Ga Long Bien Railway Station.

The bustling Hang Khoai Street where Chợ Đồng Xuân market is located offers a real insight of the daily activities of the local people.

This is also a great place for sampling some of the cheap street food where most of the food stalls were in the small alleys.













Towards the eastern end of Hang Khoai Street-Nguyen Thiep Street traffic junction is a cyclinder shaped building know as Thap Nuoc Hang Dau or Hang Dau Water Tower constructed by the French in 1894.

The water tank's( French:Chateau D'eau) capacity is 1250 cubic metres and has now been redundant.





Next to the water tank building is a small park with a statue of a soldier and a women that looked like the Lady of Liberty.

The wording here says 'Spiritually(Quyet Tu) Sacrifice(Quyet sinh) for the Nation(De To Quoc)'







Busy street barbers attending to customers around the park.
This place is quite cooling with lines of trees providing the canopy.








The end of Hang Khoai Street meets Tran Nhat Duat main highway road and on the left is Long Bien Railway Station.

 This stairway entrance is in between some of the shops but further down is another main access road.






A narrow road leading to the railway station with no signboard.
Street stalls lining on both sides.

Family Hostel is inside one of the alley near the railway station in Gam Cau Street.

Room rates is around USD15.
The owner possibly owns another hostel of the same name in Cau Go Street.

Main entrance to Ga Long Bien ticketing counters.

Fast Train Departure schedule from Long Bien Terminal.
To Hai Phong:(leaving/arrival) 09:30/12:10, 15:35/18:00 and 18:10/ 20:35

Hai Phong is a coastal city and has a deep water port.It is the second largest industrial centre of the north.
To Quan Trieu: 14:35/ 17:30
Quan Trieu is in Thai Nguyen Province,near Thai Nguyen capital city which is a first class city and the 9th largest city in Vietnam.
A center of heavy industries in northern Vietnam especially with the presence of TISCO Iron and Steel Company,a susidiary of the TATA Group headquartered in Mumbai,India.

To Yen Bai:13:06 /18:00
A mountainous provincial city in north central Vietnam and is an important transport hub which link to the border town of Lao Cai and into Yunan in China.

Ticket counter operating hours:05:00 till 21:00.

Hanoi - Hai Phong Express Train destinations fares: 1) Cam Giang-30,000VND -a rural district (huyện) of Hai Duong province in the Red River Delta region of Vietnam.

2) Hai Duong-35,000VND -provincial capital and a highly developed industrial zone.

3) Phu Thai-45,000VND -capital city of Kim Thành District,a rural district of Hai Duong province in the Red River Delta region of Vietnam.

4) Hai Phong-55,000VND -20km from Hai Phong is the Gulf of Tonkin and a beautiful beach in a small peninsula is Do Son beach,a tourist resort.
A casino is in Do Son Resort Hotel.

Another company Hoa Phuong with the heading title 'High Quality Car Coach' offering Hanoi-Hai Phong train service.

In the timetable also mentioned leaving Hanoi which must be the main station at Gia Lam.

Leaving Hanoi at 06:00 arrived at 08:15 and 16:05 arrived at 18:05.

Long Bien station:09:30/12:10, 16:06/18:06 and 18:00/20:00
Fares: Cam Giang=25,000/32,000VND
Hai Duong=35,000/40,000VND
Phu Thai=45,000/50,000VND
Hai Phong=55,000/60,000VND




States ticket fares and goods handling charges schedule for northern destinations.
Main operator is Vietnam Railway.

This one is a slow train(viet:gia tau) stopping at many stations along the way.
Judging from the tickets price,they must be the hard seater. Gia Lam=10,000 (Hanoi main station at Le Duan Street.) Lang Son=23,000 (bordering China's Guangxi Province)






Train schedule fares Long Bien right till Dong Dang terminal.
Fares:60,000VND. Dong Dang is about half hour journey(20km) from Lang Son City which is near China's Quanxi Province.

Dong Dang(3km to the border) is the busiest international gateway via the Youyi Guan - Huu Nghi Quan( Friendship Pass).

On the China side,you'll reached the city of Pingxiang before reaching Nanning.





Train routes from Long Bien to Lao Cai.

Fares:180,000VND

Lao Cai and Sa Pa are two important cities within the province at the border with China and is a very popular tourists destination.

Lao Cai is the last stop before crossing into China on way to Kumming(Yunnan Province) across the border, which lies at the end of the train line to China.





