The Vietnamese entrepreneurial spirit is embodied in Ho Chi Minh City’s arguably most famous attraction, Ben Thanh market. Julian Tan spends an afternoon understanding the dynamics while picking up a few good buys and rubbing shoulders with the locals.
To 50-something Phan Huynh Long, Ho Chi Minh City’s most colourful landmark – Ben Thanh market –?evokes a flood of fond memories. “When I was little, I used to come here on Sundays, mostly with my mum, and it was very exciting as a child to see all kinds of goods on offer. It was a place of joy.”
Most Saigon residents would probably share Phan’s sentiments. With 1,500 stalls sprawled across 13,000sq m in a tightly organised grid of aisles (the vast majority of stalls measuring a little over 1.5sq m), Ben Thanh is the largest market in the city and certainly its oldest, having started as a small trading centre on marshland by the Ben Nghe River dike next to Ghia Fort before the French colonisers took over Saigon in 1859. The name Ben Thanh was derived from “ben” meaning pier or port in Vietnamese and “thanh” for fort.
To the occupier, it became known as Les Halles Centrales.
In 1870, a fire broke out destroying a part of the structure, which was made out of brick topped with a thatched roof. It was rebuilt and later demolished in 1911 to make way for a more spacious facility, which stands on the present site of Ben Thanh. It was rebuilt again in 1952 and underwent refurbishment in 1985.
Strategically located in the city centre, it is marked by four gates, the North Gate bordering Le Thanh Ton Street, the East Gate, Phan Boi Châu, the West Gate, Phan Chu Trinh and the South Gate, which is the main entrance with its landmark clock, facing Quach Thi Trang Square.
Newcomers settling in Saigon will soon realise how Ben Thanh becomes so integral to their daily lives. It stocks anything from everyday wear, accessories and fabric to handmade crafts, lacquer and kitchen ware to dried goods, cooked food and fresh vegetables, meat and seafood.
“I remember the sweet soup stall at the North Gate, fish and water products at South Gate, fabrics at East Gate and cast iron and aluminium post and pans at West Gate,” Phan recalls.
With such a storied past, Ben Thanh has, not surprisingly, often been written about and filmed. Meggi Ai Trinh, who produced a documentary together with a group of TV trainees, and frequently shops here for souvenirs and kitchenware, says: “Ben Thanh was built by an architect named Ha Dinh Duong and has become a place that no visitor to Ho Chi Minh City should leave without visiting. When my foreign friends come and anyone I know who is here for the first time, I always take them there.”
For Meggi, Ben Thanh is only 4km away from where she lives or 10 minutes by motorbike.
Among the people she met during the filming project were two stall owners who share an intimate relationship with the place. “Mrs Duyen has been in Ben Thanh for 50 years. She told me that when she was a little girl, her spot was outside the market where people were free to sit anywhere and sell their goods. Since 1985, after some repair works were carried out, everybody had moved inside, herself included. She has been there till now.
“Another stall owner, Thoi Vinh who sells coffee at stall 907, is among the three generations doing business in this market. Now he has four stalls.”
Today, at 147 years old and still counting, Ben Thanh boasts a shop space costing 230 taels of gold or about US$172 per square metre, a 40 percent jump in the past two years according to data released by the Vietnamese tax officials. The prices even eclipse Tokyo’s priciest Ginza shopping district at US$130 per square metre.
“These days, if you want to own a stall with an area of 1m by 1.5m in Ben Thanh market, you have to pay about US$262,” says Meggi, sharing the information she had collected for her documentary. “For this price, it’s not easy to find someone to resell the stall for you. It also makes you think about the price of goods here.”
Walking around Ben Thanh, one easily absorbs the frenetic energy of brisk business being transacted – vendors eagerly show off their best products, punching prices into a calculator, while customers clamour for better deals. The ensuing bargaining – conducted by calculator – is, at the same time, comical and fascinating to see. Among Saigon’s top attractions (including the War Remnants Museum with its grisly guillotine used by the French on Viet Minh troublemakers), the market commands one of the highest visitor numbers, a cool 15,000 each day, with the Japanese making up the bulk of foreign shoppers. Most stalls at Ben Thanh are open from 0700 to 1800 daily.
Twenty-two-year-old Binh works at accessories stall 989, owned by a Miss Nhi, who set up a total of seven stalls in a span of three years (the other six sell souvenirs, embroidery, fabric, bags, antiques and jewellery and stall helpers, mostly young girls, are identified by their colourful, body-hugging little uniforms). “I usually give tourists 30 to 40 percent discount,” he says. “Our customers come from all over the world like Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and the US. I recommend them bead bracelets, hairclips, belts and other accessories.”
But it is not only the tourists drawn by the sights and sounds of an oriental market who throng the stalls at Ben Thanh. The locals make up a sizeable fraction of its daily horde of customers, including Khanh, my tour guide from Buffalo Tours. “I come here to have dinner with my friends or to shop for lacquer ware and hand-sewn bags. Here you can also find beautiful ao dai (traditional Vietnamese dress) and beaded shoes,” says the 29-year-old. “And the best vegetables,” Meggi adds.
Ngo Thi Thuy Vy, a hotel marketing communications manager and a native of Nha Trang Province, says: “I come here to shop for things that I cannot find elsewhere or don’t know where to get.
“I come almost every fortnightly to stock up on confections and preserved fruits. I also like buying handicraft and presents for my friends.” When asked how competitively priced the items are, she reveals: “If you are a good bargainer, you sometimes get a very good price. I once paid VND4,000 (US$2.80) for a pair of sedge shoes. Here’s a tip: if you want cheap things, don’t buy from stalls that display fixed price signs.”
