Ben Thanh Markets

As you would all know from my previous blogs posts, I just love visiting markets. The Ben Tranh markets are the main markets of HCM. It's quite crowded and full of small shops selling a variety of things. You can buy lots of souvenirs (vietnamese handicrafts), or clothes (not really my style), knick knacks as well as a wet market where locals buy their daily produce. In the middle there are also lots of food stalls selling an interesting assortment of noodles, sweets, rice dishes and other great vietnamese food. Steve and I had strong stomachs but we were probably not brave enough to eat there (though we probably would have been fine!).
Here are some of my favourite shots!

HCM - A streetscape

In the morning we took a walk around the main part of the city near our hotel (District 1).
Here are a few photos from our walk - the streetscape was a real mix of the traditional and modern.

This lady is selling a street side snack which is similar to waffles. She just carries her basket and 'kitchen' with her around town.

Amongst the buildings, there are some really tall skyscrapers.

Every drives motorbikes around town.

Ho Chi Minh City

We have just come back from a wonderful trip to Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok and Singapore.

We started our trip in Ho Chi Minh (formerly known as Saigon and was the old capital of South Vietnam before reunification) which is about an 8-9 hour flight from Sydney. We arrived into HCM in the evening and we were really surprised that we arrived into a pretty good looking airport (we found out later that it was only 2 years old). On our trip into town to our hotel, there was plenty of liveliness on the streets - lots of bright & colourful signage and the roads are full of motorbikes and scooterbikes. 

The above photo is of the Opera House which is quiet a famous landmark of HCM.