We had Friday off school for Hung King Day, so a bunch of my friends and I went to District 1 to go shopping at Saigon Square and Taka Plaza, two indoor market-style shopping centres that are very popular. At these markets you can find clothing, watches, jewellery, shoes, purses, wallets, winter coats, backpacks, sunglasses, phone cases, and pretty much any kind of other accessory you need. Most of the stalls do not have fixed prices, so you need to barter with the sellers to get a good price on the items you want to buy.
Sometimes you have to bargain a lot with the sellers before they give you a discount. Some of them may not even budge - usually we walk away from those ones! My friend got a really good copy of a brand name watch that they originally quoted as $45, but she was able to get it for around $15. They even whipped out a silver briefcase full of "high quality" watches to try to make us seem like we were getting a top of the line product!
Everyone ended up buying something after we visited Saigon Square 1, Saigon Square 2, Taka Plaza, and "Shoe Street." I got 3 dresses for around $35. One of them I was able to find online and was retailing for $58 at the store, so I think I got a good deal! I also bought an Hermes wallet... not real, but a decent fake for around $14. I looked it up on the Hermes UK site and it says that model costs $1250. Who would spend that much on a wallet?!?!?! I like how this box looks pretty legit, haha!
Anyone from back home want a Hermes wallet? Fake Rolex? Pearl necklace? Mulberry or Longchamp purse? Ray Ban sunglasses? Let me know!
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| This is the inside of one of the markets, from the top level looking down |
Sometimes you have to bargain a lot with the sellers before they give you a discount. Some of them may not even budge - usually we walk away from those ones! My friend got a really good copy of a brand name watch that they originally quoted as $45, but she was able to get it for around $15. They even whipped out a silver briefcase full of "high quality" watches to try to make us seem like we were getting a top of the line product!
Everyone ended up buying something after we visited Saigon Square 1, Saigon Square 2, Taka Plaza, and "Shoe Street." I got 3 dresses for around $35. One of them I was able to find online and was retailing for $58 at the store, so I think I got a good deal! I also bought an Hermes wallet... not real, but a decent fake for around $14. I looked it up on the Hermes UK site and it says that model costs $1250. Who would spend that much on a wallet?!?!?! I like how this box looks pretty legit, haha!
Anyone from back home want a Hermes wallet? Fake Rolex? Pearl necklace? Mulberry or Longchamp purse? Ray Ban sunglasses? Let me know!
I know where I would be spending much of my time if I were there! Love the wallet....how do they do that?
ReplyDeleteI don't know, they have fake everything here and it looks real! Do you want a wallet? They have lots of colours. I got an orangey-pink colour. They are kind of big, big enough to put a passport in, slots for cards, and change purse.
DeleteThe wallets and purses look real but I think they are likely all fakes. I'm not so sure about other things though. My North Face winter coat was only around $45 and the guy told me it was goose down. I didn't believe it was real goose down until on my trip I was getting little goose down feathers on my sweater, coming out from the coat! I guess some stuff is actually legit!