We woke up to unhealthy air quality which gave us some scratchy eyes and irritated throats. Looking out the window we could see that the smog was quite bad. We decided to just go to the Ben Thanh market and then stay inside rather than walk along the river as we had thought we might. The market was a gigantic sprawling affair. There was a prepared food area, an area for fruits and veggies, lots of tins of odd coffee, watches, dishes, buddhas, snake oil elixirs, shoes, belts, candy, hats, t-shirts, dresses, wigs, purses, wallets, taxidermies bats and beetles and so much more. Of course there was an army of photo seekers out front using the market's iconic clock tower as a background. We stayed for over an hour just wandering around and looking. We took a grab back to the hotel and packed up all of our goodies to fly out in the morning.
Breathe in and wheeze
More Lunar New Year decorations
Happy New Year indeed
More stately buildings
Look over there!
No over here
Big colonial themed building
Love the deco highlights
Square melons and decorated watermelons
Amazing horticulture
Shrimps so plump
Fancy designer dogs
A cute dragon
Bald babies
Lacquer boxes
Snakes, scorpions and other beasties
A wide array of coffee including squirrel tea and weasel tea
A squirrel is right on the box
Gigantic pork rinds
Buddha buddha buddha
So many ceramics to covet
Shhhhh they are sleeping
Bongs for the people
An entire zoo for purchase
Which way to go?
West it is
Snacks anyone?
Baby clothes
How about a wig?
Getting into position
Take that picture
A Lunar New Year Tree
More snacks
Another New Year Tree
Carved watermelons
Sea cucumbers are also considered food
Real Rolexes, wink wink
A sea of traditional dresses
Don't mess with the wooden man
Nice hats
Fancy metalwork
Such a modern building
Is it a helipad on the side?
Juxtaposed with older buildings
A pokemon
The Saigon Cathedral's scaffolding holding up the lights
A very detailed operation
