Good Morning Saigon 

My wakeup call awoke me from a deep sleep. I had a 6am start today in Saigon (few in the south call it Ho Chi Minh City) as I was about to see what goes on in this metropolis early morning. I pulled back the hotel curtains and opened the french doors leading to a terrace with wonderful views of the river. Even at this time of the morning there was a lot of traffic on the road below.

 I met my guide downstairs in the lobby, and off we went to a local park near Ben Thanh Market. Locals were out and about in the park, all were exercising. Husband and wife teams playing vigorous games of badmington, tai chi classes in progress, and an older group of women, under the watchful eye of a group leader, exercising to music. Fast paced walkers with walkmans scurried by as I took in the whole scene. This seemed to be a real mix of old and new.

Ben Thanh Market is the biggest trading center in the city with over 1500 stalls. The market has been here since 1914 and has four main gates – east, west, north and south, the south gate is most well known for its clock tower, one of the symbols of Saigon. We entered via the north gate into the flower market. Thousands of flowers in large plastic buckets bulged from the stalls, huge bundles of coloured roses in perfect bloom , and stallholders (all men that I saw) putting together beautiful flower arrangements with both traditional and tropical flowers. From here we ventured into the wet market, not for the squeamish, one side is seafood, the other meat. On the seafood side you will see everything from seasnails to containers of slimy eels. Wear appropriate shoes as the floor is wet and you may have to sidestep fish wriggling around on the floor area. On the meat side there is no refrigeration, all sorts of meats hanging up in stalls and other stalls selling nothing but offal.  To one side there is an area which sells fresh herbs, including coriander, basil , mint and lemongrass - huge bundles giving off wonderful aromas.
Venture further inside the market and you come across fruit and vegetables. Vietnam has a huge variety of tropical fruits, and here you can see beautifully displayed stalls selling, dragon fruit, water apples, lychee, papaya and jackfruit among the varieties. Root vegetables, peeled and ready to go, also add to the contrast of shapes and colours. Stalls selling rice varieties, beans and lentils, coffee (Vietnam is the 2nd biggest world producer of coffee after Brazil), make up a kaleidoscope of colours. Near this area are many food stalls already in business serving breakfast to stall holders.

We left the markets and headed across the river to an area called Thu Thiem.  It took 10 minutes by small car ferry (packed with motorbikes) to get to the other side, and here you step back in time and see another side to the city. This is a poor rural area, and will be redeveloped in the next few years into the "new city centre" of Saigon. I found the people here friendly, as everywhere. We passed by small food, fruit and vegetable stalls, shops with ladies sitting behind old sewing machines and fabric stores. The main road was a constant buzz of motorbikes going to and from the ferry terminal as this was morning peak hour.

It was now time for breakfast, and what better way to finish off than to have a bowl of pho, the fast food and staple diet of Vietnam. My chicken pho consisted of broth accompanied with fresh rice noodles and chicken pieces, garnished with fresh coriander leaves, mint, bean sprouts, hot peppers and a squeeze of lemon – delicious!