Now that I have gotten my political commentary out of the system, on to the city itself. As I mentioned in the previous post – Ho Chi Minh city is mad with scooters. Millions of people scooting around, honking, ducking, weaving and generally jamming up as a group.
Our first stop in Ho Chi Minh was the markets, our opportunity to see the hustle and bustle of the city.
In this long hall were long butcher tables. We had missed the morning rush where the butchers line up to carve and hand out cuts to the morning shoppers.
I turned and was face to face with a lot of dried fish.
One day I would love to live in one of these countries. To walk a market and be able to get the freshest of fresh, to experience the different vegetables and eat local would be amazing. We walked the market tasting with our guide explaining what we were eating.
The colors are so vibrant and the textures so different. The benefit of straight from the field (or jungle)
This fruit (cannot remember the name) wins my exotic fruit of the day award. Looks like a grape, sweet with a furry outside.
All through the markets were vendors sitting on the walk, selling their wares. We were careful to not linger in front of customers who were actually buying.
The spices of the market. You can buy a lot of spices for very little money.
The markets were very busy.
The markets were also filled with fish. Lots of fish.
And lots of squid.
And always remember, when walking take the time to look up.
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If in the city, it is great to wander the markets.
Michael Weening: a few pictures 
It’s a lychee! It’s delicious and one of my favs 🙂
Thank-you! As soon as you typed it I remembered. At breakfast at the hotel I stay in regularly in Singapore they have that at the buffet – love it. Such a cool looking fruit.
It might also be a rambutan. They look very similar.
I am not sure of the fruit, but when you opened it – it was sweet.
I think rambutan and lychee taste very similar, both sweet. I’ve never seen whole lychee where I live but I can tell you that rambutan has an almond-size pit in the center of what’s already a very small fruit once you open it. (Lychee might too, though…)
Rambutan is the spikey red one. I cannot figure out what the brown furry one is – I am not sure if it is Lychee or not.
Whoops…. replied to wrong post…. anyways as I was saying: it’s a rambutan. I grew up in SE Asia eating both fruits.
Markets are always fun.
It’s a rambutan. I grew up eating both fruits.
Beautiful pictures! It’s easy to forget about the great big variety of the world we live in. Sometimes the little details can open our minds and hearts to the wonder of God’s glory. Thank you for sharing.
Gorgeous pix I loved the vibrancy of your post!
Your blog and pictures makes me feel like I am at this market!
Thanks Beth.
That’s actually not a lychee but a Rambutan… textures are pretty much the same. Beautiful colours in the photos, you’ve done it justice. Lived there for two years and I miss the wet markets the most.
Makes me want to visit Vietnam. Thanks for posting this!
Thanks Frank. We are heading to the north next!
Looks like a rambutan to me! Very similar to a lychee but with fur 🙂 I visited Ho Chi Minh City last year, and your wonderful pictures take me back! The markets were incredible.
I was in Ho Chi Minh City a year ago, incredible place. Great photos!
I love this post! I cannot emphasize how much i love exploring markets and navigating street vendors and stalls because it is the best representation of a country’s food scene. I love the colorful photos and can’t wait to experience it first hand.
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Wow! There’s no where else in the world I’d rather be after looking at your pictures 🙂
hi, welcome to Vietnam once more time for whom ever been to here, and great to read that a lot of you like to visit my country.
Dear friend, Michael ? the name of juice you forgot words to call is ” chôm chôm “; its hard to read by Vietnamese, but it is lovely and sweety much?
yes, i search english name now : Rambutan
thanks for coming to VN.
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That exotic fruit is call bòn bon ( Lansium domesticum ) 😊
Thank you for the travel trip.. beautiful photos!!
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These are gorgeous photos 🙂
Thanks Rowan.
I want those lychees !! Beautiful photos
An amazing place..love it!
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Rambutan
My favorites fruit
Thank you for the beautyul pictures about my country
Cool! Look at the variety of selections! Nice post!
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SMA TRAVEL – Martial Arts Adventure Travel is not just about experiencing the exotic and esoteric martial arts but is also about experiencing and enjoying life local life.
Absolutely beautiful photographs. Thank you for this amazing post! 🙂
Rambutan (red/yellow skin with stiffed hairs/mini-soft-spikes). You can find it many SE Asian countries.
And I remembered a colleague sharing with me on how to survive the roads of HCM as a pedestrian: close your eyes and just walk. LOL! I didn’t do that, but do walk slowly while crossing and the motorists will avoid you.
Great place, that!
Thanks for the post.
But what about the brown one? With the furry look to it? That is the one I cannot figure out.
Do you have a closer photo of that?
It may be Longan (Chinese name is long-yan [transl. Dragon-eye]). Brown skin, white flesh, just as juicy, but with a little black round seed in it. That’s why it’s called Dragon-eye fruit.
Do you have another photo of a closer shot of it?
It could be Longan fruit. The Chinese name is Long-yan (dragon-eye fruit). Brown skin, white sweet flesh, and black round seed, like an eye. Grows from trees.
