Get There; Beware!

To get from Ben Thanh Market from anywhere in the backpacker’s district near Pham Ngu Lao Street you can walk in less than 15 minutes.  I was staying at Elios Hotel on Pham Ngu Lao Street and I decided to go for a morning errand run and got to Ben Thanh Market by accident just by following the park and NOT following the advice of cyclo drivers, moto taxi drivers and various other people trying to make some money off a Saigon first timer.

(View from Elios Hotel Roof Restaurant) Park along Pham Ngu Lao St. Leads to Ben Thanh Market

Rip – Offs:  Getting There

Cyclo are Everywhere near Pham Ngu Lao

If you walk to Ben Thanh Market you will be under constant pressure from people trying to sell you services.  As mentioned in the overview of Ho Chi Minh City the best (and only) way to deal with the people who try to talk to you is to completely ignore their existence.  Yes, it does sound rude and against the mantra of most travelers but it is absolutely necessary dealing with the following skilled and very persistent characters roaming around district 1.

First and foremost you have cyclo drivers.  Cyclos are everywhere and while you want to ride in them the drivers have a horrible reputation for taking you to places you don’t ask to be taken and charging too much.  You also have motorcycle taxi drivers who will constantly be telling you that the Cyclo drivers will rip you off but they won’t.  They seem a little more trustworthy than the cyclo drivers and even provide testimonial books but seem pretty shady.   One thing they all have in common is they will tell you that Ben Thanh Market is expensive and they can take you somewhere cheaper, usually Chinatown.

Secondly you have shoe shine boys.  These kids who seem to be very poor and/or addicted to meth walk around and try to shine or brush your shoes with tooth brushes.  They are very very persistent and will follow you for blocks and if you talk to one, you’re likely to have a group surrounding you.  If you make the mistake of talking to them, they will likely demand several hundred thousand dong.

Lastly I ran into the Filipina women.  I was actually warned by a cyclo driver about the women and it was just in time.  I already had talked to 2 Filipina women in the park who asked where I was from in perfect English (as most Filipinos speak) and coincidentally she knew people there.  Next was talking about where you live and they gave me their phone number and asked to have lunch later.  Evidently they get tourists to trust them and somehow get them involved in gambling which can cost a lot of money.

I wouldn’t have thought twice about it at first, but I ran into 2 or 3 Filipina women on the walk who all said the same thing, “Hello, where you from? …. Oh my sister lives there…. “  It seemed to me that all the scam artists were working against each other.  I know it sucks having to suspect everyone being a scam artist but unfortunately in Saigon it seems to be the norm.  I guess you would expect this in a developing, communist country which has only been open for tourism around 25 years.

Rip – Offs:  At Ben Thanh Market

Before going over what is actually available at Ben Thanh Market you should know that you have to bargain very hard at Ben Thanh.  Not a rip-off per say but you can learn from my mistakes.  I bought some designer underwear (which I assume was knock-off) and nice Abercrombie cargo shorts and some T-shirts and I paid around 2,500,000  or more dong (around $140).

When I told this to my 2 expat friends over lunch, I received the dreaded double face palm as they painfully explained that the starting negotiating point for anything at Ben Thanh Market is 20% of the asking price!

Shop for Everything under the Sun Roof

You can literally find anything under the roof of Ben Thanh Market.  It is very big and crammed together like most markets in Asia.  There seemed to be no real organization of goods.  You could find clothes on one stall which was next to a stall selling mystery food (see picture below).  Vendors (especially young women) were often grabby when I expressed interest.  I found some pretty high quality (what I assumed to be) knock-off clothes and other products.

Name that Food

Recommendation

If you go to Ben Thanh Market take your time and bargain very hard.  You are no doubt going to visit another shopping area so compare prices and you can always come back if you don’t find what you want in Chinatown or another shopping area in Saigon or anywhere in Vietnam.

