Wandering around An Giang village market, I was fascinated by the wild vegetables, the basket of ripe guava, and the flood season fish. I was so excited.

Nowadays, the countryside market is more bustling and has a full range of goods than before, but the rustic features are still preserved in the noisy sounds of the market, in the images of fishing boats and newly caught nets.

If this is your first time visiting a country market, surely the simple beauty will awaken your senses and become a lasting memory.

For those who are far from home, memories of the countryside market are familiar, unforgettable images.

Usually bustling during every market session, but during flood season, the rural market is even more crowded with buyers and sellers.

Just a bunch of freshly caught fish or crabs or some mixed vegetables (many kinds of vegetables mixed together, such as: Amaranth, Malabar spinach, purslane, young chili leaves, sweet potato leaves, pennywort, Malabar spinach...) is simple, but if you go to the market late, there will be nothing left to buy.

The rural market is where the products are made by the hands of farmers who work hard from dawn to dusk, to bring to the market to exchange and sell. An Giang rural market is even more bustling during the flood season with the presence of many specialties, freshwater fish...

Not only that, the market is also a place for people and neighbors to meet and exchange. With the skillful hands of mothers and grandmothers, many kinds of traditional cakes are sold throughout the market.

“There is a little land around the house, my husband and I intercrop many kinds of vegetables, such as: green onions, mango, green mustard, cabbage... From early morning, we take advantage of bringing "homegrown" to the market to sell. The selling place at the market is only a few square meters, everyone sits where they are familiar with, so for decades, I have not changed my selling place. I work hard to sell from morning to afternoon, earning more than 200,000 VND each day, taking care of my family. On rainy days, it's like... the day is over" - Ms. Thanh Thuy (residing in Binh Thanh commune, Chau Thanh district, An Giang province) said.

Kim Phuong (currently living in Ho Chi Minh City) - my childhood friend said that every time she goes back to her hometown, she has to take her motorbike to the countryside market a few times, even if she doesn't buy anything, just looking around makes her happy. Because the "smell" of the countryside market is very distinctive!

It is so close and familiar that anyone who goes far away... remembers it. The simple market corner, stained with the color of time, is a familiar place to every villager. The rural market is a part of the culture in each locality, a place that people far away from home want to visit to relive old memories.

In the countryside market, many people still jokingly say, selling expensive, buying expensive but not expensive. “A bunch of mixed vegetables only costs 10,000 VND/half kilo, a bunch of ripe bananas just cut and still oozing latex is less than 15,000 VND, and many “homegrown” products that people pick are all brought out to sell in a corner of the countryside market.

To me, it is a simple and rustic beauty. The country market is always crowded, bustling, boisterous, noisy with all kinds of sounds and smells mixed together...

Occasionally, I hear vendors asking each other: "Have you sold much this morning?" or "I still have some fish to catch, please buy some for me so I can close the market early." Everything happens so naturally and intimately" - Ms. Hoa Ly (residing in Long Xuyen City, An Giang Province) shared.

For many people, the rural market is easily recognized by the image of nylon sheets spread on the ground to display a few bunches of bananas, a basket of guava, a few dried coconuts, some netted fish... or wild vegetables picked from the edge of the field.

However, the sellers always try to arrange the things they sell in the neatest way so that they are easy to find and take, not messy or chaotic. The corner of the rural market is always simple and rustic. It is a natural picture full of colors of the life of the villagers. That simplicity is only found in the rural market, not found anywhere else.

The seating area is only a few square meters in a corner of An Chau market (An Chau town, Chau Thanh district), but every day, Mrs. Hai (over 60 years old) tries to set up her goods very early to be ready for the morning market.

Today, there are a few custard apples, a few bunches of squash shoots (homegrown), a few bunches of bananas, a few pumpkins, and freshly picked young cucumbers… However, Mrs. Hai's stall attracts quite a lot of buyers.

An Giang countryside market vegetables and fruits.

Many people make a living by following the tides. Whatever they catch, they bring to the countryside market to sell to earn extra income, so "specialties" of the flood season are easily found at the countryside market.

During the flood season, natural products are also more abundant, “gifts” from heaven (linh fish, sesbania flowers, field crabs, field snails…) are hard to find in urban markets or large supermarkets but are easy to buy at very “soft” prices in the countryside markets. Therefore, many people like to go to the countryside markets.

Over time, modern markets such as supermarkets appear more and more, but rural markets have never been forgotten.

Because, only in the countryside market can one see the simple, familiar images of the “products” of the countryside. The small corner of the countryside market is like a part of the childhood memories of those who grew up in the river area.

Source: https://danviet.vn/lang-thang-cho-lang-an-giang-me-gi-dau-mo-rau-dai-ro-oi-chin-ca-dong-mua-nuoc-noi-thay-ma-ham-20241015183143965.htm