CHO BINH THAY MARKET

My friends and I took a 7-day vacation in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), Vietnam. On one of the days that we were in HCMC, we went to Binh Thay Market (Benh Than, Cho Lo), a wholesale marketplace in the city. It was fairly easy to navigate the place since a lot of people understand and speak English.

At the center of the market is a small altar where the locals and tourists offer  prayers, flowers or incense.

Cho Binh Thay offers a variety of food choices, from dried fish and squids, raw or roasted nuts, preserved or fresh local fruits, to chocolates and candies. Bags, textile, clothes, and footwear are also for sale here. I've also spotted baking and other cooking wares.

Coffee and tea lovers will surely find this place a haven because of the numerous choices of local and imported coffee and tea it offers.  Nut lovers will surely go nuts with the different raw or roasted, with shell or without shell nuts such as  cashews, areca nuts, kernels and other nuttie goodies being sold here.

The market also has a corner for flower vendors who sell local or imported flowers which can be bought at very affordable prices and can be arranged according to your specifications.

Outside the market, street vendors abound; they sell pies, vietnamese rolls, pastries, fruit juices or bottled water. Most of the vendors wear the local conical hat made of indigenous materials such as straw, for protection from the sun and rain.

For the experience, Binh Thay Market is a must-see for food lovers, chefs and tourists. 

It is located at " Thap Muoi Street (Vietnamese: Đường Tháp Mười), a four street-block span connecting Confucious Street (Vietnamese: Đường Khổng Tử - old French: Quai de Gaudot) to the North, and Hau Giang Street (Vietnamese: Đường Hậu Giang) to the South, on the edge of District 6." (Wikipedia) It operates from 6:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M.