Vietnam: Ben Thanh Market Supermarket to the World

Vietnam: Ben Thanh Market Supermarket to the World

Welcome to Ho Chi Minh City!  Formerly known as Saigon and to many locals, still known as Saigon.  Although there are many landmarks in this metropolis, there is one that truly does stick out.  I normally wouldn't write about a market or in Vietnamese "Cho", but this one is special and if you are travelling Asia on a budget, you will gain from reading this!  It's in the heart of District 1 and within a few blocks, you will find everything from Vincom to Bitexco Tower. Make sure you come and spend some time here.  The food is amazing and the market is FULL of trinkets and gadgets to buy.  Keep your money safe and beside you as it is busy and bargain for everything.  DO NOT PAY FULL PRICE!

 Information:  I honestly don't know much about the history about this market so I'll just give information about what to expect there.  If you are spending a day in District 1, Ben Thanh Market is a great place to spend your time.  Best time would be the night market but go from 2pm till 4pm inside and 6pm to 8pm for the night market.  Those are estimates of best times and not market hours. Outside there is traffic EVERYWHERE.  Everywhere is an understatement.  Walk slowly across the street and do not run, basically give the motorists time to move around you while you cross the street.  Inside, the aisle are generally very narrow but expect to spend hours looking at strange things and an assortment of clothes, purses, wallets, food, crafts, dishes and food.  Must try some "Che" there if you are going to get some snacks.

Location: Heart of District 1 in Ho Chi Minh City.  Ask any Taxi, Xe Om or driver to take you to Ben Thanh.  Beside Cho Ben Thanh is a huge park that many Vietnamese students will want to practice english with you.  When I say practice, they generally mean talk to a white person.  Myself being asian, they generally will talk to a white person from Sweden with no english before they talk to an Asian who was raised in the States.  I find that funny.  The park will also host many small groups that are playing badminton, working out or doing Vietnamese "Vo" or Vietnamese Martial Arts.  There is a massive turnabout in front of the market and if you stand in the middle, you can get some amazing photos.  In the area exists shops, Saigon Square, Bitexco Towers, Sunwah Towers and Vincom 1 and Vincom 2.  Basically anything tourist related is in a 4 block radius.

Transportation: From any hotel, just tell the Taxi driver or Xe Om (motorbike taxi) to take you to Ben Thanh.  If you go in a group of 2 or more, taxis are cheaper and they provide Air Conditioning.  Xe Oms are great individual transports but you need to hunt for a bargain.

Costs: Locals Do NOT Shop here.  Ben Thanh is a Tourist trap.  Of all the tourist traps in Saigon, Ben Thanh is the biggest.  It's over priced and quality is below par for many products.  Food is decently priced as it is everywhere. If there is one thing you need to do here, its bargain.  Learn to walk away because no matter how cheap you might have gotten it, its still overpriced.  Example, a knockoff Coach purse might "retail" for $100.00 but bargain it to $50.00 and you think its a deal.  It's not.  Bargain it to $20 and they will still sell it.  Personally I've bought them for $15.00 for $100.00 priced items and even then I think they are still making a pretty penny or two.  But Bargain, Bargain, Bargain.

Scenery: not much to say here except window shop and you will enjoy everything you see.  The night market and night food is amazing.  The Shrimps in the night market are massive and worth every cent.  The vast array of colors and smells will overload the senses but keep some perspective and you will get through it.

Good luck and happy travellings!


-Rardina

Vietnam: My Tho - Forgotten City on the Mekong River

Vietnam: My Tho - Forgotten City on the Mekong River
Travelling in Vietnam on a budget and getting to see all the sites, here is one we recommend.  My Tho is just a small city outside of Saigon or Ho Chi Minh city.  It's yet to be found and offers countless hours of beauty and scenery.