Trains routes from Long Bien to Yen Bai(180km from Hanoi). Yen Bai Province borders Lao Cai, Ha Giang in the north, Son La Province in the west, Tuyen Quang in the east, and Phu Tho in the south.

The province has many beautiful sceneries and natural landscape.







Long Bien Rail Track Bridge built in 1903 across Red River that connects the two parts of Hanoi.

It was originally called Paul Doumer Bridge.Paul Doumer was the Governor-General of French Indochina.

The roads on both side were specially for motorcyclists.





It was heavily bombarded during Vietnam War due to its critical position (the only bridge at that time across the Red River and connect Hanoi to the main port Haiphong).

 Some parts of the original structure remain intact, while large sections have been built later to repair the holes.

Only half of the bridge retains its original shape. Today trains, mopeds, bicycles and pedestrians use the dilapidated bridge, while all other traffic is diverted to the nearby Chuong Duong Bridge and some newly built bridges: Thanh Tri Bridge, Thang Long Bridge, Vinh Tuy Bridge, and Nhat Tan Bridge.

 Under the bridge, around forty extremely poor families live in boats on the Red River, coming from many poor rural areas of Vietnam.

 View of part section of the Long Bien Bridge from Tran Nhat Duat Road.

Noticed that there was a wall or dyke separating the main road to the other side of the communities.









This section of the bridge uses the most steel bar in construction and the engineering technology used by French engineers is superb.

The bridge span is 1,682metres. Inside one alley near the road entrance to Long Bien train station were many stalls selling glasswares,teapots,ceramic,kitchen wares and household utensils.





These chinawares teapots looked very nice.














Shopowner carrying huge piles of clothes hangers on his motorbike trying to manouvere along this narrow alley.

  Glass jars and containers.

Storing ginseng herbs inside the glass jar.

Baguette seller.





Traditional stove using charcoal is still in commonly being used.

Cho Dong Xuan garments wholesale centre

Dong Xuan Market (Vietnamese: Chợ Đồng Xuân,Chinese:同春) is the largest covered market in the central district Hoan Kiem of Hanoi, Vietnam and was built by the French administration in 1889.

 The market is in Hanoi's Old Quarters area about 600m north of Hoan Kiem Lake.
The most recognizable feature of the market was the 5-arch entrance corresponding to Dong Xuan Market's five domes.

Dong Xuan Market has been renovated several times with the latest in 1994 after a fire which almost destroyed the market and 4.5 million USD worth of stocks became ashes.

Vehicles similar to the electric powered golf cart were many outside the market.
 These E-cars were introduced by Dong Xuan Corporation and was officially launched on the 17th July 2010.
Tourists will be driven around various places such as the 28 commercial streets, 13 craft streets, 22 communal houses, 39 temples, 3 pagodas and 8 historical places around Hoan Kiem Lake and back to Dong Xuan market.

The market is run by the Dong Xuan Shareholding Company (Công ty cổ phần Đồng Xuân).
 It has three storeys which are divided into stalls for wholesale and small traders who sell clothes or household goods.

 

Foodstuffs of every kinds from fresh vegetables to Vietnamese dishes are also found at the rear of the market.

As the biggest wholesale market of Hanoi, Dong Xuan Market has to face with several problems such as counterfeit consumer goods and pollution.

 In 2003, the night market of the Dong Xuan Market was opened on the occasion of the 2003 Southeast Asian Games.








When the First Indochina War broke out in Hanoi in early 1947, a fierce struggle between Việt Minh and French forces took place in the area of the market on February 14.

To commemorate the event, a memorial was erected near the principal gate of the market in 2005.





Ethic Chinese shop selling decorative products and souvenirs.

  Ladies garments and lingeries wholesale and retail.
In 2009, Vietnam was named the sixth most attractive emerging market destination for retail investment in the world by management consulting firm A.T. Kearney.






Typical family styled lunchtime servings for shop assistants.

Vietnamese eating together culture is heavily influenced by that of Southern China.
The most common utensils are chopsticks and a flat spoon.
Table manners such as chopsticks should be placed on the table or a chopstick rest after every few mouthfuls or when breaking to drink or speak.

There is a food court on the upper level of the complex.

It looked quite confusing and messy if one were to browse through the goods displayed around the shops.

The stuffs were very cheap and most were probably source from China.

Street vendors or local retailers also come here to replenish their stocks and the whole place was pretty crowded.

