There are clear mornings, when the traffic is still quiet on the street, people's hearts also soften before an unexpected scene. Like me this morning, in the middle of the familiar Vinh Ho market, when I stopped to buy some sugarcane, I looked up... I caught sight of a canopy of drooping golden flowers, gentle to the point of being bewildered.
I asked the sugarcane seller on the roadside:
- "Sister, what kind of tree has such beautiful flowers?"
She smiled gently:
- "Bún flowers, dear. They bloom this season, many people passing by also stop to take pictures."
Bún flowers? The name is both strange and familiar. I quickly searched google while my heart was still absorbed in the canopy of flowers that were like clouds hanging over the roof. It turns out, this flower has another name: bach hoa, or man mang. A rustic, fairy-tale name, as if wafting from some memory.
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| Bún flowers usually begin to bloom in late March and early April - when the weather changes and the late spring drizzle has just ended. |
Bún flowers bloom lightly in the middle of a busy city
Bún flowers usually start to bloom in late March and early April - when the weather changes seasons and the last spring drizzles have just ended. Each cluster of ivory-white flowers, with long, pale yellow pistils, blooms brilliantly like shiny vermicelli, layered softly on the branches. Perhaps because of that appearance, people call it "bún flowers", a familiar name that makes anyone who hears it smile.
This tree has a woody trunk, a wide canopy, and very flexible, drooping branches. When it blooms, the flowers cover the entire tree, not to be confused with any other flower species in the city. The flowers are not strongly fragrant, but fragrant, gentle, enough to make anyone who accidentally passes by turn back.
In the Central provinces such as Quang Nam, Hue, Ninh Thuan..., bún flowers are very familiar. But in Hanoi, they are like something strange and familiar, because there are only very few trees, growing scattered and silently. Therefore, those who accidentally encounter it often carry a lucky feeling as if they have been given a gift from nature in the middle of the city.
The vermicelli flower is not only beautiful but also evokes a fresh feeling about the season. The beauty is not ostentatious, not brilliant, but simple, profound like the beauty of a quiet kindness. And if you slow down a bit in the midst of the noise, you will see: Hanoi is so beautiful when there are flowers like that.
The city this season, amidst the red color of the flags and flowers of April, glows with a fragile white and yellow color on the vermicelli branches in full bloom. A strange intersection: between tradition and nature, between the rhythm of modern life and the breath of the old season.
If one day you pass by a small street and see a vermicelli flower blooming in the clear sky, please stop for a minute. Look up, take a deep breath. Who knows, in that moment, you will feel your heart soften and love Hanoi in a very quiet way.
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| Bun flower is also called white flower. |
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| Bun flowers are not only beautiful but also evoke a fresh feeling about the season. |
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| The flowers are not strongly fragrant, but fragrant and gentle, enough to make anyone passing by look back. |
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| Each cluster of ivory white flowers, with long pale yellow pistils, blooms brilliantly like shiny vermicelli noodles, softly layered on the branch. |
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| The vermicelli flower is beautiful but not ostentatious, not brilliant, but simple, profound like the beauty of a quiet kindness. |
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| But it's enough to make people eagerly look forward to the April vermicelli flower season. |
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| This time of year, as the city glows in the red of April flags and flowers, a delicate white-golden hue quietly blooms on the branches of bún trees in full blossom. |
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| And if you slow down a bit, look up and admire each bunch of flowers. |
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| And just like that, I find myself falling in love with this city all over again. |
