Hidden Beauty

It smells like a mix of sweat, fish sauce and traffic. The stalls are crowded together under one roof; people live, work and play here, so it is claustrophobic and chaotic, but still beautiful. This market, which takes up an entire city block at the very end of Chinatown in HCMC, might be the last place you would expect to find beauty, but it is one of my favourite discoveries. I love everything about “Thuong Xa Dong Khanh” Market. When you first drive up you think, ‘Is this it?’ But then you start exploring and find that the stalls that line the streets are just the surface and the deeper you delve into the market the more you will find. The stalls are piled to the roof with bolts of different coloured fabric in all sorts of styles and patterns and you have to squeeze your way down the narrow aisles, often pressing yourself into the fabric just to let a worker pass. One of my favourites is the sequin stall: imagine gorgeous piles of fabric in every colour of the rainbow with shiny bits glinting invitingly in the sun contrasted with the dirty, trash filled street, the motorbikes cruising by and hundreds of power lines crisscrossing dangerously above the market. It is the unlikeness of the scene that I love: hidden beauty in amongst the chaos.

Thuong Xa is actually a wholesale market, which explains a lot of the strange looks that I got when I first went, but, despite buying what to them are miniscule amounts of fabric, I have never had any issues. The stall owners speak almost no English, only calculator, and the prices are cheap. Wandering around, you will feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of fabric on display. Take your time and get a feel for the place, then start purchasing! If you find something you really love it’s best to buy it right away as there is a chance you will get lost in the market’s meandering nooks and crannies.

Around HCMC, there are hundreds of shops where you can get your favourite pieces copied or bring a picture for the tailors to work from.It is best to go to the market with an idea of what clothes you want made so know what to buy, and you will need to buy a minimum of 1-3 meters of fabric. Once you have found something you love, take it to the tailor and within a couple of days you will have a one-of-a-kind, hand-made, custom outfit. Who needs the hassle of digging through racks at the mall when you can go to Thuong Xa and, with a little work, get something special and unique?