Binh Tay Market

Binh Tay Market is the main wholesale market of Cholon, the Chinese quarter of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and stands at 57A Thap Muoi in District 6. Built in 1928 with funding from the Chinese-Vietnamese businessman Quach Dam, it replaced an earlier market and adopted a Chinese-influenced style, with a yellow facade, a central courtyard and a tiled roof and clock tower over the entrance. Inside, the single-storey halls are arranged around the courtyard and hold hundreds of stalls, most of them selling goods by volume to traders and shopkeepers rather than to tourists. Typical products include dried goods such as mushrooms, shrimp and squid, herbs and spices, tea, rice, fabrics and ready-made clothing, plastics, kitchenware and household items. Stall-holders are largely Chinese-Vietnamese families, and many have traded here for generations. Because the market caters to wholesale buyers, it is far less oriented to tourists than Ben Thanh Market, prices are lower, and bargaining is less theatrical. A visit usually lasts one to one and a half hours. Activity peaks in the early morning, from about 6:00 to 9:00am, when deliveries arrive and traders are busy, and the market quietens in the afternoon. The surrounding streets of Cholon contain several Chinese-style temples, herbal medicine shops and old shophouses, so the market is often combined with a walk to Thien Hau Pagoda or Quan Am Pagoda. The market is about 25 minutes by Grab from Ben Thanh Market, and city bus 1 also runs to the area. Visitors should expect heat, crowded aisles and porters moving heavy loads, and watch their belongings.