Ben Thanh Market - Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam)

It took me about 10 mins to walk from Liberty Central Hotel to the market. Even before you reach the market, there are plenty of stalls on both sides of the street.

Except for just glancing through the stalls, I did not stop by at any of them. The fruit vendors on bikes were smiling and signalling to attract my attention and I think they were certainly hoping that I will buy some fruits from them.  As I walked past them, I smiled back and that got them excited.  They all started waving back at me.  I nodded my head in saying no and continued walking until I reached the entrance of the market. 

The market was huge will many stalls selling all sorts of things.  I detoured into the small narrow alleys and strolled from one stall to the other. 

Nothing really captured my attention except for the colorful handmade slippers. I did not have any Vietnamese Dong with me so I casually browsed through the slippers with no intention of purchasing any of the slippers. 

As I was about to walk away, the young and sweet looking Vietnamese girl who was manning the stall stopped me. She refused to let me go. So I picked two colorful slippers and the bargain of my life time started.  In the verge of bargaining, we became so friendly with each other.  We spoke and got to know each other’s background. She surely spoke  fluent English and I think I bought the slippers because I fell for her friendly and beautiful character.

She was fine with accepting RM60.00 for the slippers and as a remembrance, took a photo with her.

She gave me her phone number to keep in touch and we said good bye. I was tempted to stop at one of the food stalls but changed my mind because the girl at the stall confused me on what I should eat.

When I refused to order any food, she stared at me angrily.  I brushed her off and I walked back to the hotel.  More on my Vietnam travel venture in the next post. 

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