As soon as we started planning our holiday I thought how cool it would be to do a blooms of the week for the two countries we visited (Hong Kong & Vietnam), to get a taste of what flowers are on offer, feel those tropical feels and to buy in a real flower market – something I crave here in New Zealand.
In Vietnam, I chose Hanoi flower market to purchase my blooms, Hanoi is the capital city and on the way into the old quarter I’d seen the flower market, and tons of lotus flowers, which is the national flower of Vietnam.
The lotus flowers grow in muddy ponds, on the side of the road in what looks like ditches. For something so prized here in New Zealand it really was an ordinary flower over there. They have two colours, white and pink, and the pink seems more common.
The market runs 24 hours here, but the busiest time and when the locals go to shop is between midnight and 7am. Holiday wane had taken over at this point and so I slept in, and got to the market at around 9am. It was pretty much deserted except for a road of vendors dozing after a busy trade. I purchased pink lotus flowers, (what we call) asparagus tree fern, a type of grass and bright pink gomphrena.
Hanoi is a very very old, crazy busy place, full of french influence and imperfection. And while I was on limited resources and time this bouquet very much does reflect the organised chaos of the city!
Blooms and words by Shaye at On My Hand
