Wanna buy something cheap at a night market in Ho Chi Minh City? Le Thi Rieng is a good choice as it has been known as a venue always bursting with life, commotion, cheap consumer goods, and other commodities. 

Adjacent to an eponymous park, the Le Thi Rieng night market spans four wards in District 3, District 10, and Tan Binh District.

It is invariably packed with loads of cheap goods and hundreds of shoppers and “window-shoppers.”

Such shiny items as clothes, sunglasses, footwear, cosmetics, and cellphone accessories are usually advertised to be discounted foreign brand products and displayed on stools, tables or nylon sheets on the sidewalk.  

The inviting articles fetch dirt-cheap prices, which are as low as VND3,000 (US$0.14).

Most shoppers are couples and groups of school and university students, particularly girls, who are still in uniforms, according to a Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reporter’s observation.

While girls are eager to try on gaudy shoes, clothes, and hair accessories, young men are seen most at stalls of bags and cellphone accessories.

Though the city is home to many night markets – like Ben Thanh in District 1 or the spontaneous night market sessions at Xom Chieu in District 4, Hanh Thong Tay in Go Vap District, and Nguyen Trai in parts of Districts 1 and 5 – Le Thi Rieng is seemingly unrivalled regarding the diversity of goods and services, surprisingly cheap prices and convenience, as many mini stalls are erected off the sidewalk. 

The venue is thus crammed with shoppers, visitors, and congested traffic at night, especially on weekends and during the festive year-end season and before Tet (Vietnam’s Lunar New Year), which is about two months away.

The place also stands out from others as before or after shopping, visitors can unwind at the Thien Duong Giai Tri Tho Trang (White Rabbit Entertainment Paradise) complex nearby, where a slew of indoor and outdoor games and activities are offered.

The one-hectare complex, located inside Le Thi Rieng Park, just marked their third birthday last week by offering free and cheap games.

Other games are also available around the park, including skateboarding.

Lan Huong and Nhat Anh, two university students, told Tuoi Tre that they really enjoy taking strolls around the park and the Thien Duong Giai Tri Tho Trang complex prior to going window-shopping round the night market.

Do Anh Tuan, student of a local vocational training school, said he frequents the place with his friends to relish in the boisterous atmosphere and try cool drinks and cheap street goodies.

The night market is so packed with clients that shops nearby sometimes launch their discounted products on the sidewalk in a bid to “steal” some of the market’s huge clientele.

Le Thi Rieng is particularly brimming with life and commotion during the year-end season when peddlers often defy relentless raids from local urban order forces.

During a night last week, the market’s activity was suddenly disrupted as dozens of peddlers raced their carts, which are usually positioned in front of Le Thi Rieng Park, toward the Hoa Hung Market to flee from an on-duty urban order team.

They all stopped with a sigh of relief after crossing some streets and entering the “safety zone” in a ward of another district, where the team was not authorized to seize their carts.

Traffic around the market usually gets congested and minor accidents and clashes that follow are commonplace. 

Despite all the hassle, people keep pouring into the night market and its neighborhood for an adorable, unique taste of urban life in the busy city.

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