Mèo Vạc - Market Cafe & Cattle Sales

Cafe area of market hall. The main Mèo Vạc Market Hall has a large cafe at its heart The last page Go to another page. showed people who chose to trade in the streets of Mèo Vạc, but the town also has a large dedicated market hall complete with a busy cafe and, adjacent to it, a penned area for cattle. As it rains heavily and frequently in Vietnam the protection offered by the hall is for many worth the money they pay for a space inside. Vats of rice and stock. Large vats, on open fires, hold basic foods:
stocks and rice
Customers serving themselves. Commonly in Vietnam a plate of rice is served by the staff and then customers help themselves to the dishes of meat, fish and vegetables. The assemblage is then shown to the cashier who tots up a price - any shock is absorbed with traditional oriental calm Huge woks. Woks do need to be large, but these seem a touch exaggerated Family eating in cafe. The red caddy on the table is ubiquitous in Vietnam, it holds chopsticks, spoons and toothpicks Woman under large wok. Having bought one of the huge woks getting it home may hone navigational skills Logs feeding fire under vats. The logs burn at one end as they are pushed into the fire under the pots - and the smoke is ignored Stall selling billhooks. Choosing from a range of billhooks The sign at the entrance to the market. This building also operates at night. Such markets are common in all tropical countries, 'night' comes by 7 pm, and the heat of the day is normally less debilitating by that time Vendors with flat baskets of noodles. The noodle section of the market Hand lifting noodles. Noodles are mostly made from rice and manioc. Go to another site. In fact manioc, although now ubiquitous in Asia, is a relatively modern introduction from South America where it is known as cassava Cattle and heads over wall. Beside the hall is the cattle area. Some of our company can be seen preferring to expose only their heads to the potential maulings of these wild animals Heavily pregnant goat. While this is mainly a cattle market, no market (or even page) is complete without its goat - this one is heavily pregnant Bull being shown to buyers. Cattle in Vietnam are by our standards remarkably docile Head of bull. Bull's eye. These are Vietnamese golden/yellow cattle Go to another site. Bull being displayed. Golden cattle, also common in India, have short horns, humps on their necks and flaps of skin below their throats Man with folded arms and bull. Some more shots of bulls with their guardians... Man with one foot displaying bull. A missing foot, hope it does not contradict my comment on docility Group discussing bull. While the language and looks may differ, there is something very reassuringly familiar about the stances and interactions of people across the world, from this remote corner of Vietnam to the lowlands of Scotland Go to another page. The next page takes you on a road out of Mèo Vạc which has only recently been made available to cars. In the past it was motorbikes only - as you will see. Pontoon Bridge. line
Saturday 5th May 2018 Murphy on duty

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