In the land of Ha Giang where there have many markets that almost any day of the week you can also go to the market. Going to the market-day is very interesting because the fair is vivid and clearest image about daily life of the ethnic people in Ha Giang.
The fair is held from about 5am till 3 – 4 pm. The people from high mountain villages are enthusiastic to go to the market. From the dawn, human shadows, horses are seen from a distance. Motorcyclists to the market, who lead the horses, walk, people accompany the family, traveling with friends, or with husband and children to the market.
Everybody wears the most beautiful dresses; packing everything behind their back, taking to the market from chickens to pigs, from dresses, scarves to sharpened knives, bundle of freshly picked vegetables from the garden. They exchange: to sell things to the market, take advantage of buying other things. Children going to the market are very delightful in playing. Some children huddle with friends, some children look after their mother’s goods and children are carried on the back to the market. Shout and playing are flurry in all the market.
The market starts to be dispersed near the noon. The baskets have been filled with the essential goods, baggage horses are fishtail-palm to return home, followed by dead drunk husbands and quiet wives. Simple market-day is as own life of the ethnic people at the border area of this country.
In such market-days, some market-days are held at fixed days, some are held back.
Ha Giang Loop Map & Tours hereby introduces the famous market-days in Ha Giang, where you should not miss when traveling to Ha Giang
1. Khau Vai Love Market
This special event is held annually, from the late evening of the third Lunar month’s 26th day and lasts until the end of next day in Khau Vai Commune, Meo Vac District in the northern most province of Vietnam, Ha Giang.This special event is held annually, from the late evening of the third Lunar month’s 26th day and lasts until the end of next day in Khau Vai Commune, Meo Vac District in the northern most province of Vietnam, Ha Giang.
2. Lung Phin market in Meo Vac
Ha Giang is a land known for unique fairs that embodies the culture of the peoples living here. One of the well-known fairs is Lung Phin fair, a fair to trade goods and the love market for young people. Lung Phin fair is situated on Lung Phin town, Meo Vac district, Ha Giang province, where focusing quite crowded ethnic minorities. Lung Phin fair is usually opens on the days of Monkey and days of Tiger in months and held weekly, every week it in turn taking place days of Monkey and days of Tiger.
3. Sa Phin Market
Market Sa Phin unique “backward market” on the Plateau in Ha Giang Sa Phin Market is one of the highlights of the backward fairs in rocky land of Ha Giang. The market is located in Sa Phin Commune, Dong Van District, about 40km from Dong Van town, just below the road leading to the mansion of the Vuong. Sa Phin is also referred to as “Heaven Gate” of the rocky plateau. Going to Sa Phin market on rocky plateau, visitors will not be shocked with a unique marketplace of people here. Market is held backwards during the week, if it is held on Sunday this week, in the next week, it will be held on Saturday, in next weeks, it will be held on Friday, on Thursday…
4. Hoang Su Phi Sunday Market
Hoang Su Phi Market is held once a week on Sunday morning. It takes place along the main street, a few kilometers long, in Vinh Quang Town in Hoang Su Phi District, Ha Giang Province. No one knows exactly how long the market has existed in the area. However, it has played an import role in the lives of ethnic people of the Mong, Dao, Tay, Nung and La Chi who are living on the Tay Con Linh Mountain Range. They go to the market not only to exchange their products, but also to meet and chat with others. Therefore, the market in Hoang Su Phi still preserves many unique cultural features of a traditional market in mountainous areas.
5. Ma Le frugal fair, Ha Giang
Not noisy, not too bustling, the fair situated near Lung Cu peak (Dong Van District, Ha Giang Province) attracts others by the simple inherent beauty, by human sincerity and by lyrical landscape of highland Ma Le located near Lung Cu peak , Dong Van district, Ha Giang province. Small village has long been famous for its traditional market with regular session on the morning of the weekend. It is also an opportunity to bring people around to buy and sell some products, sometimes also as an opportunity to exchange and meet friends. From the dawn, when the sun is not awake yet, residents go down to the market, in colorful dresses. Small children follow their parents to the market with playful delight, smiles on their way. The grandmothers and mothers bring babies on their backs, buying or selling. Somewhere around corn pubs, a few boys gather to drink and get drunk, the young girls meet friends talking about new towels, new dresses.
6. Meo Vac Market
The Meo Vac Market Ha Giang cattle market, held every Sunday in Ha Giang province, is unique in the northern mountainous region of Vietnam. The market is not only where the locals living in the karst plateau trade cattle, it is also a gathering place for the Mong ethnic minority. Visitors to the region are always encouraged to go to the Meo Vac cattle market to experience this unique local ethnic cultural event. Market goers must start early in the morning. Those selling cattle have to wake up the earliest, usually around midnight, to walk their cows to market.
7. Xin Man Market
Exploring local markets in the northeastern moun-tainous provinces, such as Ha Giang, could be one of the most interesting memories of foreign tourists who travel throughout Vietnam. Xin Man District, one of ten districts in Ha Giang, is a small, tranquil place near the Chinese border. It has much to offer tourists, particularly its Sunday market where a wide range of local fruit specialties, such as plum, peach, wild banana and corn, are available at very cheap prices.
