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Cho Ve chai – where memories are revived
Its name sounds low-brow, but Cho Ve chai, or the market of scraps, is getting quite popular among city dwellers, especially those who want to have a quick glimpse of popular home utensils in the past. So, crowds of people rush to the so-called market, opened every Sunday morning at Cao Minh Café, at 255/47bis on No Trang Long Street in HCMC’s Binh Thanh District, either to relive their memories or to learn of the people’s livelihood decades ago. Among them are also antiques collectors.An elderly man named Thang is among frequent goers at the market. Every Sunday morning now, he rushes to the flea market, and among old things there, he tries to look for something new for his Zippo lighters collection as well as to admire stuffs which he used to see in his childhood. Cho Ve chai was founded in 2009 by the owner of saigonvechai.com, an online forum for used items.
Thang stops by a man who is rubbing a Zippo lighter carefully next to dozens of old Zippo lighters and weird tobacco pipes on a wooden table. He stares at the Zippo lighters and seems lost in admiration of such lively things as if he did not hear a few people making bids in an auction for an old typewriter.
Voices are amplified via a loudspeaker: “VND1.8 million for the first time, then VND2 million for the second time.”
Many people cast their look at a stage where the auction is taking place while many others relax with coffee and music or walk along booths and admire, inspect and ask for prices and information about products. In that way, the market is overwhelmed by greetings, melodies, smiles and voices, all mingled in a bustling atmosphere, while vintage things are lying on the table, picked up and put down by guests on and off. Some of guests are wavering and some others are willing to pay money for things they love and are happy to collect.
Called ‘Cho Ve chai’ but the products in this market are not scraps at all. Many of them are even considered antiques and worth thousands of dollars or millions of Vietnam dong. The market offers a variety of vintage items, from tableware to cars, kinds of sunglasses, watches, clocks, jewelries, old coins and banknotes through many historical times, Zippo lighters, radio and CD players, tobacco pipes, and oil lamps you name it.
“I nearly burst to tear when I see pith helmets, stainless steel water pots, a coal iron with the mini statue of a chicken on its top, a manchon lamp or a very old telephone set because they remind me of my father and my buddies during the war time. Now they’re all gone but the same things they used to have are still here. All my memories now are awaken in this market,” Thang utters in full emotion.
All the things at the market are collected around the country by many people who love old values and vintage things. That is also the reason why people consider the market a rendezvous to tell historical stories, to exchange knowledge of antiques and to share the passion as well as to find a chance to own rare and vintage collections.
Singer Cao Minh, owner of the café, often entertains visitors with his classic musical pieces. He says that business is not a priority at the market as people come mainly to share their love for old and rare items. He also says the buyers can be assured that they’re not going to be cheated by sellers, because every vendor here is willing to give their customers clear histories of the items.
Moreover, the products are sold publicly so their prices and information can be censored by many people there. “It is not like any normal market in this city, it is a place people come to exchange things. Therefore, an item can be bought this week and then sold in the next week when the owner wants to exchange for other things he prefers. All things are for fun, for passion,” says Henry Thai, a regular guest to the market.
Around the market, amidst the big crowd of hundreds of visitors, a girl tries a ring on her finger, a man asks for price of an old radio set, a little boy seats next to a man playing guitar in a corner, and a big-belly man scrutinizes a tobacco pipe made in the shape of a gun while the Zippo man still rubs an old lighter. And Saigon has such happy Sunday mornings like that.
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