Underneath the famed Long Bien Bridge, which traverses the dyke road and the mighty Red River, the vegetables start hitting the tarmac at around 9.30pm. Big sheets of tarp are laid out, fully laden motorbikes and fleets of battered blue delivery vans pull up and it's action stations. Cabbages galore, thousands of herb handfuls, tomatoes, the odd pile of carrots, daikon, acres of Asian greens and more are unloaded by woollen scarfed and hatted chain gangs.
It's the night market for pavement pounding vegie vendors and restaurant proprietors, for anyone really who drives by and fancies a veg out. The action continues overnight and is most frantic between 5 and 7am. At this time of night, once the unloading is complete, there's a lot of prostrate bodies trying to catch 40 winks amongst the produce, cabbages as pillows. Cups of hot green tea, Hanoi beer or a pull on the tobacco pipe are available from the odd stall in this veggie patch.
I got myself two kilos of tomatoes and made a big pot of sauce for a simple lunch of tuna pasta yesterday. Oh, and some brocolli and beans which were steamed on the side. These vegies were top notch!
I love the way that the bundles are tied.
Posted by: Sarah | 14 December 2005 at 12:36 AM
Wow all that food looks so good. I love reading about what you are doing and looking at all you colorfull photos, it's a different world to me.
Posted by: Heather | 14 December 2005 at 06:08 AM
Sarah - Yes, the bundles are tidy but invariably they're bagged in plastic!
Heather - It's a different world to me sometimes but I am trying to adapt. A love of asian food and culture helps, I must say.
Posted by: Sticky | 14 December 2005 at 10:03 PM