Explore the ‘5 thousand’ market

Market ‘5 thousand’ is located along Highway 32 from Van Chan to Nghia Lo town in Ban Hoc village, Dong Khe commune, Van Chan district, Yen Bai province…
Here, highland people sell agricultural products and local products at the price of 5 thousand (5,000 VND). According to longtime traders, the market has been established for more than ten years.

Mr. Hoang Van Hanh sells all kinds of products made by his family. Photo: Nguyen Dung. In the past, the local people did not know how to trade in agricultural products and their products, because they brought goods from Dong Khe commune to the central market of Van Chan district by a far distance, so people set up small stalls right at the market. along Highway 32 for sale. The owners of the goods sold at the market are relatives of the Mong, Thai, and Tay ethnic groups living in Dong Khe and Suoi Bu communes, many of whom cannot speak Mandarin. Initially, they sold with different high and low prices, so Mr. Hoang Hiep Cuoc was the first person to trade in the market and told everyone to sell the same price for all items, which is 5 thousand. Because it has no name and has not been planned as a people’s market, people around and passersby call this place a market of 5,000, or a market for one price. In the market, I saw Ms. Sung Thi Dong selling vegetables with her son on the roadside. She is a Mong ethnic living in Ba Cau village, Suoi Bu commune, recently she went to the market to sell vegetables. Her customers are passersby and people in the surrounding communes. Because the price is only 5 thousand, the vegetables are grown in the high mountains and are always fresh, so each customer usually buys a few at a time. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thao sells specialty rice. Photo: Nguyen Dung. Sitting selling goods in the sun, the road is full of cars, so it is very dusty, but it helps her earn a little more money to cover her life. Sitting next to her are elderly Mong and Thai people selling wild vegetables, bamboo shoots and specialty rice. These old women do not speak Mandarin well, but they also bring goods to the market to sell, because the items have only one price and do not need to be bargained like other normal markets. Mr. Hoang Van Hanh, living in the market, he has just brought cucumbers, pumpkins, bamboo shoots, bitter melons, vegetables … for sale right at the door. Mr. Hanh said: My wife and I, Lo Thi Thuy, bring our family’s things to sell to passersby. My vegetables and herbs do not use pesticides, so you can rest assured that you use them… He added that in the bamboo shoot season, he and his wife can sell nearly 2 tons per month and a few kilograms of other agricultural products, thanks to which the family can make a small amount of income. Some people around here also bring goods to sell, many of which are herbal products exploited by people in the forest, at this time the items are not the same price of 5 thousand as before. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thao specializes in selling specialty rice such as black brown rice, brown rice, plain rice, etc., with prices ranging from 20,000 to 30,000 VND/kg. She said, her buyers are mostly tourists and passersby, many in Yen Bai city, Hanoi… buy a few dozen pounds to eat and give as gifts. Ms. Nguyen Thi Xoan sells wild pineapples to customers to buy as medicine. Photo: Nguyen Dung. The large stalls in the market of 5,000 sell precious herbs and many types of herbal medicine. In which, Ms. Nguyen Thi Xoan’s stall has nearly 100 different products, including: forest shiitake mushrooms, forest seed bananas, forest myrtle, mousse, dan den, hummus, honeydew tea – red ginseng , fenugreek, Jiaogulan, dried squash, string tea, hemp, wild pineapple, medlar, jade crane… Many items are mined by her mother-in-law, Mrs. Ha Thi An, who knows how to collect and exploit drugs in the forest. bought from people, in addition, she also sells medicines for postpartum women, kidney medicine, special medicine for bones and joints, medicine for stomach pain … The herbs she buys from local people, her husband, Mr. Loc Duc Huynh, helps her daily to chop, dry, sieve, and then pack them for sale. Mr. Loc Duc Huynh closes goods to sell to customers far away. Photo: Nguyen Dung. In the past, Huynh worked as a worker on Dong Khe quarry and many other places. His hard work did not earn much, so he went back to help his wife and mother buy and sell medicinal herbs. Each month, Ms. Xoan and her husband sell nearly 1 ton of medicinal herbs of all kinds to tourists, pharmacies everywhere from Lao Cai, Hanoi to Dong Nai. Another stall owner in the 5,000 market is Ms. Hoang Van Nga from Thai ethnicity who has lived here for a long time, her family also sells male medicines that have the effect of tonic kidney, yang, liver, liver detoxification… Besides, She also sells it online and carries it by post or passenger car. Ms. Hoang Van Nga at the family drugstore. Photo: Nguyen Dung. Over the past ten years, the 5,000-dollar market is not only commercially significant, but also a cultural address that attracts tourists near and far because of the simple, rustic and genuine human element here.