Information: For most tourists that are travelling to Southern Vietnam, there are many destination spots and "Must Sees".  One of the less known but Amazing sites is just tucked in the corner of Ho Chi Minh City offering a Can Tho experience without ever needing to spend the 3 hours to get to Can Tho.  Can Tho is known for its morning Floating markets and river roads.  My Tho offers the same morning floating market and river road tours with less headaches and wasted travel time.


Location: 60 kilometers Southwest from the middle Ho Chi Minh City and Pham Nhu Lao backpackers area.









Transportation: Expect a 1.5 hour bus ride and cost is anywhere from $7.00 to $10.00 USD to get there and back. Going as a group?  Consider renting a taxi van.  Air conditioning, saved time for a couple of extra dollars is worth your investment and GREAT for your Asia travels on a budget.






Costs: Besides transportation costs, a tour with a group is estimated at $7.00/person or a chartered boat will cost roughly $55-75/tour (5-6 hours).  Lunch is extra and although there is an extravagant restaurant that can cost $15.00 a plate, I recommend the cheap CHEAP boat food.  Noodles, veggies, fruits and rice bowls.  A dollar or 2 will go a far ways here.

Scenery: Water, water, water and boats.  Beautiful plants and water coconuts and very photogenic scenery.  Amazing and Must see!  Don't take our advice only, you need to see it for yourselves.

Vietnam: Bai Tu Long Bay

I wanted to share this article with you.  It is great for those who want to go a little off the roads more travelled to create your own special discoveries!! 

Travel safe and have fun!

RM

Bai Tu Long bay is one of your great choices when traveling Halong bay If you want to stay away from tourist areas of Halong bay. The Bay Bai Tu Long covers 30 % of the world natural heritage site Halong bay and contains many amazing Islands in Van Don District and Cam Pha Town. Traveling to Bai Tu Long bay will be sure that you will feel relaxing and get many unique experiences.

Bai Tu Long Bay is located in the northeast of Vietnam by an amazing Halong bay. It covers the water areas of Halong city , Van Don Island and Cam Pha Township. Bai Tu Long bay shares the borders with Halong bay in the Southwest, Cam Pha in the west, Co To island in the northeast and the south pacific ocean in the east. Bai Tu Long Bay gets many large limeston islands and beautiful beaches.

Bai Tu Long Climate: Bai Tu Long bay owns two distinct seasons: hot, humid summer and cold, dry winters.The annual average temperature of Bai Tu Long Bay is from 15°C to 25°C; rainfall at 2,000 mm per year and the tide system at about 3.5-4m/day. Salinity of the bay ranges from 31 to 34.5 MT in the dry season and lower during the summer.


Bai Tu Long Bay Legend: Upon the time, the legend has it that Vietnam was attached by the hell invaders. The God decided to send the troops including the mother dragon and her babies to Halong bay to help the Vietnamese to fight again the invaders. The dragon troop waited for the invaders moving to the center of the bay Halong, they immediately blew out myriad pearls to build up the high rock islands as a solid citadel to defeat the invaders and killed all of the invaders by their fire. After winning the invaders , the mom and baby dragons found down this area so beautiful so the did not want to come back to the heaven. Their decision of staying in Halong bay made the God so angry so the God turned all of them into the rocks. the land where mon stayed was called Halong Bay ,where the babies stayed is called Bai Tu Long Bay. the area where the dragon tails was called Bach Long Vi. Bai Tu Long gets many beautiful beaches as Co To Beach , Quan Lan Beach. The transparent water on these beaches will make you love to swim.

The hundreds of islands and islets ascending from the sea make the Bai Tu Long Bay amazing. Bai Tu Long bay should be spent 2 days at least to discover all most landscapes here. 

