Read our comprehensive travel guide to Can Tho here.

Cái Răng – Cai Rang market is a wholesaler market located 6 kilometers from the city center. The market focuses on selling tropical fruits in Mekong Delta. It starts at dusk and turns active and busy until 9 a.m. You can book a boat tour, and it will take you across the Cần Thơ River. Here, the stall boats will approach yours, and you’ll have a minute to look at the products and decide whether to buy it or not. What you do here is, of course, trading and sightseeing. You can taste the Can Tho’s banana, watching the local life while welcoming the first sunlight of the day with a hot sip of ‘phin’ coffee – a good recommendation when you’re in Vietnam or eating a Vietnamese breakfast in the middle of the river, letting your mind “flow with the flows”. 

How to get to Can Tho?
Must Visits in Can Tho

How to get to Can Tho?

Top Must-Visits in Can Tho

Tip: Remember to ask the price before going on boat tours. The most expensive one is when you’re alone on a boat (150.000VNĐ) and usually, the price is at around 100.000VNĐ (you will share the boat with other visitors). 

What and Where to Eat in Can Tho?

What and Where to Eat in Can Tho?

All words and photos by Khoi Nguyen
Check out our Flickr album here

The post Cai Rang – Can Tho’s Floating Market appeared first on Maze Vietnam.

Surrounded by the old apartments, created first by just a small group of flower vendors, then expanded with the arrival of immigrants from various regions of Vietnam making their sales from flowers, Ho Thi Ky became a big area with a diversity of goods, most of which are flowers. Most flower markets in HCMC open only over the Tết Holiday in Spring, but this Ho Thi Ky market opens at all time, 24/7. Whether night or day, you will find such vivid atmosphere here, where colorful flowers are seen along the sideways that emerge with the pace of daily life of the locals. 

All kinds of flowers in the South are brought here and get delivered to all parts of Saigon for sales.

Finished with the flowers? Since it’s a market, there are lots of food stalls, too. You won’t be disappointed with the world of cheap street food here, from 1$ Vietnamese soup dishes, 25-cent Cantonese chive cakes to the 1$ Pad Thai! Lots of food offers for you.

Words and photos by Khoi Nguyen

The post An Insider’s Photos at Ho Thi Ky – The Saigon Flower Market appeared first on Maze Vietnam.

Lies in the misty highlands of Lào Cai, Western North (or Tây Bắc, as the Vietnamese call it), nearly 300 kilometers away from Hà Nội, is a small town called Sa Pa (Sapa).

Sa Pa is one of the first places in the highlands to be discovered. Upon the arrival in Vietnam, the French built mansions on the high mountains of Sa Pa, alongside with Đà Lạt for the holidays due to the cool temperature they had. At present, these 2 places have many vintage-styled buildings for visiting, and sometimes, ‘ghost seeking’.

How to get to Sapa?

Sapa is a nice place for you to travel, far away from the exquisites of the crowded cities, hence lots of new things to explore.

Where to go in Sapa?

For anyone looking to experience the local lifestyle, Sapa has hill-tribes along the mountains.

A common thing of the Northern Highlands is that they are home to many Vietnamese ethnic minorities like Tày, Nùng, Dao Thái Mông, etc. The locals make their living by farming, specifically growing crops. What makes it special, is the contour farming method that they use. Along with the harvest, these ladder-organized crops, together, build up unique land structures, creating the enticing landscapes of Vietnamese mountains. Therefore, the highlands are best known for 2 things: the agriculture, and the picturesque mountain scenery that it has.

Sa Pa is filled with attractions. You can have nostalgic goosebumps in the old mansions, or take a trip through the farmlands, which are colorized with the light yellow of malt crops in the harvest. But don’t miss one thing: the highest place of Vietnam, the Fansipan mountain peak, is located here. The so-called ‘Indochina Rooftop’ now has cable cars to transport, but if you want to be more adventurous, climbing up the mountains is another way. But remember to be well-prepared though, as danger and myths that lie beneath the rocks awaits.

After a trip in eyegasm, remember that Sa Pa is home to many minority ethnics? Get to the small villages. This is where the locals welcome you and give you a tour through the farmlands. If possible, buy the old women’s handmade souvenir crafts as a ‘thank you’.

Note: do not buy the children’s one, as it may encourage them to drop school in order to sell these.

Read our full Travel Guide to SAPA here. It covers advice and suggestions from accommodations, tourist attractions, local foods to nightlife activities and more.

SAPA TRAVEL GUIDE

To see more photos, check the open album below or go to Flickr:
Photo Album Flickr
(Please use the left/right arrows to navigate in the files of the open album)

Photos and words by Khoi Nguyen

The post Breathtaking Landscape Photographs of Sapa appeared first on Maze Vietnam.

When hearing about Vietnam, you must have known the Hanoian’s train street with a varied aspect of local daily life. Visiting Hanoi railway village could be one of the most terrifying experiences for tourists.  You may find our article about Hanoi Train Street here.

