In Northern Vietnam live many ethnic minorities mainly from agriculture. Rice, corn, vegetables seem to be produced in quite traditional ways, chooks, buffalo and pigs are held. Syngenta is omnipresent when you look around the seedstores. Once a week in almost every village there is a big market to sell the products and animals. These markets are alive and remain the center for the local people for trade, weekly shopping and socializing. There is a lot of activity, buying/selling, observing and being observed. As most women, including the young girls are naturally wearing their colourful stitched traditional dresses it is a wonderful sight, besides the already picturesque piled fruits, vegetables and other goods. The rapidly growing number of tourists likes to participate, walk among the local people, try some of the streetfood or just observing it all. There is a lot to be seen next to fruit and vegetable. Such as the serious business of trading a buffelo; the choosing of a bird – a mysterious purely men’s business; little children chewing on watermelon with big eys; engaged women poring ricewine bucket wise… We also let ourselves being mesmorised by two such markets. Doing so we also got the fever to try to keep these moments, patterns, faces that seem to tell stories with our camera.
We felt quite a controversy. On one hand there is the still authentic market from an for the local people. The local population, who besides the motorbike, a mobile phone and television seems to still be settled traditions, living modestly from there produce. On the other side clever owners of hotels, restaurants and bus businesses have started to take a much more money out of the tourists. This money allowing them to step on into the world of brand jeans and fast cars. They make a lot of money, above the Vietnamese average, with the hard working people who stay on the low end at the income scale.
We have asked ourselves, how long the women on the market will still happily keep up the work and sell their products while naturally wearing their beautiful dresses.
