Ho Chi Minh is a lovely place to shop. If find the items I bought much cheaper than Jakarta as well. Sharing with you photos of my shopping loot. This is one of the many reasons we are broke and staying home a lot these days. Heehee!

Bến Thành Market

I scored some awesome buys in from this famous Market. The cool thing is that the vendors here speak better English than our hotel staff so it’s very convenient for tourists!

Here you can find all sorts of lacquered items for the home. I fell in love with lacquered trays decorated with gold leaf and these lacquered mother of pearl chopsticks rest (100,000 for set of 10).

I also got underwear garment bags for traveling for myself and to gift to my friends. These are very popular and range in price depending on the quality. Bargain hard as they will start with 80k each in the Bến Thành. They eventually gave it for 30,000 for 10 pcs.

I also found underwear garment bags at a quaint souvenir shop called Du Du, right beside Cincinati Leather Boutique. They  sold it at a fixed price (333k for 11pcs) – it came out almost the same price as in Bến Thành, but with better quality and colors.

Du Du Souvenir Shop

SIDESTORY: I first receive this underwear garment bag for my very “proper” bridal shower hosted by MIL. The shower theme was travel and one of my bestfriends, Sarah, just came from Vietnam and gifted me with this pair pictured below. It’s the cutest! And I have been using it ever since! I super loved it so I wanted to give the same thing to friends who travel a lot.  

L’Usine Gift Shop

My favorite restaurant in HCMC is L’Usine, where we had brunch everyday of our trip. Not only was the food amazing and great value and the ambiance amazing, but the gift shop in the back is totally my kind of shop – curated, well designed items in a chic setting! Below are a few of my finds.

I got this classic blue and white cotton scarf (center). The chic and nautical look will never go out of style.

This unique and delicate nickel-free chain and crochet necklace is made by children in a shelter. They sell them to raise funds.  And these Wetter Wonton bamboo tweezers and spoons. I’ve been searching for bamboo tongs for a while now – they are perfect for cooking Kway Teow and many other dishes. So much easier to wield than the metal tongs. (And it doesn’t damage your food like the metal ones too!) The small bamboo spoons I stick into jars of sugar, non-dairy creamer, etc. for easy serving ware.

Vietnamese Silk Scarves

And the SILK in Vietnam is just gorgeous and the prices unbeatable! 

We found this store called CREATIONS and got such a great deal on 100% silk scarves and shawls! According to their website the company has been awarded by the HCMC Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and are even appreciated by world leaders. It’s too bad they don’t have their complete collection of products on their website. The ones featured are not as fresh and modern as the display in their store.

Creations Silk Boutique

105 Dong Khoi St., Dist 1, HCMC | 45 Dong Khoi St., Dist 1, HCMC
(848) 3822 5964 or 3829 5429 | creations@creations.vn
Other store locations Indochina | TMsilk

HCMC Supermarket Finds

Because we do not know where to get Vietnamese food supplies in Jakarta, we also mad a trip to the supermarket for pho noodles, instant pho, Vietnamese coffee and a Vietnamese coffee filter.

It was interesting to note that we could find Filipino products (i.e. Tanduay, Vino Kulafu)  in HCMC supermarkets and convenience stores.

How to make Vietnamese Iced Coffee using Vietnamese coffee filter here.