Following the cycle of making a living

These vehicles serve the shopping and dining needs of rural residents. Photo: TIEU DIEN

From dawn, the familiar clatter of wheels rolling on the road echoed through the residential areas. This marked the beginning of a workday for street vendors. Their carefully covered carts were laden with all sorts of goods for daily life: bunches of fresh vegetables, seasonal fruits, traditional local pastries, fresh fish and meat, and various household items.

Each street vendor's life is filled with hard work and toil. Whether under the scorching sun or pouring rain, they roam the streets, venturing into every alleyway to find customers. Some days they travel from early morning until late at night, covering so many kilometers that they themselves can't remember how many. Their income is unstable, carefully accumulating small profits from each sale.

For many years, Mr. Ha Van Giau, residing in Rach Gia ward, has been accustomed to waking up at 3-4 am to go to Rach Soi market to collect vegetables, roots, and fruits to sell. After the morning market, he continues to roam the streets, and in the afternoon, he heads to Thanh Loc industrial park to sell to workers leaving work. Mr. Giau shared: "This selling job is quite hard; I have to move around constantly to find customers. For street vendors like me, earning a few hundred thousand dong in profit each day is already a great achievement. It's not a lot of money, but it's enough to cover my family's living expenses."

Not only in urban areas, but also in rural regions, carts loaded with goods have become a familiar sight. For many people in hamlets deep in the fields, going to the market is difficult, so these mobile food carts are like "mobile markets" bringing food right to their doorsteps. For more than three years, Mr. Dang Van Tai, residing in Muoi Hung hamlet, Vinh Tuy commune, has regularly traveled along rural roads to sell vegetables, fruits, and seafood. To make selling easier, he even recorded his sales pitch and played it through a speaker on his cart: "Anyone want to buy tomatoes, watermelons, cucumbers, onions, chives, chili peppers... or seafood?" Mr. Tai said: "The mornings are the busiest; I sell about 20-50 kg of various goods each day. The prices are reasonable, and the vegetables are fresh and delicious, so people support me a lot. Every day, I make a profit of about 100,000-200,000 VND."

These mobile food carts, though simple, offer many conveniences to the people, especially in rural areas. Ms. Nguyen Thi Loan, residing in Vinh Binh hamlet, Vinh Tuy commune, said that her house is a few kilometers from the market, so she often waits for the carts to pass by to buy food. “Every day, several carts come selling a full range of vegetables, meat, fish, and snacks. The prices are reasonable, and the food is fresh and delicious, so it's very convenient. Thanks to this, I don't have to go far to the market; I just wait for the carts to pass by my house and I can buy everything I need to cook for my family,” Ms. Loan said.

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Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/theo-vong-xe-muu-sinh-a486090.html