Night Flower Market

Well, it is more like an early morning thing than night, but that's how it's called. Starting around 3am, flowers from major gardens around Hanoi, such as Nhat Tan, Gia Lam and Ngoc Ha, are brought here to distribute to retailers. Most of them would be gone by 6am on salers' bycicles, to have their days in every conners of Hanoi. Nevertheless, the 3-hour market, which was initially intended for trading, has now become an amazing destination for Hanoians.
Getting off the Thanh Nien Avenue, heading one or two kilometers west along the Yen Phu Avenue, one can easily find the place with all kinds of flowers, from white, yellow, or red roses to rarer ones like eglantines and many others. Looking from far away, the market, out of the vaguely dark space, brights up beautifully with hundreds of lights, that people bring along for their shops. Walking in the middle of the place, one can be totally lost in the pleasant smell of the flowers as well as their eye-catching colorful appearances. Or else, maybe it's merely the feeling of being in such a place, that always makes people wanting to be there a bit longer.
I was brought there the first time by Chau, a newly met friend of mine. We, including my best frieng Dat, got there around 3:30 am but didn't leave until 2 hours later. During our entire time there, we stopped at virtually every shop, touched every flowers we see, smelled them, took pictures and enjoyed our time to the fullest. Besides, the prices at this early market was so cheap that I could buy a handful with almost nothing.
I came back to the place once in awhile, just to have the feeling of being there. Even though I never had any intention to buy anything (except once for my mom's birthday), I somehow ended up bringing home lots and lots of flowers everytime I was there.
-nxh