Hai's banh mi stall at the corner of Nguyen Trai Street (Photo: Quynh Tam).
Every morning from around 8 am, the corner of Nguyen Trai Street becomes busy with passing traffic and customers stopping at a small roadside banh mi stall run by an elderly woman known locally as Ba Hai.
Despite being in her eighties, Ba Hai works swiftly, preparing sandwiches according to each customer’s request.
Hai works quickly as she prepares banh mi (Photo: Quynh Tam).
One morning, an Indonesian customer parked his motorbike and greeted her warmly like an old friend. Seeing him searching for a seat, Ba Hai quickly pointed to a plastic chair beside the stall and said naturally in English: “Sit down here!”
Customers sit beside Hai's stall eating banh mi (Photo: Quynh Tam).
The effortless exchange caught the attention of several passersby, many visibly surprised to hear an elderly street vendor speaking fluent English.
For long-time customers, however, it is nothing unusual.
Ba Hai’s stall is regularly crowded each morning, especially with returning foreign visitors. She remembers not only their faces but also their favourite orders, greeting many with a cheerful: “Hello! How are you today?”
By around 9 am, the stall often sells out entirely, leaving some late customers disappointed and forced to return another day.
“Now I’m old, so I can’t sell as much as before. Each morning I make around 30 to 40 loaves and then stop,” Ba Hai said.
Hai said selling banh mi brings her joy (Photo: Quynh Tam).
She explained that she attended school as a child, where both English and French were taught. Interested in languages from an early age, she studied both.
Later, while selling banh mi and interacting daily with foreign customers, much of what she had learned gradually returned.
“Most of my language skills come from speaking with foreigners every day. If there’s a word I don’t know, I ask them and learn from it. Selling while learning is fun,” she said.
The Indonesian customer said he first visited Vietnam in 2012 and discovered Ba Hai’s banh mi stall by chance.
“I really loved Vietnam. In 2019, I decided to move here, get married and stay permanently,” he said.
Now working as an English teacher in An Lac Ward, he jokingly described the stall as his “Vietnamese language classroom” every morning.
“If I don’t have classes, I ride here for breakfast. It’s a fun place with friends. Her banh mi is delicious and clean,” he said.
At 81, Ba Hai still wakes up daily at 4 am to prepare ingredients before transporting everything neatly arranged to her familiar street corner.
Her modest stall sells traditional fillings including cha, eggs, sausages and shredded pork floss, with prices ranging from VND 15,000 to VND 25,000 (approximately USD 0.60-0.97) each.
Ba Hai tidies her banh mi stall before heading home (Photo: Quynh Tam).
Ba Hai believes many customers support her out of affection as much as for the food itself.
“People see an old woman and want to support me. I don’t think my banh mi is especially unique. At my age, I’m not trying to earn much money anymore. But going out to sell like this makes me happy. Every day I meet people and have conversations,” she said.
She added that many loyal customers occasionally bring her small gifts, from bottles of medicated oil to newly tailored clothes, while others stop by simply to sit and chat for a while before leaving.