Vietnam is the third most populous country in Southest Asia after Indonesia and Philippines and ranked thirteen in the world so the consumers market here do offer tremendous business opportunities.

At the moment, the population showed a fair gendered distribution,with 49.5%men and 50.5% being women.

Traditional markets remain popular with the generations who were fond of the cheap prices, the familiar booths and the opportunity to exercise their bargaining skills.

Foreign firms have been showing increasing interest in Vietnam since the government opened to its door to wholly foreign-owned retails from January 1 2009, under the country’s World Trade Organization commitments.








Korea products at one of the retail outlet.
 South Korea is Vietnam's third-largest trading partner; they were also the fourth-largest foreign investor after Taiwan, Japan, and Hong Kong.

Winter clothing.

The North of Vietnam experiences cool, damp winters between November and April with temperatures in Hanoi falling to around 15°C. Nice children clothings.
















 Fashionable ladies boots.

Colourful design of children sweaters.

Imagine the huge turnover of business with these goods waiting for delivery by local transporters.











Worker carting goods.













Similar to their Indonesian counterparts,these women used their head to carry goods.
















Already one huge bale of clothings were on the motorcycle back.
He's waiting for the next bale to be loaded on. Silk fabrics and ready made ladies dresses.

Freelance women workers waiting to help carry goods.






Temporary storage area,goods on transit.
There seemed to be no system of tagging the goods to individual ownership.
This can also look like a heap of garbage.










 Ladies woolen sweater.







Freelance porters waiting patiently to offer their services.













Innovative way of packing the shoes in a huge cloth bag instead of using carton boxes. This can help maximize delivery space.

Enterprising Hanoi street vendors

Vietnamese recycle goods collector managed to strike a deal to buy the used carton box.

She's using the 'daching' weighing scale which is an old traditional method.

Instead of folding the box and hook it up to the weighing scale,she weigh the whole box standing with a tip toe.

She must have reasons not to fold the box which was well taped below it.

Maybe her buyers must be those wholesle sundry shops who need it for packing goods.





Old corrugated fibre box or cardbox are an excellent source of fibre for recycling.

They can be compressed and baled for cost effective transport.

The baled boxes are put in a hydropulper, which is a large vat of warm water for cleaning and processing.

The pulp slurry is then used to make new paper and fiber products.

The other basket was an iron frame which will soon be sent to a steel mill for melting down and recycling.

View from rooftop of my guesthouse.
Every morning it would be interesting to watch the many street vendors walking with their merchandise along Luong Ngoc Nguyen heading to the Cho Dong Xuan market to sell their goods which is another ten minutes walk from here.
  This Vietnamese street vendor loaded her goods on a bicycle as it might be too heavy and tedious to carry them with a stick on the shoulder.

Assuming that each basket weigh ten kilos,it's not an easy task for inexperience people like us to lift the bamboo shoulder pole with baskets of goods.

 It takes them less than one minute to walk a distance of 500 metres.This is something very unique to be seen in Vietnam.

A reminder to tourist,you might be approached by some of these vendors requesting you to buy their product especially banana. If the product doesn't suit you never mind,you are most welcome.

The vendor will then let you try carrying the two basket (about 2kg each) with the conical hat on and help you take photographs.

As you were about to move away,the vendor will request payment for using her facility or buy the goods.

 Just note that if their basket are full of stuffs,they are genuine vendors and not those with very light baskets.

Vietnam is the world’s largest exporter of cashews. According to the figures provided by Viet Nam Cashew Organization (VINACAS), at present, Viet Nam has 380,000 hectare of cashew trees under cultivation, of which 130,000 hectare are new established plantation.

The contribution of this sector to the national economy has been increased gradually as said by the Ministry of Trade of Viet Nam.

However, cashew small scale farmers, especially ethnic one, still get low price for their products and suffer risky conditions due to the fluctuation of cashew nut price.

This study was carried out in Binh Phuoc and Dak Nong provinces, central highland of Viet Nam, which the aim is to understand how specific conditions of households and also the local settings affect to the price of cashew nut.

Why do cashews price fluctuate? If you are a trader of commodity,you should follow the price of corn and soyabean in the United States of America which are correlated.

Mobile garments shoppe using the bicycle.

The hardworking and enterprising Hanoi ladies are something that I admire most.

No wonder most of the Koreans and Taiwanese men find their Vietnamese wife in this part of the country.

The transnational matrimonial business is very lucrative in view of the huge market here.

Live poultry and chicken street vendor.

 The Ga Noi, or Ganoi, is a breed of chicken originating in Vietnam.