Hanoi Railway Village – The trains in between

https://www.mazevietnam.com/2016/12/19/hanoi-railway-village/

Interestingly, in Saigon, you can see the local life near the railway, too! But instead of lying right inside the train track, it lies in the two pathways that are parallel to the railway on each side. Have a trip with me, into a small corner of Saigon, where the local daily life lies inside the small railway alley.

Saigon railway alley is connected together with other alleys, running across many districts and roads to create a big net of MAZE that, with proper use, can become good shortcuts and secret ways to get away from the crowded main roads.

If you want to go there, Gò Vấp Dist., Phú Nhuận Dist. and Dist.3 would be nice. I recommend these districts for the purest experiences, but be careful, as one of those experiences may include your camera being robbed.

The North-South line is the only railway line that works in Vietnam, with its south end in Sai Gon Station, District 10. Old, low-speed trains are still used to carry passengers. Therefore, if you are chill and want to enjoy the scenery on the way, this can be a great choice of moving between places.

To see more photos, check the open album below or go to Flickr:
Photo Album Flickr
(Please use the left/right arrows to navigate in the files of the open album)

Words and photos by Khoi Nguyen

The post Hanoi has a Terrifying Train Street, and Saigon does, too! appeared first on Maze Vietnam.

Nhat Tao street is usually called  ‘the electronics market’ by  the Saigoneers. It is actually the biggest secondhand electronic devices market in Saigon. All of the small electronics shops and vendors selling goods appear on the both sides of the street. 

You can find secondhand items such as camera lenses, zippos, adapters, television remotes and so on.

Lots of electronic items are piled up in on the ground. The street is always crowded with people coming up and bargaining every day.

There is a Thống Nhất soccer stadium nearby, also there are some small street food stalls around for you to boost up your energy after a tiring day of going to the busy street.

To see more photos, check the open album below or go to Flickr:
Photo Album Flickr
(Please use the left/right arrows to navigate in the files of the open album)

Photos and words by Khoi Nguyen

The post Nhat Tao Electronics Market in Saigon appeared first on Maze Vietnam.

Then you should write down the ‘Tran Phu st.’ in your wishlist right away because it is filled with a myriad of painting and frame workshops. It is no musée, but still, you can see the art of Da Vinci, Picasso, Van Gogh, and so on remade through the hands of the amateur and professional painters. It is not a Church or Temple, but still, you can see the artwork of Buddha or Jesus. Also, you can find out more about the traditions of Vietnam throughout the frame filled with brush lines, as our ancestors usually say: “A hundredfold of hearing is not as good as seeing.” You can buy a wooden handmade picture frame and play Street Fighters in the city too if you want.

There are a lot of types of paintings available here. You can find oil-paintings, lacquer paintings, and so on.

P/S: Come here, and you will feel the gluish ‘aroma’ of the paint, mixed with the polluted air of Saigon (sometimes urine), though it is cancerous (so bring a face mask with you). 

Check the open album below:
(Please use the left/right arrows to navigate in the files of the open album)

The post Tran Phu Street in Saigon appeared first on Maze Vietnam.

Down the Southern of HCMC in Dis.8 lies a floating market that sells all kinds of flowers. They’re called ‘Bình Đông flower market’. It only opens when Tet is near. Traders bring the plants to the city by boats, and park them line by line at the Tau Hu canal. Whether you want to buy a plant, or just go sight-seeing, this market is a must-see for your trip to HCMC in Lunar New Year.

To see more photos, check the open album below or go to Flickr:
Photo Album Flickr
(Please use the left/right arrows to navigate in the files of the open album)

The post Binh Dong Flower Floating Market in Saigon appeared first on Maze Vietnam.

Like its name, the street is filled with beautiful flowers and Tết traditional decors. No bikes, no cars, just people moving chaotically, but I guarantee you that it is definitely worth visiting. It is where you can explore not just the Vietnamese New Year traditions, but also the whole vast culture that lies within.

To see more photos, check the open album below or go to Flickr:
Photo Album Flickr
(Please use the left/right arrows to navigate in the files of the open album)

The post Nguyen Hue Street during Tet appeared first on Maze Vietnam.

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Shot and edited by Khoi Nguyen

The post Calligraphy street in Saigon (Ong Do) appeared first on Maze Vietnam.

Bắc Hải is one of the villages in which Christians live. Whenever Christmas comes, the streets here are decorated with lights and caves, which has been attracting a large number of people to visit.

Besides Bắc Hải, we can visit other beautiful villages such as Xóm đạo) Phạm Thế Hiển st. (District 8), Hạnh Thông Tây (Go Vap District), Tam Hà (Thủ Đức District), Nguyễn Hậu st. (Tân Phú District)

To see more photos, check the open album below or go to Flickr:
Photo Album Flickr
(Please use the left/right arrows to navigate in the files of the open album)

The post Christmas in Saigon appeared first on Maze Vietnam.