Travel: Ben Thanh Market Ho Chi Minh City
Ben Thanh Market
This is the busiest market in the capital of Vietnam! Also, it’s centrally located in district 1 of Ho Chi Minh City, which is where we were staying at the Hello House.
Okay, let’s get shopping at the Ben Thanh Market!
So many items, from knockoff designer bags to items that are actually made in Southeast Asian factories and sold at deep discounts in these markets. I don’t know if workers steal the items or if they are flawed in some way and thrown out. In some cases the knockoffs looked pretty good. Not on the bags, though – Louis Vuitton bags were the easiest to spot as knockoffs.
Night Market
Time for the outside night market set up, also, I can’t believe how fast they set up. It was quite awesome to watch.
This is funny – I had to work during the night market, only for a quick moment though. This super nice guy needed some help and pointed at me – away I go, pushing as hard as I can. Bad photos taken with our very old iPhone, yet you get the idea.
I love the grey tank which spells out Viet-Nam and got it. Took the lady about 10 minutes to find one in my size. Worth it though – oh, and it was $3 – score.
Cars aren’t allowed down the street when the night market is on, but scooters and motorbikes are allowed, which is just a tad bit dangerous in my opinion. We spent about $10 dollars at the market total, getting just a few little things and some good food. Overall, a good afternoon and night spent checking out the markets and chatting with locals.
Thanks for visiting and I’ll see you again soon – happy travelling.
2 Comments
Rebecca in Oz
I really agree with what you say about Vietnam. We had the same experiences – lots of people trying to scam us etc. One guy tried to charge us $25 for two coconuts! There are so many amazing places to visit in SE Asia so why waste your time going somewhere where you always worry you’re being taken advantage of? Our family has been to almost every country in SE Asia (only Laos, Timor Leste, PNG, and Brunei left to go.) Most of them are amazing. We especially loved Cambodia; we’ve been to Thailand twice, and Malaysia four or five times now. But Vietnam? I doubt we’ll go again. We have some good memories, and some things are good (we enjoyed the National History Museum in HCMC) but you can find better. Especially for shopping! Even Singapore has better prices!
Ali
Hi Rebecca,
Thanks so much for sharing! I was just explaining our experiences in Vietnam to a few people yesterday and they didn’t seem to understand where I was coming from. Cambodia is a place we loved – such kindhearted people and amazing food. Like you, we doubt we’ll visit again. That’s so awesome that Singapore had better prices – it might have just moved up the list. Happy travelling!