Quang An flower market on Au Co street in Tay Ho, Hanoi, has been bustling with a crowd of flower dealers and buyers these days in preparations for Tet or Lunar New Year festival.

As a big and well-known market in the capital city, the market place is getting busier and busier prior to Tet, the most important holiday of Vietnamese people.

Though situated outside the dyke of the Red River delta, sellers also sell flowers on the river dyke to meet the increasing demand for Tet.

This year, the market offers more varieties of flowers, which are transported from different areas: peach blossoms and chrysanthemum from Nhat Tan, Tu Lien kumquat, apricot blossoms from Ho Chi Minh City, roses from Soc Son, and cymbidium orchid and lys flowers from Da Lat.

Quang An market took shape from a temporary market in Nhat Tan district established to sell flowers grown at some well-known flower villages by West Lake such as Nhat Tan, Quang Ba.

When Tay Ho district was set up in 1996, the market was moved to its present location in Quang An district.

From Quang An market, which is open at night to early morning, except for Tet holidays, flowers are distributed to elsewhere in the city with most of the buyers being wholesale dealers.

In the pre-Tet period, the market is busy not only with flower dealers but also with young customers who come to enjoy the bustling atmosphere or buy flowers to decorate their home.

Visiting the flower market has become a hobby for many Hanoians as the freshness of colorful and fragrant flowers displayed there is a special treat to their souls.-VNA