Rough Guide to Vietnam - Jan Dodd [277]
One of Hanoi’s more unusual and colourful markets, though you’ll have to be up early to catch it, is the flower market held each dawn beside Nghi Tam Avenue at its most northerly junction with Yen Phu; action starts around 4am (5am in winter), and lasts around two hours. This is primarily a wholesale market catering to the city’s army of itinerant flower-sellers, so prices are that bit cheaper than in town and you’ll find people peddling wicker baskets, ferns and ribbons besides bundles of fresh-cut blooms.
Hanoi street hawker
Hanoi and around | Shopping and markets |
Fabrics, handicrafts and souvenirs
Compared with Thailand, Vietnamese silk is slightly inferior quality but prices are lower and the tailoring is still good value. Though Hoi An is really Vietnam’s tailoring capital, Hanoi has so many silk shops concentrated on Hang Gai, at the southern edge of the Old Quarter, that it’s now referred to as “Silk Street”; competition is fierce, but take care since you’ll find a fair amount of tat among the more reputable outlets. Classy designer boutiques offering excellent quality at premium prices are also now concentrating around the cathedral. Most bigger places have multilingual staff, accept credit cards and offer less expensive souvenirs as well, such as ties, purses, mobile-phone holders – very natty – and sensuous, silk sleeping bags.
Embroideries and drawn threadwork also make eminently packable souvenirs. Standard designs range from traditional Vietnamese to Santa Claus and robins, but you can also take along your own artwork for something different. Many of the big-name silk and accessories shops also sell embroidered items.
One of the more interesting shops is Craft Link (See ""), run by a not-for-profit organization working with ethnic minorities and other small-scale producers of traditional crafts. They also organize a charity bazaar each November at the Museum of Ethnology, which is a great occasion attended by many of the craftspeople involved, including representatives from the minority villages.
Most ordinary souvenir shops also stock ethnic minority crafts, particularly the Hmong and Dao bags, coats and jewellery that are so popular in Sa Pa. Though it’s virtually impossible to tell, in fact the majority of these are now made by factories in and around Hanoi, partly to meet the huge demand and partly to get a slice of the action. Of course, everyone will insist their goods are genuine, and they are very well made, but it’s something to be aware of.
Another pretty portable souvenir is lacquerware. Chopsticks, boxes, bowls, vases – the variety of items coated in lacquer is endless. Natural lacquer gives a muted finish, usually in black or rusty reds. However, lacquerware in a rainbow array of colours – made from imported synthetic rather than natural lacquer – is now very popular in Old Quarter souvenir shops.
Other popular mementoes are embroidered and printed T-shirts: although the selection is limited, you’ll find no shortage of places to buy them, notably on Hang Gai and Trang Tien. Silk lanterns, water-puppets and silver items – both plated and solid silver – make manageable souvenirs, as do hand-painted greetings cards, usually scenes of rural life or famous beauty spots on paper or silk; the best are unbelievably delicate and sell for next to nothing. It’s illegal to export antiques from Vietnam, but you’ll find plenty of “antique” jewellery or watches on sale, and beautifully crafted copies of ancient religious statues.
For more unusual mementoes, have a look at the traditional Vietnamese musical instruments on sale at a clutch of little workshops on Hang Manh and round the corner on Hang Non. Several small shops on Hang Bong supply Communist Party banners and badges as well as Vietnamese flags. Propaganda posters are another popular souvenir from the Communist days. You’ll find a selection,