The Story of “Vietnam day 2 morning”

Assalamualaikum all. Due to the number of pics I took on the second day, I’ve decided to split into 2 parts. Here are the first part from morning till afternoon.

Time in Vietnam is 1 hour early than Malaysia. Subuh prayer is at around 5am and dawn at 6am. After breakfast of biscuits and cup maggi, we took a taxi (Vinasun of course) and head to our first destination. Cho Ben Thanh or Ben Thanh market is a famous market that is packed with shops and visitors. It is a bit like Central Market. The market is arranged in a systematic way. There’s section for clothes, coffee, wet market (lotsa oink oink lol), food, shoes, handbag and handicraft among others.

Exterior and Interior shot of the market.

We decided to recce most of the offerings first and compare prices before buying anything. Well…that plan fails miserably as we kept buying things as we go along.

Our chief negotiator Cik Kham in action.

Various shirts for men, dresses, clothes, handbags, shoes and jackets are available. Some are much cheaper than Malaysia but you be the judge of that. 100,000 dong is roughly equivalent to Rm15. A track suit for RM15 or a La Coste shirt for the same price is definiely cheap in my book. Crocs cost around 200,000+ dong which is still cheaper than in Malaysia.

Avoid stalls that have these signboard. Negotiating and haggling is part of the adventure. ask for around 40-50% discount and settling for 20-40% discount is what we do.

Did I say that Malaysians love shopping here? Lotsa Malaysians that we encountered along our trip.

So cute…remind me of Qariena Sofeya..my goddaughter

The coffee is definitely something marvellous. Buy in small packs or buy in bulk. You may also try Chon (Squirrel coffee). Just google it and learn why Viet people love their squirrel coffee…hehehe

I was reminded to take care of my camera lest something bad like snatching happens…..

A group of cobblers hard at work.

After Ben Thanh we walk around in finding our next stop…Hong Anh collection. A shop nearby (2 stories) that sells baju kurung, telekung, tudung and vienamese t shirt. the aunty even speaks malay! They accept Dollar, Ringgit and Viet Dong. Framed pictures on the wall shows the former Queen of Malaysia and Tun Siti Hasmah had come to shop at the shop. A tudung similar to Ariani tudung (which cost Rm35 to 200+) cost only RM13 here…insane price. Wifey loves this shop very the much hehehehe…

Kham demonstrated how to pay in USD.

More motorbikes.

Lotsa Vietnamese girls wore their national dress. They sure love striking color especially red.

Although language is a barrier, we tried our best to speak of our destination and they are more than happy to help pinpoint where to go.

Their helmets are really colorful..unlike ours.

The information we got states that Mens clothing are aplenty at Saigon Wear. Only problem is…there’s no Saigon Wear anywhere! Only Saigon Square…hehehe

Inside Saigon Square.

Next stop…Du Dong street again. We visited Jami’ Mosque (in front of Halal @ Saigon restaurant) to eat….

A nameless restaurant behind the mosque serves rice and malay lauk pauk (malay dishes). Price is cheapest among all halal restaurant but still more expensive than Malaysia. Ice tea is only 1000 dong = 15 sen..haha cheap. But comes without sugar. Add sugar at another 2000 dong..hehe