Tet and flowers (the prelude)

The end and beginning of the Lunar Years marks the end of winter and beginning of spring in Vietnam. A couple of weeks ago I went for a bike ride out of Vung Tau on the road towards Ba Ria town and HCM City and noticed some flower farms along the way.

At the time I was just interested in seeing the farm and didn't think much past the fact that obviously the flowers are grown for sale. In the lead up to Tet, though, I started to see flowers for sale in the markets and shops, and remembered then how significant yellow is as a colour for this time of year. Then all the plant nurseries started selling pots of yellow and orange flowers, blossoming fruit trees and cumquat trees for people to decorate their houses.

On the Saturday morning before Tet, Thanh and I went for a walk through the big park in District 1 of HCM City, except it was no longer a park! Now it was the flower market for the central city, selling all manner of flowering plants, potted flowers, bonsai, living curiosities (such as the buffalo in the picture at the top), and some artificial flowers and plants as well. At the time there was still a lot for sale, and we wondered if everything would sell as there was less than 36 hours left before the end of the Lunar Year.

On Sunday night/Monday morning Bao, Hiep and I were walking back to the hotel after watching the fireworks from Nguyen Hue Street. We came past the park - there was nothing left of the flower market!