Just five kilometers west of theheart of Ho Chi Minh City, anarea known as Cholon, or Chi-

natown, offers a distinctly differ-ent feel from the rest of the city.

Almost a separate entity(which it was, in French colonialtimes), Cholon sprawls across thecity’s District 5 and over intoneighboring districts. (Ho ChiMinh City, which locals still callSaigon, is divided into 24 districts,with District 1 being the down-town area most aimed at tourists.)

Home to Vietnam’s largest Chi-nese community, Cholon is a leg-acy of the Chinese merchants whosettled here. Excelling at businessand commerce, the ethnic Chineseestablished Cholon as a successfultrading area. Wealth, though, wasincreasingly generated throughgambling joints, opium dens andrestaurants. By the 1950s, the areawas notoriously dangerous andglamorous: a pleasure zone con-trolled by gangsters, frequentedby foreigners and a hideout forshady characters.

Today, neglected by touristauthorities and undergoing rapidredevelopment, Cholon has lostsome of its draw and most visitorsgive it a miss. Yet unlike someother Chinatowns around theworld, Cholon is not “Disney-fied,”but rather is a bona fide workingand residential environment.

The area is vast, but the mainpoints of interest are located in acompact, mostly walkable, west-ern section. A taxi ride from down-town takes about half an hour;drive along Tran Hung Dao Street,District 5’s main artery linkingdowntown, to Cholon’s far west-ern fringes. No signpost denotes

Cholon’s borders, but the increas-ing number of Chinese characterson buildings is the giveaway.

9 A.M. BINH TAY MARKETAcross in District 6, nowhere

epitomizes Cholon’s vibrant com-mercialism like Binh Tay Market(57B Thap Muoi). Cho Lon trans-lates as “big market” and this isthe area’s biggest, covering awhopping 17,000 square meters.Exteriors display one of the finestexamples of early 20th-centuryChinese-French architecture: mul-titiered roofs adorned with drag-

ons, mixed with mustard-huedhalls and a central clock tower.Predominately a wholesalemarketplace, Binh Tay offers amore authentic (and cheaper) ex-perience compared with its coun-terparts elsewhere in Saigon.

About 2,300 stalls are piledhigh with a goods ranging fromironmongery and ceramics towet noodles and live chickens.One section is devoted toincense, another to traditionalmedicine ingredients and thereare basic food stalls servingdishes such as Cantonese roastpork. A central garden courtyardoffers fleeting respite from theconsumerism; a shrine flankedby water-spouting dragons hon-ors Binh Tay’s founder, Chineseimmigrant Quach Dam.

This neighborhood, Immortal-ized in Graham Greene’s novel“The Quiet American,” was oncemade up of Chinese and French co-lonial shophouses (typically twoor three-story structures with abusiness on the ground level and aresidence upstairs). But the shop-houses that once surrounded themarket have been replaced withmodern, nondescript housing.

10.30 A.M. TRAN HUNG DAOSTREET

Grab a cab at the market andtake a five-minute ride to theintersection of Tran Hung Daoand Hoc Lac streets. Look for ChaTam Church. Inherited fromFrench Indochina, Ho Chi MinhCity still has several Catholicchurches; this one gives a nod toits location with a pagoda-stylegate and Chinese charactersflanking its stained-glass win-dows. Catholic President NgoDinh Diem and his brotherbriefly took refuge here during a1963 coup d’état. A plaque on arear pew indicates where the twoawaited their fate, before beingtaken away and assassinated.

Cha Tam is at the far westernsection of Tran Hung Dao: walk

out of the church and you areimmersed in “Garment District,”with its concentration of open-sided showrooms and storesstacked with rolls of fabrics. Headeast along Tran Hung Dao to No.431, where a small sign denotesTong Duy Tan, also known as“Haberdashery Alley,” which iscrammed with wholesale haber-dashery stalls.

11:30 A.M. QUAN AM PAGODAGarment District peters out

around where Chu Van LiemStreet intersects Tran Hung DaoStreet; turn left here and headnorth for Lao Tu Street.

This section of Cholon housessome of the area’s loveliest tem-ples and pagodas. Immigrantsfrom China’s Southeastern sea-board contributed distinct archi-tectural styles, varying accord-ing to their native region, thatare markedly different from theirVietnamese counterparts.

Quan Am is one of the city’smost spectacular pagodas. Builtin 1740, it’s also the oldest. Thedecorative entrance is flankedby hawkers selling incense andbirds in bamboo cages (set freefor good fortune), while theridged rooftop is adorned withglazed ceramic sculpturesdepicting Chinese legends, atrademark of Cholon pagodas.Go inside to see more. Thepagoda is dedicated to QuanAm, Goddess of Mercy, butother deities are worshipped inthe rear courtyard. Incineratorsburning votive offerings, urnsstuffed with incense and largehanging incense coils make for apersistent haze.

12 P.M. THUAN KIEU PLAZAWith food outlets everywhere,

one is spoiled for choice in Cholon.There’s a no-frills, open-sided eat-ery on Chu Van Liem corner, serv-ing simple com (rice) dishes.

But for authentic Chinese fareindoors, with air-conditioning,decipherable menus and decenttoilets, head north to the intersec-tion of Chu Van Liem and HongBang streets. One of Cholon’snewer eyesores comprises threesalmon-pink apartment blockstowering over adjoining ThuanKieu Plaza (190 Hong Bang). Firstfloor Hai San is popular withlocal businessmen and weddingparties. It serves excellent dimsum but you’ll have to ignore thegarish, stark interiors.

On the ground floor, Lau Ca ismore informal, with live fishprimed for lunch in several fishtanks. Across the street at No.184 Hong Bang Street standsPhuoc An Hoi Quan Pagoda. Com-pact and a relative newcomerhaving been built in 1902, it’s oneof the city’s prettiest, evenbefore you step inside. A clut-tered altar section yields antiquegilt woodcarvings and parapher-nalia such as brass ritual objects.

1:30 P.M. RITUAL COSTUMESTREET

Continue along Hong BangStreet, turn right into Luong NhoHoc and head south. This is RitualCostume Street, so-called becauseof its specialist shops selling tradi-tional costumes to honor the Ladyof Sam Mountain Statue. Devo-tees make annual pilgrimages tothis Mekong Delta deity, drawn byher supposed miraculous powers.

City walk: Ho Chi Minh CityStreet markets and ancient pagodas abound in Saigon’s busy Chinatown

Above, Quan Am Pagoda is one of the most spectacular in the city. Right, at BinhTay market, about 2,300 stalls are piled high with goods.

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