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Vietnam - Saigon - 8/07
Cho Ben Thanh
Ben Thanh Market was built in 1914 and is located right in middle of QUAN 1 of Saigon. The clock tower with 4 clocks facing 4 directions is considered the symbol of the City. The market is one of the biggest markets in the city where everything can be found, from vegetables to fish, electronic gadgets, clothing, leather bags, shoes, etc.. The market is virtually open 24 hours a day. In the morning, it is mainly a market where people can buy vegetables, fruits, meat, flowers etc.. in the evening, at the back of the market, lots of small food stalls serve a wide variety of local dishes.
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Cho Ben Thanh on a raining day. |
This is early in the morning and people are setting up their shop.
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Bringing the merchandise in a huge duffle bag on the back of his tiny motorcycle... |
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I am shopping for tablecloth
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The market is always busy and noisy. There are always so many people going there.
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Food stall inside the market |
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Lady waiting for her Banh Cuong (Vietnamese steamed ravioli). Hoa and I we ate there and it was pretty good and dirt cheap! |
A Lady selling all kinds of pork's and beef's organs.. The market is actually clean enough considering the number of people going there. We did not find any flies or insects flying around..
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Street vendor selling chom chom (Rambutan) |
Lady selling Sau Rieng (Durian). You can buy it whole or just by one piece at a time. I love this fruit, it has a strong odor but when you know how to eat it, it is actually very fragrant and delicious, This fruit is an acquired taste. |
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Bun Oc (Snail soup), Bun Moc and Bun Rieu stall... Too many good food stall and not enough time to sample them all. |
Fruit stall. This one is selling green oranges. In Vietnam the temperature does not drop low enough for the peel to change to Orange
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Lady selling all kinds of Mut (dried fruits)
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A stall selling dried good. |
Night Time at Ben Thanh...
At night time the Market takes a different look. You will find a lot of this type of food stall.
Vendors will try to invite you eat to sample their food.
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Our group just back from Dinner and since it was still early we decided to go shopping.. |
Shop selling lamps and all kinds of souvenirs. |
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Lady selling fabrics. |
Ladies preparing food in a food stall... |
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Closer look at the frogs.. They are tied on their stomach and they hung on top of each other....What a sight! |
Closer look at So Huyen (blood Arca). So Huyen is a very popular Vietnamese Clams. |
There isn't a day where we do not go to the market. Sometime it is for food and sometime it is for shopping. There are so many shops so each time we go there, we make another discovery. Make sure to bargain... but either way they know we are foreigner so it does not matter what.... we always pay more than the locals. I don't really care because when it really comes down to it, we are talking about 10, 20 , 30 cents more. Sometimes it not worth spending the time to bargain!
Next... Getting out of the city
