Local Interest
Route : Districts 5 & 10 : Chinatown , ‘ Herb Street ’, Temples , Night Flower Market
Vo Van Kiet continues to weave westward along the channel . The further up this road you ride , the more often you ’ ll see the crumbling remains of old warehouses . These were ( and , in some cases , still are ) used to store produce shipped up the channel from the fertile lands of the Mekong Delta , to be sold in the markets of Saigon . Turn right onto Nguyen Tri Phuong Street and left onto Tran Hung Dao . This is Chinatown , and even at this late hour it ’ s still throbbing with activity . However , the later you get here the better , because there are a lot of hidden architectural gems and fascinating minutiae on roads like Tran Hung Dao : the less traffic there is , the more freedom and time you ’ ll have to take it all in , without hundreds of vehicles rushing around you . Turn left onto Chau Van Liem Street , which leads down to a busy traffic circle presided over by a statue of Phan Dinh Phung , a Vietnamese hero who led a resistance against French colonialism in Central Vietnam in the 1880s . Veer east of the statue onto Hai Thuong Lan Ong Street . Named after a famous 18th century medical scholar , this street is lined with herbal chemists and , even at night , it ’ s filled with the strange and seductive aromas of herbal remedies . The broad boulevard is also home to several impressively ornate , old Chinatown buildings : some are in a state of decay , others are sensitively restored .
Chinatown : there are lots of hidden architectural gems in this part of town : ride slowly & keep looking
A statue of Phan Dinh Phung ( top right ) presides over this busy Chinatown traffic circle
Loop back around to the statue of Phan Dinh Phung , and start west along the other end of Hai Thuong Lan Ong Street . This bustling dual carriageway is divided by a stretch of grass and trees , where a statue of Confucius stands watch over the street ’ s activities . You won ’ t go hungry here : there are many street food vendors open late into the night , including ones serving súp óc heo - pig brain soup , which is much-loved by Chinatown ’ s student population . Take Phu Huu Street north until it hits Hong Bang . This wide boulevard is lined with old trees and landscaped , in the middle , with tropical flowers , including fragrant , porcelain-white frangipani bushes , which scent the night air . To the left , you can ’ t help but notice the three , 33-storey , pink tower blocks of Thuan Kieu Plaza . Impressive as they may seem , you ’ ll notice there are no lights emanating from any of its apartments . The entire complex is deserted . This is partly due to financial mismanagement , and partly ( much more intriguingly ) due to …. ghosts . According to popular local legend , the towers are haunted by the spirits of a murdered girlfriend and labourers who perished during its construction .
Statue of Confucius , whose ideas about society & leadership still profoundly influence much of East Asia
18 The MAG Vung Tau
Haunted : the Thuan Kieu Plaza towers remain mostly uninhabited due to …. ghosts