Bai Tu Long national Park also make you surprise and is one of the most amazing stopover for tourists making a trip to Bai Tu Long bay. The national Park Bai Tu Long covers over 15 square miles ( the 15 miles long and 1 mile wide ) on the Island named Ba Mun. The Ba Mun island belongs to District of Van Don , 38 miles away from Bai Chay Beach Town. The long island serves as a solid breakwater, preserving peaceful life for the whole region. The island gets a thick primitive forest consisting of two vegetation layers. The primeval layer consists of rare and precious woods like ironwood, teakwood, and canary-wood, while the second layer includes valuable herbs like araliaceous bark and rhubarb plant. The primitive forest Ba Mun is the habitat of a variety of fauna. Spotted deer with their smooth fur are the most famous species. After showers when the weather turns fine, spotted deer often go to the forest edge to pick fresh buds that were washed by rainwater. The view from afar is excellent. Tourists can come to the Bai Tu Long National Park by car from Bai Chay Beach or more romantically by speedboat. After tours around Bai Tu Long, you will have good chance to relax on nice stilt-houses by the water offering a wide range of food and drink. Visitors can also travel to a fishing village at Minh Chau Island or drop in on Cai Lang, the oldest village in the island with its transparent water Nang Tien (Fairy) Well. People once said that the girls’ hair would grow longer and blacker if they used water from the well to wash it.

Things to do in Bai Tu Long Bay ?

 

Taking advantage of Bai Tu Long Bay’s attractions, many local travel companies offer tours to the Bai Tu Long Bay site. One of the best-selling tours are visiting to the Bai Tu Long National Park, a fishing village at Minh Chau Island, Cai Lang, Thong Thien Cave, Phat Co Island, and finally returns to the shore to call at Cua Ong Temple and Van Hoa Port. Tourists can also trek through thick forests to visit the ethnic minority groups (the Dao Do, the Tay, and the San Diu minorities) and enjoy authentic local dishes.

Bai Tu Long Bay is every bit as beautiful as its famous neighbour Halong Bay. Indeed, in some ways it’s more beautiful, since it has scarcely seen any tourist development. This has its positives and negatives. The bay is unpolluted and undeveloped, but there’s little tourism infrastructure. It’s pretty hard travelling around and staying here, and unless you speak Vietnamese, it’s difficult to get information Bai Tu Long area. Daily Charter boats can be arranged to Bai Tu Long Bay from Halong Bay; a boat suitable for 20 passengers costs US$20 per hour and the one-way journey takes about five hours. A cheaper alternative is to travel overland to Cua Ong pier, catch a public ferry to Van Don Island and visit the remote outlying islands by boat from Cai Rong pier.

The other choice for visitors to Bai Tu Long Bay is that you can order the Charter Halong Cruise from Halong bay , it will be more romantic for spending on night sleeping on Bai Tu Long Bay. 

*Original post credit goes to (click here)

Vietnam: Mui Ne Fairy Stream

If you’re in Mui Ne, you must go and walk along the fairy stream. It really is magical, special, totally different and unusual.

Turning around, the sunlight streams through the trees, and walking forward you can see why its named after fairies. The air is so hot but the water so tepid that the atmosphere is quite magical.

On the way to the fairy stream, you can rent a plastic sheet from some kids and go sliding down the red dunes.

Walking down to the fairy stream, you pass several locals, who are enthusiastic and happy to explain the fish sauce making process, which is a sight that will peak your interest. The smell is a little strong, however.Stepping down delicately into the stream, you might worry about rocks and how deep the stream might be. Don’t. It’s about ankle deep and the bottom is made up of the softest, reddy/brown sand. The stream is only a few metres wide at this point, and is surrounded by jungle/tropical green brush.

All of a sudden the stream opens up to blue skies, more greenery, and the current changes slightly. The stream suddenly gets deeper, so you have to climb up the banks and walk along the rocks to the side.  Suprisingly it's not that painful to walk on!

The slopes of the banks becomes less, and the sand becomes a darker red.

Red sand flows down towards the stream, which you can walk in for about 2 miles until you are rewarded with the sight of a waterfall. It was getting a bit later in the day by this point, but it was still boiling hot, and the water was so refreshing to walk in! Take caution: In some places there are large holes that aren’t easy to see.

Safe travels and have fun!
RM