Salam,
Once you landed at Ho Chi Minh City, it would be a serious no-no for you not to visit Cho Ben Thanh or Ben Thanh Market. It offers Vietnamese made products at its cheapest. You can bargain of course since it is a market. You may even similarize it with Chatuchak Market in Bangkok, where businessmen buys wholesale products here for their businesses.
Ben Thanh Market is located in front of the main roundabout of Ho Chi Minh City, where the statue of the late Ho Chi Minh riding a horse. Since it is located at the city centre itself, so traffic is bustling almost at every hour of the day.
Before I share with you what is available at Ben Thanh market, I like to share with you one sweet memory when I came here with the 3R crew in January 2008. When I was roaming around the market with another fellow winner, Chawirath, a Chinese+Thai Mass Comm student (meaning that she is very familiar with Malay actors and actresses) it felt like we were in a dream when a familiar figure wearing all black walked towards us. At first we just stopped in our tracks when we saw him unsure whether it was really him or not since Vietnamese people look more or less like Malays too. However we were starstruck when this figure came to us and said, "Dari Malaysia ke?" (From Malaysia is it?) and when we said yes, his friend called him "Syam cepat!" (Syam quick!) and he said "Tunggu kejap, layan budak-budak Malaysian ni!" (Wait a sec! I am with some Malaysian kids here!"
Try to guess who this friendly actor was? Come on, come on, guess! You cannot? Cannot? Owhh! He was ROSYAM NOR! Huhu! Ok back then in 2008 he was bigger than now in popularity but still he is still a very respected and charismatic actor in Malaysia so we were really touched by his humbleness! Very humble! I mean, HE CAME TO US, NOT US WALKING TOWARDS HIM FIRST OK? =D
He informed us that he was with the Aura Seri entourage returning from Korea so they had a transit in Vietnam first. OMG, you know what, I am the type of person who will pray for anyone especially a successful and popular one when he's humble and appreciate his fans. No wonder people like Rosyam Nor and Datuk Siti Nurhaliza are so uber successful regardless of time since they know how to appreciate their fans who actually their 'employers' because without fans, they can't sell their products. We took a photo with Rosyam Nor but till today Rath has not emailed it to me! Hmmph! However his humbleness and kindness having a chat with us that day in Ben Thanh Market will always be told to others by me (and same goes with the jerkiness of some artistes I've met in person huh!). To Rosyam Nor, may Allah bless you and your career and may you and family be safe and prosperous always amin... =)
*sigh* Ok now coming back to the story of Ben Thanh Market, Ok Ben Thanh offers almost everything you can think of, name it clothing apparel, flower and fruit bouquets, hair wigs, handbags, local snacks and coffee, home decor and literally almost everything under the sun that you can imagine is available here. Please check out the images below so you can see what I mean.
Outside Ben Thanh Market, you may check out the long row of florists selling incredible loose flowers and ready bouquets. 
Love this one! Colourful exotic orchids. 
Juicy tropical fruits anyone?If I am not mistaken, Ben Thanh market is a square building where you may enter from any one of the four sides. When we entered, we walked through stalls selling cotton clothes suitable for daily wear. What attracted us was this stall below selling lots of what I must say 'drag queen' stuff such as fancy hair wigs, fancy plastic costume jewellery suitable to be worn by showgirls or party-goers attending costume parties.
Wigs, wigs and more wigs.
Hehe we did not intend to buy anything but there's no prohibition for trying on right?
Nana with smooth, longer black hair. So straight that guna jari pun boleh. :p
Ultra violet hair =)
Stalls selling a variety of bags especially luggage as well as choices of fabric for you to make your own clothes.
Lots of shimmery-shimmery fabric for the more glamourous outfits. FYI since there are so many Malaysian tourists here, the sellers would attract you saying that their fabric is suitable for the Malaysian traditional outfit, Baju Kurung. At some stalls you may purchase a fabric, with recommended matching scarf as your hijab and they provide tailoring service be it to make Ao-Dai or Baju Kurung. How handy.
You may need Ray Bans to look at these straight under the lights.
Cotton fabric suitable for men's shirts. You may request for tailoring service to make shirts and even suits. Stylish, good material suits at low prices, ready in 1-2 days only.Yes one thing about Ben Thanh market, if you are crazy for accessories, you may be needed to be brought to an asylum since the choices here will make you uncontrollable. I used to be a fanatic for accessories but now the lust is a little moderate so that is good for my wallet. Most of these accessories here are made in Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and even Korea.
Gorgeous tribal bangles.
Fancy earrings.Accessories is one thing, but for me, the craziest selections that they have in Ben Thanh market is of course hundreds and hundreds of handbags with lovely colours and very creative designs. The normal ones you could find at chic boutiques and stalls in Kuala Lumpur but of course, here they are cheaper.
Handbags! Handbags!
These. Are. Fabulous. Butterflies. Are. Always. Fabulous.Yes notice the FIXED PRICE signs? When I was here in 2008, the sellers were really nice to use. Once you asked for a discount, surely you will get it. That beautiful scenario has ceased to exist when I visited exactly 2 years ie. now. If you pretend to walk away, they would not be bothered to chase after you and say sweet nothings so you will eventually buy, today, you can just walk away and that's it. (-_-) The least I could get nowadays was a difference of a few VND, do not imagine to have a discount of half price anymore, at least that was in our case.
I profusely mentally reminded myself that I do not need all the bags in the world.
See the shop selling the red handbags? Those handbags are made from good quality leather in stylish, sleek designs selling at a more expensive prices equivalent to their quality.
Bags and footwear in ethnic, tribal designs.
Of course in any kind of market like Ben Thanh, you will always get to check out high-end brands imitation handbags. At this stall here, the salesgirl was very much nicer compared to others and willingly give good discounts to us without much fuss. Yes Nana happily purchased this baby pink Chanel sling bag. Sorry Karl Lagerfeld, we just could not afford to buy any original one yet.
Asian designs home decor. Plates, chopsticks, lamp shades. In 2008, I bought Ummi quite a number of wood and colourful cutlery and cute bowls.
Buddha dolls and super cute, fantastic looking Russian Dolls.
Collectors may purchase adorable tea sets, tiffin carriers and ceramic ashtrays here.
Of course the infamous Vietnamese coffee. The aroma of the coffee is something you cannot resist, let alone the fabulous taste. Yes when I was here with 3R my challenge was to cover about Vietnamese coffee and do TV reporting on it which was a really great experience.
So people, make sure, do not be lazy to explore Ben Thanh market whenever you come to Ho Chi Minh City ok? =)
No comments:
Post a Comment