SaigonNezumi.com » Saigon Shopping

Christmas Decorations in Saigon

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 15:58:22 +0000

Well it is Christmas Eve in Saigon. This will be my 5th Christmas in Saigon and probably my last one for several years. A couple weeks ago I went with my Vietnamese friend and his wife to Cholon to look at the Christmas decorations. I was surprised to see a whole street devoted to Christmas decorations.

After tomorrow, they will switch to New Year decorations followed by Tet decorations.

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Pham Van Hai Market

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 11:03:24 +0000

Cho Pham Van Hai is one of the biggest markets in the Tan Binh District. In the last three and a half years I have lived here, I passed by the Pham Van Hai Market many times but I never went inside.

Last weekend I finally visited this market for the first time. It reminded me of the bazaars back in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.

Prices here were significantly cheaper than at Big C or Co Op

Sorry, I thought I took more pictures than the ones below. I will have to make another visit real soon…

(Cho Pham Van Hai)

(Crowded parking lot)

(Many shops)

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A visit at a popular Saigon Boutique

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 03:32:32 +0000

Saigon has many boutiques for women. They are spread across the city along Truong Dinh, Nguyen Trai and Le Van Si streets. Many of the boutiques will have sister shops across the city as well. If they do not have the size or style in stock, they just call another store.

Normally, for obvious reasons, I do not visit boutiques in Saigon. I took a quick shot last night before anybody could catch me This shot was taken at a popular boutique in District 3 on Truong Dinh opposite of Pinky Ice Cream and Goody Ice Cream.

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H.Nam Mobile (Warning)

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 05:45:29 +0000

I just want to put a word of warning about H.Nam Mobile, a popular mobile phone shop in Saigon. I went there last weekend with my friend who purchased their Nokia E71 mobile phone 10 months ago. The phone stopped working a couple days before, it kept turning off and finally would not recharge. A battery. My friend just wanted it to be repaired.

At the store, my friend gave the phone to Mr. Nam, the owner of H.Nam Mobile. The phone came with a one-year warranty from H.Nam Mobile. He took one look at the phone and then handed it back to my friend. He said that there was a nick on the phone which told him that the phone was dropped. He then handed my friend the warranty information card that stated if the phone was dropped, the warranty was not voided.

Hmm, who would buy a $500 US Nokia phone knowing that after one drop, it will stop working. Not likely and Nokia phones are quite durable. Still, Mr. Nam refused to repair the phone with the warranty saying it was dropped. My friend also admitted it was dropped a couple months ago but that the problem just started recently.

Since Mr. Nam seemed adamant, I asked my friend to tell him to instead repair the phone with the Nokia warranty.

Well, it seems that Mr. Nam never included the original Nokia warranty’s with the phone. It was never in the box, most likely removed. I later took a look at the phone and saw something interesting.

With most electronics, there is alway a ‘Made in Country’ or ‘Assembled in Country’ attached to the products. Nokia places them both on the battery and inside the phone. With this phone, it was present on the battery but not inside the phone. Even more suspicious, I noticed that the tape that covers the screws inside the phone were sliced. H.Nam Mobile put their own company tape over them. Did they replace the original parts?

In short, this phone was either a fake black market phone from China or H.Nam Mobile removed some of the original parts. My friend will take their phone to the Nokia Authorized Center to repair the phone. Mr. Nam does not seem to care though. That is customer service for you. If it was me, I would repair the $500 US phone in hope that the customer can refer their friends to me.

The reverse will happen though…

(Mr. Nam – Owner of H.Nam Mobile)

(Mr. Nam – Owner of H.Nam Mobile not being cooperative)

(Front of H.Nam Mobile at 89 Trang Quang Khai street in District 1)

I will show pictures of the phone in a later posting. I am curious to see what Nokia will say about the phone.

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Vietnamese Gem Stones in Saigon

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 02:30:56 +0000

Looking for good Vietnamese gem stones to take home as a souvernior. Thach Son Phuc Co., Ltd., offers gem stones at their show room on the second floor of Margarita’s in Pham Ngu Lao. Below are some pictures I took of their showroom:

I actually did not buy anything here. We already knew the prices for gemstones in another location of Saigon. Be wary that you will be charged double at this shop but the figure is actually a tourist rate. It is a good place to start though and you never know, you may get a deal

Thach Son Phu Co., Ltd. Showroom
Address: Margarita Second Floor, 175/1 Pham Ngu Lao, District 1, Saigon
Mobile: +84903914932

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Saigon Street Vendor

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 09:25:13 +0000

A couple of times a week, I like to buy a coca cola from the street vendor near AIS. She and her family are very nice and their prices quite good. I have to pay 5,000 VND ($0.29 US) for a coke and 6,000 ($0.35) )for a cafe sua da.

Street vendors are the most affordable way of buying your drinks and food outside of a restaurant. After awhile, you get to know which are the good vendors and which are the bad.