I love the colours. Nice to see, especially from our brown (almost) spring-time in Canada right now.
Can you see the brown through the snow Merry? (smile)
Beautiful pictures and blog. I am a big fan of cultural blogs….. so many colors and impression. i could almost taste the fruit.
Nice series
The market is just similar here in the Philippines. Thanks for posting this!
Gorgeous pics!!
Been there! Beautiful and impressive
The colors and textures are amazing. Great piece of work.
Thank you all for the comments!
the first picture conveys the perfect story of Vietnam!
That’s so beautiful. I definitely want to make it too Vietnam
I visited Vietnam back in 2005 and loved it. I love the markets and all of the cool things you can find in them. Great photos.
like the
photo’s
thanks
Awesome job capturing the feel and beauty of the market. The first time crossing a street in Ho Chi Minh City amongst the sea of mopeds took an act of blind faith. I was thankful a friend took my hand and said, Come on!
beautiful pictures…made me hungry
vivid and i want to go here!
Wherever I go, I love to visit the local markets – that’s where you can truly see local culture (not just food culture). Thanks for sharing your interesting photos….
I am Vietnamese and I grew up in Canada. This is great. Thank you!
asian countries always have its appeal in the markets, colours, simplicity, sounds, vibrance all blend into one to make a perfect picture
Hi Rachel, I agree. So different from North America markets which are inside the grocery store. A factor of weather and proximity to the jungles and the growing of the fruits and vegetables.
I guess its cultural as well, most Asian markets are full of live and colours, even Korea during winter they will hawker openly. its their way of live that makes it even more so exciting.
Would love to experience walking on that market too. Great pics you have here.
I absolutely love this blog article! Think I will do a similar one for here 😉
These are a great set of photos. I really like the market ones … the light is always difficult in places like that.
beautiful pictures. were you on foot or riding your bike? I hear it’s a great city to ride a bike in…
Hi, we were on foot. Booked a car and a tour guide, who took us through the markets. You can ride a bike but I don’t know, with 6 million scooters and huge crowds, I would think it would be congested. It was very tight on foot!
that’s awesome pict… someday i want to go there.. 😀
that is rambutan (it’s hairy one) not a lychee. rambutan word contains rambut – an. rambut in indonesian languange means hair. so thats we call it rambutan (hairy fruits) 😀
beautiful
beautiful photos. did you also go to the floating markets in the mekong delta area?
Hi Vasun, we did not get to the floating market – too early …
Thanks for posting these pictures. They do remind me of the wet market in the City of Cebu and Iligan City in the Philippines.
I enjoyed your post, my brother is visiting Vietnam in August, he will love it.
hi AM1641 .. as I said to someone else, if your bother is going to Vietnam make sure he books out a tour with Saigon Street Eats (you can find them on tripadvisor or read my post on them in this blog)
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Pasar tradisional vietnam
Brings back memories of many happy days in HCMC
. It is called ‘rambutan’ in the Malay language. It is abundant in most of South East Asian countries. As it is seasonal, you can find them in good supply towards the end of the year. By the way, I love your photos and their captions. Next time visit Malaysia and try out our rambutans and other tropical fruits, like durians, mangosteen and langsat. They are all sweet.
When visit Malaysia, don’t forget to bring along your camera.
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Yes, the markets in Viet Nam and in all South East Asia are a feast for our senses. Thank you for your impressions.
Wow. Stunning images.
Fantastic photos! Local markets are one of the best ways to immerse yourself in the place you’re visiting. Almost nowhere else is culture more embedded than in food. Keep up the good work!
I WISH TO GET SEEDS VENDORS FROM THIS COOL CITY
Beautiful photos – thanks for sharing.
I love Vietnam
Oh Great! The Markets of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam… a lot of food.
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Ho Chi Mihn City is amazing! You should visit Can Gio.
Great shots!
I feel like I am there smelling, tasting and feeling the vibe of the city. Thank you for sharing.
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Feel like you are really in Ho-Chi-Minh city with this post.
Beautiful photos! We’ve just been to Vietnam and it was amazing.
Beautiful Pictures! In my country, we call that red spiky fruit rambutan
Thanks Aikido
Nice pictures …. I like your entry … thank you .
Love this post. We have just recently returned from Vietnam and your photos bring back wonderful memories. I would like the chance live somewhere like this for a little while too just to really experience the culture. They do say gap years are becoming something popular with 30+ corporate drop outs now, so maybe one day 😉
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Great photos of HCMC. Wish I was back there
Me too John. Loved the city.
I love markets! We are currently in southern Mexico and the markets here look very similar. It’s the best way to buy fresh food!
Lovely photos! So much fun to wander around a market.
Nice post. Great to know how foreigners perceive our daily practice/ culture…things that we grow with are so strange to foreigners….when I visited Miami, Florida, took alot of photos too but make our colleagues lol due to the same reason. Fun!!!