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Travelogger

We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment.

Ben Thanh Night Market

February 2, 2011 By noemi

There is something about night markets that attract me – and tons of other tourists, as well. Every time I visit a new city, I make it a point to find out if it has a night market, and I make sure that go there at least once. I don’t know why, but night markets are much more fun than the “day” ones.

In any case, as I was telling you in my previous post, Ben Thanh Market closes in the early evening, but its night market draws more crowds – if that’s at all possible. The night market is composed of stalls set up in the streets flanking the Ben Thanh Market. During the day, these streets serve as, well, streets. The sides are parking areas as well. When the night market opens, they still serve as streets – motorcycles galore – but your senses will be assaulted (pleasantly) by the sights, sounds, and smells of what the people have to sell.

I think that I did most of my shopping at the night market. I got clothing – this nice shirt with a tiger print on it, the most amazing white robe with a silver dragon embroidered onto it, wallets, and all sorts of other stuff! The best thing about the night market is that you can haggle all you want. The trick I learned is to just walk away when you don’t get the price you want. If it’s reasonable, the salesperson will run after you and you’ll get an excellent price!


Of course, you CANNOT ignore the aroma of food while at the night market. This is perhaps one of the best places where you can eat. There are a lot of stalls selling grilled everything, soup with anything in it, fried everything – name it, you’ll find it in these stalls. Thank you, guru Anthony Bourdain, for alerting me to the presence of this night market!

Ben Thanh Market In Saigon

March 21, 2010 By noemi

At the start of this month, I told you that I would probably be writing mostly about Saigon as I had tons of experiences that I would like to share. I did have a short break yesterday when I wrote about my Mount Pinatubo experience – which is in the Philippines. Let’s go back to neighboring Vietnam, shall we?

One of the attractions of Saigon is the shopping experience. Trust me, even those who normally shy away from shopping will have a blast in Saigon! The most popular shopping destination is Ben Thanh Market. It is located right smack in the center of the city and served as a landmark for me. When I got a little lost, I would always find my way back to this market and rediscover my bearings.

So what does Ben Thanh Market have to offer? During the day, this bustling complex is full of tourists and locals haggling their way to a good buy. You can find practically anything here.

Bags – mostly North Face and Kipling – are so cheap, your eyes will pop out! Be careful, though, as many of them are knock offs. I have to say that despite being knock offs, they look pretty good.

Spices and other dry goods. I love this area. I got coffee, tea, and other spices to bring home. Here’s a tip – if you want to buy cheap coffee, go to the outer stalls. I thought it would be cheaper inside so I bought my coffee there. On my way out, though, I found a shop selling coffee for almost half the price!

Lacquerware and other knickknacks. These are everywhere. They’re perfect for bringing home.

At night, the building closes but the night market becomes alive…that’s for the next post.

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