Walking Around a Saigon Wet Market

By: Leechen Zhu, CAS ’21

Environmental Sustainability in Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

I faced baskets and baskets of green mangoes. Only green mangoes. I didn’t even know green mangoes of this shape could be ripe. The vendor pointed at each one and rattled off the list of varieties, not that it helped my uncomprehending ears. I blindly chose a couple, turned around to continue down the street — and almost got run over by an incoming motorbike that swerved at the last second. I made a hasty escape down a side street with more vendors and less traffic. But the further I went, the fewer the vendors and the quieter the neighborhood. Ducking into a dead end, I pulled out my phone, which happily informed me I’d need to find my way back through the maze of alleyways. Again. I sighed. It began to pour rain. Suddenly and dramatically.

Going grocery shopping is usually a bit of an annoyance. What to buy? How much to spend? Did I check in with my roommates this week on what they wanted to eat? But grocery shopping alone for the first time in Ho Chi Minh City took me four hours and three separate trips in the same Sunday afternoon, and I didn’t even buy much.

Three streets down from my apartment is a busy wet market that runs down a couple winding alleys. At the time, I spoke four phrases of Vietnamese and understood almost nothing spoken at normal speed. I was still unfamiliar with the cash money, and spent a lot of time fumbling with the money while trying not to get my wallet stolen. I didn’t know what normal prices were supposed to be, and tried to wander around the whole market to get an idea before buying anything.

The last one was the kicker. Let it be noted that I had been at my apartment for two days, this was my first time venturing out around the locale by myself, and I had made a mistake not studying the road layout beforehand because there were many, many dead ends. I couldn’t check my location in the middle of the market for fear of losing my phone. On one occasion, I learned the hard way that the main streets were not laid out in a grid.

But here’s the thing, and here’s why I spent a whole afternoon determined to walk the entire market. A Saigon wet market is simply amazing: piles and piles of fresh fruit and vegetables laid out on tarps, baskets and bowls of eggs, and live shrimp and fish tossing around in shallow pans under cold running water. There are few truly bad purchases to make. I left the market with bags of purple mangosteen, scaly salak fruit, boiled peanuts, small bitter melons, bok choy, green onions, a block of tofu, and an unidentifiable whole fish that the seller helped me to clean in about twenty seconds on the spot. And two green mangoes.

I’ve been to the market twice since then. And despite my difficulty speaking, the unfamiliar foods, the dead ends, the rushing crowds, and the frequent sudden downpours; the incomparably fresh food, fast-paced activity, and kind vendors near my apartment will be dearly missed when I return home.

The Global Research and Internship Program (GRIP) provides outstanding undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to intern or conduct research abroad for 8 to 12 weeks over the summer. Participants gain career-enhancing experience and global exposure that is essential in a global workforce. Placements and funding awards are available.

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