and ornamental trees in Lunar New Year Holiday, called Tet in Vietnam. The market has existed for hundreds of years while Tau Hu Canal is a famous route for western farmers to deliver rice to Sai Gon in the past. Along the canal sides are factories and places for rice storage and milling.
Each time the Lunar New Year comes, gardeners from Long An,Can Tho, Ben Tre, Dong Thap, Tien Giang, and other provinces have gathered in this floating market in the center of Sai Gon. Their small, 5-ton wherries candeliver about 500 to 600 small flower pots and trees while large Vietnamese mickey-mouse plants (mai vang) and kumquat are carried by larger wherries. Thereare some kumquat trees that need 8 people to bring, or 3-4-meter high mickey-mouse plants. Some families share the same wherry together. At noon onthe 30th of Tet Holiday, gardeners may still sell their flowers and welcome a new year right on the canal before being home in the next morning.
Having a chance to visit the floating market, we are goingto introduce a photo collection taken by our staff in Tet Holiday, January, 2014.
Wherries locate near each other on the canal.
One side of the canal is Vo Van Kiet Avenue, District 5 with buildings and houses.
The other side of the canal is Ben Binh Dong Street, District 8.
There are still some ancient houses that remind us of the past.
Vietnamese mickey-mouse plants (mai vang) is always the traditional trees for Spring and Tet Holiday.
Whether it is small or large, the plants are still pruned carefully.
Some people come and buy flowers.
Some come and visit the market.
Some kumquat trees are shaped into dragon or horse images.
This Kumquat tree was sold for VND 5 million, about $240-250, on the 28th of Tet.
Kumquat are often put in a pair.
There was one Kumquat that needs 8 people to carry.
Beautiful sunflowers.
Colorful Bougainvillea.
Small bonsai trees including small mickey-mouse plants, chili, and Malpighia glabra.
Daisy, Celosia cristata, Eustoma russellianum, Aroid Palm, Poinsettia, betel tree, and coconut.
Irrigation systems are also set up for sensitive trees like orchids.
The floating market connects florists, gardeners and buyers. With some people, wherries are their houses, and canals are the roads.
A wherry with eyes that protect its owner from large waves and dangers.
© Sonia LV. Viet Linh. Jan, 2014. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
