Day 3 in HCMC, I was left by two friends of mine to Da Lat so I could arrange my time easily, I could wake up late at the noon, and just went everywhere I wanted to go. The truth was, I could still wake up in the morning and couldn’t go back to sleep. Gosh! I was about to join any roommate to go anywhere they planned but then they already left earlier. I have asked some travel agents the night before with Ly. I asked about one day trip to Cu Chi Tunnels and Cao Dai Temple but hell the price cost more than 200,000 VND. It excluded the entrance fee so I gave up. I only plan to let myself went anywhere my steps told me to go. Only wanted to enjoy my time for a while without having to be rush for something or ran after by the prepared itinerary. I went out from the hostel and headed to Benh Tanh Market. I haven’t bought stuffs for my friends. They would kill me for that haha. Looking for things I could easily handle along my journey. Remember that I still have 3 countries to go so I really didn’t wanna burden my shoulders.
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| An old street sketcher |
I enjoyed walking, just ambling, seeing what locals do in their routine. Left hostel at almost noon, I walked passing through the flower market to go to Benh Tanh Market. I found some street sketchers and I stopped at this old man. He was trying to make a sketch of the lady in red shirt. He seemed done with her eyes, nose, and mouth but still continued to polish it to be better. When I was passing through the flower market, I also found out a bubble drink on my right side, crossed the street so I promised myself to go there on the way back home since I have told my friends before that I wondered why I couldn’t see any bubble drink around HCMC. You know I am addicted to this kind of stuff.
Capturing what people do in a new place is somewhat interesting. You never know that people do different thing in different place. Pete has told me to always keep myself safe when crossing the street. I know it’s quiet alike with Jakarta where most people are rude in the street. They tend not to follow the rules and just break it like those streets belong to their grandparents. I had the opportunity to record a spot near Benh Thanh Market. This is just across the gate in of that area. You can see that it seemed too crazy about the intersection where people seem not able to wait for their time to run their vehicles. This is so common in HCMC I can tell.
Inside the market, I looked for something I could bring for my friends. I have told you I didn’t wanna carry anything heavy. I came to some stalls with lot of choices which made me confused. Once you came into a stall, the seller must be asking you to buy. So, my tips you gotta make them sure from the beginning that you only wanted to know the price or you could say “I just wanna go around” as the excuses. Some of them were really annoying. I came to a stall and there was a young girl, I didn’t know if she owned it. I only wanted to check out the priceof some stuffs but she kept asking me “how much you want?” and “I give you cheap”. Only there for 1 minute and when I was about to go, she held my hand saying that I mustn’t go. She kept offering me what she selling. I got no word but she still detained me. Then I left her and she was mad at me. I forgot about her words but she said why I only looked around and didn’t buy anything and she called me a liar bcs of me asking the price but not buy anything at the end. Oh please -_-
Then I came to another stall. I saw she had what I looked for. I asked the price and sure it didn’t even make sense. I bargained it more than 50% lower and she was shocked. Her face was terrible while saying I was crazy then asking me “are you okay miss? I think you are not okay”. I left her and I answered “of course, I am fucking okay”. Finally, I moved and I swear I could get the same price with what I bargained her in another stall. For God’s sake. So, who’s crazy who think I am that one?
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| Some food stalls inside Benh Thanh Market |
Benh Thanh Market is actually having not much different with traditional market in Indonesia. There are spots for them to sell fabrics, souvenirs, and something like that. Another side, it has place to sell vegetables, fruits, and many kind of meats. There is also an area for selling cooked foods. Just like in Indonesia, small stalls are surrounded by small tables and seats to make people possible dine it in. Most are like street foods, the traditional one but I never try any. Not sure if they’re halal.
I read forums on the internet. Some experiences told that you gotta be careful buying foods in Benh Thanh Market. Sometimes, the seller gave you the menu list with the price shown on it but then they would cost you different price at the end. Be careful too with the charge of wet wipes here. Some naughty seller will charge the wet wipes for you. You are not supposed to pay for wet wipes, for anything’s sake. It should be given as a service. I didn’t experience any bad thing but long as I remembered, everytime my friends and I went to have meals in local restaurant, my friends just simply suggested me to use the hand wet wipes provided and they never told me it excluded the free service.
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| Another street sketcher |
On my way back home, I saw a street sketcher again. Now, it was a girl. She looked so serious making sketch of a young man. It was interesting to see her hand moving step by step and really trying to make the drawing so alike with the real man. No wonder if some people stopped there for a while just to see her doing her job. She was surrounded by, at least, seven curious people. Maybe some of them were lining up to be drawn next. Maybe, well I didn't know.
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