VietNamNet Bridge – When the night falls, hundreds of boys and girls from different places flock to this “market” to find their lovers.




Each of them has a plight and comes from different countryside, but they have the same job – working as maid for well-off families.

There is no trade and no noise at this market. This special market only takes place in the weekend and people come here in an effort to seek their “true half” who can share the joys and sorrows of life.

It is called the love market but it is not a place for girls to sell themselves, or for boys to find trivial physical feelings. It's just a meeting place for girls who work as charladies to date.

Under opaque yellow light, hidden behind old trees, the face of every person who participates in the market portrays many concerns. Some rejoice when the market closes but others are said and anxiously wait for the next market.

At 7 pm on a Saturday, at Pham Dinh Ho park in Ward 1, District 6, Ho Chi Minh City, the “love market" begins to be bustling. Groups of boys and girls flock to the market.

But there are boys and girls to come here alone. They sit quietly on benches in the park, waiting for their friends. Those who have found their partners split into couples to talk. Others walk around the park to find their partners.

Occasionally, a few girls who are still alone are shy and blush when strange guys approach to talk. Somewhere melodies of love songs come from cell phones of guys, as “gifts” for their girlfriends.

Bracelets and leather wallets sold at the roadside become gifts of love that they present each other.

At about 8 hours, all stone benches in the park were packed with people. The "market" has no sellers or buyers, no noise, only groups of people or couples whispering and giggling and exchanging happy smiles.

Le Thi Thanh Thai, a girl with a beautiful name from the southern province of Ben Tre said that she has worked as a charlady in Saigon for several years. She spent most of her time for work, so when she heard about the love market, she was eager to go there to try her luck.

On weekend nights, Thanh was permitted to go out, but she had to return home before the "curfew" hour of the employer. On Saturday, Thanh always tried to complete her tasks very soon, then catching a motorbike taxis to the "love market."

In her first days at the market, Thanh was bewildered and shamed because of her job as a charlady. But she ignored that complex, hoping to find the "prince" of her life.

She felt more conveniently when other charladies also went to the market. After several meetings, love smiled with her.

Among the boys she dated, Thanh fell in love with a worker. Both had difficult circumstances so they easily have sympathy with each other.

In this "love market," there are a lot of touching stories about love of charladies and some of them found their husbands here, for example Ky and Hien (both from Rach Gia, Kien Giang.)

Once Ms. Hien was walking on the road, asking the way to the love fair; she casually acquainted Ky who was also wandering in the garden to find a friend. They became friends and then lovers.

Each week, they looked forward to Saturday evening to see each other. Knowing each other for a few months, they are preparing for a wedding later this year.

Two Khmer girls from Ca Mau province, Thanh and Hoang, were also charladies. One worked for a family in District 11 and the other worked for a family in District 6.

Son Thi Thanh, 19, said she had a boyfriend in the "love market" but they had broken up recently because of the difference in personalities.

The girl named Kim Thi Hoang seemed to be quiet and sad. "She has not seen her boyfriend here for a few weeks. She does not know where to find him so she is very sad,” Thanh explained.

Hoang and her boyfriend knew each other for 6 months. This man is also from Ca Mau. He worked for a bakery in District 5. Every week, they walked for 6, 7 kilometers to meet each other at this market. However, the man did not come to the market for four weeks.

No one knows exactly when the “love market” for charladies was formed. Beverage sellers near Pham Dinh Ho Park said that initially only a few pairs of men and women who worked as charladies for families near the park chose this place as their dating place.

But then this place got more crowded. Now, it has become a "dating place" of hundreds of charladies in Saigon.

Thach Van Dung, from Tra Vinh, a male worker at an ice factory on Kinh Duong Vuong road, said: "Without this market, we do not know where to meet and communicate with friends of my age.”

For a year, Dung went to this market on every Sunday evening to look for his "half" but he did not find her yet. Dung knew over a dozen of couples who became spouses thanks to this market and he wished to be lucky like them. Some couples still went to this market after marriage, to celebrate their love.

Yet, not all love stories have happy ending. A close friend of Dung had a sad love story at this "love market" because his pretty girlfriend, a charlady for a Chinese family in District 5, broke up with him to become "mistress" of a rich man, with hope to change her life.

Some boys went to this "love market" to cheat girls. "But there are not many cases like that. Most of us expect to find our true half here," Dung said.

Nearly 10pm, boys and girls began leaving the "love market." They said goodbye to see each other next week. It seems that a few hours to meet weekly are too short for them.

"We meet each other for only several hours but we are very happy. These meetings are a driving force to help people like us to further love life," a girl said.

Compiled by Nguyet Ngan