Since Ben Thanh’s goods can be pricier than those sold in other markets – the five important ones are Huynh Thuc Khang Street Market (electronic products), Old Market (imported food and daily necessities), Dan Sinh Market (army accessories, electronics and machinery), Binh Tay Market (wholesale goods) and An Dong Market (imported designer fashion and lunch on the cheap) – most locals prefer to window shop here, and buy what they want elsewhere. Says Meggi: “The seller quotes several times the actual price of an item. Such practice is commonplace in this market (Ben Thanh). You must ask them for a discount – usually you pay less than half the stated price.” According to the authorities, stall owners are required to display prices for their goods, advising shoppers to bargain as in many cases, the rates shown are not genuine.
Veteran Phan Huynh Long observes that there are three main types of customers at Ben Thanh – the residents who come to shop, tourists who want to learn about the old commercial symbol of Saigon and housewives who come to buy fish, meat and vegetables. “This place is more for my mum and wife. Now that I live a little far from the market, about 500m away, I don’t like much to come here.”
The popular slogan of American country stores – “If we don’t have it, you don’t need it” – applies equally well to Ben Thanh. The huge array of products is one of its major selling points. “More shops have now opened offering many new kinds of goods, too many it’s impossible for me to list down,” says Phan.
The other plus points are easy access and sellers who can speak several foreign languages. “People, especially foreigners, come here to shop because of its good location and also because sellers today can speak many languages like English, French, Japanese and Korean. Of course, they don’t speak (the languages) so well, but it’s okay for selling and buying,” says Ngo Vy. “Personally I like coming to Ben Thanh because people are more polite than they were 10 years ago. Sellers now rarely pressure buyers or yell at them when they bargain too hard. At the end of the day, I think they must have realised that they will lose customers through bad behaviour and that business can improve if they are courteous.”
She was right. As I wandered around with my guide Khanh, stall owners called out to us in a subtle manner. We were able to browse leisurely, examining lacquer paintings which Vietnam is well known for, minus the hard-sell tactics usually experienced in bazaars. When we requested help to look closer at artworks hanging overhead, assistance came swiftly. No one pulled or shoved us to get attention, but because the aisles are narrow, an occasional brush on the shoulder was commonplace. We ended up buying two lacquer souvenirs, one of which was Gustav Klint’s The Kiss, all for US$11.
An issue of concern for the authorities has always been security and fire prevention at Ben Thanh. During the early days, the crowded market with its narrow, one-way aisles was a boon for pickpockets. The situation has improved during the past few years with the employment of a 40-strong security force and cases of harassment, quarrelling, pickpocketing and robbery are seldom reported. A fire alarm and firefighting system was installed recently. The market also boasts reservoirs, over a hundred fire extinguishers placed all around, four backup light columns powered by separate sources and a total of 16 gates for entry and exit.
However, hygiene remains a problem according to hotel executive Ngo Vy. “Hygiene – that’s the first thing I want to see improved at Ben Thanh,” she states. “Today hawkers are still selling food next to a butcher’s stall.” And she would also like to see improvements made to the stall layout. “Stalls should be rearranged more logically. Even a local like me sometimes don’t know where to find the items I want and lose my way in this chaotic stall arrangement.”
Adds Phan: “There also needs to be better ventilation.” Authorities are already planning to build a basement in the market to expand the stall area and parks at surrounding blocks to allow people to visit the market and stroll in the adjacent pedestrian quarters.
Yet, along with the changes made and implemented over time as well as the call for improvements, for Phan, some things at Ben Thanh remain dear at heart and are best left unchanged. “Certain things in life must be changed to keep up with the modern society. But traditional value must be preserved,” he says. “What I don’t want to see changed is the old-fashioned and long-lasting aspect of a city that I have breathed in for more than 50 years. The structural shape of Ben Thanh, its symbols and the clock must remain.
“If a modern market is needed, just build a big mart elsewhere.”
The family that plays together
Can’t take another reminder of the Vietnam war? Soothe away thoughts of past violence and bloodshed and spend an afternoon with the extremely talented Dinh family.
THE EXPERIENCE: A traditional Vietnamese concert starring the multi-awarded artist Dinh Linh, his wife and two sons, which takes place on the ground floor of their home.
It begins with a brief introduction of Linh and his family, followed by a performance, coupled with commentary on the musical instruments used in pieces, such as Rucon Nam Bô (or Southern Lullaby) and Chau Van, or ritual music performed by Dinh’s wife Tuyet Mai accompanied by a two-string guitar, drum, percussion and cymbal. There is no music score involved during the performance, which means no one concert is the same.
At one point in the session, the audience is invited to try out the musical instruments.
WHO’S PLAYING? Besides Linh and his wife, their two sons, Thanh, 15, and Minh, 10. “We met each other at the Hanoi Conservatory (in the ’80s) and it was music that brought us together,” Linh reveals. Both Linh and Mai have been with the Bông Sen Theatre of Traditional Music & Dance since 1992 and have performed in countries like Japan, Korea, China, Singapore, Malaysia, India and Argentina.
They are also gold medal recipients of the 1998 National Contest of Traditional Music Performance and Linh won gold again at the 2005 national contest. He specialises in playing instruments like bamboo and Hmong flutes, bamboo piccolo, two- and four-string lutes, monochord and stone xylophone, while Mai is an expert in the k’long put (a set of two to 12 bamboo tubes), t’rung (a suspended bamboo xylophone), percussion and singing. Sons Thanh and Minh attend music school and play the piano and flute respectively.
DURATION: One hour.
GROUP SIZE: 25 is the maximum.
PRICES: US$8 per person; US$70 for a group of one to 10.
CONTACT: Truc Mai House, 104 Pham Viet Chanh Street, Ward 19, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, tel/fax 84 8 401 762, www.trucmaimusic.com or through Buffalo Tours, [email protected]