Winging it Again

If you know me or have read some of this blog you already know I’m not the most prepared traveler when it comes to lodging.  I was once almost stuck in Buzios, Brazil homeless because I didn’t bother to reserve a hotel when the whole country of Brazil was trying to get a room for the holidays.  Well, it happened again upon entering Vietnam.  I had a friend who has lived for 2 years in Saigon but asking for a hotel recommendation can often be like finding 100 needles in a haystack.

We ended up on the ground with no hotel in mind other than the general recommendation to stay near Pham Ngu Lao Street.  We struggled mightily with the language barrier (the whole trip) to instruct the taxi driver to get us there but after a good 15-30 minutes from the airport through the normal insane motorbike traffic we were dropped off on Pham Ngu Lao Street.

Pham Ngu Lao Street

Pham Ngu Lao Street is the Khao San Road (backpacker’s ghetto of Bangkok) of Vietnam.  Everything along Pham Ngu Lao Street is for tourists and includes many bars, shops and of course hotels.  The primary difference between Pham Ngu Lao Street and Khao San Road is the traffic.  Pham Ngu Lao Street is extremely busy and noisy with people constantly honking their motorbike and car horns as well as cyclo drivers and others trying to make a buck off you.

Showing up carrying a bunch of bags with no idea of where to go did not help.  As we walked down the street, sweating from packing our bags we were under constant bombardment, albeit friendly from hotel (using the term loosely) owners trying to rent out rooms.  There was definitely not a shortage of rooms but the standards were iffy at best for some of them.  After viewing a couple $10-20 a night rooms we had enough and decided to just get a hotel right on Pham Ngu Lao Street.

Elios Hotel

Elios Hotel stood out from the rest with its large brightly lit lobby and 3 Star placard on the outside which was common in Saigon.  The 3 star placard somewhat seemed to prove a hotel’s legitimacy as there were so many accommodations especially throughout the Pham Ngu Lao area. The staff was very helpful, friendly and had adequate English speaking ability which made the check-in and check-out process a breeze.

The Room

Two rooms were available on the 11th floor for my friend and I.   One had a window and the other did not.  I chose the one with the ‘view’ which happened to be a tiny window I could barely get my camera out of to snap the picture at the top of the post. The room was average at best.  There was nothing special about it whatsoever and probably didn’t warrant the price which was $47.62 a night.

The room had a mini bar stocked with soda, water and beer as well as a safe but there was nothing really nice about it.   What Elios Hotel lacked in room it made up for with service and the restaurant.

Amenities

Elios Hotel’s Blue Skye restaurant on the roof had indoor and outdoor areas which were great for getting a sky view of the adjacent park as well as the traffic and buildings of Saigon.  The hotel also has a “fitness center” which is actually a tiny room next to the restaurant on the top floor with 4-5 pieces of equipment in it with no air conditioning.  If you’re dying for an exercise session the cardio machines provide a nice view of Saigon.

TAKE NOTE

Room 1101 was right below the restaurant so bright and early in the morning at around  6am it got really noisy.  To me it sounded like the hotel staff were wearing wooden sandals and running down the stairs.  If you want to sleep in make sure you avoid the 11th floor rooms, especially 1101 which was right next to the stairs like the plague.

You would think in a touristy area there would be a bunch of places to eat after midnight but I found the area of Pham Ngu Lao where Elios Hotel was located to be completely dead and quiet after midnight.  It was uncomfortably quiet even for me to walk around outside hunting for food.  Luckily the front desk guy was more than happy to order me what he called “Chinese Food.”  To me it was Vietnamese food but it arrived in about 5 minutes, was cheap and delicious.

Overall Thoughts

Elios hotels rooms were not very impressive but it made up for it with great service and a nice view from the top floor restaurant.  We quickly grew tired of the manic Pham Ngu Lao Street and decided to find a quieter area and check out another hotel.  Although I was  not dissatisfied with Elios Hotel I would recommend it for people who like hanging out and drinking with the backpacker type of crowd as well as anyone who is in Saigon one night and wants to do some shopping or sight seeing.