Cho Lon

Cho Lon grew as the Chinese trading town beside Saigon and is now Districts 5 and 6, still recognisably its own place. The centre of it is Binh Tay market, a 1920s hall with a clock tower and an open courtyard, built by a Chinese merchant and now largely wholesale. Around it the food is Cantonese and Teochew as much as Vietnamese: hu tieu built on pork bones, roast duck over egg noodles, dim sum from steamer carts, herbal soups sold by weight. One street is given over entirely to dried medicinal plants, sacks of them out on the pavement. Several assembly-hall temples still function, thick with slow-burning incense coils hung from the beams.

What you actually see

• Binh Tay market - the 1920s hall with a clock tower and a courtyard shrine.
• The herb street - Hai Thuong Lan Ong, sacks of dried medicinal plants on the pavement.
• Assembly hall temples - working halls hung with coils of incense burning for days.
• Noodle kitchens - Teochew and Cantonese cooking served from before dawn.

When to go

Mornings from about six are when the market and the noodle kitchens work; the herb street runs all day. The cool season from December to April makes the walking bearable, since there is almost no shade. Lunar new year and the mid-autumn festival both fill these streets, with lantern and cake sellers taking over the pavements for weeks beforehand.

Honest expectations

Binh Tay is now largely wholesale housewares and plastic goods, and anyone expecting a food market will be disappointed; the eating is in the streets around it. The area is hot, congested and hard to walk, with pavements taken up by parked motorbikes. Very little English is spoken. The temples are places of worship, busy with people doing more than looking.

Nearby

Thien Hau temple stands a few streets from the market, and District 1 is a short ride east.