On the last day of the year, many families in Hanoi come to Hang Be market to prepare a year-end worship tray. The atmosphere of buying and selling these days is bustling from early morning, people come in and out continuously, motorbikes are loaded with offerings, everyone is taking advantage of completing their shopping to arrange the ancestral altar in time.
Famous as a "rich" market because of its high prices, Hang Be market pleases housewives with diverse and quality-assured goods. Most of the food is pre-processed, neatly arranged, customers just have to choose and pay.
Offering chicken and roasted bird stalls are always crowded with customers stopping to ask to buy and queue. Boiled chicken - a familiar dish on the year-end offering tray - has a popular price of about 600,000 - 900,000 VND/chicken. Rose-soaked chicken with fairy wings, golden skin, beautiful appearance, firm flesh can cost up to more than 1 million VND per large chicken.
Roasted chickens are priced at about 400,000 VND/kg, sold from half a chicken, chopped according to requirements. Roasted pigeons range from 150,000 VND/bird, depending on the type and size.
Gac sticky rice, five-color sticky rice, sweet sticky rice, stir-fried young rice... are pre-framed, shaped eye-catchingly, priced from about 50,000 - 100,000 VND/plate. Canh bong, canh mang are about 70,000 - 150,000 VND/bowl. Betel and areca are sold according to rituals, priced from 30,000 - 50,000 VND.
Besides selling on the spot, many stores accept orders via social networks but do not deliver on the last day of the year. Customers need to come to the place to buy.
At Hang Be market, buyers and sellers are familiar with each other, rarely bargaining. Families that need to prepare for Tet just need to take a walk around to buy enough of a decent feast.
Ms. Bich Ngoc - a resident of Dong Da ward - said that her family visits the market every year on holidays and Tet. According to her, the price may be slightly higher than elsewhere, but in return, the offerings at Hang Be market are always standard.
Boiled chicken is beautiful, sticky rice is sticky... I just buy it ready to take home and put it on the altar and cook a few more dishes, without having to prepare much" - Ms. Bich Ngoc said.
Hang Be market is located between Gia Ngu, Hang Be streets and Trung Yen alley, adjacent to Hoan Kiem Lake, and has long been considered a familiar place to supply food and offerings for residents of the Old Quarter.
The market on the last day of the year only sells until about the early afternoon of the 29th of Tet. Many small traders announced a break from 2 pm on February 16 (29th of Tet), opening for spring opening to welcome the new year from about February 19 onwards (ie, the 3rd day of Tet).