Oddly enough, I never get sick when I eat food from my favorite street vendors, I only get sick from restaurants nowadays. A friend mentioned that restaurants tend to buy food in bulk or keep leftovers overnight. Street vendors sell all of their food and then close shop. That night or early the next morning, they make a fresh batch of food.

(Waiting for my Coca Cola)

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Saigon Maximark U-Max Membership

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 02:12:22 +0000

I visited Maximark last Sunday. Normally I avoid the place since it is too crowded and the checkout lines are normally packed. It can take anywhere from 10-15 minutes at the LEAST to get to the checkout stand. Normally you have to fight to keep your spot from shoppers trying to cut in.

When we finished shopping, we went to the checkout area. I saw five that were relatively empty so we entered it. When we got to the cashier, she said we could not use it since we were not U-Max Members. It seems U-Max members can use the ‘Express Checkouts’ while normal shoppers had to wait in the other lines.

I then said that I would pay for the membership fee now. Citimart, in the past, and Co-op allows you to pay a membership fee at the checkout. No response and we were asked go to another checkout.

After about 15-20 minutes I paid for my groceries. I will stick to buying all of my groceries at Big C from now on. Their checkouts are much faster.

(U-Max Express Checkouts)

(U-Max checkouts are faster, most of these people are not members and joined us later)

(Normal checkout, very crowded)

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Saigon Lotte Mart – A Big Disappointment

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 16:46:18 +0000

I made the visit to the new Lotte Mart in Saigon near Phu My Hung. It was a long trip there from the Phu Nhuan District. All I got to say is that I was a bit disappointed about it. All the hoopla was just that. Big C, near my house, was just as good as the new Lotte Mart in my opinion. For electronics, just go to Nguyen Kiem.

My friends and I arrived to Lotte Mart at about 7 PM. The place was packed at the time. I was expecting a nice, clean quiet department store. Lotte Mart, on the outside, had reminded me of Target in some ways. All expectations changed when we entered Lotte Mart.

Instead of being quiet, it was quiet loud inside reminding me of the Vietnamese barbecue restaurants I visit once in a while. That really surprised me. The first floor reminded me of the first floor in all big Vietnamese superstores cluttered full of cosmetic kiosks. The second floor was better, we spent most of our time there.

Now the thing that surprised the most was how dirty everything seemed. All the electronics had a layer of dust on them. My eyes even started to water a bit, dust was everywhere. It did not seem if the Lotte Mart staff cared about the cleaniness of the place. I felt that the entire building was a bit unfriendly.

For me, it was not really worth the visit but I guess I might as well get used to Lotte Marts. They will spring up all across Vietnam. I hope their service improves before Walmart makes it’s entry into the market.

Pictures below:

(Second floor)

(Lotteria near the grocery store)

(First floor cosmetic kiosks)

(Near the entrance)

(Second floor electronics – Very dusty here)

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A Very Saigon Christmas

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 12:48:34 +0000

This year the Vietnamese are taking Christmas very seriously. For many people outside of Vietnam who feel that Christians are persecuted in Vietnam, I think a visit to Vietnam today would shock them. Churches as packed. Stores and shopping centers are trying to outdo each other in providing the ‘best’ Christmas decorations. The streets are crowded with holiday shoppers.

Christmas is very open in Vietnam.

Even in my alleyway, the local People’s Committee asked the neighbors to provide 50,000 VND ($3.30 US) to contribute to the Christmas lights decorations. I live in a Catholic area so I am not surprised though I live in what I call a Buddhist Enclave (about 4 houses in my area are Buddhist). Still, the decorations are nice and my landlord will be short 50,000 VND this week

(Zen Plaza in District 5)

(Saigon Tax Center – District 1)

(Nguyen Hue Street – District 1)

(Saigon Tax Center – District 1)

(Nguyen Hue Street near Traffic Circle – District 1)

(Inside Saigon Tax Center – District 1)

(My alleyway in the Phu Nhuan District)

Notice in the last picture, we had to put up our Vietnamese flags again for the holiday season. Times are changing here in Vietnam

Check oout Chris Harvey (charvey)’s post about Christmas here in Saigon.

Previous Saigon Christmas Posts:

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Saigon Duty Free Shop

SaigonNezumi (Kevin) — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 01:46:44 +0000

One of the nice things about returning to Vietnam is that you can purchase Duty Free items at the Saigon Duty Free Shop for 5 working days. You will be amazed at how cheap items there are compared to Citimart or Coop Supermarket. I made two visits with friends to the Saigon Duty Free Shop this week in District 1.

Your Vietnamese friends will love you if you take them with you. There are a good collection of duty free cologne and perfume there, a far cry from the fake perfume and cologne that are sold at Diamond Plaza, Parkson or Zen Plaza.

(Cologne and Perfumes on Display)

(Other Duty Free items)

Saigon Duty Free Shop address:
102 Nguyen Hue Blvd., District1,
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Telephone: (84.8) 823 4547 – 823 4548
Email: sgtdutyfree@hcm.vnn.vn

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