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All hail the rest day. It’s been a big couple of days since we arrived, and last night the party goblins got out. We ticked off the last of the craft beer places on our Ho Chi Minh City list. Sleep late, early lunch pool side. Sunbathe, then walk to Citibank branch on Nguyen Hue to sort an issue with our card. Staff are super helpful, and the issue is fixed in fifteen minutes.
Make our way to the famous Benh Tanh Market, a hot and sweaty venture. This city sizzles under a heatwave like you wouldn’t believe. 40 degrees Celsius and rising. The market is large, under the roof of a French colonial style building. The usual tourist trinkets – key rings, magnets and t-shirts. There’s also an impressive array of tea, coffee, fruits and rice snacks to buy. Everything is squeezed in tight, close together to make the most of the space inside. Stalls are barely shoulder’s width apart, not built for my wide foreigner backside. The air is thick and hot, adding to the claustrophobic feeling of the place. Vendors shout the usual greetings as we slink past – “I have many sizes!” “Hello, yes, what you looking for?”.
Some vendors know nothing of personal space – they grab your arm as you pass them, and if you hesitate they attempt to steer you closer to their stall. Bargaining is a new game here – vendors are ruthless. They’re here to make a dollar, and they make us work hard. I thought I knew how to haggle from my time in Thailand and Indonesia.. this is a damn contact sport. They come in high, and if you can’t get the price you want and try to walk away – they grab your arm to stop you! An alarming experience at first, but after a few goes, we’re all over it. Prices get cheaper the further in the market you go. The more you shimmying and squeezing you do, the more you’ll be rewarded with cheaper prices. At one of the outer stalls, a vendor offers us a price for a knock off Adidas shirt that was equal to $60 Australian. I almost choke, as we move on. In the inner sanctum, we find a lady offering shirts at 250k dong (roughly $15 AUD). Sold. Pick up other assorted travel requirements like magnets, underwear and post cards.
The market is a popular meeting spot for locals, who get together to eat banh mi and noodles at the food stalls at the back of the market. The food stalls are all metal and tiles, gleaming clean. Locals chow down, and sip fresh brewed iced coffees with sweetened condensed milk. I also spot fried chicken, crab soup, fresh spring rolls and grilled pork.
Feeling buoyed by our luck in Benh Tanh Market bargaining, we decide to walk to the backpacker district, Bui Vien. Only a few roads to cross, through the never-ending torrent of motorbikes and scooters. The most intense is the intersection in front of the market, across Le Lai. The city is building a public transport system like Bangkok – a metro system, but progress is staggeringly slow. As a result, roads are closed or rerouted and access to parks and vacant blocks are restricted. Across the Benh Tanh Market, the bright blue fence of the metro construction looms, forcing us on a walk along the side of the road until we finally meet a footpath. Despite the metro construction chopping up the city, the public parks and squares are well kept and full of beautifully shady trees. Couples sit together in the shade, kids play with kites, young men play football – shirts vs skins. Dogs lie in the dust beneath a leafy shrub. In a city as busy and big as Ho Chi Minh, its nice to find these patches of greenery.
Bui Vien is the opposite. It’s loud, hot and dusty. Everything is covered in a layer of grime, and its here that I realise that I’ve outgrown the backpacker grind. It’s cool that you’re paying eight bucks a night for your accommodation. You know what I think is cooler? Air conditioning and comfy pillows. Breakfast included. HOT SHOWERS. I don’t have time to mourn my youth, as I’m almost run over a delivery van. At night, Bui Vien and some of its surrounding streets are closed and pedestrians roam as they please. Bars spill out onto the pavement and music blasts. But Bui Vien by daylight is a different place. Footpaths are covered in scooters, stacks of crates filled with empty beer bottles, bags of rubbish awaiting collection. Waitresses look decidedly bored, standing at the front of bars and restaurants. Later, they’ll be running beers to tables, flirting and earning tips. Some places are hosing tables down, and some haven’t even opened the doors yet. Travel agencies, souvenir shops and pharmacies are amongst the jumble. If you’re looking for it, its here. Traffic careens through the street, swerving around pedestrians, dogs and rubbish. Sometimes into the path of oncoming traffic. We find a small bar, and pull up a seat out the front. Order beers. Spy a spliff in the ashtray on the bar.
What I do like about Bui Vien is the smaller streets and lanes that spread like fingers from the main road. ‘Mom and Pop’ shops and guest houses with their own tiny bars can be found down these. They’re cleaner, more local. Aunties cook food for their neighbours in tiny alcoves, scooters are mended in the open. Babies swing in hammocks. Sunlight filters through the washing lines and power cables which zig zag above.And if you think the lane you’re walking down is small, I can guarantee there’s a smaller one leading off it. Some are so tiny you won’t even fit a scooter down it! How does one deliver mail to these places?
From my stool out the front of the bar, I watch the traffic swell – school and work is out, and the scooters swarm the area. There’s honking and good-natured yelling. Across the road I watch a young girl complete homework, while a woman keeps a watchful eye over the sunglasses stall out the front. Beer is delivered to what looks like every door in the street, by both the crate and the keg. Another lady is sweeping the entry of her house, and I can see a scooter parked inside, along with small plastic stools stacked inside the door. Foreigners are making their way back in from a day of sightseeing and wandering, in the usual uniform of singlets, fisherman pants and sunburn. All hungry, and all looking for beers.
We’ve seen enough. We finish our beers and retreat to our side of District 1, to hotels, hot showers and room service. I have officially outgrown the backpacker scene.
Notes:
- The staff at the Citibank branch in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, were so friendly and helpful. They helped us resolve a major issue with our bank card, which took a lot of stress out of it! You can find it here: Sunwah Building, 115 Nguyễn Huệ, Bến Nghé, Quận 1, Hồ Chí Minh
- Bui Vien wasn’t the place for me – but it could be right for you! It just depends what you’re looking for.
- You’ll read a tonne of crap about how dangerous Ben Thanh market is. I didn’t feel unsafe, and left with all my stuff. Just be smart. Don’t take all your money, split your cards up, and keep a close eye on your bag. I find it easier to walk with my bag slung across my front anyway (less likely to knock stuff over).
- Vendors will grab you, its unavoidable. A little shake of the arm will set you free.
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