“You look, you no buy, me no happy” – Ben Thanh Market encounters

“You look, you no buy, me no happy” – Ben Thanh Market encounters

On the late afternoon - early evening before our last day of 2011 Vietnam Study Tour, I spent a couple of hours at Ben Thanh Market in Saigon, looking for a few more souvenirs. The marketplace can be described in many ways, but for me it was a significant cultural experience that engaged all senses. Although the sight and smells in Ben Thanh Market are the initial and overpowering sense stimulants, what remained more engaging for me was the initially welcoming smile and then the discouraged voice of a frail young woman vendor who suddenly appeared optimistic that a “tai” (westerner) decided to stop by her stall, which was one of perhaps several hundreds under one roof. My goal was to first become familiar with products and prices and then return later with my shopping list. The vendor greeted me with a smile and offered to help by drawing my attention to the beautiful hand-embroidered art she was selling, but when she realized that I was not going to make a purchase, her face turned sad and she said, “you look, you no buy, me no happy.” These words and the discouraged look in her face have remained with me as I have reflected, on more than one occasion, about the challenges that the working class in Vietnamese society appear to encounter as the country struggles to shift from a socialist and centralized planned economy to an increasingly private economy. Similar to the efforts of the frail young woman vendor, I also observed many other women who set-up portable soup kitchens out of two hanging baskets along a busy sidewalk, park, or anywhere there are people. I returned the next morning to Ben Thanh Market with my shopping list and plan to buy some of the souvenirs from the vendor I had disappointed the day before. Finding the same stall or vendor at Ben Thanh Market, however, is like finding a needle in a haystack, and my efforts did not prevail. I wondered, whether that lady had made any money to support her family that day. I did make several purchases from various vendors, but would have been more fulfilled with my shopping experience had I found the stall of the unhappy vendor from the day before.