Originally used for cockfighting, it is a breed that fits the gamecock type, with an upright body and aggressive temperament.

Ga Noi appear in both a regularly feathered variety and a Naked Neck-like variety.

Blooming flowers vendor usually goes to the Quang Ba wholesale flower market near Au Co Road.

Activities at this market starts as early as 2am daily when villagers came to set up stalls.

The traditional flower villages were situated in the north-eastern part of the West Lake area, the Dom, Ngoc Ha, Nghi Tam, Quang Ba and Nhat Tan villages which were once renowned for their cultivation of peach blossoms, kumquats, roses, sunflowers and chrysanthemums.

Development of properties were slowly transforming the horticulture landscape. Bamboo basket seller.

 Hang Bo Street is famous for a variety of bamboo baskets and bamboo made instruments.

Old lady specializes in changing bicycle tubes. Baguette seller.

Little Hanoi Vietnamese Restaurant at Hang Gai Street in Old Quarters area.

The same owner also owned 3 other hostels chain with the same name.

Little Hanoi Hostel at Hang Ga Street with 6 beds mixed dorm from USD6.

Little Hanoi Hostel 1 at No:58 Au Trieu Street aircond rooms from USd35.

 Little Hanoi Hostel 2 at No:32,Le Thai To Street

Construction worker at work.

Age is no barrier to continue working and be resourceful afterall it's just a number.

Individual health is very important just like this Vietnamese old women who is possibly near to 100 years old.

She looked after her small counter selling Thanh Long brand cigarettes,mail envelopes and canned drinks.


Wedding banquet reception hosted by an ethnic Vietnamese Chinese.

Hoa people (Chinese: 華人; pinyin: Huárén; Cantonese Yale: Wa Yan; Hán Nôm; quốc ngữ: Người Hoa) refers to a minority in Vietnam consisting of persons considered to be ethnic Chinese.

Like much of Southeast Asia, Sino Vietnamese are dominant in both the Vietnamese commerce and business sections.

Many Hoa had their businesses and property confiscated by the Communists after 1975, and many fled the country as Boat People due to persecution by the new Communist.

Some were even forcibly "kicked out" of the country, at a time when Vietnam had serious tensions with China in the late 1970s, and the government feared of the Hoa collaborating with the Chinese communist government.

Wedding day of Huyen Truong and Hai Linh.
The two big chinese character in the middle means Double Happiness (pinyin"Xi or hsi").

The Double Happiness symbol is something that cannot be missed during a Chinese wedding- whether traditional or contemporary set-up.

It is usually printed on the invitation card with the use of golden hot stamps.

The symbol of Double Happiness is a declaration that the bride-to-be and the groom-to-be will be united and spend their lives together happily.

 The intermarriage between the Hoa men and the majority Kinh women ethnic groups is the highest compared to other minorities in Vietnam.

But the Hoa were more likely to intermarry within their own ethnicity, since they "frowned upon inter-marriage with the local Vietnamese.

Teenagers having drinks in a Vietnmese style cafe.

Having noodles at a road side stall.

  Melon sellers.


















Fried tofu(beancurd) hawker.





Women riding scooter making call on handphone.

Chicken seller carrying the chickens to find prospective customers.












Local hybrid chicken.












Peeling cashew nuts skin.
















Sitting on small stools to have noodles beside the road.

  Too lazy to walk.

Very capable girl shop assistant.

A glimpse of olden days Thanh Long people.

  Stacks of tissue paper rolls being transported on a motorbike.








Roadside chicken and pork meat vendor.
































This Vietnamese boy must have completed his tertiary education but prefer to be a vegetables dealer.







Sundry goods vendor.
















Mineral water delivery using motorbike.

La Vie Natural Mineral Water Company or Vie Joint Venture Company is a joint venture between Perrier Vittel - France (65% ownership), a Nestlé company, the worldwide leader company in bottled water and Long An General Trading Company - Vietnam.

 La Vie was first launched in the market in July in 1994 and rapidly developed to become the leading brand in bottled water in Vietnam.





Train overpass at the Forbidden City in Hanoi.

Quang Chuong Street where most of the old communist army uniforms and paraphernalia were sold.




Entrance arch to the Forbidden City.
There were two districts namely Quang Duc and Vinh Xuong in the area which has famous handicraft villages, such as Nghi Tam and Thuy Chuong (textile), Yen Thai (paper making) and Hang Dao (cloth dying).